International Women's Day: To mark International Women's Day, Kitty Holland asks five women their views on life in their native countries - and their new one.

'Some Irish women do not use the opportunities there for them'

Munaza Jabeem, from Pakistan, has lived in Ireland since December 2000. She has a four-year-old son.

"Women in Pakistan are definitely second-class citizens, even though we have had a woman prime minister. If there are equal rights for women, it is for the 5 per cent richest. If a woman does not have a man to go everywhere with her - a father, brother or husband - she does not have respect."

Jabeem studied in an English school and so she was exposed to Western culture and the lives of women in the West, she says. However, though her father always encouraged her to be well educated, he also treated like her as if he "owned" her - she could not to learn to drive or raise her voice, and he told her which jobs she could take. "It made me feel like I was in a prison. I always wanted to leave, go to the West, go to America."

In Lahore, she worked as a journalist and later as a teacher. "In the newspaper I was one of the only women and the men used to talk like I was some kind of toy. They'd say 'Look how pretty her make-up is'." In the primary school at which she worked, she says some of the other women teachers were so poor and the pay was so bad they worked as prostitutes as well.

Her husband's brother had a restaurant here and they came to Ireland a number of years ago and had a son. "But my husband did not want me to go anywhere without him. He wanted me to keep my head covered. I felt very frustrated because I am a qualified home-economics teacher and I wanted to teach. We are separated now. I was working in a creche but I am trying to get registered as a teacher.

"Irish women are very lucky, though sometimes they misuse their power. Some look very negatively at men, behave abusively to them because they know they can get away with it. Other women do not use the opportunities there for them. They are not interested in studying or careers and only in becoming mothers."

'It is a bad time for women in Slovakia'

Zuzana Rajtarova, from Slovakia, has lived in Ireland since September. She has three adult children.

"I am a special needs teacher and came to Ireland to use my English," says Rajtarova.

She applied for a job here as a nanny, through an agency in Bratislava. The work, however, was "terrible" she says, and she was a domestic "slave" rather than a nanny. "I worked 11 hours on weekdays and nine hours on Saturday, cleaning and cooking. The house had 10 rooms and four children who had no manners. The four-year-old called me a f**ker. Can you believe that? I only stayed a month, though I lost six kilos. Irish women, I think, are very nice but not these women employers who have more money than love."

She has met many other Slovak women, she says, in this situation in Ireland, who have felt they had to leave Slovakia to send money home. "It is a bad time for women in Slovakia. When we had socialism all women worked and there were government creches. But now, it is funny, because the creches are closed and women have to pay for minders. My daughter is divorced and has a four-year-old daughter."

If marriages break down there are no supports for single parents, she says. Rajtarova's daughter and grandchild live with her and her husband in a small flat. "Men have more money than women and there are a lot of men changing their women for more attractive girls. They can because they have money."

Poorer families, she says, cannot send their children to university as they are no longer free. "That is hard on mothers. There is probably less of this in Ireland because it is a richer country for everyone, but there are some rich women here who see foreign women as their slaves."

'It is a lot of stress if men don't share the family work'

Michelle Wong, from Hong Kong, has been living in Ireland for 23 years. She has two adult children.

"I was born in China but lived in Hong Kong since I was two. When I moved here with my husband, Hong Kong was a British colony, so a lot of the culture was the same as here. In Hong Kong all women got good education and jobs, and expected to work hard. I studied secretarial skills and French and Japanese."

She was surprised when she moved here that many women did not go out to work. "I found them very backward. Hong Kong women were very independent."

The couple lived initially in Drogheda, and soon opened a restaurant in Swords and a take-away in Clontarf. These they sold, and they now run one restaurant in Donabate - the Ping Court. "Irish women have changed a lot. Irish life is much more colourful. Irish women are more independent, but still care a lot about their families. That is very nice, though maybe it is also a lot of stress for them if the men do not share the family work. I think there is a lot more separations and divorce than when we first came."

'If a husband and wife want to have a baby, they must get a baby card from the government'

Kaihong Liu, from Beijing, has been living in Ireland since August. She is married to an Irishman and they have a two-year-old son. "I own a traditional Chinese theatre school in Beijing. I have a manager and still run it from here."

She went to college and taught for six years before opening her college. "Families in China have just one child so no matter if you have a boy or a girl all parents expect their child will go to college and get a good job. If you have no job in China you get no support from the government, and as houses and education cost a lot, both mother and father work.

"The big difference I notice for women here is that they can have a baby without being married. This would not happen in China. If a husband and wife want to have a baby they must get a baby card from the government - it is very planned. If an unmarried woman gets pregnant in China she will have an abortion, or give her baby for adoption. In this women have more freedom here but I do think it is better for a child to have both mother and father.

"In China women are more sexually calm I think, they dress more sedate, more feminine. If women here like to show they are beautiful and are comfortable showing they are sexy, that's fine, but I think they go too far sometimes.

"I think women in China have a better quality of life, because they do not have as much stress as Irish women who work. Services are better in China and things are much less expensive."

'How can a woman think about how she is being treated when she cannot feed her children?

Mireille Waku, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has been living in Ireland for six years. She is married, with two sons, aged 10 and 12. "In general the mission for women in the Congo is to get married, have children and take care of the family."

Though girls in the Congo have access to university, the culture is such, she says, "women would not feel fulfilled unless they had a family".

"I was lucky because my dad worked in the UN and we lived in many countries in Africa and Europe. I meet lots of different people and I think I identify more with Western women." Her family has been granted asylum here and she now works as a campaign analyst with Xerox.

"I was struck when I came here how women stayed at home more than other Western women. I was impressed but later I realised many maybe could not work because there are so few creches."

However, Irish culture, she says, allows women greater choices. "In my country when you marry you leave your father to be another child. Women are not seen as having responsibility, or a say. The community comes first, then the husband and the woman last."

Economic problems in the Congo compound this. "There is not a women's movement because everybody is more concerned about other issues. How can a woman think about how she is being treated when she cannot feed her children? Women's rights would be a luxury. As long as the economic problems aren't solved these issues for women remain. "It is not my right to say it is a better life for women here. What you say is good for women in Africa might not seem good to them if they are satisfied. Looking after the family has been fine for them all along and it will be good until the day they believe it isn't."