Regional Reviews for Beijing +5
Between December 1998 and February 2000, all five Regional Commissions held preparatory meetings to the Special Session of the General Assembly “Women 2000: Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the Twenty First Century”. All regions carried out an in depth review of the Platform of Action and adopted corresponding recommendations for further action.
At the ECE Regional Preparatory Meeting (Geneva, January 2000), a set of forward-looking conclusions were adopted in the following areas: women in the economy, violence against women and girls, women in armed conflict situations, women’s participation in decision making and institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women;
At the ESCAP High level intergovernmental meeting (Bangkok, October 99), the main issues addressed were economic and political empowerment, rights based approach and strategies to empower women;
The 8th Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean (Lima, February 2000) focused on equality in the process of institutionalization of gender policies in the state, education, economy and employment, health, family and human rights;
The ECA Sixth African Regional Conference on Women (Addis Ababa November 1999) adopted a Regional Plan of Action aimed at removing the political and institutional constraints in the implementation of the Platform of Action;
For ESCWA, the Second Arab Meeting for follow-up to Beijing (Beirut, December 1998) focused on poverty alleviation, institution and capacity-building. The meeting produced a vision for gender equality in the next millennium, emphasizing democracy, good governance, and synergy between governments and NGOs within a participatory approach to sustainable development and gender mainstreaming. A regional wrap-up meeting to Beijing plus five was held in Beirut in May 2000.
Common issues and trends
Some common trends and issues emerged from the five meetings. On the positive side, all regions have shown an increased participation of women in the labour market, increased access to education, the development of legislation against gender based discrimination and violence and a strong dynamism of civil society through the emergence and diversification of NGOs activities for gender equality. Although uneven, the development of national mechanisms for the advancement of women has also taken place.
In contrast, worrying trends for all regions are:
The extension of structural poverty affecting women disproportionately;
The persistence of gender discrimination on the labour market, characterised by pronounced occupational segmentation, job insecurity, wage gap and poor labour conditions;
Unequal and sometimes non-existent access to social services and protection schemes;
Persistence of difficulties that women workers face in reconciling their paid work with their family responsibilities;
Increased gender based violence through the changing nature of armed conflicts and extension of trafficking networks, and persistence of domestic violence;
Very slow progress in access to leadership and decision making positions in the political, economic, social and judicial spheres;
The persistence of gender stereotypes in society and the media.
Region Specific Concerns
In addition, particular attention was paid to the following region specific concerns for which gender sensitive policies need to be formulated:
In Europe women are particularly affected by the social costs of the transition process and their weak participation in the political decision making;
In Asia and the Pacific, while globalization has expanded opportunities for women, it has also increased their vulnerabilities to fiscal austerity and economic reforms which have disproportionate negative impact on women and girls;
In Latin America and the Caribbean, the persistence of economic policies ignoring the social impact on women are increasing the poverty and threatening all achievements made by women;
In Africa, the lack of a greater commitment by governments to fight against HIV/AIDS has decimated entire communities;
For Arab States, the key factors governing the status of women and gender equality are cultural values and norms, attaining peace, strengthening the family and encouraging greater political participation of women.
All five regional commissions collaborated closely with the other UN organizations which brought their expertise, financial support and field experience, thereby contributing to the success of the meetings.
The regional follow-up will continue as per the request expressed in the outcome document of the Beijing + 5 Special Session. Paragraph 120 encourages the Economic and Social Council to request the Regional Commissions, within their respective mandates and resources, to build up a data base to be updated regularly, in which all programmes and projects carried out in their respective regions by agencies or organizations of the United Nations system are listed, to facilitate their dissemination, as well as the evaluation of their impact on the empowerment of women through the implementation of the Platform of Action.
