BACKGROUND

The General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1975 as International Women's Year for the purpose of defining a society in which women would participate fully in economic and political life. To further this aim, an international conference was held in Mexico City in 1976 and a World Plan of Action was adopted for the ten-year period, 1976-1985, proclaimed by the General Assembly as the Decade for Women. The themes for the Decade were: Equality, Development and Peace.

A mid-Decade world conference was held in Copenhagen in 1980 to evaluate progress and adjust priorities. The End of Decade Conference and Forum '85 were held in Nairobi to assess the Decade and ratify the Forward-Looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women to the Year 2000.

The following broad recommendations summarize the goals articulated in the World Plan of Action:

• efforts should be made to promote functional literacy in order to eradicate illiteracy among women
  
  
• adult educational opportunities should be provided to all women, especially those who have had to interrupt their studies owing to family responsibilities or poverty
  
  
• extensive measures should be taken to diversify women's vocational education and training in order to extend their employment into occupations that are non-traditional
  
  
• a fully integrated system of training, having direct linkages with employment needs, should be created and implemented in order to avoid under-utilization of human resources
  
  
• educational program's to enable men as much as women to assume equal responsibility in the up-bringing of children and the maintenance of the household should be introduced at all levels of the educational system.