In 1960 Israel was a new nation, just 12 years independent. Mina Ben-Zvi,
with a background as first Commander of the Women's Corps of Israel's
Defence Forces, was representative of the International Council of Social
Democratic Women (ICSDW) to the UN Women's Seminar in Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia. The seminar, the first of its kind, took place at a time when
African countries were beginning to enter the world stage in their own
right, and women in developing countries were making their first appearance
there too. The UN seminar threw light on her situation, her problems, her
views, her expectations. Mina Ben-Zvi had a unique opportunity to gain a
better understanding of African women's positions and brought what she
learned back to Israel, sharing her insights with Foreign Minister Golda
Meir and Swedish Ambassador to Israel, Inga Thorsson, both of whom had
travelled to Africa and, like Mina, understood the urgent need to equip
African women with skills which would allow them to be active contributors
in their emerging societies. Out of that seminar the idea emerged to invite
women leaders not only from Africa but also from Asia to a seminar in
Haifa, Israel. It is characteristic of Mina's drive and energy and her
complete inability to take no for an answer that only four months later the
seminar opened in Haifa! We reprint here some original documentation from
that very first seminar in Haifa in 1961 out of which grew the Golda Meir
Mount Carmel International Training Centre (MCTC), with Mina Ben Zvi as
Director for 25 years until her retirement in 1987. It gives an indication
of the thinking then and is relevant to us now as we continue the struggle
for international cooperation and development.
International Seminar on the Role of Women in a Developing Society
April 17 - May 31, 1961
Background
by Mina Ben-Zvi
The tremendous tasks which face a developing country are a great challenge
to its women, in view of the ever-growing social responsibilities which
they are particularly called to share.
Israel, with a population comprising so many varied ethnic groups,
confronting the complex problems of a changing society, presents a living
laboratory for other countries in their socio-economic struggle for
national progress. The active participation of Israel's women in all walks
of the nation's life, their contributions and achievements, particularly in
the fields of education, health and social welfare, provide a suitable
background for study of the problems which directly concern women in
developing countries.
The Seminar on "The Role of Women in a Developing Society," held at Beit
Ruthenberg in Haifa, from April 17 to May 31, 1961, was planned for women
whose work in their own countries is connected with education, health and
social welfare programs, women who are active in women's organizations and
in public life.
The program of the Seminar was devised so as to enable the participants
observe life in Israel, where a new society is taking shape, with its
problems, hardships and struggles, its occasional failures; also its
aspirations and achievements.
The Seminar's program of studies particularly emphasized the educational
and social aspects which have the greatest impact on the family and the
community. The participants visited various types of institutions and
organizations - kindergartens, schools, health centres, housing projects,
agricultural settlements, labour and women's organizations which gave them
the opportunity to absorb by direct, practical observation the manifold
aspects of a society in the making and the various subjects studied.
At the farewell party in Haifa, one of the participants so movingly
expressed what the Seminar had meant to her that I take the liberty of
quoting parts of her address:
Mrs. V.O. Betts, from Sierra Leone:
"... Our relationship was based on equality, mutual respect, tolerance and
sincerity .... That is why you will understand with what depth of feelings
we all gathered here to say goodbye, not as organizers and participants of
a seminar but as dear friends. Though coming from various lands it took us
a very short time to discover how much we had in common as women,
regardless of our colour, creed or culture, and I think by working on the
basis of what we had in common and how those things could be developed for
the benefit of the world to which we owe so much, it was impossible for us
to have achieved anything but success."
At the conclusion of the Seminar, which took place in Jerusalem, the
participants decided to form an international association and centre for
the exchange of information, which would serve as a clearing and forwarding
agency in collecting and distributing material, suggestions and requests,
from and to various countries.
Address by Mrs. Golda Meir, Minister for Foreign Affairs
at the Official Opening of the Seminar
Only those who will write history many years hence will, I think, be able
to evaluate what is happening to the world in this decade. We are too close
to these events to put our thoughts and emotions into words which can fully
relay what we feel and think, and give a real appreciation of the
importance of what is of happening to millions, tens and hundreds of
millions of people who have been under foreign rule, and who were placed in
a class by themselves. We, and you, were seemingly fated not to be
independent but to be ruled by others, and be different from others. And
only ten, fifteen, twenty-five years ago, for some of us only five years
ago, or less, it was almost unthinkable that we all would enjoy this
fundamental right of human dignity, individually and as nations, to share
the privileges and duties of being independent and ruling ourselves. And
that the shaping of the fate of each one of us should be in the hands of
the people themselves and not in the hands of anyone else. I say this
irrespective of whether this or that foreign power ruled well or did not
rule well.
