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By The Associated Press Edited by Jamie Karl Friday, August 25, 1995 Page 2 Women still paid less than men, UN says GENEVA—At ;he present rate of change, it would take women close to half a millennium to occupy the same number of top-level jobs as men, the International Libor Organization said Friday. In every country in the world, women are paid less than men for the same work,.the U.N. labor agency said in a report released oefore next month’s U.N. World Conference on Women in Beijing. Women are a permanent part of the work force now and not a second ary labor force as in years gone by. But equality of treatment is still a very I-———■ long way off,” said ILO spokesman John Doohan. Women earn on average one-third less than men, according to the ILO report. The difference is partly due to the fact that more women work part time, but mostly it is because they are undervalued as employees, it said. Women are still tied to traditional “female” jobs such as teaching and human services, and are grossly underrepresented in decision-making and managerial positions, even in the most highly developed countries, the report said. “Men dominate the highest corpo rate and institutional positions every where in the world. The ILO esti mates that at the present rate of progress it would take 475 year^ for parity to be achieved between men and women in top level managerial and administrative positions,” the report said. Statistics compiled by the ILO in 30 developed and developing coun tries show little change in the wage gap between rnen and women over the past decade. In the United States, women took home on average 18 percent less than men in similar jobs in 1993, and female managers in Canada earned up to 15 percent less than their male counterparts. Surprisingly, women in Sri Lanka fared best, earning just 4 percent less than men in 1993. “This may be explained by the high level of female education in Sri Lanka and by their strict system of minimum wage fixing which covers both men and women equally,” Doohan said. Women made up one-third of the world’s work force in 1990 and are expected to make up half by the turn of the century. Nevertheless, they still tend to be restricted to certain kinds of jobs which are lower-paid and have poor job security, the report said. More women than men work in legally unrecognized and untaxed work such as sales on the street, and many work part time, said Mary Chinery-Hesse, the ILO’s deputy di rector-general and leader of the the ILO delegation* in Beijing. “Part-time or full-time, women’s jobs tend to be the least secure,” Chinery-Hesse said. “Women still tend to be the last to be hired and the first to be fired.” Couple awarded millions after bill collectors harassed them EL PASO, Texas — The phone calls came at all hours of the day and night, interrupting Marianne DriscoFs sleep and disrupting her work. The callers threatened her life, she said. They called her a “bitch” and worse. Ultimately, she fled El Paso with her husband - all be cause a collection agency was pres suring the couple to pay a $2,000 credit-card debt. Now, it’s the credit-card com pany that owes. A jury awarded the Driscols $ 11 million, ruling that the bill collec tors hired by the company went too far. “They literally scared the hell out of this poor lady,” Mrs. DriscoFs attorney, Noel Gage, said Thursday. “She cracked, they broke her, they literally broke her.” The state jury ruled Wednesday that Household Credit Services Inc. of Salinas, Calif., and the now defunct Allied Adjustment Bureau violated the state Debt Collection Practices Act. The law prohibits debt collectors from threatening violence or making harassing or obscene calls. The Driscols were awarded $9 million in punitive damages and $2 million in actual damages. “It’s outrageous,” said Household’s attorney, Robert Skipworth, adding that the com pany will appeal. Household must pay the entire amount since Allied has folded. Collection agents made numer ous profanity-laced phone calls to Mrs. Driscol’s home and office in 1991 and 1992, made at least one death threat and phoning in a bomb threat to her place of work, accord ing to the lawsuit. Household didn’t dispute the Driscols’ complaints but said Al lied was an independent contractor and was doing things on its own, in breach of its contract with House hold. Allied never responded to the lawsuit and offered no defense at the trial. Household received several complaints about Allied and even tually terminated the collection agency’s contract, Skipworth said. Gage said, however, that even Household employees