THE IRAN-CONTRA HEARINGS : Abzug Bemoans Lack of Women

WASHINGTON — Women are conspicuously missing from the Iran- contra hearings, aside from secretary Fawn Hall, “who shredded and regretted and finally told,” former Rep. Bella Abzug said Thursday.

“There isn’t even one woman from Congress or the Senate sitting in on this hearing--and this is 1987,” said Abzug, a New York Democrat.

She said “there are no women players in the Contragate scandal, aside from Oliver North’s secretary, who shredded and regretted and finally told, putting the public interest ahead of her boss.”

While excluding women from making foreign policy is discriminatory, “perhaps we should be grateful for that because it leaves us free to hoot from and criticize from the sidelines,” she said at a news conference.

But, she added, if women were given the option, “I believe we would be ready and willing to take the risks involved with active participation in determining foreign policy.”

Abzug made her remarks as she announced publication of the “Women’s Foreign Policy Council Directory,” a reference work that includes biographies of 275 women with foreign policy experience.