GEM: (2) What will it take to get women to that point?

Ms. Abzug: The way I look at the world--it's suffering a global nervous breakdown. Part of the reason why there is all this imbalance--the division between the rich and poor, which is widening--is the imbalance in decision making. I think it's very difficult for one part of the population to make decisions, particularly for life and death--for all parts of the population. The decision makers have largely all been male, and this has been the bloodiest century we've ever had--wars, violence, rape, internal wars all over the world. It's really unacceptable.

Women are not content any longer just to sit at the kitchen table. They started out in many countries trying to participate. Women want to be at every table. They want to be at the table that deals with economics, with globalization in this world. They want to be at the table where peace negotiations take place. They want to be an equal number with members of parliaments and congresses, they want to be equal in numbers of ambassadors. I don't know whether you know this but the average for women members of parliaments is 10%. We have 5 women ambassadors out of 189 countries at the United Nations.

It's difficult to go to those who have made decisions to undo their decisions. You need an infusion of new blood--an infusion of new elements. You need to have men and women sharing power. One of the ways I like to put it is we have done everything in pairs since Noah, except government. And I think that single governance has been something of a disaster if not a total failure. So some significant gender balancing has to take place in which men and women together on local, state, national, and international levels share the power and decision making as well as the responsibilities.

How do we intend to [make a change]? We're building a women's movement, and we've been making it larger and larger. It's world wide. It's where it's never been before. It has arms which reach out to many areas. It has legs which get to the key issues. It has a certain kind of brains which are trying to provide an alternate vision to the one that now seems to be governing the world. I mean how to solve disputes peacefully rather than through wars. How to be fairer about the economic resources of the world so that there isn't the constant, widening gap between the rich and poor. How to make sure that discrimination against groups is not on the increase, as it is, but is on the decrease by reason of changing cultures and laws.

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