made threat ening calls to the Driscols. Gage said the Driscols eventu ally moved to New Mexico, but he wouldn’t say where. “I personally don’t think they (the bill collectors) are going to bother my clients anymore. They know better,” Gage said. “But my clients don’t know that. No matter how much I tell them, they’re still very, very concerned.” The problems began in 1991, when Mrs. Driscol began falling behind on a Household Visa credit card account. Her husband, Albert, was working only sporadically at the time. Though she was working at a personnel office when the bill collectors first called, she had been unemployed when the couple ran up much of their debt. Household called to demand its money and threatened to send someone to collect when Mrs. Driscol, 52, said she could pay only about $22 a month. “And that’s when things started going downhill and the campaign of harassment began,” Gage said. “They started off calling her bitch and they were using profanity.” Things got worse when the ac count was turned over in 1992 to Allied. Alliedagents,whoseiden tities were never discovered, began making repeated calls to Mrs. Driscol and harassing her at her new job at a personnel office. At one point, her employer logged 26 calls in two hours. In February 1992, a bill collec tor called and told Mrs. Driscol that she had better look over her shoulder and ihat a contract would be put out on her life, the woman claimed. The next month, a bomb threat was phoned in to Mrs. Driscol’sjob. Gage said he is certain Allied made the threat. The Driscols, who have no children, left town after that. That ended the harassment. News... I in a Minute Iraq admits to bio-warfare plans UNITED NATIONS—Iraq had mis silesand bombs laced with germ war fare agents ready for use during the Gulf War, and its program to build other weapons of mass destruction was larger than suspected, a U.N. weapons inspector disclosed Thurs day. Allied forces during the Gulf War suspected Iraq had biological weap ons, but it was never proven. Toxins were contained in “scud missile warheads, rockets, and grav ity bombs,” said Charles Duelfer, spokesman for the U.N. Special Com mission on Iraq. Iraq has also acknowledged it de veloped more of the germ agents - anthrax and botulism - than it previ ously said, and that production oc curred at more sites, said Duelfer. Commission chief Rolf Ekeus will brief the Security Council on Friday on the new disclosures, which were made by Iraq over the past week, Ekeus’ report will play a major role in determining whether debili tating trade sanctions against Iraq are lifted, a move the United States has adamantly opposed. Disneyland slips speeder a Mickey ANAHEIM, Calif. — The third time Katrina Laurent was stopped for driv ing too fast, she lost her Disneyland pass. Estimated speed: 4.5 mph. p Laurent, a 35-year-old who uses a wheelchair because of cerebral palsy, admitted she drove the battery-pow ered chair faster than usual Saturday. She had an excuse: She wanted to get across D^ney land’s Main Street to the Pocahontas >ho v before the Lion King parade blocked her way. Another customer complained about being bumped by her wheel chair. Laurent denied bumping any one, but Disney revoked her $199 annual pass for at least a month. “I’m extremely sad about it,” said Laurent, who visits the park almost every day. For the past four years, Laurent said, she has saved up for a yearly pass out of her $500 monthly Social Security payments. It was the third time Laurent had been cited for speeding, said park spokesman John McClintock. Nebraskan _ _ ^ „ FAX NUMBER 472-1761 The Daily Nebraskan(USPS 144-080) is published by the UNL Publications Board, Nebraska Union 34,1400 R St., Lincoln, NE 68588-0448 Mondew through Friday during the academic year; vyeekiy during summer sessions. ’ ' Readers are encou raced to submit story ideas and comments to the Daily Nebraskan by phoning 472-1763 between 9 a.m andSom Mondav through Friday. The public also has access to the Publications Board. For information, contact Tfrn Hedeoaard, 436-9222 * '■ ■ . utonaajf Subscription price is $50 tor one year. Postmaster Send address changes to the Daily Nebraskan, Nebraska Union 34,1400 R St,Lincoln, NE 68588-0448. Second-class postage paid at Lincoln, NE. _ * ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT _■ IMS DAILY NEBRASKAN Human nghts-activist released from China BEIJING — Chinese-American human fights activist Harry Wu, de tained two months ago on spy charges, was on his way home Thursday, ex pelled from China just hours after he was convicted and sentenced to a 15 year term. His speedy