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Worthy women

Janice TeoWanneroo Times

I APPRECIATED John Logan's letter in last week's edition headlined "Special mums".

Yes, we need to think about the role of women in our societies.

In my case, in Germany just after the war my father was not yet back, which was true for many other families, and the mothers had to take care of everything.

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When the fathers came back, the economy started to roll again and they were at work.

Things got a lot easier, but "the good times" when we children were an important part of a story under the command of our mothers were past.

Later, I worked in a bank in Germany in which more than half the staff were women but none was at the highest four staff levels.

To change that, some of the women were interviewed for those positions but most declined the jobs because they were married, had families or planned to have a family. They were very busy.

We did promote four but after two years three had gone. One of them was going to a very good job; better than a man.

Later I worked in Japan where again most employees were female in second-line roles in which they did a very good job.

But to do so they really sacrificed their private life. I tried to tell them to take more time off, but no, that was not the custom.

Those women added something special to the work – a co-operative spirit. You cannot pay for that.

In India, the women I spoke to said that, in line with tradition, they were not on a top level. Nevertheless, they said they were important: they chose rather to be teachers and so educate children.

The women were very clear in their mind and clear in their goal in that role.

I think that if women throughout the world had equal education, pay, chances and equal rights, our world would improve.

Looking at many offices around the western world and the developed parts of Asia, we are on the way.

I think that is good.

RAINER REPKE, Kallaroo.