Madam, - Graham Stull's otherwise well-argued letter about world poverty (25th May) ignores yet another elephant in the living-room: the suppression of women.
A distinguishing mark of all impoverished societies is the disempowerment of women. This is as true for the macho world of Catholic South America as for the Aids-riddled masses of sub-Saharan Africa and the teeming millions in the Islamic world. In these societies women are at best considered second-class citizens, at worst mere possessions or slaves.
Without equality there can be no escape from the medieval mindset, and hence no democracy. Without democracy there can be no progress. Let's hear it for the women of the world.
- Yours, etc,
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JOHN ROONEY, Belfast 15.