EditorialDear readers! The numbers 19.. which we got so used to that were reproduced on millions of forms are now in the past. We have smoothly flowed into the new year, new age, new millenium… We have joined this new era with the feeling of witnessing something grand to happen; with wishes of happiness, well-being and hopes that these wishes would come true. We want them so much to come true! But, unfortunately, one could hardly hope that there would be less violence, anger and injustice thanks to our good wishes and nothing more; that prosperity would come by itself without our active participation. Weighing the contribution of the XX century to the human history one should admit that the most important achievement was that the rights and dignity of a person were acknowledged worldwide regardless of one’s race, sex, age and religion, rather than all technical wonders taken together. At the same time this was achieved not due to the "good" politicians free will, but as a result of extremely violent struggle of ideas, social convulsions, revolutions and world wars. The fact that women’s rights and freedoms were acknowledged as equal to men’s is also the result of organization and struggle. This struggle took various forms in different countries and led to different results. So where are we today? That is what the first issue of "Woman Plus…" in 2000 is dedicated to. We did not have the task to give a wide panorama of events having happened in different regions of our planet, but still one can hope that the sketches, interviews, real life examples and approaches used by women’s movements abroad you will encounter in this journal will give you a lot to think about. The Russian women’s movement today, according to a vivid expression used by one of its active participants, reminds " a hedgehog in the fog" from a well-known cartoon – without a sense of direction and clear understanding of where to go further. The reasons for slipping in women’s coming to power could be the lack of bright leaders among women’s political organizations, the competition between them or inequality in the pre-election campaign opportunities. It is all but a part of truth, but it does not give the answer to the question: why don’t Russian women want to support their countrywomen who aim to get "in power"? The possible reason for that could be that social and political movements and organizations which offered themselves as representatives of the female part of the country’s population have so far failed to reduce those very interests to a common denominator, failed to set a clear goal and work out common strategy. Possibly the experience of foreign women’s organizations shown in this issue will help them to move in this direction. One would like to pay special attention to the results of work of a women’s initiative group from South Africa which have finally led to forming the so-called "female budget". The initiators were guided by a very simple idea – in order to provide fully equal rights and equal possibilities for men and women, one should make alternations to both the legislation of the country and the budget which reflects the country’s values and is one of the major levers of conducting the policy of the government. The first gender analysis of the state budget was realized in Australia in 1996. The similar work was done in the Republic of South Africa in 1997-1998. We are deeply grateful to the members of "Female Budget" initiative group from South Africa who have provided unique materials of their research. Our journal is happy to make this information available to you. We are eagerly waiting for your responses!
"Woman Plus…" Editor-in Chief |
