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The Woman's Decade: Beyond Beginnings
Footage of United Nations-sponsored "Decade for Women" meetings in Nairobi, Kenya, 1985: MSs women delegates meeting, singing. Flags flying at United Nations building; U.N. building. Host Susan Stamberg introduces a retrospective on ten years since that U.N. declaration, what has been gained for women in the world. Titles "The Women's Decade: Beyond Beginnings".
The Woman's Decade: Beyond Beginnings
Opening Conference United Nations Decade for Women, held in Mexico City, 1975: UN Assistant Secretary General Helvi Sipila opening the meeting, calling it an historic international meeting of women, saying the power of united women will be phenomenal (UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim seated next to her); TLSs crowd. Betty Friedan outside auditorium, saying that feminism will be "dynamite" in other parts of the world as a positive force for change.
The Woman's Decade: Beyond Beginnings
MCU of an unidentified Bolivian woman saying (subtitled) she's not sure what the "Women's Decade" means, that it doesn't affect the lives of peasant women. CU unidentified British feminist saying the UN recognized women were mobilizing to make changes in their societies but the U.N. is just following, the average British woman would have no idea that the U.N. had declared a "Decade For Women".
The Woman's Decade: Beyond Beginnings
Graphic of a world map shows the equalitarian goals of the Decade in marriage rights, economic activity, and political influence.
The Woman's Decade: Beyond Beginnings
Feminist Germaine Greer saying that this kind of ceremonial gesture won't mean anything until women have real power to set an agenda and put plans into action; the U.N. is following trends in supporting international feminism, calls the "Decade for Women" "bullshit".
The Woman's Decade: Beyond Beginnings
Footage of 1975 conference in Mexico City, UN women's assembly; VO of Ms. Greer describing the bizarre spectacle of male-dominated delegations making token speeches to pander to feminist agenda.
The Woman's Decade: Beyond Beginnings
MCU feminist Germaine Greer.
The Woman's Decade: Beyond Beginnings
Meeting in a school classroom in Zimbabwe where mostly African and a couple of European women debate political strategies; one woman saying that they are denied the chance to build skills and influence, describes being blocked from advancing in her career; another woman discusses the problems with getting adequate maternity leave; another says that reforms are always "in the pipeline" but never get implemented; another talks about reforming tax laws to separate a woman's income from her husbands to give women greater autonomy over their finances.
The Woman's Decade: Beyond Beginnings
Graphic of world map showing legal changes in women's economic equality in various parts of the world (note conspicuous absence of the U.S. among nations that guarantee women's rights to equal pay.
The Woman's Decade: Beyond Beginnings
Cartoon where a man in a construction crane wolf-whistles at a leggy red-head woman on the street; women toil in a sewing factory while the bossman yells at them to speed up; at paytime, the man gets twice as much money as the woman.
The Woman's Decade: Beyond Beginnings
Graphic shows wage inequalities, including 57% of men's income in manufacturing jobs in the United States.
The Woman's Decade: Beyond Beginnings
British Journalist Beatrix Campbell saying there have been contradictory effects of equal pay laws, that the laws were passed with cynical intent; says the effects of the law in terms of money was little, but it encouraged women to fight for equality; says women need to gain political power to make the laws work.
The Woman's Decade: Beyond Beginnings
South American women in an adult school.
The Woman's Decade: Beyond Beginnings
Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the House of Commons.
The Woman's Decade: Beyond Beginnings
Crowd of women in Iran, 1979, carrying pictures of the Ayatollah Khomeni (Iranian Revolution).
The Woman's Decade: Beyond Beginnings
Famine emaciated East African woman tragically attempting to nurse (breast-feed) two infants.
The Woman's Decade: Beyond Beginnings
Cartoon shows male worker in a bar having some after-work beers with his buddies while his wife scrambles to do the shopping, crams herself onto already overfilled bus; the man returns home, shucks his clothes except his boxer shorts and tank top to watch TV and drink beer while his wife runs around him to fix dinner.
The Woman's Decade: Beyond Beginnings
Graphic shows disparities between men and women in the decision-making bodies of governments in the world; the U.S. has the worst ratio of female representation among developed nations listed; graphic also shows the severe under-representation of women in decision-making posts in the United Nations.
The Woman's Decade: Beyond Beginnings
Egyptian journalist Nawal El Sadaawi says women are outside military power, so they must have power in civil governments to make up for it, but they don't as yet.
The Woman's Decade: Beyond Beginnings
Journalist Beatrix Campbell says that women need to develop a strong feminist political agenda encompassing all areas of society because businesses are so dominated by men.
The Woman's Decade: Beyond Beginnings
Sri Lankan economist Swasti Mitter discussing ideas of development; advocates channeling resources to meet people's needs, the need to question blanket statements like "Hong Kong is doing well" that conceal the fact that "success" is often based on exploiting women's labor.
The Woman's Decade: Beyond Beginnings
British feminist Beatrix Campbell says that women need to stop being polite and forgiving and self-effacing, and assert themselves, that women know the most about women's problems and how to fix them.
The Woman's Decade: Beyond Beginnings
Indian collective manager Ela Bhati Sewa says that there must be solidarity among poor countries and women in poor countries to change economic inequalities in the world.
The Woman's Decade: Beyond Beginnings
Host Susan Stanberg repeats the question "Now What?", discusses the Nairobi conference at the end of the "Women's Decade", including a meeting of unofficial delegations of women to balance the official U.N. meetings of mostly male government-appointed delegates.