In Europe, women are generally not tokens, and are much more politically empowered than the currently tokenized US political women, with the gender percentages in office ranging from 30%-70% in most countries, and near 50-50 in the Nordic countries and French cities. (compared to the regressed US 13% women and 87% men). As such, European women and the men who are their partners provide examples of good models for US and other women seeking equality around the world. But even these European female and male heroes need assistance and recognition from all the world as they bravely do loving battle with the as yet not fully and humanly evolved dominator-males of their nations and continen:
Against the backdrop of the new 50-50 gender parite law wisely and valiantly brought into being by the women of France's manifesto, (with the women and men-profeminists in Europe's support), the law's pioneering parents, reformers Professor Sylvianne Agacinski and her husband, April 21st Presidential Candidate Prime Minister Jospin, are being compared with the also purportedly pro-parite (but is he really?)candidate, current President Chirac husband and wife, Bernadette. It is an important contest of gender prejudice trying to give way to degrees of gender balance in Europe.
France's municipal government became gender balanced under the Parite Law in March 2001, something that American media has tried to hide from American women and men who love them. While Jospin and Chirac of France vie against each other for national executive leadership that perhaps will now also one day be shared by male and female, the candidate's wives, who could be parliamentary deputies and executives soon themselves under the new law, "fight" for their men, Agacinski as a champion of equalite, but Bernadette less clearly so. The husband and wife teams are, to some extent, working as partners, and interestingly, their competition is further heightened by the presence of the #3 candidate, a woman, Arlette Laguiller. All these candidates are focused on bringing in votes, especially women's votes deemed critical to the cultural and political spectrum outcome. But Chirac's commitment to gender parite may not be as strong as Jospin's, and if he were elected President on April 21, the gender parite selection of the French National Assembly on June 9 would likely get less support from him. Yet, even as this was occurring, in readiness for the geopolitically important vote on April 21, another Frenchman was finding a new arena, not national, but continental, to discriminate against women and avoid balance - in the European Union; but he could not do so unnoticed:
Valery Giscard D'Estaing, former French President who heads the European Union's Convention, presided over the exclusion of women at the EU Convention. Out of a total of 105 members, women who were there were tokenized at 16. And only 2 women are on the EU Executive Board.
But the French-farce irony of D'Estaing's negative example was noticed and protested by Anna Karamanou, Chair of the European Union's Parliament's Women's Rights and Equal Opportunities Committee, joined by an international chorus of protest from other women, and pro-gender balance men, of the nations of Europe. As her name reveals, Karamanou is of Greek heritage. The "battle" is worthy of a Greek myth.
Just as the American women need to mobilize to address the tokenism of their nation assisted by French, Swedish, Australian, Canadian Asian and African women the world over, so now must French women, and the good men of that nation get and give assistance in reminding D'Estaing that gender imbalance in the EU is not good, and will not work.
IF the EU Convention continues to attempt to avoid gender balance, it's time to remind them that only in ancient culture could it be that the Europa was not yet fully a lover of Zeus, but his rape victim, when he turned into a bull as a disguise. This will not work in the telecommunication and information age, and an age of global sisterhood partners of brotherhood. It is much harder to commit a bull-like "rape" of a continent whose people, women and men alike, are communicating with the whole world over the internet and by international phone call and fax.
In this day and age, men who attempt to play God (Zeus) as a beast like bullying God over women of their own nationality or any nationality on the continent of Europa, will discover they are not able to ride Europa as a naive girl. The women of Europe, and our world, have emerged from the mythic age of human-animal metaphor. The gender balance of humanity is about our combining our mental and angelic nature, our mind, even above our beastly origins. If the EU cannot attain gender balance, it will be likely be tossed off by Europa, now clearly a continent of everyday citizen goddesses as well as citizen gods who favor gender-balance in government, not domination by dominant-males of any nation(s).
