While skimming through the
numerous papers and periodicals
which come to the house, I was
interested to read a condensed
report of the UN Commission on
the Status of Women, which re-
convened in Geneva last Feb-
ruary, Thought you too may be
interested in some of the in-
formation contained in the report.

- To date the Commission is
credited with having called into
being, three international con-
ventions that are legally binding
on countries which have become
parties to the conventions, They
are: the political rights of wo-
men; the right of women to give
consent to marriage; and the
nationality of married women,

Canada has ratified the con-
ventions on nationality and politi-
cal rights, but Ottawa has still
not signed the marriagé conven-
tion, The U.S.A. has avoided
ratifying all three).

The Commission report re-
flected the slow and uphill work
involved in breaking down all the
old prejudices and traditions that
exist in many countries as far
as women are concerned,
example: receiving the most
serious opposition from many
countries is the present UN
‘recommendation that age 15
should be set as the minimum age
for girls to marry, In a number
of tropical and far-eastern coun-
tries, many girls marryas young
as 12 years, or younger.

In Guatamala, only in 1956
were women given the right to
to access to public employment;
In Italy in 1956, women were
given the right to serve as jurors;
In Belgium, in 1958, married wo-
men were allowed to open a
savings account in their own name
and dispose of the funds,

In the Federal Republic of
Germany in 1958, married women
were allowed to engage in inde-

Women’s news
& viewpoint

By PEGGY CHUNN

For -

pendent work outside the home
without their husband’s consent;
there are many additional ex-
amples but space does not allow
for them,

In the area of political rights,

‘greater progress was chalked up,

The UN lists 112 countries in
which women may vote in all
elections and run for office onan
equal basis with men, About 80
of these gave the franchise to
women after 1945, Only nine
countries give women no voting
rights at all.

From a survey in -which 54
countries participated, it was

shown that 47 of these countries'

have had women elected to the
national parliament; 14 had
judges in high courts; 14 had
women ambassadors,

In the report, in all areas of
achievement, the Soviet Union
and other socialist countries are
pointed out as outstanding ex-
amples, In the USSR, 75% of all
medical doctors are women; of
100 workers in industry, 46 are
women; in education and culture
the figure is 62; and in public

health 86, Also the Soviet Union

has the highest representation
of women in the Supreme Soviet
of any country in the world,
(1958 figures are 366 women
deputies or 26.4% of the total,
four women members ofthe Pre-
sidium),

On the economic side, in the
world as a whole, 27 of 100 wo-
men work outside the home, One-
third of the world’s labor force
is made up of women; married
women represent more than half
of all women in the labor force,

TRIBUNE SOCIAL
Sat. April 23, 8:30 P.M.
at

_ HADVICK’S
|13707-105 Ave., Surrey
Good Food - Good Fun

All Welcome

BOOK WORTH READING

One of the most interesting
things about living in the chal-
lenging world of the ’60s is the
awakening of interest in all the
many facets of human life and
endeavor, Man is having to

re-estimate his past knowledge
and attitudes in the light of what

WISHART
LONDON

104 Pages..
Paperbound. $1.50

CO-OP BOOK STORE
341 West Pender Street.
Vancouver 3, B.C.

MU 5-5836

is happening today and what faces
him tomorrow.

«The Freedom of Art,” by
Honor Arundel, former film and
radio critic for the Daily Worker,
contributor to Marxism Today
and other journals in Britain,
is an important Marxist contri-
bution to this debate,

“We know that political and
economic questions are capable
of solution and that increased
technical and scientific discov-
eries make leisure a possibility,
if not yet a fact, for everyone,
This means that the arts willas-
sume an ever greater importance
in our lives.” No one disputes
this fact, the problem of what
to do about it is what confounds
most people,

This is not a book written
only for artists, It is for every-
one who ever goes to see a film,
who «watches TV, listens to music,
classical, folk or popular; for
those who never go to an art
gallery and those who do; for
those who like or don’t like
Picasso; for those who like
theatre, poetry or novels;
above all it is for those Marx-
ists who are timid about the
“Arts,”

—Margaret Apps,

and .

By PETER TEMPEST

MOSCOW — Presenting afive-
year economic plan to raise the
Soviet people’s real incomes by
30 percent, Premier Kosygin
called for new moves to enable
nations to spend less for war
and more for peace,

“We will respond favorably to
and support any initiative which

is really aimed at keeping and.

strengthening peace,’’ the Soviet
Premier told the 23rd Com-
munist Party Congress last week.

“Our main concern is to avert
the threat of a new world war,’’
he said.

“We have said many times and
now say again that we see harm
and danger in the arms race
into which the imperialist powers
and, foremost, the United States,
have drawn mankind,

«If it depended only on us, we
certainly would make consider-

able reductions in military |
: spending and correspondingly in-

crease investments in the peace-
ful branches of the economy,”
he declared.

