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A message from WITNE's publisher

The economic history of women over the past 6,000 years or so has been mostly an unhappy history. Lack of economic opportunity and status for women have paralleled a lack of political rights and power in the majority of human societies. Even the marriage institution in parts of the world had its origins in patriarchal property rights.

In some developed countries very recently, significant progress has occurred for some individuals. In the United States and Western Europe, for instance, more women have gained access to higher education, as well as to traditionally male-dominated professions. In the U.S., more new businesses are being started by women now than by men, and in high-demand occupations, the gender gap in pay has finally begun to narrow. While both candidates in the 1996 American presidential election were still male, we knew during the campaign that, whoever won, the American First Lady would be a highly successful lawyer. Now, both are United States Senators.

Nonetheless, the economic progress of women has been limited at best, and history teaches that we can take nothing for granted. For instance, following earlier gains, women lost status during the Song Dynasty in China as well as in early India and Classical Greece. Also, during the past few years, the participation of women in the labor force has declined in countries such as Japan, Italy, and Peru, as male unemployment has increased.

We believe that we are in a period of fundamental economic transformation. Familiar structure is dissolving very rapidly, to be replaced by new institutional arrangements which, once they have solidified, will resist further change. The revolutionary new world economy presents a crisis for the world's women, if we understand "crisis" to mean a time of both danger and opportunity.

In the long-run, WITNE: Women in the New Economy will be a publication, a major reference resource, a source of ideas and information, and a clearinghouse through which interested individuals and organizations will be able to communicate with and assist each other. WITNE will also have a global orientation.

WITNE's editor is Teresa Callies who, in addition to her long involvement with women's issues, has traveled widely and thinks globally. For instance, she has a special interest in Greek culture and politics and has spent much time in that region over the past 20 years. Teresa also spent seven years on the staff of Minnesota Public Radio News. She is singularly well-suited to shape WITNE for the benefit of women througout the world during the new century.

Finally, a personal note: I knew my great-grandmother quite well and both grandmothers even better. Great-grandmother Kennett was born during the Civil War, but took me on shopping trips in downtown Los Angeles. She was a 19th century woman who successfully made the transition to the 20th century and lived until the middle of it. I have a mother, a wife, two daughters, and four nieces who are like daughters. I've also had thousands of women students and dozens if not hundreds of women clients, as well as a large number of women colleagues in the odd mixture of settings in which I have worked for more than 40 years. The economic security and well-being of women directly concerns half of the world's population, and should also concern the other half because of the girls and women in their lives.

Gary G. Johnson