| United Nations | E/CN.6/1995/2 |
Commission on the Status of Women
Distr. GENERAL
27 February 1995
ORIGINAL: ENGLISH
COMMISSION ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN
Thirty-ninth session
New York, 15 March-4 April 1995
Item 3 (e) of the provisional agenda*
* E/CN.6/1995/1.
PREPARATIONS FOR THE FOURTH WORLD CONFERENCE ON WOMEN: ACTION
FOR EQUALITY, DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE: DRAFT PLATFORM FOR ACTION
Draft Platform for Action
Report of the Secretary-General
1. In its resolution 38/10, 1/ the Commission on the Status of Women
requested the Secretary-General to develop further the draft of the Platform
for Action for consideration by the Commission at its thirty-ninth session,
based on the texts contained in the annex to the resolution and taking into
account the relevant results of the regional preparatory meetings. The
Commission also requested the Secretary-General to include in the draft of the
Platform for Action proposals to strengthen technical and financial
cooperation to benefit women.
2. In the same resolution, the Commission invited the Secretary-General to
convene, in consultation with the Bureau, informal open-ended consultations to
exchange views on the draft of the Platform for Action prior to the
thirty-ninth session. Informal consultations took place on 18 July and from 7
to 9 December 1994.
3. The draft Platform for Action is contained in the annex below.
Notes
1/ Official Records of the Economic and Social Council, 1994,
Supplement No. 7 (E/1994/27), chap. I, sect. C.
Annex
DRAFT PLATFORM FOR ACTION
CONTENTS
Paragraphs Page
I. MISSION STATEMENT ..................................... 1 - 3 4
II. GLOBAL FRAMEWORK ...................................... 4 - 33 4
III. CRITICAL AREAS OF CONCERN ............................. 34 - 37 9
IV. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES AND ACTIONS ...................... 38 - 182 10
A. The persistent and increasing burden of poverty
on women .......................................... 39 - 55 10
B. Unequal access to and inadequate educational
opportunities ..................................... 56 - 70 15
C. Inequalities in health status and unequal access to
and inadequate health care services ............... 71 - 87 19
D. Violence against women ............................ 88 - 99 26
E. Effects of armed or other kinds of conflict
on women .......................................... 100 - 109 30
F. Inequality in women's access to and participation
in the definition of economic structures and
policies and the productive process itself ........ 110 - 127 35
G. Inequality between men and women in the sharing of
power and decision-making at all levels ........... 128 - 139 41
H. Insufficient mechanisms at all levels to promote
the advancement of women .......................... 140 - 148 44
I. Lack of awareness of and commitment to
internationally and nationally recognized women's
human rights ...................................... 149 - 160 47
J. Insufficient mobilization of the mass media to
promote women's positive contributions to society . 161 - 170 51
K. Lack of adequate recognition and support for
women's contribution to managing natural resources
and safeguarding the environment .................. 171 - 182 53
V. INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS ............................ 183 - 231 57
A. National level .................................... 192 - 197 59
B. Regional level .................................... 198 - 201 60
C. International level ............................... 202 - 231 60
VI. FINANCIAL ARRANGEMENTS ................................ 232 - 246 66
A. National level .................................... 236 - 240 66
B. Regional level .................................... 241 67
C. International level ............................... 242 - 246 67
I. MISSION STATEMENT
1. The Platform for Action aims to accelerate the removal of obstacles to
women's full and equal participation in all spheres of public and private
life, including economic and political decision-making. It is an agenda for
equality that seeks to safeguard women's human rights throughout the life
cycle. It stresses the principle of shared responsibility and partnership
between men and women as the basis for achieving equality, development and
peace.
2. The Platform for Action requires immediate action to create a peaceful,
developed and just world, based on the principle of equality for all peoples
of all ages and from all walks of life, built on the strength of women's
knowledge, energy, creativity and skills in partnership with men.
3. The success of the Platform for Action requires strong institutions and
adequate resources for the implementation of the agreements made; a commitment
to the equal participation of women and men in all international, regional and
national bodies and policy-making processes; and mechanisms for accountability
to the world's women, in whose name these promises are made.
II. GLOBAL FRAMEWORK
4. The United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women: Action for
Equality, Development and Peace is taking place as the world stands poised on
the threshold of a new millennium.
5. Since the World Conference to Review and Appraise the Achievements of the
United Nations Decade for Women: Equality, Development and Peace, held at
Nairobi in 1985, and the adoption of the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies
for the Advancement of Women, 1/ the world has experienced profound political,
economic, social and cultural changes.
6. The end of the cold war resulted in international changes and the demise
of competition between super-Powers. While the threat of global conflict has
been reduced, a resurgence of nationalism and ethnic conflict has threatened
peace in many regions. The decade also saw the rise in power of transnational
corporations, which, by their very nature and wealth, remain beyond
accountability to Governments and peoples. Global information networks
emerged, facilitated by new technology; they transcended national borders and
reduced distances between peoples of different cultures.
7. A world-wide move towards democratization opened up the political process
in many nations. South Africa's policy of institutionalized racism -
apartheid - was dismantled and a peaceful and democratic transfer of power
occurred. Similarly, in Eastern Europe the transition to parliamentary
democracy was rapid and relatively peaceful.
8. Development goals suffered a set-back due to the prolonged global
economic recession, which had repercussions on many national economies. This
led to increased unemployment in industrialized nations and the relocation of
manufacturing to developing countries. Regional trading blocs were created or
strengthened and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade reconfirmed the
interdependence of national economies. The period was also characterized by
heavy military spending and a decline in international development assistance.
9. Evidence of the increasing fragility of peace, the environment and the
institutions that govern society has prompted the international community to
search for alternative paths to development and security. The participation
and leadership of the half of humanity that is female is essential to the
success of that search. Therefore, nothing short of a radical transformation
of the relationships between men and women will enable the world to meet the
challenges of the new millennium.
10. At its founding 50 years ago, the United Nations held the promise of
securing justice, human rights, social progress and maintaining international
peace and security. Today's reality testifies to the difficulty of attaining
the goals of the United Nations for the majority of humankind. The position
of women in society and the conditions in which they live demonstrate that the
past can be no model for the future.
11. New policy frameworks have been proposed. The Agenda for Peace defines
strategies for peace-keeping, preventive diplomacy and peacemaking. The
Agenda for Development sets out specific approaches to foster development
cooperation and strengthen the United Nations role to that end. While
strategies outlined in the Platform for Action should contribute to
development and peace, they also aim at promoting an agenda for equality.
12. Women have established themselves as central actors in the movement of
humanity for peace. However, continuing nationalistic and ethnic conflicts
have left them predominant among the refugees. Their equal participation in
decision-making, multilateral interventions, preventive diplomacy and all
peace initiatives is essential to the realization of the Agenda for Peace.
Their perspective and specific needs must be fully reflected in all
initiatives.
13. The Fourth World Conference on Women is the continuation of a global
process formally begun in 1975 - proclaimed International Women's Year by the
United Nations General Assembly. The Year was a turning-point for women.
Gender-disaggregated statistics did not exist in many areas two decades ago.
Little was known of the status of women in various societies and the diversity
of their needs, skills and contributions.
14. The United Nations Decade for Women (1976-1985) was a world-wide effort
to examine the status and rights of women and to bring women into
decision-making at all levels. Some Governments created special structures to
address women's issues. International agencies focused greater attention on
women's status and roles, as well as on their special skills and needs. In
1979, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women 2/ to eradicate
discrimination and inequality between men and women. In 1985, the World
Conference to Review and Appraise the Achievements of the United Nations
Decade for Women: Equality, Development and Peace adopted the Nairobi
Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women, to be implemented by
the year 2000. Governments were urged to reformulate legal, political,
economic and social structures to ensure equality, development and peace. Ten
years later that promise of equality and partnership has fallen far short of
expectations.
