ABSTRACT
The most salient aspect of this moment in human history is the globalisation of the market economy. Because human economic interaction inevitably involves an exchange of technology, culture and politics, as well as goods, the moment might be propitious for the globalisation of feminism, too. The feminist movements that have typified political life in the post-industrial Western nations during the twentieth century have left women with unprecedented power to influence world events. The potential for females in relatively advantaged positions to assist those who remain under truly crippling forms of patriarchy is more palpable than it has ever been. Certainly the need is great: the new world information systems horrify us with stories of honour killings, genital mutilations and other brutalities visited upon women in the developing nations. In the wake of the break-up of the former Soviet Union, women from the former Eastern bloc countries are dislocated, disempowered and, too often, forced into prostitution.
