U.N. convention on women

Press, 26 May 1984, Page 18

U.N. convention on women

Sir,—l am puzzled by Connie Purdue’s article on the United Nations convention debate (“The Press,” May 23). She asserts that the average New Zealand woman knows little about the convention, puts her own interpretation on three phrases from the convention, and ends with a plea to leave “our sisters in oppressed lands” to their own devices, none of which is informative on the contents of the convention. As an average wife, mother and paid worker, I am not frightened of a document which will help to make people aware of the inequalities and harmful attitudes firmly entrenched in our society. To me, the phrases she quotes, “modify the conduct of men and women,” “revise text-books, school programmes and teachertraining” and “eliminate stereotyped concepts,” mean more tolerance and understanding between men and women, more awareness of each person’s contribution to society regardless of sex, and more recognition of a woman’s worth as an individual.—Yours, etc., S. V. RATCLIFFE. May 24, 1984.