In the course of the polylogue, the presentation and analysis of the life narratives had a gradual de-stereotyping effect. For instance, the popular distinctions frequently attached to `North' and `South' (such as: rich/poor, assertive/subdued, modern/traditional, active/passive, etc.) appeared to make little sense with regard to women's perceptions of themselves and of their role in society. The descriptions of the women in these fifteen stories, in deprivileged as well as privileged situations, in countries of South and of North, serve to unravel stereotyped images of women. Although they do not manifest grandiose heroic self-images, neither do these women define themselves as typically passive, weak, oppressed, irrational and sacrificers as opposed to active, strong, powerful, rational, dominant. And there are, of course, a great range of characters, from the subtly strategic to the confrontational, from the inwardly pensive to the outspoken.

Even under conditions of physical abuse and fear for the life and existence of their communities, whether in the Southern or Northern hemisphere, hardly any of the women in the narratives describes herself as a victim. Without denying the presence of oppressive power structures, what these women saw as important were the forces that gave their life a meaning and a sense. There was a great diversity of what these stimuli and sources of energy might be. It became evident that one's `identity' is contextual and in that sense multiple. Women, just like men, change their priorities according to situations and moments of time.

The narratives reveal a blend of strength and vulnerability. The women in the stories often combine a feeling of not being fulfilled or stimulated to their full potential with a determination to fight for (and often achieve) what makes life worthwhile for themselves and for others. They often relate imposed `respons-ibilities' with a consciousness of their `ability-to-respond'. Their role of caring for others is a question of choice rather than compliance. However, many do have to contend with the fact that the task of caring for others is imposed upon them as if self-evidently — something which many do not appreciate.

Some of the individuals in the stories choose to function in the public sphere; women do not always shy away from leading positions which imply power. However, they are not willing to take on such roles at the cost of other things that contribute to their personal fulfilment. In contrast to the image created by some internationally-known women who have occupied powerful political positions, for many of the women in the stories the problem with `power' seems to lie in keeping the balance between `power over' and `power to', in an arena where the former is more frequently sought after.

Whereas some Southern feminists have reacted to a Western feminist discourse representing `the third world woman' as a category of human beings who passively accept oppression and victimization, the life narratives suggest that feminists worldwide could be blamed for comparable generalizations. By stressing so publicly and so insistently the subordination of women, feminists in both North and South have implicitly reinforced the distorted image of women as passive acceptors of this situation. Their often indiscriminate use of words like `empowerment' has contributed to that image. It implicitly suggests that women lack `power', thus veiling the fact that `power' is a multi-faceted phenomenon which may take many different forms and is exercised in many different ways — including the possibility of women exercising power over other women in an oppressive relationship. (…)

The stories about women in situations of severe material poverty and exploitation, or psychological oppression, show intriguing similarities of response. In spite of physical suffering and the threatened annihilation of one's feeling of being a person in one's own right, many women in the stories are witness to remarkable efforts to resist this erosion of the self. Relief is often sought in relating the personal identity to a shared group identity; in entering into a close relationship with non-human manifestations of life, such as Nature; or in symbolic signs of one's dignity as a human being. Striking descriptions of responses to this identity The stories about women in problem were given by Esperanza Abellana from the Philippines and Nicole Note from Belgium. (…)

The female body : Marvel and Battleground

A close look at the life narratives shows that the women described are not confronted with the same kind of social pressures in all places and at all times. Yet, there is at least one striking field of tensions which all women have to deal with: responses to the female body from the social surroundings. The woman's body has long been seen as a marvel, admired for its aesthetic value: one has only to walk the corridor of any art gallery to see that the female form is and always has been considered an object of beauty. Yet because of the way certain reactions to it have been institutionalized and sanctioned by religious institutions, cultural practices, political powers and commercial needs, the female body has become a battleground for cultural and religious identity as well as for economic competition.

Examples from the narratives were complemented by other examples emerging during the discussions at the Encounter. They highlight three aspects of this field of tension: male control over the female body; the imposition of patriarchal and commercial perspectives on the female body; and the complicity of religious institutions in targetting the female body for power purposes. (…)

To be fair, it should be noted that it is not exclusively due to men that the female body is targetted for cultural and religious identity or commercial purposes. Patriarchal systems could not operate without the collusion of women: they participate in bolstering militaristic societies, maintain customs like clitoridectomy and collaborate in the use of women's bodies to advertise commercial products. It would be too passive a conception of women to claim that they were simply forced to do so.

To the extent that similar challenges are posed at different times and in different places, they are, however, not always and everywhere equally strongly present. There is a growing diversity of views and practices within families, within societies and between societies. Thanks to new (in particular technical) possibilities of female control over the female body, together with solidarity through women's movements, male control over the female body is running up against changing views in various places in the world. Similarly, the imposition of patriarchal or commercial perspectives and the complicity of religious institutions are not equally strong within different groups of the same society or in different parts of the world.

This variation contributes to the fact that in any given period of time women in different parts of the world and in different sections of society struggle, and have to struggle, on different frontiers. They assign different priorities to the arena in which they want to and can struggle. Their actions vary from straightforward confrontation to peaceful action, humour, irony, dramatization, or hitting hard at economic interests, often using their body in acts of symbolic ju-jitsu. (…)

It seems that the common element in all these reactions is in the realm of connections. The women here have a problem with tendencies in religious institutions which lead to separation rather than connection: separation between the institutions, conflicts over interpretations of `the books' of the religion concerned, dis-connections between the mind, the heart and the body.²What they are looking for is a spirituality which unites rather than divides.³ The responses to this common search, however, were not and are not likely to be the same. Fortunately. Because the diversity of responses is bound to be mutually enriching as long as it is seen as a search for experiencing the wonder that is Life. (…)