15. On average, women represent a mere 10 per cent of all elected legislators
world wide. The Nordic countries stand out as an exception, an example of how
a well-educated female constituency has demanded and successfully achieved
parity in political decision-making. Sweden is the first country to achieve
parity between women and men at the Cabinet level.
16. The staffing of most government structures, however, remains dominated by
men in every country. The United Nations is no exception. Fifty years after
its creation, the United Nations continues to deny itself the benefits of
women's leadership by their underrepresentation at decision-making levels
within the Secretariat and the specialized agencies. In the private sector,
women have not fared much better. Business and corporate hierarchies remain
predominantly the domain of male power.
17. Largely because of the leadership of the United Nations system, the
international community has attempted to respond to the challenges of the past
decade. A series of conferences and conventions have explored and defined the
rights and responsibilities of individuals and States on a range of global
issues. Non-governmental organizations, particularly women's organizations,
have played an increasingly influential role in focusing debates and in
recommending actions on women's potential contribution to solving problems.
18. The World Summit for Children, the United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development, the World Conference on Human Rights, the Global
Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States,
the International Conference on Population and Development and the World
Summit for Social Development have all addressed the various facets of
development and human rights and, within their specific perspectives, paid
significant attention to the gender dimension. Similarly, the International
Year of the World's Indigenous People and the International Year of the Family
have emphasized the message of empowerment and equality. Women have played an
important role in shaping the outcome of these initiatives.
19. These international events and processes are evidence that significant,
global challenges threaten the very survival of humankind. Recognition of the
role of women in meeting these challenges is a clear mandate for equality and
for shared responsibility of men and women within family and society.
International consensus on the pivotal role of women in development exists.
Thus, the Fourth World Conference on Women is a conference of commitment and
action.
20. Recent international developments have had a disproportionate impact on
women. For those States that carried a large burden of foreign debt,
structural adjustment programmes forced cuts in basic services and in
investments in human development, shifting the responsibilities of basic
social services from Governments to women without compensation. In some
developing nations, especially in Africa, the situation was further aggravated
by a decline in commodity prices.
21. Macrolevel economic policies have had an adverse impact on women and
families, especially those in poverty. Inequities in quality of life,
nutrition, health, education and opportunities for a full and productive life
have increased from region to region and within nations. Poverty has
increased in both absolute and relative terms, and the number of women living
in poverty has increased in all regions.
22. One fourth of all households worldwide are headed by women, and
households dependent on female income even where men are present, are among
the poorest. Family disintegration, urban migration, war and internal
displacements are factors contributing to the rise of female-headed
households.
23. The growth of the world population is at an all-time high in absolute
numbers, with current increments approaching 90 million persons annually. Two
other major demographic trends had profound repercussions on the dependency
ratio within families. In many developing countries, 45-50 per cent of the
population is less than 25 years old, while in industrialized nations, both
the number and proportion of elderly people are increasing. Women, who are
the principal care-givers to children, the sick and the elderly, carry these
additional responsibilities. A reformulation of long-term social policies and
investments is required for a more equitable sharing of family
responsibilities between men and women. Women have different needs at various
stages of the life cycle, which need to be addressed in policy planning and
programme and project implementation.
24. In the past 20 years, the world has seen an explosion in the field of
communications. With advances in computer technology and satellite and cable
television, global access to information continues to increase and expand,
creating new opportunities for the participation of women in communications
and the mass media and for dissemination of information about women. Greater
involvement of women in both the technical and decision-making areas of
communication and the media would increase awareness of women's lives from
their own perspective.
25. Continuing environmental degradation has a direct impact on women's
lives. Women's health and their sustainable livelihood are threatened by
pollution and toxic wastes, and by large-scale deforestation, desertification
and soil depletion. Those most affected are rural women, whose livelihood and
daily subsistence depends directly on sustainable ecosystems.
26. These global trends and the conflicts arising from them have brought
profound changes in family survival strategies and structures. Rural to urban
migration has increased substantially in all regions. The urban population is
projected to reach 57 per cent by the year 2000. An estimated 125 million
people are migrants, displaced or refugees from conflict or environmental
stress; half of them are in developing countries. These massive movements of
people have profound consequences for family structure and have unequal
consequences for women and men.
27. Added to the political, economic and ecological turmoil of the decade was
the spectre of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) pandemic. According to
estimates of the World Health Organization (WHO), the number of acquired
immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) cases had risen to 2.5 million by mid-1993.
An estimated 14 million people are now infected with HIV, and it is projected
that another 20 or 30 million will be infected by the end of the decade if
effective prevention strategies are not pursued. Transmission of the virus is
increasing at an alarming rate among women and girls.
28. Since 1975, significant knowledge and information has been generated
about the status of women and the conditions under which they live. From
infancy, throughout the entire life cycle, women's daily existence and
long-term aspirations are restricted by attitudes, structures and a lack of
resources, which prevent their full and equal participation. Discrimination
against women begins at birth and must therefore be addressed from birth
onward.
29. The past decade demonstrated that by expanding opportunities for women,
especially in ways that enhance their productivity and income-earning
potential, women will be able to raise their standard of living, thereby
contributing to improved family well-being and the reduction and eradication
of poverty, as well as to better national economic performance.
30. During the decade, the growing strength of the non-governmental sector,
particularly women's organizations, became the driving force for change.
Despite their diversity, women expressed solidarity. They organized,
networked and advocated. Women's organizations became catalysts for new
approaches to development. Women, particularly through non-governmental
organizations, participated in global, regional, national and community forums
and strongly influenced the international debates on environmental management
and conservation, human rights, violence against women, population and
sustainable development, economic expansion and science and technology.
31. This period also recognized the variety of women's skills in all spheres
of life. Women's traditional and indigenous knowledge of science and
technology became known as a source of innovative and inexpensive solutions.
Yet in the absence of women from decision-making, their perspectives and
priorities were not adequately considered; hence, many institutions failed to
be responsive to change.
32. The Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women
established a framework for achieving the goals of equality, development and
peace. These goals are interdependent and mutually reinforcing. At every
stage and in all aspects of life, the principle of equality of women and men
must be integral to the socialization process. The home is where girls and
boys first learn of their rights and their responsibilities to each other and
to society. When men and women are not equal partners in private life, it is
all the more difficult to effect change in public life.
33. International solidarity demonstrated that it was possible to bring an
end to institutionalized racism. Renewed global commitment, greater
solidarity and accountability are necessary in order to achieve equality
between men and women. Both the diversity and universality of women's
experiences, knowledge, vision and hopes are a source of strength and the
basis for implementation of the Platform for Action.
III. CRITICAL AREAS OF CONCERN
34. The advancement of women and the achievement of equality between men and
women is not simply an issue of social justice. It is the only way to build a
sustainable, just and developed society. Empowerment and equality of women
are prerequisites for achieving political, social, economic, cultural and
environmental security among all peoples in the next century.
35. The goals set out in the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for the
Advancement of Women have not been achieved. A profusion of barriers to
women's empowerment remain, despite the efforts of enlightened Governments,
non-governmental organizations and women and men everywhere. Vast political
and economic upheavals, armed conflict and ingrained prejudicial attitudes
towards women and girls are but a few of the impediments encountered since the
World Conference to Review and Appraise the Achievements of the United Nations
Decade for Women: Equality, Development and Peace, in 1985.
36. A review of progress since the Nairobi Conference highlights special
concerns - areas of particular urgency that stand out as priorities for
action. All parties working for the advancement of women should focus action
and resources on the critical areas of concern which are, necessarily,
interrelated, interdependent and of equal priority.
