International Women's Day is held in March of each year, providing an annual opportunity to review opportunities available to the world's women. Each year's findings are similar: while the world's women are making progress, much more progress is possible. According to a 1993 United Nations report, women remain an under-utilized human resource worldwide.

In many countries, differential treatment for women includes poor access to basic safety, security, nutrition or health care resources; in other countries, differential treatment frequently is related to educational opportunities; and in other parts of the world - particularly industrialized nations - differential treatment often is reflected in unequal pay for women and men. For example, the International Labour Organization (ILO) reported that Japanese women earned about 57 per cent of men's earnings for comparable work, while in Norway women typically earned 85-93 per cent of what men were paid in the mid-1990s. Available data also show that women in business worldwide frequently have limited access to professional and managerial jobs.

Just as women in different countries face a range of challenges, women in the same country also might experience distinctive obstacles in becoming part of the paid workforce. Women are by no means a monolithic group either within or across nations.

Furthermore, national cultures differ in how they view women's actual or potential contribution to the paid workforce and, as a result, different theories have emerged to explain women's contributions to this area. Cultural differences also may account for the barriers that women face in becoming managers, and cultural stereotypes about women can play a large role in shaping the educational, legal and organizational opportunities offered to women. Just as women in different nations are not likely to face the same challenges to paid workforce participation, neither are they likely to share the same aspirations, hopes or dreams.

Barbara Parker & Ellen A. Fagenson