Begin by opening your learning journal for this activity.

An International Response

The United Nations has convened a number of international conferences to discuss women's experiences of development. The Fourth World Conference on Women was held in Beijing in 1995.

This conference developed a Platform for Action as 'an agenda for women's empowerment'.

The Beijing Platform for Action identified twelve issues as 'critical areas of concern' for women, and on which strategic action was needed by governments, non-government organisations and businesses around the world:

	The persistent and increasing burden of poverty
	Inequalities and inadequacies in, and unequal access to, education and training
	Inequalities and inadequacies in, and unequal access to, health care and related services
	Violence against women
	The effects of armed or other kinds of conflict on women, including those living under foreign occupation
	Inequality in economic structures and policies, in all forms of productive activities and in access to resources
	Inequality between men and women in the sharing of power and decision-making at all levels
	Insufficient mechanisms at all levels to promote the advancement of women
	Lack of respect for, and inadequate promotion and protection of, the human rights of women
	Stereotyping of women and inequality promotion and protection of the human rights of women
	Gender inequalities in the management of natural resources and in the safeguarding of the environment
	Persistent discrimination against, and violation of, the rights of the girl child.

Q22: Which of these 12 concerns are relevant to the experiences of:

(i) the women in the case studies in Activity 2, and

(ii) women in your country?

UNIFEM

UNIFEM is the section of the United Nations primarily responsible for women and development and encourages the mainstreaming of gender issues in all United Nations' activities.

UNIFEM believes that the biggest concern facing women is the 'feminisation of poverty'. It identifies seven main causes of this problem. These are:

	Globalisation		Low wages
	Traditional approaches to economic development		Trade liberalisation
	Society's attitudes towards women		Cannot travel as freely as men.
	Access to markets

Explain how these factors contribute to the 'feminisation of poverty'.

The Beijing Platform for Action argued that achieving equality between women and men was needed to address these concerns:

	The advancement of women and the achievement of equality between women and men are a matter of human rights. This is a basic condition for social justice, and should not be seen in isolation as just a women's issue. Indeed, this is the only way to build a sustainable, just and developed society. Empowerment of women and equality between women and men are prerequisites for achieving political, social, economic, cultural and environmental security among all peoples.

Progress Since the Beijing Conference

The Beijing conference may be remembered as the point in history when women took over the international process, injected it with their own ideas and experiences, and then converted it back into local and national actions. Since 1995, women have used the ideas and energy of Beijing to push for progress on many fronts, often through new activist networks that span nations and regions.

They have convinced an increasing number of countries to adopt affirmative action programmes that raise the number of women in politics. In 2000, there were:

	seven women heads of state in the world;
	three heads of government; and
	145 countries have governments which included women.

Activists in South Africa have lobbied their government to breakdown its budget along gender lines so that women can see who really benefits. In Thailand, the government has prohibited sexual discrimination in its new constitution. In Egypt, women worked with religious leaders to repeal a law allowing rapists who marry their victims to avoid jail.

The Beijing conference also encouraged the UN system to place greater emphasis on gender. It called on UNIFEM, and other UN agencies, to establish the world's first funding mechanism devoted to supporting projects to eliminate violence against women. Gender units have been set up in many agencies to foster women's contributions to shaping critical policies and decisions. At UNESCO, women have been considered one of four priority groups since November 1995. After the Beijing conference, the Unit for the Promotion of the Status of Women and Gender Equity was created, and the Agenda for Gender Equity was established to bring gender into all of its programmes and activities, especially in the media, peace, and science and technology education.

Despite the achievements of the past five years, however, women world wide continue to lag behind in almost all areas. According to the UN Division for the Advancement of Women, women's employment has increased in all regions, but their wages are 50 to 80% of men's. Up to 80% of refugees fleeing from conflict are women and children. Two-thirds of the world's illiterates are female, and nearly half the women in the developing world do not meet minimum daily caloric intakes.

A long list of obstacles stands in the way of addressing these issues. Discriminatory attitudes and traditional stereotypes deprive women of resources and continue to prop up the laws, policies and institutions that prevent greater progress. For example, so-called 'honour killings' which are committed by men who feel that women have damaged their reputation, are still legal in three countries.

The Beijing Platform is not a legally binding document. Governments follow its recommendations only because it serves their interests to do so, or because women marshal the political power to persuade them to change laws and policies.

While women's movements and networks have grown in strength and in their ability to work with national and international political systems, they must contend with a growing set of new challenges.

Source: Adapted from UNESCO Sources, No.125, 2000, pp. 4-5.

Beijing +5

In June, 2000 delegates from 180 countries convened at UN headquarters in New York to evaluate progress made since Beijing, agree on obstacles, and map out a set of actions to continue implementing the Platform for Action.

Protracted debates took place over commitments to reproductive health and rights, with the Holy See and a handful of conservative Muslim and Catholic countries attempting to rill back gains by women made on these issues in previous international agreements.

However, for the first time, governments agreed to address the problems of 'honour killings' and forced marriages. There was consensus on the need to enact stronger laws against all forms of domestic violence, and to set up quota systems to bring more women into politics. The agreement also contains a reference to the right to inheritance, which has long been disputed by Muslim countries.

Source: Adapted from UNESCO Sources, No.125, 2000, pp. 4-5.

The governments at the Beijing +5 conference agreed to a Final Outcomes Document that reaffirmed their commitments to the Beijing Platform for Action and their plans to make gender equality on a key underlying principle in development. This would include:

	a focus on women's conditions and basic needs;
	a holistic approach to development based on equal rights;
	promotion and protection of all human rights; and
	government policies, programmes and budget processes that adopt a gender perspective.