37. The Platform for Action aims to accelerate the removal of the remaining
obstacles to women's full and equal participation in all spheres of life,
including economic and political decision-making; to protect women's human
rights throughout the life cycle; and to integrate women's concerns into all
areas of sustainable development so that women and men can work together for
equality, development and peace. To this end, the international community,
Governments, non-governmental organizations and the private sector are called
upon to take strategic action in the following critical areas of concern:
- The persistent and increasing burden of poverty on women
- Unequal access to and inadequate educational opportunities
- Inequalities in health status and unequal access to and inadequate
health care services
- Violence against women
- Effects of armed or other kinds of conflict on women
- Inequality in women's access to and participation in the definition
of economic structures and policies and the productive process
itself
- 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 awareness of and commitment to internationally and
nationally recognized women's human rights
- Insufficient mobilization of the mass media to promote women's
positive contributions to society
- Lack of adequate recognition and support for women's contribution to
managing natural resources and safeguarding the environment
IV. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES AND ACTIONS
38. In each area of critical concern the problem is diagnosed and strategic
objectives proposed with concrete actions to be taken by various actors in
order to achieve these objectives. The strategic objectives are derived from
the critical areas of concern, and specific actions to be taken to achieve
them cut across the boundaries of equality, development and peace - the goals
of the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women - and
reflect their interdependence. The objectives and actions are interlinked,
equal in priority and mutually reinforcing.
A. The persistent and increasing burden of poverty on women
39. Poverty is a multidimensional, complex situation that has economic,
educational, social, political, cultural and technological dimensions. The
prolonged global economic recession, combined with the debt crisis and
structural adjustment programmes, civil strife and displacement and
environmental degradation have undermined the capacity of Governments to meet
the basic needs of their populations. This has resulted in a specific trend
towards the impoverishment of women, the extent of which varies from region to
region. Migration and changing family structures have placed additional
burdens on women, especially those who provide for several dependants.
Macroeconomic policies have not been readjusted to respond to these trends.
Primarily concerned with the formal sector of the economy, these policies have
tended to hamper the initiatives of women and failed to consider the
differential impact on women and men. In order to eradicate poverty and
achieve sustainable development, women must contribute fully to the
formulation of macroeconomic and social policies, as well as to anti-poverty
initiatives.
40. The empowerment of women is a critical factor in the eradication of
poverty. Women contribute to the economy and the reduction of poverty through
both paid and unpaid work at home, in the community and in the workplace. As
women constitute the majority of the world's poor, the release of their
productive potential is essential to the eradication of poverty.
41. However, in the past decade the number of women living in poverty has
increased disproportionately to men, particularly in countries which
themselves are poor. While this trend can be attributed partially to the
negative impact of structural adjustment programmes and the burden of debt-
servicing, the rigidity of socially ascribed roles and women's limited access
to education and productive resources are also responsible.
42. While poverty affects households as a whole, women bear a
disproportionate burden, attempting to manage household consumption under
conditions of increasing scarcity. Rural, displaced and refugee women are
particularly burdened. With the number of female-headed households increasing
worldwide, more divorced, widowed or single women are falling deeper into
poverty. Especially vulnerable are older women and young girls. New patterns
of poverty have also emerged.
43. Women's poverty is directly related to their lack of access to services
and education, their lack of rights, and structural and attitudinal barriers
to land ownership, inheritance, employment, income, credit and training.
Where employment opportunities exist, women, particularly young women, are
frequently relegated to the lowest wage categories, often without job
security, legal protection or trade union support.
44. Investments that increase the productive capacities of women through
access to credit, technical assistance and training raise incomes and improve
nutrition, education and health care within the household. However, when
women are not participants or decision makers in the design of macroeconomic
interventions, the opportunity to enhance women's productive potential is
lost.
45. Sustainable development is only possible through improving the economic
and social status of women. Equal opportunities in education and employment
to ensure women's autonomy and financial independence, access to health care
and housing and ensuring legal and human rights for women at every stage of
the life cycle, are all essential to eradicating poverty. Similar actions
targeted specifically to the poorest of the poor are also needed. Women in
poverty have demonstrated that they possess knowledge, capacities and
management skills. Only when women are enabled to participate fully will they
and their families be able to overcome poverty.
Strategic objective A.1. Adopt and maintain macroeconomic
policies and development
strategies that address the
needs and efforts of women to
overcome poverty
Actions to be taken
46. By Governments:
(a) Pursue sound macroeconomic policies that are gender-sensitive,
designed with the full participation of women and based on
development strategies centred on people;
(b) Restructure and target the allocation of public expenditures to
address the basic needs of women, expand social services to the
poor, especially in education and primary health care, including
family planning, and ensure access to a clean and available water
supply;
(c) Allocate the necessary financial, technical and human resources to
ensure food security and food self-sufficiency;
(d) Provide adequate safety nets and strengthen state- and community-
based support systems, as an integral part of social policy, to
enable the poor to withstand adverse economic environments and
preserve their livelihood and assets in times of crisis;
(e) Generate economic policies that have a positive impact on the
employment and income of women workers;
(f) Formulate and implement specific economic, agricultural and related
policies in support of female-headed households;
(g) Develop agricultural policies and programmes that protect and
encourage women food producers, particularly through the provision
of appropriate infrastructure (markets, access roads, transportation
and so forth) and technology, especially in rural areas;
(h) Develop and implement equitable food-pricing policies and develop
anti-poverty and employment programmes that improve the access of
food purchasers;
(i) Introduce measures to make displaced women productive, including the
recognition of the qualifications and skills of immigrant and
refugee women, to enable their full integration into the labour
force;
(j) Develop innovative programmes to provide affordable housing and
access to land, with special emphasis on meeting the needs of female
heads of households and disabled, destitute, displaced and elderly
women, living in extreme poverty;
(k) Develop special programmes that reflect the specific needs of
children, particularly girls, young women and the elderly, who are
least able to gain access to resources;
(l) Establish mechanisms to ensure that resource allocation at the
macro, sectoral and project levels reflects the social costs and
benefits of women's work;
(m) Allocate adequate resources to subsistence farmers, the majority of
whom are women, in the areas of finance, services and inputs in
order to increase production.
47. By international financial and development institutions, international
and bilateral donors, especially the World Bank, the International Monetary
Fund and regional development banks:
(a) Increase resources allocated to the elimination of poverty, and
target women in poverty;
(b) Continue to integrate gender issues into the design and
implementation of lending programmes, including structural
adjustment programmes;
(c) Substantially reduce or cancel external debt to increase the
capacities of poor nations to finance programmes and projects
targeted at disadvantaged women;
(d) Ensure that structural adjustment programmes do not shift the
responsibility of basic social services from Governments to women
without compensation;
(e) Create an enabling environment that allows women to build and
maintain sustainable livelihoods.
Strategic objective A.2. Revise laws and administrative practices
that limit disadvantaged women's access
to economic resources
Actions to be taken
48. By Governments:
(a) Provide low-cost legal services, including legal literacy,
especially designed to reach women living in poverty;
(b) Repeal laws that exacerbate poverty among disadvantaged women,
especially laws dealing with inheritance and land rights, and all
forms of land-use and ownership.
Strategic objective A.3. Provide women with access to credit
and savings
Actions to be taken
49. By Governments:
(a) Provide capital, finance and legislative support to banks and
financial institutions that provide services to disadvantaged women
in rural and urban areas;
(b) Encourage link between financial institutions and non-governmental
organizations and support innovative lending practices such as those
of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh.
50. By commercial banks, specialized financial institutions and the private
sector:
(a) Use a credit and savings methodology that is effective in reaching
women in poverty and innovative in reducing transaction costs and
redefining risk;
(b) Open special windows for lending to women, including young women,
who lack access to traditional sources of collateral;
(c) Reduce the minimum deposit and other requirements for opening bank
accounts;
(d) Ensure the participation and joint ownership, where possible, of
women borrowers in the decision-making of institutions providing
credit and financial services.
51. By international multilateral and bilateral development cooperation
organizations:
Support, through the provision of capital and resources, financial
institutions that serve low-income women entrepreneurs and producers, in
both the formal and informal sectors.
