CAREER PATTERNS OF MEN AND WOMEN IN RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT‐CONDITIONS AND PERSPECTIVES: FRAMEWORK AND DISCUSSION POINTS

The purpose of this article is to introduce the conference, the topics to be discussed, and to lay down its parameters. In general, the proceedings fall under four principal rubrics concerned with the consequences for sexual equality of the democratization of higher education, the role of positive discrimination programmes, the legal and professional status of researchers, and strategies for the integration of gender equality issues into R&D.     

LEGAL LITERACY IN HIGHER EDUCATION

The departure point of this article is the assumption that the United Nations, in particular the Commission on the Status of Women (set up in 1946) and the specialized agencies of the organization, have provided decisive influence in establishing throughout the world the individual rights of women: The impact of the international community in promoting the advancement of the status of women has moved them in the course of this century into the mainstream of social change. Apparently, a new educational philosophy, related to the personal rights of women and men, will have to be formulated for the twenty‐first century. Since inter‐university co‐operation related to international teaching and research is being strengthened, why not benefit from the multilateral achievements mentioned cursorily in this article, which would allow the more efficient use of scarce resources? It therefore seems perfectly obvious that the objectives of the International Literacy Year 1990 and its follow‐up plan of action should be used to invite higher education to make efforts to promote “legal literacy” up to and beyond the year 2000.     

A SUMMING UP

The article provides a concluding summary of the debates occurring during the Conference on Career Patterns of Men and Women in Reseach and Development: Conditions and Perspectives. As such, it also comments on some of the papers which were presented and thus have appeared above.