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LONG WAY
"POOR, POWERLESS
AND PREGNANT"
Despite the fact that in Sweden 35 percent of the
seats in Parliament are held by women, the status
of women in Sweden didn't receive an "excellent"
rating in the study of 100 countries released by the
Population Crisis Committee in June. However,
Sweden did lead the "very good" section, followed
by Finland, the U.S., East Germany, Norway,
Canada and Denmark. Bangladesh followed a distant
last, with Mali, Afghanistan, North Yemen and
Pakistan rounding out the bottom five on the list
as the worst countries for women. Dr. Sharon L.
Camp, vice president of the P.C.C., said: "The
world's poorest women live on the edge of subsistence.
They are politically and legally powerless.
They are caught in a life cycle that begins with early
marriage and too often ends with death in
childbirth."
The country ratings, developed in a year-long
study, are based on measures of women's status in
the areas of health, marriage and children, education,
employment and social equality. Nowhere do
women enjoy equal status with men.
Worldwide, women grow half the world's food
but most own no land. They are one-third of the
paid workforce, but are concentrated in the lowestpaid
jobs. Those that have jobs outside the home
put in a double day with household and child-care
chores.
Historically, it seems to us, when those conditions
existed for all—not just women—the result
was revolution!
THE WRETCHED REFUSE OF OUR
TEEMING SHORES
The summer of '88 saw beaches closed up and
down the eastern seaboard as each new wave
brought a little something extra: medical waste (including
vials of blood, some containing the AIDS
virus), raw sewage complete with fecal coliform
bacteria, syringes with needles—all washing up on
the shore. But what about toxic wastes? According
to an article by James Brooke in the New York
Times, American and European companies have
found their perfect dumping grounds—in West
Africa. As safety laws in Europe and the U.S. push
toxic disposal costs up to $2500 a ton, waste
brokers have turned their attention to the closest,
poorest and most unprotected shores of Guinea,
Congo, Nigeria. From Morocco to the Congo, virtually
every country on West Africa's coast reports
offers from American or European companies
seeking cheap sites to dispose of hazardous waste.
Fees offered African recipients have gone as low
as $3 a ton.
According to the international environmental
group Greenpeace, a New Jersey-based company
signed a pact with Congo to dispose of 50,000 tons
a month of pesticides, sludge and chemical wastes.
Also, many African disposal sites appear to have
been chosen with little regard for geological
suitability, such as Annobon, an inhabited island
of porous volcanic rock. Had the contract with a
British company to store 10 million drums of toxic
waste gone through, the seepage would have
threatened the rich fishing grounds of the Gulf of
Guinea.
At the urging of Nigeria, a leader in the antidumping
campaign. West African countries agreed
to set up a dump watch. By mid-July, Liberia and
Sierra Leone had announced discoveries of foreign
toxic waste dumps in their territories.
Dozens of African officials have been jailed on
charges of working with European disposal firms.
Dump watch or not, where there's a will, there's
a way—and where large sums of money are concerned,
there will always be a will!
NO CHOICE AT ALL
From an Associated Press dispatch:
Starting October 1, 1988, doctors at military
hospitals may not perform abortions unless the life
of the mother is in danger, even if the patient pays
for the operation. A memorandum signed by Dr.
William Mayer, Assistant Secretary of Defense for
health affairs, ended the practice under which
physicians have been able to perform pre-paid abortions
at military hospitals "in certain countries in
which quality medical care may not be locally
available". Since 1979 doctors have been barred
from performing Government-paid abortions
unless the life of the mother is endangered.
Dr. Mayer's memorandum conceded that the
practice of performing pre-paid abortions "in very
limited circumstances" does not violate the 1979
prohibition, but will not be allowed in order to
avoid the appearance of "insensitivity to the spirit"
of the 1979 prohibition.
How about the insensitivity to the bodies and
spirits of women forced to carry unwanted pregnancies
to term—or to the lives and spirits of the ensuing
undesired (and often abused or abandoned)
children ?
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
An item from the New York Daily News:
McDonald's is opening restaurants in hospitals.
The fast-food chain so far has opened eight such
restaurants nationwide.