52. By Governments and multilateral financial institutions:
(a) Review rules and procedures of formal national and international
financial institutions that obstruct replications of the Grameen
Bank prototype;
(b) Ensure parity in the flow and use of financial resources to
low-income households, women entrepreneurs and producers by the year
2005;
(c) Provide financial, technical and institutional support to 1,000
participatory financial institutions and non-governmental
organizations by the year 2005.
53. By international organizations:
Increase funding for programmes and projects designed to promote
sustainable and productive entrepreneurial activities among disadvantaged
women.
Strategic objective A.4. Conduct research that enables women
to overcome poverty
Actions to be taken
54. By Governments, intergovernmental organizations, academic and research
institutions and the private sector:
(a) Develop theoretical and practical means for incorporating gender
perspectives into all aspects of economic policy-making, including
structural adjustment programmes;
(b) Conduct gender-impact studies of structural adjustment programmes
and disseminate research findings.
55. By national and international statistical organizations:
(a) Collect gender and age-disaggregated data on poverty and all aspects
of economic activity, and develop statistical indicators to
facilitate the assessment of economic performance from a gender
perspective;
(b) Collect and analyse statistical data on the contribution of women's
unpaid work to the national economy.
B. Unequal access to and inadequate educational opportunities
56. Education is a basic human right and an essential tool for achieving the
goals of equality, development and peace. Non-discriminatory education
benefits both girls and boys, and thus ultimately leads to more equal and
democratic relationships between women and men. Equality of access is
necessary if more women are to become agents of change. Investing in
education and training for girls and women, with its exceptionally high social
and economic return, has proved to be one of the best means of achieving
sustainable development.
57. On a regional level, girls and boys have achieved equal access to primary
education, except in Africa, in particular sub-Saharan Africa, and Central and
Southern Asia. Progress has been made in secondary education, where parity
has been achieved in the developed countries and in Eastern Europe. Enrolment
of girls in tertiary education has increased considerably. Yet more than five
years after the World Conference on Education for All (Jomtien, Thailand,
1990) adopted the World Declaration on Education for All and the Framework for
Action to Meet Basic Learning Needs, approximately 100 million children,
including at least 60 million girls, are without access to primary schooling,
and more than two thirds of the world's 960 million illiterate adults are
women. The high number of illiterate females which is increasing in South
Asia and sub-Saharan Africa and the Arab States, remains a severe impediment
to both personal and national development.
58. Discrimination in girls' access to education persists in many areas,
owing to customary attitudes, early marriages and pregnancies, inadequate
teaching and educational materials, and lack of adequate schooling facilities.
In many cases, girls start to undertake heavy domestic chores at a very early
age. Girls and young women are expected to manage both educational and
domestic responsibilities, often resulting in poor scholastic performance and
early drop-out from the educational system. This has long-lasting
consequences for women in both their productive and reproductive roles, as
well as for their participation in policy formulation and decision-making.
59. Curricula and teaching materials remain gender-biased to a large degree,
fail to meet the maturational differences of both sexes and are rarely
sensitive to the specific needs of girls and women. This reinforces
traditional female roles which deny women opportunities for full and equal
partnership in society. Lack of gender awareness by educators at all levels,
including school counsellors, strengthens existing inequities between males
and females by reinforcing discriminatory tendencies and undermines girls'
self-esteem.
60. Education, which equips girls and women to enter any field, exposing them
to science, technology and modern communications, stimulates their creativity
and self-esteem and is structured to keep them from dropping out prematurely,
is a necessary human development initiative. Advanced study in science and
technology prepares women to take an active role in the technological
development of their countries, thus necessitating a diverse approach to
vocational and technical training. Technology is gradually changing many
developing countries, and it is essential that women not only benefit from it,
but also participate in the process from the design to the application stage.
In some cases, education of girls frequently does not prepare them for
employment because education and training policies have not been sufficiently
adapted to meet the changing needs of the labour market.
61. The mass media are one of the most powerful means of education. As an
educational tool and means of shaping values, the mass media can be utilized
by educators and governmental and non-governmental institutions for the
development and advancement of women. Television especially has the greatest
impact on young people, thereby making it essential that educators teach
critical judgement and analytical skills.
62. Resources allocated to education worldwide are insufficient and in cases
of structural adjustment programmes are further diminished. This has a
long-term adverse effect on human development, particularly on that of women.
Strategic objective B.1. Ensure equal access to education
Actions to be taken
63. By Governments:
(a) Ensure universal access to primary education and the completion of
primary education by at least 80 per cent of children, with special
emphasis on girls. Similarly, ensure equal access to secondary
education by the year 2005 and equal access to higher education for
girls and boys, including the disadvantaged and gifted. These
efforts will help achieve the targets set in the Convention on the
Rights of the Child 3/ and the World Declaration on Education for
All; 4/
(b) Reduce disparities in access to third-level education, and ensure
women's equal access to career development, training, scholarships
and fellowships;
(c) Create a gender-sensitive educational system in order to ensure
equal educational and training opportunities and equal participation
of women in educational administration and policy-making;
(d) Increase enrolment and retention rates of girls by enlisting the
support of the community and parents through campaigns, flexible
school schedules, incentives, scholarships and other means to
minimize the costs of girls' education to their families;
(e) Make available non-discriminatory and gender-sensitive professional
school counselling and career education programmes to encourage
girls to pursue academic and technical curricula in order to widen
their future career opportunities.
Strategic objective B.2. Eradicate illiteracy among women world
wide by the year 2000
Actions to be taken
64. By Governments, international, regional and national bodies, bilateral
and multilateral donors and non-governmental organizations:
(a) Reduce the adult illiteracy rate to at least half its 1990 level,
with emphasis on female literacy;
(b) Eliminate the gender gap in basic and functional literacy by the
year 2000, as recommended in the World Declaration on Education for
All (Jomtien), and narrow the disparities between developed and
developing countries.
Strategic objective B.3. Improve access to vocational training,
science and technology and continuing
education
Actions to be taken
65. By Governments, in cooperation with employers and community, women's and
youth organizations:
(a) Develop education, training and retraining policies that focus on
women, especially young women, to provide skills to meet the demands
of a changing economy;
(b) Diversify vocational and technical training and increase access to
education in science, mathematics, engineering, environmental
sciences and technology, information technology and high technology,
as well as management training;
(c) Adapt curricula and teaching materials to promote non-traditional
careers for women;
(d) Increase technical, managerial and marketing training opportunities
for women in agriculture, industry and business to increase
income-generating opportunities, women's participation in economic
decision-making and their contribution to production and marketing.
Strategic objective B.4. Develop non-discriminatory education
and training
Actions to be taken
66. By Governments, educational authorities and other educational and
academic institutions:
(a) Develop curricula, textbooks and teaching aids free of
sex-stereotypes for all levels of education, including teacher
training;
(b) Develop training programmes and materials for teachers and educators
that raise awareness about the status and role of women in the
family and society and promote equality, cooperation, mutual respect
and shared responsibilities between girls and boys from pre-school
level onward;
(c) Take positive measures to increase the proportion of women in
educational policy- and decision-making, in higher levels of
education and in academic disciplines that are traditionally male;
(d) Support and develop gender studies and research and apply them in
the development of curricula, textbooks and teaching aids and in
teacher training;
(e) Develop education and information programmes, particularly in
conjunction with the mass media, that make the public, particularly
parents, aware of the importance of non-discriminatory education for
children, especially daughters, and the equal sharing of domestic
responsibilities between girls and boys.
Strategic objective B.5. Allocate sufficient resources for
educational reforms and monitor
implementation
Actions to be taken
67. By Governments:
(a) Provide the required budgetary resources by reallocating funds from
other sectors, such as the military, to the educational sector, with
reallocation within the educational sector to ensure at least
50 per cent of funds for basic education;
(b) Establish a mechanism to monitor the implementation of educational
reforms and measures in relevant ministries.