Noting the 50 percent growth
of Soviet trade with capitalist
countries over the past five
years, he said extensive East-
West trade “can improve the
international situation.”

In the next five years the

“Communist Party’s aim was a

big expansion» of Soviet industry
and a steadier growth of agri-
culture to achieve ‘‘a substantial
rise in living standards,”

The five-year targets he listed,
though some may be less than
Nikita Krushchev’s long-range
forecasts, give the lie to reports
suggesting a slowing down of
Soviet economic progress.

HOUSING: 16 million new
town flats (480 million square
metres) and 2,500,000 country
homes — to provide better hous-
ing for 65 million people, com-

LEONID BREZHNEV, was re-elected
leader of the Soviet Communist Party
as general secretary. The CPSU Con-
gress concluded last Saturday.

pared with 54 million in the past

_ five years,

WAGES: A20percentincrease
in five years,

PENSIONS: A 30 percent rise
in old age pensions paid to in-
dustrial, office and farmworkers,
The minimum rates of disability
pensions to collective farmers
will be raised, too,

NURSERIES: Facilities will be
increased to provide for 12,200,-
000 children at creches and nur-
series, thus fully meeting urban
needs’ and much improving the
position in country areas,

CONSUMER GOODS: 8,500,-
000 refrigerators (compared with
4,700,000 in the past five years),
30 million radios (22.5 million)
and 27 million television sets
(12 million) with nation-wide re-
ception via Soviet Molniya relay
satellites,

Efficiency in industry will be
increased by extending the new
production planning and incentive
system to embrace a third of all

‘Spend less for war’
Kosygin plea at parley

industrial workers by the end of
this year.

Whenever this system, which
embodies much of the Lieberman
proposals, has already been in-
troduced, production and profit
plans have been over-fulfilled,
State budget revenues increased
and the workers have increased
their take-home pay.

Capital investment in the next
five years will be 47 percent
more than in the past five-year
period,

Kosygin criticized grave
shortcoming in capital construc-
tion — “the organizations called
upon to plan and regulate it did
not fulfil their obligations,” he
said.

‘The capital goods industries
would continue to grow faster
than the consumer goods indus-
‘tries, but the growth of the former
would be cut from 58 to 49-52
percent and the growth of the
latter speeded up from 36 to
43-46 percent,

There will be further advance
to removing the considerable dif-
ferences between town and
country. Investment in farm
construction and machinery
would double the investment in
the previous five years. Income
tax paidby collective farms would
be halved,

Kosygin said that for the first
time the Socialist countries of
Europe have co-ordinated their

‘economic plans for a five-year
period, The Socialist countries
were now meeting 95 percent of
all their requirements for ma-
chinery and equipment from their
own production and mutual trade.

Enjoy Good, Home-Cooked
Meals at

Jennie’s Cafe
335 Main St.

@ Modern equipment

_ @ Dining room service

Classified Advertising

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COMING EVENTS

RUMMAGE SALE
SATURDAY, APRIL 23rd
10 a.m, to 1 p.m.
1.0.0.F, HALL
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SAT. APRIL 16,8 P.M, —

HOUSEWARMING at Steve’s -

beautiful new home — 1023
WESTMOUNT DRIVE in PORT
MOODY, Good food, entertain-

ment, dancing to live music, ~

Kingsway Press Club,

APRIL 23 — You are invited to —

attend a BANQUET in honor of
Ukrainian Pioneers who immi-
grated to Canada 75 yearsago,
SAT, APRIL 23rd at 6:30
P.M. Ukrainian Canadian
Centre — 805 E. Pender St.
Admission $2,00 per person,
Come and meet _ your old
friends,

BUSINESS PERSONALS

CALL NICK — 4 Transfer and Big
7 Furniture, New location, 16°56
E, Broadway.Phone TR 4-5410.

“NEST END RADIO — Special-
izing in TV Repairs, Latest
precision equipment used.
(Formerly OK Radio Service).
Now at 1721 Robson Strect,
MU 3-2618, :

‘REGENT TAILORS LTD, — Cus-~
tom Tailors and Ready-to-
Wear, 324 W, Hastings St.,

-MU_ 1-8456 or 4441 E, Has-,

tings — CY 8-2030. See Henry
Rankin for personal service,

FOR SALE — Kenebec and Red
Pontiac potatos at $2.50 per
100 lbs. Carrots, Cabbage,
Unpasteurized Honey and farm
fresh eggs. A. MURYN, 363
No, 5 Road, Richmond,

HALLS FOR RENT

CLINTON HALL, 2605 E. Pender.
Available for banquets, mnee-
tings, weddings, etc, Phone
AL 83-9964, end

RUSSIAN PEOPLE’S HOME —
Available for meetings, ban-
quets and weddings at reason-
able rates, 600 Campbell Ave.
254-3430.

“PENDER
| Auditorium

(Marine Workers)

339 West Pender
Phone MU 1-948]

Large and Small Halls
for Rentals

April 15, 1966—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 2 —