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Show ASi8’S WOMED cons on soe by the parents, She would have no say in a divoree, either. Only a man can inStitute divorce proceedings. All he has to do is mail his a time. He must alwavs make an appointment with the girl's house. Both sets of parents as ago when Prime Minister Sato well as the family astrologer told reporters a story of how father to secure permission to must agree to the marriage be- he beat his wife. I couldn’t un- because my escort precede me through the door, then continued right on while make an appointmentto see the girl. The dates are at the girl’s fore the ceremony can be held. derstand why he would wani to makea public announcementof the door came winging back at me, At Nichigeiki Music In Cambodia, a man rarely wife a package of betel nuts. This symbolof life and fer- Hail, I was the only female waiting for the eievator. The elevator came, the door opened, and the wall-to-wall tility is exchanged by the couple at the wedding, and if a postman knocks at the wife’s door one day and “3 reasons why I’m glad Hawaiian Punch Sunshine Orange has as much Vitamin C as orangejuice!” hands back that package of nuts, it means, “Pack up, Sari, you’ve had it!” The husband also pays a divorce fee of 250 rupees to the government—that’s roughly $30. Woman's status in other Far East countries is not much better than in Nepal. In Moslem lands, polygamy remains a fact of life, and a woman loses whatever small standing she may have by being only one of many. The prophet Mohammed ‘Mytriplets love Sunshine Orange becauseit’s a sweeter orangeflavor... never bitter and no pulp like orange juice. It has seven natural fruit juices. All that great taste and Vitamin C too! Perfect!" permitted men to have up to four wives in order to maintain a steady population growth. The Koran says the husband must provide equal treatmentforall wives, and sometimes this presents problems. When I was writing the life story ‘ trance. As I bent to pick them up, men ofall ages— including college students and honorable grandfathers —stepped all over me murmuring “Ah, so.” In Vietnam, the life of women in the cities has changed somewhat due to live backward, onerous lives. Half of them give birth to children without even the help of a midwife. Among the primitive mountain tribes, expectant mothers toe. are made to lie atop slats which are heated by red-hot coals, and they remain there until two days after their baby has been born. The theory is that only in this way can mother and child be cleansed ofevil spirits. would be late—or to tell No. Three, the reigning favorite, that he wouid be cutting his time short with one of the others to be with There are, of course, women in Asia who have risen to high position. In- her. He maintained four homes for his wives, and dira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India, is an obvious example. So is the Queen of kept a schedule for appertioning his weekends and Thailand. So is Mme. Ban- nights with them. daranaike, Prime Minister of Ceylon. And so are a number of women in countries like Pakistan and Iran Skarno was a_smalltimer compared to Cam- A Cambodian girl may go at out with only one fellow A: Takashimaya’s department store, I dropped an armful of parcels at the en- the impact of the American he was hard-pressed to keep his appointed rounds. Often, he would dispatch me to tell Wife No. Two, the most powerful one, that he bodian husbands who are allowed seven wives. The Cambodian system of dating, incidentally, is like something out of a Marx Brothers comedy. A Cambodian miss may not have her first date until she is 18 and may date only a young man who is a longtime family friend and has the same kind of home, background, and schooling. face! presence. In the countryside, however, womenstill ind of the late President Sukarno of Indonesia, I noticed crowd of males trampled over me, swarmed inside, shut the gate, and left me behind with egg on my who serve as government ministers or hold other official positions. These women, however, had the advantage of lofty house. If they want to go to a movie later on, poppa and mama must tag along. If the boy friend serves notice that he intends to marry the girl, he may date her once a week—but again, only at her 1971 Family Weekly, January 17, takes a woman out before he marries her. In Japan, he never takes her out afterwards. De- spite all the industrial advances made in the Land of the Rising Sun, women haven't progressed much. I was in Japan not long this, and a Yokohama newspaperman explained to me, “He deliberately put the story out in order to build up his image!” In Tokyo this past summer, I was clobbered by a plate-glass door leading to a coffee shop family position or family wealth, and, in any case, they represent only a tiny minority of the distaff population. For the vast majority of Asian women, life has changedvery little over the centuries. In comparison to them, the American woman is blessed. @ |