Let us say a foreign power ruled well and wanted to do well by the people
and the country it ruled. Still, there cannot be a people that has any
self-respect - and we all have - that would choose to live an easier and
more comfortable life under foreign rule and the responsibility of some
other power, rather than a life of difficulty and hardship in carrying out
its own responsibilities.
I don't think there is a people in the world that would voluntarily give
up its freedom and independence, no more than an individual that has
self-respect would give up his individual liberty. We all of us are the
privileged generation living in an age where the dreams and aspirations of
hundreds of millions of people have come true, as they reach independence.
How many tears have been shed, and in some places, how much blood has been
shed, how much heartache, how many disillusions we all of us had, each one
in a different way, until each in turn reached that day of magic, when with
a very simple pronouncement it was recognized that from this day on we are
an independent people, and our country is free, and belongs to us and to us
only.
All of us here have only been independent a few years, or a few months, and
some are just on the verge of independence. There is at least one country
represented here for whom congratulations are in order, although it is
still three days until it will officially and formally be independent. To
our friends of Sierra Leone who on the 27th of April become independent, we
extend our wishes in the name of the Israel Government and people, and in
the name of all of us who are gathered here. We wish them well and are
happy with them.
But we all know, those who have gained their independence, that after the
day of joy, rejoicing and merrymaking is over, come the days of
difficulties, hardships and responsibilities. A people that does not know
that, and that does not immediately settle down to tackle the difficult
problems confronting it, which until that day could be put off, because it
could be said that somebody else is going to solve these problems, is a
people for whom political independence will not really mean very much. From
the very day of independence, from this midnight, from this noon, it is we,
and we only, who must do the job.
The first task in order to insure equality among nations as well as
independence is to develop the human skills as well as the resources of a
country.
Some of your countries are not at all poor countries; some of them are very
rich. I know that from having visited some of your countries. There is
practically nothing that you haven't got. All the natural resources that
any people can hope for and pray for you've got. And yet people are poor.
The reason is you do not always know how to get the natural resources out
of the earth in the most efficient manner. Wealth and poverty may depend
not so much on a country's wealth of resources or lack of them, but on the
the skills of people to use them. Inequality is not only material; there
are people who have the best health services at their disposal and people
for whom malaria is still a danger, and typhoid is a danger, and eyes
diseases are a danger, diseases that in modern developed countries are
easily cured. Tuberculosis is not a dangerous disease any more. It can be
cured. And yet I know that in certain African countries tuberculosis takes
a terrible toll of young and old. So it is not only a question of those who
have and those who haven't the material goods, but a question of those who
have the knowledge and the scientific ability to develop their countries,
their natural resources, the schools, the health services, the housing, the
building of a modern society, and those who still have to acquire this
knowledge. This is the problem of all of us. And if I may say so, no
people, no nation can expect to solve any of these problems if the women in
that nation, in that society, are not going to be very active in all
fields, whether it is education, whether it is health, whether it is social
services, whether it is the building of a society and the shaping of the
character and the nature of society in a free and independent state.
With all my respect to the men in any nation, they alone cannot do it. I
will grant that we women, alone, cannot do it either. Men and women must
face the problems of their own society together. The problems that are to
be faced together are so immense, so frightening. Will we make good, we new
people? Will we make good or will we, God forbid, fail? And if we fail,
what happens? Somebody will surely say "Well, it's all a mistake. Maybe we
should never have asked for this independence." And this is so frightening,
so important, because so much depends upon it. Not only the fate of us, new
people, but the fate of the whole world, of all humanity, depends upon us,
the new independent peoples, to make good.
The world will not know peace, and there will be no real happiness until
we, the new peoples of the world, reach a standard of living and education
that is comparable with that of the old and wealthy nations. It is as
important for them as it is for us. And since the problems are so great,
fifty percent of the people, that is only the male population by itself,
cannot solve it. Let's work together. Every one of our nations needs every
drop of energy, every drop of ability, that anyone has. Let's pool it
together in order to make good.
Even then, the task is a difficult one, and the path is a very long and
strenuous one. But we women are not just a part of the population. We are
much more than that. We are responsible not only for the population of
today. We are responsible, in the main, for the population of tomorrow. It
is not only that we, living in this generation, can contribute to the
development of our countries and our people for happiness and for peace,
but in our hands lies the future of our people. It's the babies that we
bring into this world, the children and the youth that we raise, it is what
they will be that will be our future. What are we going to educate them to?
May I just very sketchily convey to you what I see as the main problem in
our countries? We want education. What percentage of our population knows
how to read and write? How many men? How many women? How many children are
out of school? Never been in school? How many people have not got the
elementary knowledge that is so necessary, merely to read and write, to be
able to communicate with others and benefit from what others wrote or said?