In our times of the internet global brain, male and female in balance in leadership bring forth the Godliest-Goodliest, loving and productive natures of both genders' natures when they are full partners, neither riding the other in domination, but soaring to their intellectual and spiritual potential as equals. Whatever scheme D'Estaing has in mind for the moment, the EU will itself, soon become gender balanced - as soon as the women of the world, and their wise pro-feminist men, in their wisdom and godly nature as equals, come to each others's aid using good modes of international partnership, teamwork and outreach in telecommunication, especially over the internet.
Every thinking women, and man concerned about the world's economy in democracy, should urge US and Asian women to protest and transform the gender imbalance at the EU Convention, seeking the assistance of the modern citizen goddesses, Karamanou and the women of European nations, to do so. For if gender imbalance attempts to ride the economies of Europe, it will threaten the economies of the US and Asia even more than they have already suffered from the war-economies of dominator-malism, and a worldwide depression and war-cycle, or worse, could occur. Gender balance in the economic decision-making of every continent it the best and quickest path to good international governance and lasting prosperity. It is the best way to avoid war and destruction. And conversely, it is the best way to open the best future to humanity, on a peaceful earth, and venturing into space. Karamanou is clearly the Beauty; and we wish D'Estaing and his financial centurions on both sides of the Atlantic increased respect for women and the joy of being fully human beings. It is a much better way for any man to live than by being a pandering but monogenderist promoter of a gender imbalanced $ystem of Mammon, the Bea$t. American, French and Global women must unite strongly behind gender balance and parite in France and Europe, and around the world. That means that women everywhere should send a clear message to France and Europe about sustaining gender parite, and watch closely the April 21st Presidential election and its follow-ups through the National Assembly election on June 9 with full support for parite, to insure the issue of gender balance in government is the first official issue for every politician around the world. Let them be joined too, by the men and women partners of Rajiv Gandhi's devoted wife, Sonia Gandhi's and her male partners in India, and the men and women of all the Nordic countries, leading the voices of brothers and sisters of good government around the world, and American men like Michael Moore who is the US's best selling author and one of its leading voices for women's full political equality including Executive Partnership, and Anders Johannson, Mrs. Heptulla and the men and women of the gender balance group of the InterParliamentary Union. For hundreds of millions of men and women around the world are declaring - if it isn't gender balanced, it just isn't government. Heaven and Earth, The God(s)-Goddess(es) is (are) awake and watching! Happy Earth Day 4/22(2x2)2002!
Send your support and a copy of this to Anna Karamanou at
socintwomen@gn.apc.org
You can write to Michael Moore in the US at mmflint@aol.com Linking the Old
and New World, they are already brother and sister, along with the other
men and women listed below among other real leaders, in leading the world
toward Good and Gender Balance that befits an Earth Day of a New Millennium
You can link to the sites of Jospin and Laguiller,
as well as the sites of Chirac and the other candidate
top-running candidates at
http://www.france-sites.com/presidentielle/candidats.phtml
The sites have email addresses should you wish to
send support to Jospin and Laguiller. (There is also
a black African women candidate running, Christiane
Labiqua, although with less votes expected.)
Jospin can also be reached at
webmaster@premier.ministre.gouv.fr
(wife Agacinski may have a public email address at EHESS in Paris
where she is philosophy professor as well, but we could not locate it
yet. Her book, Parite, is now available in many US bookstores)
You can write to Anders Johnnson and Najma Heptulla, and the men and women of the InterParliamentary Union's Gender Partnership Group, at postbox@mail.ipu.org or ny-office@mail.ipu.org. The IPU is the more democratic counterpart and world liason to the current United Nations, which is also striving for gender equality but is mired in old ways at present. But many in UN are working feverishly to transform it toward the gender awareness and mutual empowerment being spearheaded and has been becoming more quickly mature at the IPU.
Links about gender balance in government around the world, including
the French Parite law brought into
being by Agacinksi and Jospin, are available at
http://www.oocities.org/worldofgood/links.html
A New Global and Universal Declaration for Gender Balance in
government, which defines as national or international government only bodies
which represent 75% of the 50-50 of both genders, thus, as least
37.5% of both genders in office, is being widely disseminated on the
Internet available at:
http://www.oocities.org/theuniversaldeclaration/thedeclaration.html
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