Introduction :The patriarchal heritage revisited / Lynne B. Iglitzin -- Part one : industrial democracies -- Policy impacts and women's roles in France / Joelle Rutherford Juillard -- West German women : a long way from Kinder, küche, kirche / Peter H. Merkl -- Elusive equality : the limits of public policy / Ingunn Norderval -- Italy and Ireland : women, church, and politics in two Catholic countries / Mary Cornelia Porter, Corey Venning -- From the moon to the sun : women's liberation in Japan / Kazuko Sugisaki -- In the land of the patriarchs : public policy on women in Israel / Ellen Boneparth -- The gender gap in American politics / Marjorie Lansing -- Part two. Developing countries -- Law, education, and social change : implications for Hausa Muslim women in Nigeria / Barbara J. Callaway, Enid Schildkrout -- Political activism and Islamic identity in Iran / Eliz Sanasarian -- The Egyptian woman : trends today, alternatives tomorrow / Fadwa E. Guindi -- Female political participation in Latin America : raising feminist issues / Jane S. Jaquette -- Women in Colombia / Steffen W. Schmidt -- The status of women in Mexico : the impact of the "international year of the women" / Adaljiza Sosa Riddell -- Women, the family, and the state : Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore-newly industrialized countries in Asia / Janet W. Salaff -- Women in India : the reality / Neela D'Souza, Ramani Natarajan -- Part three. Communist countries -- The Soviet Union in the women's decade, 1975-1985 / Joel C. Moses -- Yugoslav women / Beverly Springer -- Women's rights, family reform, and population control in the People's Republic of China / Kay Johnson.