Educating a people cannot happen overnight. No magic wand places people in
schools overnight, and turns them out properly educated. There is also the
question, how are we mothers going to raise our sons and daughters? Are we
going to raise them in a spirit of pioneering, so that their generation,
and maybe their children's, like ours, is ready to develop their country,
in order to insure the independence of its people? This is possible if the
better favoured section of the population sees itself duty-bound to share
all it has with others. Young boys or girls who have the privilege of going
to school and getting an education must be raised by us in such a way that
the advantages derived from this education must not be used only for
personal interest. The advantages they have must be shared with and benefit
the whole people. If children are taken out of villages and sent to the
capitals schools, the question is: will they remain in the capital or will
they go back to the village? Will they find themselves duty-bound to go
back to the village, not to the life they left but to bring to the village
the benefit of their education, of their knowledge, so that they, together
with the others, may raise the village's standard?
I know it is the instinct of every mother to want her child have a better,
an easier life; and it is easier for a youngster to remain in the capital
and get some clean work that does not soil the hands. But we are mothers
not only of our children, but of our people. We must ask ourselves, "Do we
want our youngsters to continue living in a world where only a few have the
advantages of knowledge, and the masses are illiterate? A few who have the
advantages of health and happiness and the masses sick and dying? What
stories are we going to tell our children, what ideals will we hold up for
them? An easy life, no matter how that life comes? Or a life of difficult
pioneering, devotion and service to the people, which will give the real
joy?"
Mothers have to be very wise. Maybe in highly developed countries it is
permissible for mothers not to be so. But we, the mothers of new countries
and newly independent peoples, we must be wise, and think things out to the
very end. Not what is good today. What is good today may be danger and a
calamity for tomorrow. We must think out at full length what is going to
happen to our children, in what kind of society we want our grandchildren
to live. And mothers can do it much better than anybody else.
I do not think that we, in Israel, have solved many problems. I can say,
however, we know the problems facing us and have begun to tackle them.
We have become independent in a country where about seventy percent of the
land was barren and waste. Desert, stones and rocks. Experts and tens of
commissions have come to this country and told us "Nothing can grow in the
desert... Nothing can grow on rocks." And do you know, my friends, what our
attitude used to be to experts? It still is, to a certain extent. If an
expert commission came to the country and said "This is how you should do
things," they were very welcome, and we studied the reports carefully. If
an expert commission came and said "No, this you cannot do," we said "Thank
you very much," and the report went to the wastepaper basket. This is our
country, we have no other. And each one of you, you have no other country
but your own. If it is a rich country good for you, you are fortunate. If
it is a poor country, it is still your country, and you have to do the best
you can. The greatest natural wealth of any country is not the gold, the
diamonds and the iron ore, but the people you have. A people that has a
pioneering spirit, that is devoted, can make a poor country rich. A people
that is neither pioneering nor devoted to serving the country can make a
rich country poor. It depends entirely upon the people.
This gathering and others that we have had in this country, but this one to
me has a special significance, is important not only for the practical
results that we will have by exchanging views, by mutually learning from
the experiences of others, but it is symbolic that we all get together in
one place, not in order to discuss how we should oppose somebody, but in
order to be together for everybody.
In this Seminar you will not be asked to pass any resolution against
anybody nor to demonstrate against anybody. Nor will you be asked to
sympathize with a desire to destroy anybody. No. In this Seminar, we want
to learn how to live better, how to help our children live better.
We all have a tragic past. Not the same: some for colour, some for religion
- for different reasons. This we all have in common. We have travelled a
long path, discrimination, sorrow, pain, and no people that respects itself
forgets its past, nor should it. But the past should be put in its proper
place: to be remembered, to be told to our children. They must know. None
of us has anything to be ashamed of. But let us put it in its proper place,
and not dwell upon it too long.
You know, it is easy sometimes, when things are difficult, to run back to
our past because we have somebody to blame, somebody who harmed us. It is
nice to have somebody to blame. But the past is gone, and now we are on our
own. We have to live in the present and plan for the future.
Since the challenge is so great, we must help each other. I know that all
of us need help and get help from old, developed countries. That is not
enough. We, among ourselves, can help one another a lot. We are similar;
our needs are similar. If we put all our experience and all our effort
together, we can make it, we can reach the point we are all hoping for.
I cannot tell you how happy and proud we all are that you have come here.
It is a colourful gathering, with each national dress expressing, something
of the character of the people. You have all come here not knowing each
other, and when you leave we shall have gained something which is the
dearest of all - mutual understanding, friendship and knowledge of other
people.
We know that this world is troubled and torn, and planning for peace
depends partly on us women. Nobody can afford war, but new people even less
than others. And perhaps if all peoples of the world, East and West, North
and South, would sit together to discuss child welfare - I mean even the
Heads of States, supposing they would get together at a Seminar to discuss
child welfare, and health problems and the place of woman and the place of
man, and what to do - I am sure they would speak a common language.
