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daily nebraskan
friday, december 8, 1978
Foreign women say they are gaining rights at home
By Alice llrnicek
Statistics indicate that not one in five foreign students
on the UNL campus are women. According to Linda
Becker, international student adviser, there are 688 male
and 126 female foreign students.
Interviews with four foreign women students from Af-
Friday and Saturday Dec. 8 and 9
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ghanistan, Nigeria, Tanzania and Hong Kong suggest that
while conditions are improving for females in their coun
tries, attitudes still have a long way to go.
Shukria Popal, an Afghanistan graduate student in
education and architecture, said women in her country
have only recently gained rights.
"Women became unveiled only 25 years ago," she said.
"Before that they didn't go to school."
Education through the Afghanistan university level is
now free for all students. The government supplies
scholarships to outstanding students and there "is no dis
crimination between sexes in awarding them.
'Depends on culture'
However, she said, a number of advantages are working
for the women in America.
"So much of it depends on culture," she said.
"In the U.S., when a woman is married and her chil
dren are grown, she can continue her education. Back
in my country this doesn't happen."
Although there are no restrictions on the type of jobs
women can perform, she said, most lean toward teach
ing, medicine, civil engineering and clerical work.
"Most prefer to be teachers because then they only
have to work half a day."
Popal believes there is a large disparity between the
U.S. and Afghanistan in attitudes toward sex.
"In America, a woman is seen as a sex object," she
said. "A woman is like a puppet. Men are using women.
"But in Afghanistan, there is more respeci for
women."
Higher moral standards
The difference could be attributed to a higher moral
standard in her country, she said. There is little rape or
other sexual crime in Afghanistan.
"Sex is not free. Women are valued. A man has a lot of
respect for them."
She said standards are higher because women live with
their parents until married. Dating doesn't begin until a
much later age and most are "simple relationships," un
like in the U.S.
One inhibiting factor has been the Islamic religion,
Popal said. Religious priests prefer to keep women from
working in positions commonly occupied by men. The
attitudes of the religious leaders are contradictory to the
basic Moslem law.
"At the time Mohammed was born, men and women
were working side by side," she said. "Slowly people got
the idea that they were unequal. But that isn't true. In our
holy book they are equal."
More repressive
The situation for women is perhaps more repressive in
Nigeria, according to reports from Yetunde Soyege, a
graduate student in food science and technology.
"Parents put more restrictions on ladies than men
whatever they do," she said. "Men can take care of them
selves but women are easily influenced."
Because Nigeria is still a developing country, there is
a need for educated people, she said. The government sup
plies scholarships to go to another country such as the
U.S.
Men receive more financial help because "women de
pend on men," she said.
"Men are very ambitious and want to take care of their
family when married. Now there are such restrictions on
what women can do."
This leads to a fear by the parents that something
might happen to women who are sent abroad, she said.
"Parents are afraid that their daughter will be
befriended by a man and won't return to the country to
take care of them."
"My brothers can go out anytime and come back," she
observed. "But because I am a woman, I am restricted. My
parents don't want me to get into trouble.
"Even now when I go back I will live with my parents
till I'm married," she said. "They feel they have a respon
sibility to care about me."
Likely to be lonely
In Nigeria, the belief is that women sent abroad are
more likely to become lonely because men can find
company more easily , she said. For her own part, Soyege
has not had a hard time meeting people.
Another advantage for women in the U.S. is education-
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al opportunities. There is little chance for graduate work
in Nigeria.
"If I go home I know I will have a better job which will
put me at an advantage."
Margaret Mkuchu, an undergraduate student in horti
culture, sums up her native country Tanzania as a "trad
itional society in which there are things men can do and
women cannot do."
If a single woman receives a scholarship to go abroad
she is free to go. However, if she is married she must have
the consent of her husband, Mkuchu said.
As in the U.S., she said, everyone is allowed to go to
school. But this is a change which has only come about
recently.
"My grandfather didn't let his girls go to school,"
she said. "He assumed that while they were married,
they would want to help the family and so he only edu
cated the boys."
Jobs opening
Job opportunities are finall opening up for women, she
" said.
"Women used to not be allowed to join agriculture be
cause there were some that thought they couldn't do it."
There have also been changes in attitudes toward
dating.
"Nowadays it's okay for a boyfriend to date a girl
friend if he is staying alone."
The attitudes are not as free as those in the U.S.,
though, she said.
"Here a woman is independent. In Tanzania she is not
independent until she is married. If she never marries,
people wonder what's wrong with her."
Because she has grown up during the transition of
attitudes, she believes the changes have affected her.
"There have been more opportunities for women.
Women can defend themselves."
Little discrimination
In Hong Kong, larger families usually send over males
before females depending upon their wealth, reported
Bernadette Lo, a graduate student in food and nutrition.
But she stressed that there is "not much discrimination
back home, Hong Kong has been Westernized to a certain
extent."
"There is much more opportunity for women (in the
U.S.), even for men," she said. "You can do almost
anything you want if you try."
There is no discrimination in education in Hong Kong.
"Only a limited number can get in the universities.
Everyone must take a public exam and be evaluated."
The reason more men travel to the U.S. to study, she
believes, is the traditional attitudes that "guys are the
breadwinners who take care of their families."
There is no discrimination in immigration laws, except
against poor people.
UNL students trying
for GM prize money
A group of UNL business students will determine the
best way to market and advertise the 1979 Chevrolet
Chevette as participants in the 1979 General Motor Inter
collegiate Marketing Program.
The competition, offered to 20 leading business
schools across the country, is designed to offer a real
world marketing advertising experience to students in
these disciplines.
The UNL team, headed by Dr. Ira Dolich, chairman of
the marketing department, will be competing for a top
prize of $5,000 for the university.
Team entries consist of an oral presentation plus a
written treatise, judged on the quality of the market re
search and creative strategy.
Members of the top five teams will go to Detroit in
May to present their winning ideas to senior General
Motors management and to share in awards totaling
$12,000.
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