68. By Governments, private and public institutions, foundations, research
institutes and non-governmental organizations:
Mobilize additional funds from organizations in the private sector to
meet the costs of education.
69. By multilateral development institutions, including the World Bank,
regional development banks, bilateral donors and foundations:
(a) Increase funding for the education and training needs of girls and
women as a priority in development programmes;
(b) Maintain or increase funding levels for education in structural
adjustment programmes, including lending and stabilization
programmes.
70. By international and intergovernmental organizations, especially the
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), at
the global level:
Monitor progress using educational indicators generated by national,
regional and international bodies and make Governments accountable for
implementing measures to close the gap between women and men in education
and training opportunities, and in the levels of achievement in all
fields, particularly primary and literacy programmes.
C. Inequalities in health status and unequal access to and
inadequate health care services
71. The right to health is a fundamental human right vital to women's ability
to participate in all areas of public and private life. Health and well-being
elude millions of women. Throughout their lives, women's health is affected
by multiple factors, including biological differences and social conditions,
discrimination and lack of access to and inadequate health care and other
services. Lack of food and inadequate access to safe water and sanitation
facilities, particularly in rural and poor urban areas, and deficient housing
conditions overburden women and their families and pose a threat to their
health. While many countries have made significant advances in primary health
care, the high morbidity and mortality rates of women due to inadequate
attention to reproductive health persist.
72. Through their organizations, women have raised concerns about their own
health. In their efforts to control the spread of sexually transmitted
diseases, women, who represent half of all adults newly infected with
HIV/AIDS, have emphasized their social vulnerability. In national and
international forums, women have articulated that to attain optimal health
throughout the life cycle, equality, including the sharing of family
responsibilities, development and peace are necessary conditions.
73. Women's mental and physical health are jeopardized by social and
behavioural factors that also restrict their access to quality health care,
information and services. A continuing deterioration of public health
systems, a decrease in public health spending and increasing privatization of
health care systems compound the problem. This situation not only directly
affects the health of girls and women, but also places extra responsibilities
on women, who act as primary health care providers within the family and
community. Women's roles are often not acknowledged and women lack the
necessary social and economic support.
74. Inadequate access to safe and effective contraceptive methods and high
quality maternal care, and unsafe abortions, result in 500,000 maternal deaths
a year, as well as in acute and chronic complications affecting approximately
20 million women. Most of these deaths, ill health and injuries are
preventable through improved access to adequate health care services,
including a wide range of safe and effective contraceptive methods. Shared
responsibility between women and men in matters related to sexual and
reproductive behaviour is also essential to improving women's health.
75. Discrimination against girls in access to nutrition and health care
services endangers their current and future health. Conditions that force
girls into early marriage, pregnancy and childbearing, along with such harmful
practices as son preference and female genital mutilation, pose unnecessary
health risks.
76. Sexual violence and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS,
are having a devastating effect on women's health, particularly the health of
adolescent girls and young women. Women are often not able to insist on safe
sex practices and have little access to information on prevention. The
consequences of HIV/AIDS reach beyond women's health to their role as
caregivers to the sick and destitute. The social, developmental and health
consequences of AIDS need to be seen through a gender perspective, but this is
not always recognized. Cancers of the reproductive system and infertility
also affect growing numbers of women and are often preventable.
77. Adolescent girls are both biologically and psychosocially more vulnerable
than boys to the consequences of unprotected sexual relations. The trend to
early sexual experience increases the risk of unwanted and too early
pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV infection, and unsafe
abortions. Teenage pregnancy often marks the end of a young woman's access to
education.
78. There is growing evidence that links mental disorders with alienation,
powerlessness and poverty, conditions most frequently experienced by women,
along with overwork and stress. Drug abuse and domestic violence are among
other health issues of growing concern to women. Occupational health issues
are also growing in importance, as women now constitute over one third of the
formal labour market, and this figure is rising. With the increase in life
expectancy, chronic non-communicable diseases and other health concerns of
elderly women urgently require more attention.
79. Statistical data on health are not systematically collected, gender
disaggregated or analysed by age and sex. Recent and reliable data on
maternal mortality and related indicators are not available in some countries.
Research in areas important to women's health often lack funding. Drug
testing on female subjects to establish basic information about dosage,
side-effects and drug effectiveness are noticeably absent.
Strategic objective C.1. Achieve universal access to
appropriate, affordable and
quality health care and
related services
Actions to be taken
80. By Governments:
(a) Implement the commitments made at the International Conference on
Population and Development and the World Summit for Social
Development to meet the health care needs of women;
(b) Design health interventions and services to take into account
women's multiple roles and responsibilities, the demands on their
time, the special needs of women with disabilities, and the
diversity of women's needs across age, socio-economic and cultural
differences;
(c) Make more accessible, available and affordable primary health care
services and facilities, including reproductive health care and
family planning information and services, as specified in the
Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population
and Development; 5/
(d) Redesign health information, services and training for health
workers so that they take into account women's specific physical and
mental health needs at all ages through a holistic approach that
includes nutritional, occupational, environmental, sexual and
reproductive health interventions;
(e) Strengthen and reorient health services, particularly primary health
care, attain full coverage of the population and ensure universal
access to quality health services for girls and women, including
information and services related to reproductive health, in order to
reduce maternal morbidity and achieve the agreed-upon goal of
reducing maternal mortality by 50 percent of the 1990 levels by the
year 2000 and a further one half by the year 2015, and provide
quality services at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels;
(f) Design health interventions to address the needs of women throughout
their life cycle. In this context, particular attention should be
given to the needs of girls. Special attention should be given to
the achievement of internationally approved goals for the reduction
of infant and child mortality - specifically, by the year 2000, the
reduction of mortality rates of infants and children under five
years of age by one third of the 1990 level, or 50 to 70 per 1,000
live births, whichever is less; by the year 2015 an infant mortality
rate below 35 per 1,000 live births and an under-five mortality rate
below 45 per 1,000;
(g) Create special policies, programmes and legislation necessary to
alleviate and eliminate occupational health hazards associated with
women's work in the home and in the workplace;
(h) Integrate mental health services into primary health care systems,
developing other supportive programmes and training primary health
workers to recognize and treat girls and women who are under stress,
who have emotional problems or who have been subjected to violence
or other abuse, including armed and non-armed conflict;
(i) Review existing mental health legislation, facilities and support
services to ensure that they meet the changing roles and
responsibilities of women wherever they reside;
(j) Establish mechanisms to involve non-governmental organizations,
science and technology groups, health care professionals and other
bodies working to improve the health of girls, youth and women in
government policy-making, programme design and implementation within
the health sector and related sectors at all levels;
(k) Provide financial support and information to strengthen
non-governmental organizations working on women's health, and help
develop networks aimed at improving coordination and collaboration
between all sectors that affect health;
(l) Rationalize drug procurement and adopt policies using the WHO Model
List of essential drugs as a guideline;
(m) Provide improved access and appropriateness of treatment services
for women drug abusers and their families;
(n) Ensure food security and universal access to safe drinking water and
sanitation by the year 2000.
