From DEBRA@oln.comlink.apc.orgThu Sep 21 10:31:51 1995
Date: Tue, 19 Sep 1995 20:36:00 +0100
From: Debra Guzman <DEBRA@oln.comlink.apc.org>
Reply to: beijing-conf@tristram.edc.org
To: beijing-conf@tristram.edc.org
Subject: WCW: Analysis of Beijing Conference

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## author     : theearthtime@igc.apc.org
## date       : 16.09.95

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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.