"From the way he treats us, it is easy to see that God is a man." So said Madame de Tencin, Montesquieu's mistress. Historically hampered by archaic laws and antique moral codes, European women have accepted their lot much more readily than their American counterparts. Recently, however, growing numbers, taking a cue from their more combative sisters across the Atlantic, have launched their attack on male chauvinism.
So far, the most spectacular high jinks of Women's Lib have taken place in The Netherlands. The Dutch fighters, many of them chic and in their 20s, call themselves Dolle Minas, or Mad Minas. The name comes from the appellative that was usually applied to Wilhemina ("Mina") Drucker, a Dutch 19th century suffragette. The Dolle Minas have mirth as well as method in their madness. To attract attention, they burned a corset in front of Mina's statue in Amsterdam. Then they marched through the city and defiantly pinned bright pink ribbons across the portals of men's public toilets as a protest against the lack of similar facilities for women.
The Dolle Minas have also embarked on what amounts to mass sensitivity training for Amsterdam males. In broad daylight, they wolf-whistle at men, visually undress them with dare-me eyes, and call out suggestive remarks. Some have even pinched the guys in a sort of derrière-guard action.
If other European Women's Lib movements do not equal the élan of the Dutch, they all agree on a list of basic goals. To a woman, they demand liberalization of divorce and abortion laws, more widespread dissemination of information on birth control, more effective enforcement of equal-pay-for-equal-work laws (throughout Europe, men often earn 20% to 30% more than women). But each country has individual problems:
SWEDEN. The country is a model for feminist groups around the world. In order to prod husbands into encouraging wives to take a job, the tax laws have been rewritten so that next year married men will be taxed at the same rate as bachelors—a financial jolt to men with non-working wives. Stay-at-home wives are frowned on as "luxury housewives" by the ruling Social Democrats. Sweden's education system recently has been deliberately changed to eliminate the differences in the assumed "sex roles." Schoolboys do needlework and study homemaking, while the girls take courses in auto repair and manual training. "Nobody should be forced into predetermined roles on account of sex," says Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme, whose own wife works as a child psychologist.
Even Swedish women want more. Angry women Socialists have organized Group 8, which demands equal working conditions, more child-care centers to free mothers for work, and painless child deliveries.
BRITAIN. A British father has the sole authority to decide on the children's religious upbringing and education, which the wife can challenge only in the courts. In case of a divorce, British women often have no right to property acquired during marriage. This spring, Lib ladies picketed the Miss World Contest with signs reading MISUSED, MISCONCEPTION and MISGUIDED. Later they plastered lingerie ads with stickers saying "You earn more as a real whore."