Women's status counts

I'm favorably impressed by your international coverage and by your general avoidance of sexist language. I do, however, notice an omission in the "At a Glance" summation of Brazil (February, 1984).

I would argue that the status of women is an essential social indicator, as important as literacy or income distribution. Furthermore, the position of women is especially, relevant to the focus of your publication, because multinational corporations are notoriously fond of locating in countries with an abundance of cheap, expendable women workers, whose wages are even lower than men's.

I was surprised not to see any reference to women's status in the "At a Glance Section." Therefore, I'm writing to request that you include this extremely useful bit of information in future summations.

Penney Kome
Women's Place Editor
Homemaker's Magazine
Toronto, Canada

Happy librarian

I just received my first issue of MM and it is terrrrrific! I especially liked the "news roundup" section, the Bangladesh monkey article, the activists section of the "year in review," and the article/poetry by Meridel LeSueur.

I'm showing my copy to the business reference librarian at the library where I work. Hopefully she'll try to get the library to subscribe. Your publication offers a much needed different perspective relating to business; libraries need this to balance the lopsided corporate view dominating business periodicals. As most libraries are conservative and do indeed practice censorship, it will be difficult to get you accepted, but it's well worth the fight-I'll do all I can to help.

Thanks for being there, and for trying to present a needed realistic perspective in an area usually devoid of such. I look forward to receiving future issues.

Joe Lewis
Social Science Reference Librarian
Old Dominion University
Norfolk, Virginia

In defense of monkeys

In spite of Multinational Monitor's complacent acceptance of experimentation on Rhesus monkeys (January issue), the idea that these animals are "vital to medical research" is hardly a truism; it has in fact been increasingly challenged in recent years, though not of course by the companies that use the animals as commodities comparable to computers and TV sets. But even if this idea is correct, the fact is that a high percentage of these monkeys in medical and psychological research laboratories are used in experiments that are useless and utterly unjustifiable, such as those where the results were already well known.

Publications, in particular "progressive" ones, proclaim their dismay or horror at the exploitation of human beings, while maintaining a placid or even sanguine disregard for the ghastly abuse of animals (the phrase "monkey business" in Kathleen Selvaggio's article failed to amuse me), as though their misery were of no account at all. Such publications invite doubts about whether they are really much concerned about anything beyond the influence they might have on the course of events.

-Robert Becker
Baltimore MD

We sympathize with these concerns, which we unfortunately could not treat at length in our brief article. But the main focus of the article was on the trafficking in monkeys by American businessmen and the U.S. government's role in defending that activity, despite Bangladesh's express interest in protecting its wildlife. These concerns remain whether the monkeys are used in laboratory experiments or for more humane purposes. -K. S.

Wants MM in classroom

Your publication gets better and better.

I would like to use your June 1983 issue on steel in my seminar this term. You might think of doing more special issues with an eye to classroom and union bulk distribution.

MM has become my favorite publication for continuously useful information and analysis.

William K. Tabb
Professor of Economics
Queens College

Bulk orders of MM are available for classroom or other use.