THE MSH WOMEN'S MEETING
MAY 16-21, 1992
Paris, France

Alice Thorne

A triangular symposium on feminism and feminist research in
France, India and Russia was organised by the Maision des
Sciences de l'Homme. The sessions centred on six themes:

(1) the present status of women's movements in the three
countries and their primary concerns;
(2) the degree of political power exercised by women (who
constitute five percent of the elected legislatures in each
case);
(3) work in the home and outside- necessity, rights, obligation,
and access to superior positions;
(4) women's writing - depiction of women in literature;
(5) women's sexuality and violence against women;and
(6) themes for continuing research; possibilities for joint
studies and other forms of collaboration.

From the prepared papers and the very lively discussions it
became clear that the same words, however carefully translated,
did not necessarily cover the same concepts and approaches. For
example, in Russia today one section of women demand the right
not to work so they can take care of their homes and children;
in France a move toward part-time and special arrangements of
working hours for women in effect emphasizes their primary
responsibility to their families; in India a key problem is the
employment of women in small-scale production with unacceptable
conditions and no legal protection. The importance given by the
Indians to the influence of the colonial heritage in the
construction of the feminine image surprised some of their French
auditors.All three delegations expressed uneasiness with regard
to the rise in their respective countries of fundamentalist
religious and nativist campaigns.

Indian participants included Jashodhara Bagchi of the Jadavpur
University in Calcutta, Malini Bhattacharya, a member of the
Indian Parliament, Maithreyi Krishna Raj now associated with the
Institute of Social Studies in the Hague, Susie Tharu of the
Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages in Hyderabad,
and Sujata Patel of the SNDT Women's Univesity in Bombay. Plans
are under way for a follow-up meeting in India in the spring of
1994.

Persons interested in obtaining further information may write to:
Marie-Victoire Louis and Paule Gentot
Maison des Sciences de l'Homme,
54 Boulevard Raspail
75270 Paris Cedex 06, France.