The International Fight Against Gender Inequality

The search for gender equality is a global movement. However, many factors make it difficult for women throughout the world to join together in this fight. In Western nations the women's movement has been around for half a century whereas in several regions of the world it has just begun and in some it has not yet started. History; social and economic conditions; religious community standards; tradition; access to technology, communication and education are all factors which influence the process of the women's movement. Different regions of the world are at different stages of women's empowerment. Some international progress has been made in the forms of treaties and human rights agreements to better the condition of women worldwide.

Three extreme world views regarding how the problem of gender inequality arose are conservative, liberal, and radical. Each world view also has differing solutions for the problem. We present these as examples, although they are not always exact representations of people's views; few people are completely of one view.

The purpose of this web page is to present the condition of women and the goals of gender equality in three areas of the world: Kenya; Russia; and the combined area of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, and Yugoslavia. Kenya became independent of European colonialism in the 1960's. Due to this recent independence, Kenya is far behind in development, especially in the women's movement. With the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia has moved from being part of one of the major world powers, the USSR, to a nation struggling with massive social and governmental reform. This upheaval has put the women's movement in Russia on hold. The area of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, and Yugoslavia is a region torn by war where ethnic identity can mean the difference between life and death. The daily struggle to survive overshadows the importance of gender equality.

A revolution in telecommunications technology has provided new ways for women to share knowledge, experience, and resources to further the women's movement. In the profiles of each country, we include a discussion of the effect of this telecommunication revolution on women. We provide a resource for groups and individuals searching for organizations on the web which deal with the women's movement.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements: Thanks to the little black dog that runs across the screen in Fetch 3.0.1. Thanks to Dominoes Pizza for being open past midnight when Papa John's wasn't. Thanks to the computing centers for being open 24 hours a day, and especially to Ken Innes for all his help. Thanks to Hilary's mom for sending her the Jolly Ranchers that helped us make it through to the end even though they're round.