What is needed is the political will to encourage talented women to pursue their academic careers, to introduce incentives for studying non-traditional subjects and to give female students the possibility to compete on an equal basis with their male colleagues for scholarships to study abroad. New approaches to combining family responsibilities with professional activities, to sharing between partners and to providing opportunities for re-entry into a scientific and academic career after a break would help men and women to achieve equality. The Fourth World Conference on Women, organized by the United Nations in September 1995 in Beijing, China, will examine progress achieved in female education and training in the last decade and will identify remaining obstacles. It will make recommendations for further action towards the achievement of equality by the year 2000. Education of women and girls is one major area of concern, since it is the basic tool for women to fulfil their role as members of society.
Education is key to the development and empowerment of women.
Maria Hartl is Social Affairs Officer at the Division for the Advancement of Women, United Nations, New York. Todd M. Davis, ed.