On-line readings. In addition to hand-out and short reading (reserve notebook), "But For Us It Isn't that Way," by Domitila Barrios de Chungara.

At bottom are discussion questions.
 

I. "Beijing Conference: Gender justice and global apartheid," by Vandana Shiva

http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/just-cn.htm

Explanation of acronyms (most are defined when first used in the article, but this may be helpful as a cheat-sheet):

NGO = Non-governmental organizations
WEDO (p.4) = don't know!
TNC = transnational corporation
WTO = World Trade Organization
FC = the NGO Facilitating Committee (at the conference in Beijing)
GATT = General Agreement on Trades and Tariffs (1947) to encourage free trade
IMF = International Monetary Fund
Bretton Woods institutions (bottom of p. 6) = (from their website): The Bretton Woods Institutions are the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). They were set up at a meeting of 43 countries in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, USA in July 1944. Their aims were to help rebuild the shattered postwar economy and to promote international economic cooperation. The original Bretton Woods agreement also included plans for an International Trade Organisation (ITO) but these lay dormant until the World Trade Organisation (WTO) was created in the early1990s.
SAP = Structural adjustment programs (meaning usually that third world governments, in order to get debt relief, aid or loan restructuring, are required to make economic adjustments such as getting rid of subsidies for the poor, raising prices that may be kept at lower levels, etc.)
NAFTA = North American Trade Agreement (between the US, Mexico and Canada)
IPR = Intellectual property rights
UNDP = United Nationals Development Program
CEO = Chief executive officer (of a corporation, usually)

II. "Reap what you have sown," by Egyptian feminist Nawal El-Saadawi in Al-Ahram Weekly Online, May31-June6, 2001.

http://www.ahram.org.eg/weekly/2001/536/op5.htm
 

III. Discussion questions
 

• What are some of the different concerns third world women have from first world women, according to Shiva? How do the two groups define "human rights" differently? What does Shiva think are the major issues facing third world women (as of the 1995 Beijing conference)?
• From Nawal El-Sadaawi article: do you think women's issues should be "political" (re Saadawi) or not (re Betty Friedan)? Why or why not?
• According to the article on the Nairobi Women's Conference , how did relations between third world and first world women change from the earlier conferences (Mexico City, 1975 and Copenhagen, 1980)?
• From what you have learned from this course, what do YOU think are the major issues facing third world women today, and how have these changed from 100 years ago?