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What is being done about these problems depends on national and international politics. As Michele Landsberg pointed out in a recent column, Bush fils has already caused incredible hardship with his global gag rule, which bans funding to international agencies that so much as mention the word abortion. He has also reneged on $34 million for the U.N. Population Fund, which supports developing countries wanting “to improve access to and the quality of reproductive health care,” and is gearing up to take away support from the 1994 Cairo Program of Action, an agreement between 170 countries to address gender issues and aid socio-economic development.

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Lest we become complacent here in our well-serviced Canadian uban centres, women need to be reminded that we are a privileged elite, those of use who have access to advanced reproductive and contraceptive services and who have a say in how our bodies are used. We also need to be reminded that until EVERY WOMAN EVERYWHERE enjoys personal autonomy, and political and socioeconomic equity, and freedom from male violence - be it domestic or state-sponsored - the work of activists, women and men, is far from complete.

I say there're too many damn men in government. If women had more equal representation in the houses of government, perhaps some of these hurdles would be behind us by now, or at least we'd have a meaningful strategy for getting over them.