tural adjustment, deteriorating terms of trade, and contraction of national economies. Just as girl children are the first to be pulled from school during times of economic hardship for individual families, so at a societal level are women workers the first to loose their jobs or suffer from worsening conditions of work. This has been combined with increased pressures on women's reproductive roles due to decreases in government provision of many social services under structural adjustment programmes. So while the importance of women's economic contribution to their families has continued to grow, their income-earning opportunities have been contracted. This situation is clearly not sustainable, for countries or families, and demands attention at the highest political levels. But too often those in positions of power are oblivious to the harsh realities of women's lives, and there is an absence of female decision-makers to sensitize these men and lead the movement for change.
POLITICAL REPRESENTATION AND PARTICIPATION
Women's invisibility, subordinate status and inequitable access to education are both a cause and an effect of their lack of access to decision-making positions. Although women comprise roughly 50 per cent of the world's enfranchised population, they occupy only 17 per cent of parliamentary seats worldwide, only eight per cent in Sub-Saharan Africa and three per cent in the Arab States." Currently Ghana has 16 women in a 200 member parliament, exactly the Sub-Saharan average.
Florence Abena Dolphyne points out how the gender gap in education results in a gender gap in political power. In most African countries, an ability to express oneself effectively in the language of the former colonial power, English, French or Portuguese, is a prerequisite for serious participation in Parliament or politics. She notes that the "low level of women's participation in formal education has, therefore, effectively limited the number of women who can hold responsible positions in government, or even participate meaningfully in the political life of their countries beyond the level of their local communities."37
Women have been poorly represented at policy-making levels on the boards of statal and parastatal bodies. Ghana's National Council on Women and Development (NCWD), established by the government in 1975 to promote the objectives of International Women's Year and the UN Decade for Women (1976-85), has been working towards improving women's involvement at this level by compiling a directory of qualified women in various professions who should be considered for Board positions as they arise. While the NCWD estimates that there are sufficient numbers of educated women with qualifications comparable to most male Board members to comprise one-third membership of all statutory bodies, it remains a battle to keep at least one woman on all Boards.38
The importance of having women in policy and decision-making positions at all levels could hardly be overestimated. These women provide insight into women's concerns and how they are affected by government policy, and can help to initiate and direct the implementation of programmes and activities in support of women's interests, their health,education and political participation. Furthermore, such women can act as role-models for a younger generation of African women seeking to throw off the chains of their oppression and break the hold of the serpent.
While women in decision-making positions and in government are best placed to push for greater gender equity in education, employment and political participation, the vast majority of women feel powerless to affect such changes, trapped as they are in a subordinate position within the gender division of labour in the home, the fields and the workplace. For these women, the weight of culture and tradition keeps their sphere of influence small. In my next lecture I propose to examine the role of culture, tradition and law in restricting or promoting greater gender equality. If Africa's Eve's potential contribution to economic and social