expulsion removes a major obstacle to improving relations with the United States, which have sunk to their lowest level since diplo matic ties were established in 1979. It also raises Beijing’s interna tional profile as it prepares to host a U.N. conference on women that is expected to draw nearly 40,000 del egates from around the world. U.S. Embassy spokesman Robert Laing said Wu left Shanghai on a Chinese airliner bound for San Fran cisco, where he was expected to ar rive Thursday evening. His sudden release took his wife, Ching-Lee Wu, by surprise. “I am too happy to really tell my feelings,” she said, smiling as she spoke briefly to reporters on the front -awn of their home in Milpitas, Calif., near San Francisco. Wu spent 19 years in Chinese la bor camps before emigrating to the United States in 1985. Beginning in 1991, he made four clandestine trips to China to research, document and film abuses in China’s extensive “re form-through-labor,” or laogai, sys tem. His television documentaries showing widespread use of prison labor to manufacture exports and the transplanting of organs from executed prisoners earned him international attention, and he became a frequent witness at congressional hearings on China’s human rights abuses. Wu, 58, was taken into custody on June 19 as he attempted to enter China a fifth time, this time at a remote border crossing with Kazakhstan. He went on trial Wednesday in Wuhan Intermediate Peoples Court, said a State Department official in Washington, and was convicted of spying and stealing state secrets. The court sentenced him Thursday morn ing to a 15-year prison term and said he would be expelled. The United States had pressed for his release on humanitarian grounds. A U.S. diplomat who visited Wu in prison twice, Dan Piccuta, attended the trial, said the State Department official, who briefed reporters on con dition of anonymity. The official said* China informed the United States Aug. 18 that Wu would be tried, and that government officials and Mrs. Wu had agreed it would be best not to publicize the information. Wu appeared to be suffering back pains during the trial, the official said, and he took medicine - appar-' ently from a supply Piccutahad deliv ered from Wu’s wife. By trying and convicting Wu, China wanted to show that it was “I am too happy to really tell my feelings. ” CHIKG-LEi WU wife of released human-rights activist justified in arresting him. The 15 year sentence shows that China’s Communist rulers were stung by Wu’s revelations. Resolution of the Wu case opens the door for first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton to attend the United Nations’ Fourth World Conference on Women, which begins Sept. 4 in Beijing. Her attendance would be a feather in China’s cap, but she has delayed a decision on whether to attend. In Wyoming, where President Clinton is vacationing, spokeswoman Ginny Terzano would not say whether Mrs. Clinton would now go to Beijing, adding that Wu’s case was only one of “a number of considerations.” Wu’s case was resolved as U.S. Undersecretary of State Peter Tamoff arrived in China to try to improve relations. Tamoff is the highest-rank ing U.S. official to visit China since a visit by Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui to the United States in June put relations on a downward spiral. Wu’s trial was not open to foreign news reporters and was not publicly announced in advance. Laing said Wu and his attorney decided not to appeal. The first public word of the trial ~ and sentencing came Thursday morn ing from the government-run Xinhua News Agency, which moved increas ingly detailed dispatches on Wu’s crimes throughout the day. The na tionally televised evening news de voted several minutes to Wu’s trial, and followed up the newscast with a special 15-minute report on Wu. Xinhua also filed a long report Thursday night on an interview with the court’s chief judge that detailed Wu’s crimes, including alleged of fenses dating back to his college years, and quoted from his purported letter of confession. After thinking carefully and self examination, I have sincerely drawn the conclusion that the following facts show that I have damaged the inter ests of the Chinese government and the Chinese people directly or indi rectly and that I have violated Chi nese laws,” Xinhua quoted the con fession as saying. A confession is required of anyone who runs afoul of Chinese authorities no matter how minor the offense. Wu listed specific acts dating back tojiis 1991 trips that violated Chi nese law, including filming and pho tographing in labor camps and pos ing as a businessman.
