Femmes et développement : idées et stratégies des organisations internationales

Abstract

The International Year of the Woman, which marked the beginning in 1975 of the Decade of the Woman organized by UNESCO, had as its goal the sensibilization of the public to the problems of women, the diffusion of results of studies conducted on women in several countries, and the elaboration of new strategies to improve women's status worldwide. Factors which played a role in advertising worldwide discrimination against women were external to UNESCO, such as the birth of radical feminist movements in the 1960s and the diffusion of new feminist ideas by the mass media, and internal to UNESCO, such as the great number of studies sponsored and financed by UNESCO on the condition of women, and especially of third world women. The revision of strategies within UNESCO is visible in the changing themes of the studies sponsored from 1965 to 1980. Studies done between 1960-70 dealt essentially with the importance of primary, secondary, and university education for women. Studies done between 1970-75 investigated the relation between formal education and actual probability of women's employment. Studies sponsored between 1975-80 investigated the right of women to equal participation in the national economy and development. Unfortunately, the global budget dedicated to women's studies is only of 13.5 million French francs. Ongoing studies examine whether feminist ideas are applicable to third world countries, or if they are to be reviewed according to different societies and cultural environments.