So getting together in friendship and understanding with a sincere desire
for mutual aid - this is the great thing of this conference. We are
happy that you found it important to come to a conference of this kind,
anywhere, and that you have been sent by your Governments to Israel. All of
you are very welcome here.
I sincerely hope that you will find this Seminar instructive and that you
will also enjoy your stay here. This is a tiny and poor country. We are a
small people and have a long history, a tragic history. But we are also an
obstinate people who just refused to go down. We prayed, wept and fought
and lived to see the great day of freedom and independence. Therefore do
not be surprised that we understand and look for friendship among your
peoples. It is customary in the world now to say "no strings." No strings
attached (i.e., no prior conditions) except friendship and understanding.
And cooperation.
So welcome to Israel. Our mayor has already welcomed you to this beautiful
city, ringed by mountains and sea. The heights and horizons you find in
this city may be symbolic of people who dare to dream and plan. Sometimes
the dreams and plans come true.
May you be happy while you are here, and return back to your people, able
to give something of the experience gathered through this conference, in
order to help your people in this great forward march of humanity, in which
the new countries are called to play so important a role.
I shall say "shalom," which means peace, peace to all of us, peace to the
world, and good luck to all of you.
Text of the 1961 Resolution
We, the participants in the Seminar on The Role of Women in a Developing
Society, held in Haifa, Israel, April-May, 1961,
evaluating the program of the Seminar and the experience gained by us,
appreciating the value of the interchange of information among ourselves
and the organizers of the Seminar, and of continuous cooperation,
considering the importance of Israel's pioneering achievement in social and
educational fields to other developing countries,
propose:
- to form a council consisting of representatives of the twenty-two countries who participated in this Seminar plus two organizers from Israel;
- to nominate a small planning committee from among the participants, the
committee numbering one third of the council plus two organizers from
Israel;
- to charge the committee with the responsibility for:
- establishing a centre in Israel with a secretariat to serve as a
clearing and forwarding agency collecting suggestions, material and
requests;
- promoting future national and international activities for the
advancement of women.
The proposal was adopted by us at the final session of the Seminar, held in
Jerusalem, May 31, 1961.
signed
Evelyn Dunn - Burma
Lu-Bu Jangma - Burma
Rose Belinga - Cameroon
Douddjo Mamma-Boubaoua - Cameroon
Vinitha Fernando - Ceylon
Firmine Kailly - Congo (Brazzaville)
Louise Sita - Congo (Brazzaville)
Marie-Josee Kamitatu - Congo (Leopoldville)
Dolun Ali-Riza - Cyprus
Despina Apostolidou - Cyprus
Georgia Demetriou - Cyprus
Evanthia Michaelidou - Cyprus
Thekla Michaelidou - Cyprus
Angeliki Neocleous - Cyprus
Hatidje Tahsin - Cyprus
Amelie Foadey - Dahomey
Sergut Senegiorgis - Ethiopia
Marie-Augustine Ambouroue - Gabon
Yvette Cardot - Gabon
Jeanne Mba-Ndong - Gabon
Bernadette Tsouka - Gabon
Patience Akunor - Ghana
Docia Sasu - Ghana
Elisabeth Spio-Garbrah - Ghana
Parvathi Kailasapathy - India
Sarah Paul - India
Rochelle Shah - India
Mariam Bouboutou - Ivory Coast
Jeanne Chapman - Ivory Coast
Rahab Gichuru - Kenya
Eleanor Majale - Kenya
Rachel Towett - Kenya |
Ruth Vuyiya - Kenya
Williette Dennis - Liberia
Elisabeth Gibson - Liberia
Jannet Bolarinwa - Nigeria
Cecilia Ibekwe - Nigeria
T. Ayo Manuwa - Nigeria
Gladys-Adebisi Odebiyi - Nigeria
Felicia Onyeador - Nigeria
Veronica Uvieghara - Nigeria
Soledad Ocampo - Philippines
Rose Basse - Senegal
Oulimata Fall - Senegal
Aiussatou Sokhna - Senegal
Fatou Thioye - Senegal
Marie Toure - Senegal
Victoria-Olive Betts - Sierra Leone
Zenobia Wilson-Taylor - Sierra Leone
Dominica Chale - Tanganyika
Mary-Theresa Ibrahim - Tanganyika
Sarah Lucinde - Tanganyika
Cecilia Madimilo - Tanganyika
Celina Malu - Tanganyika
Naanjella Msangi - Tanganyika
Blandinah Mwambungu - Tanganyika
Ruth Ngowi - Tanganyika
Doangchai Chitrapongs - Thailand
Katie Kibuka - Uganda
Zebia Kwamya - Uganda
Florence Masaba - Uganda
Mary-Rose Nabaggala - Uganda
Lamissa-Florence Nignan - Upper Volta
Makoukou Ouezzin - Upper Volta
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