Life on the Global Assembly Line

Film, 58 minutes, rents for $100 and sells for $850. From: Lorraine Gray at Educational TV and Film Center, 1747 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20009 - USA.

This film by Lorraine Gray et al vividly tells the stories of women workers in Free Trade Zones in the Philippines and Mexico, along with efforts of US workers to halt plant closings and runaway shops; interspersed with interviews with government and corporate officials who bluntly state the case for maximising their profits.

The Consolidated List of Products Whose Consumption and/or Sale Hi-Tech Network

Maureen Paul, 147 Mason Terrace, Brookline, MA USA 02146. Tel. (617) 956-6060 (work) and (617) 232-4568 (home).

This network is seeking to develop and carry out comprehensive political strategies around multinational high-tech industry. Some areas of work include health hazards in the industry, economic consequences of hi-tech development, labor organizing, racial discrimination in the hi-tech industry, military uses of hi-tech equipment and much more. Plans include a possible international conference.

Have Been Banned, Withdrawn, Severely Restricted or Not Approved by Governments

Available free of charge from Mr. Luis Gomez, Assistant Secretary General, United Nations, DIESA - PPCO, DC 2 18th Floor, New York, NY 10017, USA.

This is a life-saving directory that may well turn the tide on trade in hazardous products, published in 1984. A must for all concerned, this report is well-organized with an index of familiar brand names. Hurry up to get your copies because a second edition is underway and there is a battle brewing inside the UN about "sanitizing" it by removing product trade names.

Development, Crises and Alternative Visions: Third World Women's Perspectives

by Gita Sen with Caren Grown.
DAWN, c/o Institute of Social Studies Trust, S.M.M. Theatre Crafts Building, 5, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg, New Delhi-110 002, India.

This book was a contribution from the DAWN group to the Nairobi Forum. It attempts to review the development experiences of the developing countries from a gender perspective, and analyses the sources of the current crises the world is gripped with—food, fuel and water crises, the balance of payment and debt crisis, militarization and violence and a crisis of culture. The book emphasizes and draws the links between macro policies and their malignant effects on the poor and especially women and shows beyond doubt that women have to be concerned with so-called "politics" - the mechanics of policy setting in the world - if there is to be any improvement in their situation. Although the picture before us on the situation of women is bleak, the book ends with a courageous and hopeful note that all of us can derive inspiration from: "Although the Decade that proclaimed so bravely "Development, Equality and Peace" has given so little of these to the majority of the people, what we have learned in its course has already empowered us for the long haul ahead."

Asian Woman Spaak Out

by AWRAN in co-operation with the Women and Development Network of Australia. Available from AWRAN Secretariat, c/o PILIPINA P.O. BOX 208, Davao City 9501, Philippines. A 14-Country Alternative Asian Report On the Impact of the UN Decade for Women.

"The decade has had little impact on the women of Pakistan. Only a handful of them are even aware that such a decade existed" - from the alternative report on Pakistan. These and many more testimonies on the impact of the women's Decade on the majority of Asian women are featured in the above report. The report is an effort to find a collective voice to state things as they really are. Since governments presented "official" reports on the improvements in women's situation in their countries, this was visualized as an alternative - a report by women from the concerned countries assessing the situation of women from a women's perspective and framework. The report analyses for each of the 14 countries, the relative position of women in employment, education and health, the NGO and government initiatives, and feminist consciousness and the women's movement. It notes that the Asian situation, characterized by the preponderance of repressive military or civil dictatorships has resulted in the slow emergence of the women's movement in the region. Nevertheless, like the DAWN report, it assures us that this reality has had its brighter side as well, in as much as it has given women the impetus to stand up against it and challenge both their gender and class based exploitation.

Between  Our Selves: Women of Color Newspaper

P.O. BOX 1939, Washington, D.C. 20013. Subscriptions - individual $10/ year (6 issues); institutions $15; contributing $20 or more.

This is a quarterly feminist newspaper launched early this year, by, for and about women of color. It intends to be a forum to discuss the thoughts, activities and organizing efforts of women of color in the United States and elsewhere.

The Anvil: Special Issue, July 1985

The Women's Liberation Movement — Is it thunder without rain or A slow rolling stone gathering moss? Published by: School of Journalism, University of Nairobi, Kenya.

This is a special issue of Nairobi University School of Journalism's training newspaper brought out as its contribution to the End of Women's Decade Conference. It is a unique collection of articles about Kenyan women's achievements in the areas of social and economic development and politics, most of them written by women.

