Date: Thu, 21 Sep 1995 09:51:00 +0002 Reply to: beijing-conf@tristram.edc.org To: beijingconf Subject: FAO ADDRESS TO FWCW United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women: Action for Equality, Development and Peace Address by Dr. Jacques Diouf Director-General Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Beijing, China 6 September 1995 Madam Chairperson, Madam Secretary-General, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, It is a great pleasure and privilege for me to address this assembly in my capacity as Director-General of FAO on the occasion of the Fourth World Conference on Women. As the United Nations agency responsible for food and agriculture, FAO has always worked to promote the advancement of rural women along the road to equity, sustainable development and peace, and shall continue to do so. Why Focus on Rural Women? Equity, sustainable development and peace are unfortunately difficult to bring about in a world where more than 1.2 billion people in developing countries, or over 20 percent of the world's population, live in absolute poverty. Of these, over 70 percent are women, many of them rural women, and it is all too often forgotten that rural women are major providers of food for the rest of the population. Securing commitment to overcoming the obstacles that face rural women must be brought to the forefront of the global agenda, in view of: * The growing problems which environmental degradation brings to women, especially in terms of access to water and energy sources; * Rural women's need for access to productive resources to improve the family's nutritional well-being; * The crucial role of women in tackling the challenge of feeding the world's projected population of 9 billion by the year 2030. Women are coping with the demands of everyday life despite limited access to land, credit, capital and technology, lack of education, training and information, and an unfavourable legal and policy environment. The perseverance with which rural women confront these obstacles signals the vast untapped potential that could be released to benefit both this and future generations. Reality should in fact already have made itself felt, with rural women already receiving the attention and enjoying the status they deserve. Promoting the advancement of rural women is clearly the key to food security for billions of men, women and children. The Challenge of Development - 20 Years of Progress for Rural Women? There have been many research and development initiatives to promote the advancement of rural women since the First World Conference on Women held in Mexico 20 years ago, in 1975. There has also been a degree of success, indicating that progress is possible. Progress began to be visible with the shift from discourse to action. The first step was to mobilize all possible actors and make it easier for them to move from words to deeds. Next, rural women needed to be able to take their destiny into their own hands. Today we have a clearer perception of the objectives and of the means, and this makes the job somewhat easier. But nothing fundamental will be accomplished without a genuine commitment to tangible and concrete action. With this in mind, FAO has recently undertaken two initiatives of key importance for the future of rural women and development. The Fourth World Conference on Women is a springboard for rural women. FAO has therefore set itself the task of promoting a better awareness of the conditions of rural women among policy-makers. Action has been taken to enable rural women to be actively involved in defining the challenges and seeking the solutions so that a consensus can emerge. This strategy has led to new working alliances among the various actors responsible for agriculture, rural development and the condition of women. These new alliances have fostered a deeper understanding of the obstacles that rural women are up against, and a stronger will to bring about improvements in their situation. For example, a number of Member Countries of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women have sponsored a draft resolution on rural women that recognizes their pivotal role in achieving sustainable and equitable development. To ensure that the concerns of rural women are strongly voiced and heard in the deliberations over the next few days, FAO, in coordination with other United Nations agencies and NGOs, has organized an "Emphasis Day", to be held tomorrow, 7 September, focussing on rural women's life and work. This event will also stress priority action for the period beyond Beijing. FAO has also recently revised its own Plan of Action for Women in Development in response to the lessons of experience. Every facet of the Organization's work -- whether plant and animal resources, irrigation, agrarian reform, forestry, fisheries or trade in basic commodities -- will be reviewed and implemented in the light of women's concerns. The revised Plan of Action thus represents a practical instrument for FAO and its Member Nations to implement the Beijing Platform for Action in the areas of the Organization's expertise, and will be launched in November following its approval and endorsement by its Member Nations at the 28th FAO Conference. If rural women are to make a successful transition into the coming century, we must mobilize public opinion and galvanize energies from the grassroots up to the policy-makers, not forgetting all those in between. Within this context, the full empowerment of rural women will be central if they are to influence the direction of social and economic change. In a global context where abundance co-exists with poverty, it is only through action based on maximum participation and consensus that we can best respond to the challenge of achieving our objectives: the equality of opportunity and socioeconomic development upon which world peace depends. The role of this Conference is to act as a catalyst; translating the global commitment towards women into meaningful actions is the role of each and every one. FAO will continue to fulfil its mission as the United Nations agency responsible for food, agriculture, forestry and fisheries on the global level, and the Organization solemnly pledges to the women of the world that it will draw upon every resource and all the creativity at its command to help the Member Nations implement the Platform for Action. Thank you.