Strategic objective C.2. Strengthen preventive programmes that
address main threats to women's health
Actions to be taken
81. By Governments, non-governmental organizations, the mass media and other
organizations:
(a) Conduct both formal and informal educational programmes on public
health that encourage and enable women to make decisions on and take
responsibility for their own health. Special focus should be placed
on programmes that discourage harmful attitudes and practices,
including son preference, female genital mutilation, female
foeticide and infanticide, violence, discrimination against girls
and women in food allocation, and others related to the health and
wellness of women;
(b) Reinforce laws, institutions and cultural norms and practices that
reduce discrimination against women and compel men and boys to take
responsibility for their sexual and reproductive behaviour and to
share equally in child care and household maintenance;
(c) Prepare and disseminate information, through campaigns and the
education system, designed to ensure that women and men,
particularly young people, can acquire knowledge about their health,
especially information on sexuality and reproduction, including such
issues as menstruation, pregnancy, childbirth, drug and alcohol
abuse and prevention of violence;
(d) Create and support programmes in the educational system, in the
workplace and in the community to make sport and recreation
available to girls and women on the same basis as they are to men;
(e) Develop policies that recognize the disproportionate and increasing
burden on women as health and care providers in the family and
community by providing women with adequate support from health and
social services and adopting regulations to ensure that the working
conditions of women at all levels of the health system are
non-discriminatory and enable them to work effectively;
(f) Ensure that health and nutritional training form an integral part of
all adult literacy programmes and school curricula from the primary
level;
(g) Provide updated training, information and services to health care
providers to empower them to give compassionate, appropriate and
timely health services to women at all stages of their life cycle,
taking into account women's physical and mental health needs,
through a holistic approach that includes nutritional, occupational,
environmental, sexual and reproductive health interventions;
(h) Reduce severe and moderate malnutrition among children under the age
of five by one half of 1990 levels.
Strategic objective C.3. Undertake multisectoral initiatives,
sensitive to women's life situations,
that address the HIV pandemic
Actions to be taken
82. By Governments, international bodies, bilateral and multilateral donors
and non-governmental organizations:
(a) Ensure the involvement of women, especially those affected by the
epidemic, in all decision-making relating to the epidemic, including
HIV policy and programme development;
(b) Ensure equity for women with respect to the law, based on
established principles of human rights and access to legal
protection and redress;
(c) Review and amend laws and practices that may contribute to women's
susceptibility to HIV infection;
(d) Develop multisectoral programmes and strategies to end the social
subordination of women and girls and to ensure their economic
empowerment;
(e) Develop programmes to facilitate community discussion of strategies
for protecting women and young girls from sexually transmitted
diseases, including HIV infection, violence and unwanted pregnancies
and for ensuring an equitable sharing of the burden of care created
by the epidemic;
(f) Assist women and their formal and informal organizations to
establish and expand effective peer education and outreach
programmes;
(g) Ensure the provision of affordable prevention services, accessible
to women and sensitive to their needs, and expand the provision of
counselling services for women;
(h) Support action-oriented research on affordable methods, controlled
by women, to prevent sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV
infection; on strategies that women use to protect themselves; and
on methods of care, support and treatment of women infected with
HIV, ensuring the involvement of those women in all aspects of such
research;
(i) Design programmes for pre-adolescent boys and teenagers and men of
all ages, aimed at encouraging responsible sexual and reproductive
behaviour, including condom use;
(j) Provide workshops and specialized training in prevention of the
epidemic and its repercussions on both women and men, for decision
makers and opinion leaders at all levels of the community, including
religious and traditional authorities;
(k) Provide resources and facilities to women who find themselves the
principal caregivers or economic support for those affected by the
epidemic and the survivors, particularly children;
(l) Encourage all sectors of society, including the public sector, to
develop compassionate and supportive HIV-related personnel policies
and practices;
(m) Acknowledge that the higher risk of contracting HIV among females is
linked to both intravenous drug use and high-risk, drug-influenced
sexual behaviour, and provide appropriate preventive care and
treatment.
83. By non-governmental organizations, particularly youth and women's
organizations:
Facilitate the development of community strategies that will assist in
protecting women from infection, mobilize all parts of the community in
response and exert pressure on all responsible authorities to respond in
a timely, effective, sustainable and gender-sensitive manner.
84. By Governments, non-governmental organizations, the Joint United Nations
Programme on HIV/AIDS and other bodies of the United Nations system:
(a) Develop gender-sensitive legal, ethical and human rights policies to
provide guidance to the global response;
(b) Support and initiate research which addresses women's needs and
situations, including research on HIV infection in women and on
female-controlled methods of protection, such as non-spermicidal
microbicide;
(c) Support and strengthen national capacity to create and improve HIV
policies and programmes that support and protect women and are
sensitive to their life circumstances.
Strategic objective C.4. Promote research and information
dissemination on women's health
Actions to be taken
85. By Governments:
(a) Train personnel and introduce systems that allow for the use of data
collected and analysed on the basis of sex, age and socio-economic
differentials, in policy-making and planning;
(b) Increase the number of women researchers and scientists to achieve
at a minimum the agreed target of 30 per cent by the year 2000,
recognizing that full equality should be achieved at the earliest
possible date;
(c) Increase support for biomedical, behavioural, epidemiological and
health service research into diseases and conditions, such as breast
cancer and infections of the reproductive tract;
(d) Provide assistance to fund research on the conditions that affect
the morbidity of women in the latter years of their life cycle,
especially chronic non-communicable disease;
(e) Finance social, economic, political and cultural research on how
gender inequalities affect women's health (etiology, epidemiology,
provision and utilization of services, eventual outcome of
treatment); support research on neglected areas of women's health,
such as occupational health, cardiovascular diseases,
environmentally related and tropical diseases and HIV/AIDS;
(f) Provide financial and institutional support for research on safe,
effective and affordable technologies for reproductive and sexual
health of women and men, including safe and effective methods for
the regulation of fertility, barrier methods to protect against
sexually transmitted diseases/HIV, and simple and inexpensive
methods of diagnosing such diseases, among others;
(g) Fund research on traditional medicine and health care, especially as
practised by indigenous women, with a view to applying safe,
effective and inexpensive methods in the public health system;
(h) Create programmes to disseminate available data and research
findings.
Strategic objective C.5. Increase resources for women's health
Actions to be taken
86. By Governments:
(a) Increase budgetary allocations for basic health and social services,
with adequate support for secondary and tertiary levels, and give
special attention to the health of girls and women and to rural
health programmes;
(b) Develop innovative approaches to funding health services through
promoting community participation and local financing.
87. By Governments, international financial institutions and bilateral
donors:
(a) Institute policies favourable to public investment in women's health
and increase allocations for such investment;
(b) Monitor and evaluate progress achieved in women's health status.
D. Violence against women
88. Violence against women is a violation of basic human rights. Knowledge
about its causes, incidence and measures to combat it have been developed
since the Nairobi Conference. In all societies, women and girls are subjected
to physical, sexual and psychological abuse which cuts across boundaries of
class, ethnic group, religion, age and level of development. The Declaration
on the Elimination of Violence against Women 6/ condemns gender-based
violence, defined as violence encountered by women and girls, within the
family and the community. This includes domestic violence, rape, sexual
harassment and intimidation in the workplace and in educational institutions;
trafficking of women and girls and forced prostitution; harmful traditional
practices; and violence against women and girls condoned by the State.
89. Acts or threat of violence instil fear and insecurity in women's lives,
rendering their aspirations for equality futile. Violence against women
throughout the life cycle derives essentially from the lower status accorded
to women in the family and in society. Physical, psychological or sexual
violence, whether occurring in the home or in society, is linked to male power
privilege and control. Most of the violence against women and girls occurs in
the family, where violence is often tolerated and encouraged. The neglect and
physical and sexual abuse of girl-children by family members and incidences of
spousal abuse and rape are hidden from view and difficult to detect.
90. Violence against women and girls is abetted by their lack of legal
literacy, by the lack of laws to prohibit violence, by inadequate efforts on
the part of public authorities to enforce existing laws and by the absence of
educational and other means to address the causes of violence. Developing a
holistic and multidisciplinary approach to the challenging task of creating
violence-free families is not only a necessity, but an achievable reality.
The concept of equality and partnership between women and men must permeate
all stages of the socialization process. Educational systems should promote
self-respect, mutual respect between women and men and peaceful mechanisms of
conflict resolution at all levels.