Unwinding Thread: Writings by Women in Africa

Selected and edited by Charlotte H. Bruner, African Writers Series, Heinemann Educational Books, 1983 £2.80.

This collection of writings by African women tells articulately and feelingly the lives and experiences, the conflicts and desires of women from many different parts of Africa - the "pioneer" West, the South, the North and the East. The stories intimately and searchingly portray the lives of African women and bring us closer to understanding their situation than any scholarly treatise on the subject possibly could.

Strong Women, Strong Unions: Speeches by Union Women

by Joan Kuyek, Madeline Parent, Judy Darcy and Linda Briskin. Published jointly by the Participatory Research Group and the Canada Employment and Immigration Union. Available from; The Participatory Research Group, 386 Bloor Street West, Toronto, Ontario M55IX4, Canada.

This booklet is a collection of powerful and inspiring speeches by women leaders of the Canada Employment and Immigration Union at' their Women's Conference and National Convention in 1984. In these speeches, the activists clearly delineate the issues of women workers as women and as workers, and underline possible strategies and struggles that need to be undertaken. A useful resource for all concerned with the organization of women workers.

Boletin del Movimlento de Mujeres 8 de Marzo, MM8

Rua Esmeraldino Bandeira 120, 20961 Estacao de Riachuelo, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil.

A bulletin which includes news, opinions, and information about the Brasilian women's movement. The first issue was published in June 1985.

It aims to be an "open, free and democratic space where women can discuss their proposals, exchange ideas and contribute to the search for solutions to their problems".

Mujer

CEFEMINA (Centro Feminista de Informacion y Accion), Box 949, San Jose, Costa Rica.

The first issue of this magazine was published in June 1985. Their objective is to "be a channel of communication, and organization; a communications channel between all Costa Rican women".

CEFEMINA has created a network of professional women which through the magazine are trying to begin an extensive, dynamic and organic collaboration between women.

Mujer y Desarrollo

Nora Galer, Virginia Guzman y Maria Gabriela Vega, editors. Serie Experiencias de Desarrollo Popular no. 4, Centro de la Mujer Peruana Flora Tristan, DESCO Centro de Estudios y Promocion del Desarrollo, Parque Hernan Velarde 42, Lima 1, Peru.

This book is a report of the workshop organized by Centro de la Mujer Peruana "Flora Tristan" in coordination with Alternativa, CESIP, Movimiento Manuela Ramos and Peru-Mujer on "Women and Development. "

Approximately 50 women in charge of rural and urban projects in Peru participated in this workshop. The purpose was to evaluate and discuss future development of women's programmes and projects. Basic questions discussed were the following: what needs do these projects respond to, what aspects of women's problems do they take into consideration, how do they change women's social value, how do they change and transform women's social participation? Another issue discussed was women's full participation in the country's economy and the alternatives that exist.

Some of the papers presented were: "Women's Participation in Rural Development Programs: Advancement or Regression?" by Nora Galer; Influences of Income Generating Activities on the Situation of Peruvian Women", by Jeanine Anderson; "Women and Urban Development" by Maria Josefina Huanan and "Women's Entrance in the Working Force and its Consequences" by Virginia Guzman and Patricia Portocarrero.

 Isis International

Is a women's information and communication service.

• Promoting communication channels among women around the world.
• Strengthening women's networks nationally, regionally and internationally.
• Providing information and models of action for women who are organising and mobilising against the oppression of women.
• Building links of support and solidarity among women's groups and organisations worldwide.

Through the Isis International Women's Journal, women around the world share ideas and experiences for mobilisation and organisation. The Journal provides a channel for women to make contact with each other and build up networks. Each issue of the Journal is produced jointly with one or more women's groups in the Third World.

Women in Action is the supplement to the Journal. It gives news and information about groups, conferences, events and resources - what is happening in the women's movement worldwide. The Journal and supplement each appear twice a year. Subscription rates are on the back cover. Isis International has a network of over 10,000 contacts in 150 countries and a resource centre with thousands of documents - magazines, studies, newsletters, pamphlets, etc. - from all over the world on the issues women are working on: health, women's alternative media, development, transnationals, housework, childcare, tourism, violence against women, sexuality, peace, theories of feminism and more.

Isis International:

• Provides technical assistance and training in communication skills and information management.
• Organises conferences and workshops.
• Produces Resource Guides: Powerful Images: A Women's Guide to Audiovisual Resources.

For more information write to us in our resource centres:

Isis International
Via Santa Maria dell'Anima, 30 00186-Rome, Italy
Tel: (06)6565842

Isis Internacional
Casilla 2067. Correo Central
Santiago, Chile
Tel: 490 271