From DEBRA@oln.comlink.apc.orgThu Sep 21 10:31:51 1995 Date: Tue, 19 Sep 1995 20:36:00 +0100 From: Debra Guzman Reply to: beijing-conf@tristram.edc.org To: beijing-conf@tristram.edc.org Subject: WCW: Analysis of Beijing Conference [The following text is in the "ISO-8859-1" character set] [Your display is set for the "US-ASCII" character set] [Some characters may be displayed incorrectly] ## author : theearthtime@igc.apc.org ## date : 16.09.95 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Analysis of Beijing Conference By Vir Singh Earth Times News Service BEIJING--As government and nongovernmental organization (NGO) representatives prepare to take home the Beijing Platform for Action, many have asked if it will significantly improve the status of women or if it will, in the words of a Nigerian delegate, prove the United Nations is a "toothless bulldog." While that question will take some time to answer, most conference participants say the accomplishments of the Fourth World Conference on Women are a tremendous boost for women's empowerment. Despite furious debate and lobbying on sexual freedoms, parental rights, the role of women and various other controversial subjects, delegates unanimously praised the Platform for its emphasis on specific actions rather than general statements. Time after time, conference participants stressed that Beijing represents "a step forward" from last year's International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo as well as a major advance from the 1985 women's conference in Nairobi. Violence against women--considered a taboo subject at the Nairobi conference--emerged as a problem recognized by all. Delegates said that by promising to address the specific abuses outlined in the Platform, governments will have to implement specific actions to address them. Michael Bohnet, a German delegate, said weakening of language on sexual rights belies the fact that at the Beijing conference, governments have had to confront head-on problems such as prostitution, sexual slavery and other abuses against women. He said recognition of these problems, not just specific language, will go a long way toward creating the political will needed to address them. Women parliamentarians from around the world highlighted the under- representation of women in parliament in several appearances last week. "How can [parliaments] be representative of the population when they don't fairly represent the gender balance?" asked Lianne Dalziel, a New Zealand member of parliament, noting that women in developed countries occupy a mere 10 percent of elected seats. During the week before the Beijing conference, representatives from 57 countries meeting in Tokyo promised equal representation of women in parliament by 2005. Education of girls, reproductive health services, valuation of women's unpaid work, access to credit and the portrayal and participation of women in the media were only some of the many issues highlighted at Beijing. Whereas these discussions were not new to most NGOs, they provided an important link between the NGOs and their government representatives. Several delegations held daily briefings for NGOs. Miho Omi, who represents a Yokohama-based NGO, said she intends to follow up on her Beijing consultations with Japanese officials by pressing for better implementation of her country's equal opportunity laws. She said Japan enacted one such law ten years ago, shortly after the Nairobi conference, but noted that the bill "doesn't have a real tooth." Omi said she will press for implementation of the law "in the context of [the Beijing] Platform." Zimbabwe's Betty Mtero, an NGO member of her country's official delegation, said Beijing "has strengthened the position of women in many ways," noting that her country already is developing a national action plan for women's empowerment. But in doing so, "we will still have to fight the attitudes of men," she said. At Beijing, several developing country NGOs highlighted traditions barring women from owning and inheriting land. Women's land and property ownership rights are expected to be core issues at Habitat II, the next major UN conference, in Istanbul next June. Besides consultations with their governments, most NGO representatives underscored communication and networking as perhaps the greatest achievements of the Beijing conference, noting the key role they play in follow-up. Every morning, dozens of regional and issue-based groups met in the halls, in any available conference room or outside in the street. Several NGOs saw Beijing as a "resurgence" of a global women's movement but many others mentioned racial, social and political factors as "continuing barriers" to women's empowerment in many countries. Giedre Purvaneckiene, Lithuania's chief delegate to the women's conference, was cautiously optimistic about implementing the Platform in her country. She said her country will hold a seminar in October to devise legislative strategies to implement the Beijing Platform but added that Lithuania faces a "severe lack of resources." "We have a lot of plans but we have to look realistically also," she said.