91. The absence of adequate statistics on the incidence of violence make the
elaboration of programmes and monitoring of changes difficult. Inadequate
documentation and research on domestic violence, sexual harassment and
violence against women and girls, in private and public, including in the
workplace, impede efforts to design specific intervention strategies.
Experience in a number of countries shows that women and men can be mobilized
to overcome violence in all its forms and that effective public measures can
be taken to address both the consequences and the causes of violence. Images
of violence against women including rape or sexual slavery, portrayed in the
mass media may be a contributing factor to its continued prevalence,
influencing young people and the community at large.
92. Refugee, displaced and migrant women and women in zones of conflict or
foreign occupation are often subjected to sexual harassment and violence by
persons in positions of authority.
93. The 1949 Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of
the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others 7/ has been of little
consequence in eliminating trafficking in women for the sex trade. The use of
women in international prostitution networks has become a significant
international business, particularly with the increase of trafficking in girls
and children.
Strategic objective D.1. Take integrated measures to prevent
and eradicate violence against women
Actions to be taken
94. By Governments:
(a) Enact or reinforce legislation which makes all violence against
women a crime, whether in the home or in society, and a violation of
women's human rights, subject to legal sanctions against
perpetrators;
(b) Take legal action against perpetrators of violence against women;
(c) Enact or reinforce legislation at the national level in accordance
with the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women,
exercising due diligence and emphasizing the prevention of violence,
as well as the protection of women subject to violence, prosecution
of offenders and rehabilitation of victims and perpetrators;
(d) All stages of the educational system should promote the concept of
equality and shared responsibility of women and men, showing the
links between inequality between men and women and violence against
women, affirming that violence against women is illegal and
promoting non-violent attitudes and mutual respect between women and
men;
(e) Create institutional mechanisms so that women can report acts of
violence against them in a safe and confidential environment;
(f) Reform training of judicial, legal and police personnel sensitizing
them to the nature of gender-based violence so that fair treatment
of female victims of violence can be ensured; recruit more women to
those professions;
(g) Sponsor programmes that increase awareness and enhance sensitivity
among legal and health professionals, including counsellors, to the
nature and dynamics of violence against women.
95. By Governments, including local governments, community organizations and
non-governmental organizations:
(a) Provide well-funded shelters for women subjected to violence, as
well as medical, psychological and employment counselling services;
(b) Organize, support and fund community-based education and training
campaigns to raise awareness about violence as a violation of human
rights, and mobilize communities to use traditional and innovative
methods of conflict resolution;
(c) Organize educational programmes for girls, boys and women so that
they can learn to protect themselves against violence;
(d) Encourage the mass media to publicize information on assistance
available to women who are victims of violence.
96. By Governments, employers, trade unions, community and youth
organizations and non-governmental organizations:
(a) Develop programmes and procedures to eliminate sexual harassment in
all educational institutions, workplaces and elsewhere;
(b) Develop programmes and procedures to educate and raise awareness
about violence as a violation of women's human rights;
(c) Develop counselling and rehabilitation programmes for adolescents in
homes where abusive relationships exist.
97. By Governments, international organizations and women's non-governmental
organizations:
(a) Monitor the implementation and impact of the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, 2/
especially as it relates to general recommendation 19, adopted by
the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women at
its eleventh session, 8/ and of the Declaration on the Elimination
of Violence against Women;
(b) Strengthen the mandate and support the work of the United Nations
Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women.
Strategic objective D.2. Study the causes of violence
against women
Actions to be taken
98. By Governments, the United Nations, other international organizations,
such as UNESCO and the Organization of American States, research institutions,
women's and youth organizations and intergovernmental organizations:
(a) Study the causes of violence against women in their social, economic
and political context;
(b) Document, particularly in administrative, police and hospital
records, the incidence of all types of violence;
(c) Examine the impact of the mass media, including commercial
advertisements, on violence against women and promote a
violence-free society.
Strategic objective D.3. Adopt special measures to eliminate
trafficking in women and to assist
female victims of violence
Actions to be taken
99. By Governments:
(a) Enforce the international conventions on trafficking in persons and
on slavery;
(b) Protect young women and girls who may be subject to trafficking for
the purpose of forced prostitution and prevent further abuse by
dismantling international networks on trafficking and providing
assistance to victims of trafficking;
(c) Take special measures to eradicate violence against women,
particularly those in vulnerable situations, such as young women,
women with disabilities and women migrant workers, including
enforcing existing legislation for women migrant workers in both
sending and receiving countries.
E. Effects of armed or other kinds of conflict on women
100. Armed conflict has not decreased with the end of the cold war; ethnic and
religious conflicts are an ongoing reality in nearly every region.
Humanitarian law, prohibiting attacks on civilian populations, is
systematically ignored; human rights law is being violated by armed parties.
In a world of continuing instability and violence, new approaches to peace and
security are urgently needed. The perspectives of women could provide a more
constructive approach to the use of power and to the resolution of conflict.
While women are chronically underrepresented at, if not altogether absent
from, the highest levels of decision-making in matters of security and peace,
they have experienced a disproportionate share of the consequences of armed
conflict. If given the opportunity, women have shown an ability to resolve
conflicts, at both national and international levels.
101. There is considerable evidence that women are highly skilled in
negotiation, dialogue and forms of conflict resolution without the use of
military force. Yet women are grossly underrepresented in decision-making
positions in defence and foreign ministries, the military and police agencies,
and international mediation and United Nations peace-keeping missions. If
women are to play an equal part in securing and maintaining peace, they must
be empowered politically and economically and represented at all levels of
decision-making.
102. While not involved in decision-making, women and girls suffer the
consequences of armed conflict and militarism in special ways because of their
status in society and their sex. The impact of violence is experienced by
women of all ages who are subjected to acts of terrorism, torture,
disappearance, rape and displacement. This is compounded by the lifelong
social and psychologically traumatic consequences of armed conflict,
particularly for young women and girls. Women and children constitute 80 per
cent of the world's 25 million refugees and displaced persons. These women
and children are deprived of goods and services and threatened by violence and
insecurity. This state of affairs makes it imperative that refugee women
become active partners in deciding on and assessing needs and in planning and
implementing activities.
103. In order to counter the instability posed by the production and
proliferation of weapons, women's non-governmental organizations have called
for reductions in military expenditures world wide and for the elimination of
the international weapons trade, questioning the morality of a militaristic
culture and armed conflict as a means of resolving disagreements. Those most
affected by massive arms transfers and expenditures on weaponry and by armed
conflict are the poor, who are deprived because of the lack of investment in
basic services. International policy-making bodies involved in matters of
collective security should study other means to achieve security besides
political rivalry and armaments.
104. Education to foster a culture of peace that upholds justice for all
nations and people is essential to attaining lasting peace.
Strategic objective E.1. Increase and strengthen women's
participation in decision-making
and leadership in conflict
resolution
Actions to be taken
105. By Governments and international and regional intergovernmental
institutions:
(a) Take affirmative and corrective action to establish a critical mass
and gender balance to ensure equal participation of women
numerically and qualitatively in all United Nations forums and peace
activities at ambassadorial and decision-making levels, including
the United Nations Secretariat;
(b) Increase the percentage of women participating in United Nations
forums and activities concerned with peace and security; specific
targets to that end may be established;
(c) Include a significant proportion of women in all activities relating
to peace-keeping, peacemaking, peace-building and preventive
diplomacy, including fact-finding and observer missions, and in all
stages of peace mediation and negotiations;
(d) Ensure that there is gender balance on such international bodies as
the War Crimes Tribunal and the International Court of Justice.
