Abstract

PIP: Jill Conway is a feminist historian, writer, teacher, and now-emerita 1st woman president of Smith College. She claims that women today still suffer from a great deal of oppression. Women around the world are currently in a disadvantage position. In 7 countries women do not have the right to vote. In the US less that .5% of top executives are women. The wage gap in the US between 1939 and 1989 has only shrunk $.10, from $.58-$.68. Conway points out that we are all constrained by our social mores, generational attitudes, political events, and economic circumstances. Few people are able to overcome these things in the way that they live their lives. Conway questions the validity of history written from a male dominated point of view. Around the world the value of women's work is almost always lower than that of men. India is just 1 example, there 75% of women are illiterate and 1/2 the population lives in poverty based on a caste system. Female literacy tripled in the 1st 30 years of independence and by 1981 it had reached 25%. The literacy gap is actually growing in India Today with 44% of girls aged 6 to 11, who are eligible to attend school, not doing so. Rural poverty keeps them at home because their domestic work is more valuable than their education. Other cultural tradition compound the problem: arranged marriages often result in motherhood for 14 year old girls. This is done for many reasons, 1 of which is crop failure insurance. When 2 families are combined through marriage, their total land share grows and they are thus more likely to have enough to eat. Education is just 1 necessary step. Developed nations must realize the realities that exist in the countries they provide aid for. In Africa for example, 70% of continent's food is produced by women. Yet the aid programs of the past have only been designed to offer assistant to men and create jobs for men.