Women’s Decade conference

Press, 13 July 1985, Page 18

Women’s Decade conference

Sir,—The editorial, “One decade for women,” attempts to denigrate and belittle, the United Nations Decade for Women conference. The man who wrote it should know by now that sexual harassment and the horrors of disease and starvation are caused by the same arrogant ignorance displayed in this editorial. For example: “the concerns are generally reasonable and legitimate.” To whom? White professional males? As for problems “specially for women alone,” he should know that anything which threatens or degrades human beings, animals or the earth, is of concern to women because they know the cost of life in a way men do not appear to, otherwise there would be no need to have a conference for women. Attempts to improve the status of women can only help the world.

This basically hostile editorial displays a probably-unconscious sexism, which is as alarming as it is revealing.—Yours, etc., MARY WEST. July 12, 1985. Sir,—l was furious to read the patronising comments in your editorial of July 11 regarding the women’s conference in Nairobi. The concerns of half the world’s population (i.e. women) cannot be called “trivial.” I cannot recall your having dismissed any men’s conferences as “trivial” because they have not addressed themselves to the problems of the famines in Africa, so why do it to a women’s conference? It seems like discrimination to me.—Yours, etc., julie mcdougall. Twizel, July 11, 1985.