This thought-provoking volume, dedicated to the International Women's Decade, reflects the decade's themes of equality, peace, and development. Experts assess the progress that has been made, lament the failure of nations to take more steps to improve women's status, and analyze the divisive issues that have been at the forefront of concern and have limited the achievements of the two United Nations conferences on women. With its broad perspective of women's involvement in political systems and processes in the Middle East, Latin America, Europe, the United States, and Japan, this highly insightful book confirms the critical importance of culture in determining female political status and behavior. The chapters reflect the diversity that results from the different levels of general socioeconomic and political development of the nations in which the world's feminists live, and the importance of culture, economic factors, and ideologies in determining the variety of visions women have about the ultimate purposes of their lives and the social change being sought.