of State, which functions as a collective head of State, includes five women. The Ministry of Education is headed by - 3 - a woman._In other ministries, such as finance, health ~nd light _industry, women are vice-rninistefs. In the county assemblies women account for 39 per cent, and-in .t:ha district and town assemblies for 42.2 per Gent of the elected deputies. In ~iilage assemblies they hold 34.2 per·cent of tha seats. The number of women active in ~tanding ~ommis~ions or committees of elected ·representative bodies at··t"ne various levels has also been growing steadily, amounting present~y to 142,362. A sensible rise has been recorded in the number of women who are mem•ers of the county or district councils. There are 1,.868 mayoresses in the country. One in five district_ . . . . medical officers is a wo~an. Every fourth secondary school has a woman as princi~al. An important criterion of the say .. women have in political.affairs is their involvement iri so­ cialist administration of justice. Every second of the country's 1,252 judges is a ~oman. 26,330, or almost 50 per cent, of the lay assessors at the GDR's county and district courts are femal~. ~he h~gh degree of women's political orga~ization is especially reflected in their membership of political parties and mass organizations. One third of the members of the leading party,_ theSocialist· Unity Party of Germany, are women. Equally high is their share in elective party offices. ~omen_are also act~ve in the other democratic parties existing in the GDR, and are represented _in these parties' executive bodies according to their share in the total member­ ship.Women play a significant ·role in the biggest and all­ e~bracinc oraani=ation of ths Dorkina cl3ss, the Confedar9tion .., .., _., of Free German Trade Unions (FOGS). 4.4 millions,i.e. about 