Feminist International Networking on the New Reproductive Technologies (FINNRET)
FINNRET is an international women's network with 542 members in 10 countries. The network is involved in the international education of women on the interaction of technology, population policy and the goals of sexual equality in facilitating the involvement of women in the decision-making processes concerning health, population, and social welfare policies within their own countries.
FINNRET was established at the Second Interdisciplinary Women's Congress, "Women's Worlds: Strategies for Empowerment» in Groningen, the Netherlands, April, 1984. It aims at:
- monitoring developments in the areas of genetic engineering, cloning, in-vitro techniques, embryo transfer, sex selection and experimentation with human/ animal hybrids;
- assessing the implications of these and related practices, such as surrogate motherhood and artificial insemination, for the future socio-economic position and well-being of women internationally, and investigating their impact on family structures;
- bringing together members of the network periodically to pool information, relating it to international population policies, and developing a set of optional policies and strategies for women's groups to consider and discuss.
For more information, contact:
FINNRET, c/o Janice Raymond, Women's Studies, University of Massachussetts, Amherst MA 01003, USA.
Asian-Pacific Women's Network (ACFOD)
This women's network of the Asian Cultural Forum on Development was created in November 1983. Its participants are women involved mainly in organising work at community level in twelve Asian and Pacific countries; Ao tearoa (New Zealand), Australia, Bangladesh, Belau, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.
"Together we analyse the problems of women in Asia and the Pacific, our common vision and strategies. We have identified the urgency of running a women's centre and formulating programmes to establish links with the most oppressed women in this region. We will work with these women in order to reorientate our outlook and realise our own potentials and capabilities for self-reliance in various aspects," said a woman from the network.
The network met in Trivandrum, India 1522 January, 1985, and decided:
- to gather local materials on women's issues
- to contact local women's groups and individuals to build local networks
- to have a joint campaign on «Women Workers' Rights and Solidarity» September 1985
They concluded that Asian women have to "Struggle not only against modern and capitalist exploitation but also the deeprooted patriarchal-cultural dominance of men; an inheritance from pre-capitalist socio-economic formation."
For more information, contact:
ACFOD. P.O. Box 2930, Bangkok 10500, Thailand
Action Committee Under Muslim Law of Women Living
An international network to exchange information and mobilise action to improve women's situation in the Islamic world, this network was created to fulfill the need «to compare our Muslim women's legal and practical situations, losses and gains, ways of standing up for our human rights, to communicate with each other, break the limits of the Arab World in which we are usually confined, to exchange information and build documentation; to share our experiences in order to improve our situation; to set up a network for circulating this information,» a woman from the Action Committee said. The urgency in forming this network is felt especially in countries where the organising of women has been made illegal. Networking and information become of primary importance in helping Muslim women relate to others in order to break the silence and isolation. Documentation produced by Muslim women will be circulated and exchanged through groups of women in the network.
For more information, contact:
Action Committee of Women Living Under Muslim Law Combaillaux 34980, France.