Strategic objective E.2. Reduce and eliminate the availability
of instruments of violence
Actions to be taken
106. By Governments:
(a) Increase the conversion of military resources and related industries
to peaceful purposes;
(b) Undertake to explore new ways of generating new public and private
financial resources, inter alia, through the appropriate reduction
in excessive military expenditures including global military
expenditures and arms trade, investments for arms production and
acquisition, taking into consideration national security
requirements, so as to allow possible allocation of additional funds
for social and economic development;
(c) Register, and ultimately eliminate, weapons development, production,
deployment and sales and, as a first step, expand the United Nations
Register of Conventional Arms to include production, making
reporting obligatory, and to include all types of weapons, such as
chemical and biological weapons;
(d) Ban the use of land mines, more than 10 million of which are
scattered in 64 countries globally, with an estimated cost of
clearance of at least US$ 33 billion;
(e) Impose conflict damage reparations against citizens involved in the
production and marketing of arms, with special penalties for illegal
arms sales and transfers, particularly from North to South.
Strategic objective E.3. Promote non-violent forms of conflict
resolution
Actions to be taken
107. By Governments and international and regional organizations:
(a) Encourage diplomacy, peaceful negotiation and non-military
approaches to conflict resolution;
(b) Ratify, if they have not done so, the 1977 Protocols Additional to
the Geneva Conventions of 1949;
(c) Establish a special United Nations unit for third-party conflict
resolution that is balanced in composition between women and men;
(d) Declare rape in the conduct of war a war crime comparable to
genocide, terrorism and torture, and include provisions against rape
in article 75 of Additional Protocol I of 1977 9/ to the Geneva
Conventions of 1949;
(e) Create institutions to break the cycle of violence, including war
crimes trials, truth commissions and national peace commissions, and
incorporate women in the steps towards national reconciliation;
(f) Add gender-sensitive traditional practices of conflict resolution
and reconciliation that take into consideration local conditions, to
the repertoire of peace-making procedures followed by the United
Nations;
(g) Make gender-sensitive training compulsory for all personnel involved
in United Nations peace-keeping operations.
Strategic objective E.4. Foster a culture of peace
Actions to be taken
108. By Governments, international and regional intergovernmental institutions
and non-governmental organizations:
(a) Promote conflict resolution and peace education training in
educational institutions, communities and families for all members
of society. Youth exchange programmes would be particularly
beneficial;
(b) Give priority in the support provided to research institutions and
agencies, to programmes and projects related to peace and security
that take gender into account;
(c) Ensure that specific educational programmes on women's human rights
and their relation to peace are included in the implementation of
the Plan of Action for the United Nations Decade for Human Rights
Education (1995-2004); 10/
(d) Focus research by the United Nations and peace research institutes
on the impact of conflict on women and on the extent, nature and
effectiveness of women's participation in international, national
and local peace movements; focus research on traditional mechanisms
for containing violence and conflict resolution and women's
perspectives on peace and security;
(e) Ensure that the United Nations disseminates the Charter of the
United Nations and that the principles relating to conflict
resolution are translated and integrated into educational programmes
world wide;
(f) Create mechanisms to address the social and psychological
consequences of armed conflict on women, particularly young women
and girls;
(g) Create national civilian commissions, in which men and women are
represented equally, that would open to public scrutiny all military
activities, expenditures, research and development.
Strategic objective E.5. Provide assistance and training
to refugee and displaced women
Actions to be taken
109. By Governments, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations and
other institutions involved in providing assistance to refugees and displaced
persons, especially the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the
World Food Programme:
(a) Ensure that women are involved in the design, implementation,
monitoring and evaluation of all short-term and long-term projects
and programmes providing assistance to women refugees and displaced
persons, including the management of refugee camps and resources;
(b) Take steps to guarantee the physical safety of refugee and displaced
women, both during their displacement and on their return;
(c) Provide emergency relief that takes into account the specific needs
of women;
(d) Apply international norms to ensure equal rights and access of women
to refugee determination procedures and the granting of asylum.
Consider gender factors in recognizing as refugees those women whose
claim to refugee status is based on a well-founded fear of
persecution, for reasons enumerated in the 1951 Geneva Convention
relating to the Status of Refugees 11/ and the 1967 Protocol; 12/
(e) Focus all programmes on promoting the self-reliant capacities of
refugee women and their human rights, including all rights related
to their status as refugees;
(f) Ensure that the human rights of refugee women, including all rights
related to their status as refugees and their right to family
reunification, are recognized;
(g) Adopt special measures to provide refugee women of all ages with
vocational/professional training programmes aimed at integrating
them into the labour market; include in those programmes language
training, small-scale enterprise development training, family
planning and counselling on domestic violence;
(h) Encourage and provide special programmes for women, particularly
young women, in leadership and decision-making training within
refugee and returnee communities;
(i) Raise public awareness through the mass media, education and special
programmes in order to create a better understanding and tolerance
of refugees and displaced persons.
F. Inequality in women's access to and participation in the
definition of economic structures and policies and the
productive process itself
110. Women's participation in economic life significantly increased during the
past decade as women became the workers of choice in many industries and
predominant in small and medium-sized enterprises. Nevertheless, women remain
underrepresented in economic decision-making at both national and
international levels. Similarly, women are largely absent from the policy
formulation process in the multilateral institutions that define the terms of
structural adjustment programmes, loans and grants. Discriminatory education
and training and hiring and promotion practices, inflexible working conditions
and inadequate sharing of family responsibilities continue to restrict women's
employment, professional opportunities and mobility in the formal sector.
Moreover, attitudinal obstacles inhibit women's participation in economic
decision-making and restrict girls' access to education and training for
economic management. Conversely, there has been a growth in women's
self-reliant activities in the informal sector, based on their initiatives,
knowledge, capacities and skills and their creative and innovative approaches
to financing, marketing and management.
111. Legal and customary barriers to ownership of or access to land, natural
resources, capital, technology and other means of production contribute to
impeding the economic progress of women. The value of women's unremunerated
contribution to the economy, whether in family enterprises, community service
or domestic work, remains unrecognized and is therefore not reflected in
national accounts.
112. The globalization of the economy is undermining women's self-reliant
initiatives with respect to savings, production and trade. The international
and sexual division of labour has reinforced the segregation of women into a
limited number of occupations. This trend has been characterized by low
wages, low skill levels and a lack of job security, in both the formal and
informal sectors. Young and migrant female workers remain the least protected
by labour and immigration laws. Women, particularly young women, have limited
employment opportunities because of inflexible working conditions and
inadequate sharing of domestic responsibilities, including the care of
children and the elderly.
113. In transnational and national enterprises women are largely absent from
management and decision-making levels, denoting discriminatory hiring and
promotion policies and practices which reflect attitudinal prejudice.
Consequently, women have increasingly become owners and managers of small and
medium-sized enterprises. This expansion of the informal sector is due in
large part to women, whose collaborative, self-help and traditional practices
represent a valuable economic resource. When given access to and control over
credit, resources, technology and training, women can increase production,
marketing and income to ensure sustainable livelihoods.
Strategic objective F.1. Secure economic rights for women
Actions to be taken
114. By Governments:
(a) Devise mechanisms that provide women with access to and
participation in the definition of economic structures and policies
through such organizations as ministries of finance, national
economic commissions and economic research institutes;
(b) Reform commercial and property laws to provide women with full
access to, ownership of and control over natural and economic
resources, as well as technical services and the returns from their
own economic activity;
(c) Reform laws governing the operation of financial institutions to
provide services to women on the same basis as men;
(d) Revise and enact national policies that support the traditional
savings and lending mechanisms of women;
(e) Ensure that national policies related to international and regional
trade agreements protect women's new and traditional economic
activities;
(f) Create flexible employment policies that facilitate the
restructuring of work patterns and promote the sharing of family
responsibilities;
(g) Enact equal opportunity legislation and encourage compliance in the
private sector through the granting of contracts;
(h) Ensure that gender impact analyses are applied to all macroeconomic
and micro-economic policies and that the results are recognized and
acted upon.
Strategic objective F.2. Take positive action to facilitate
women's equal access to resources,
employment, markets and trade
Actions to be taken
115. By Governments:
(a) Create and modify programmes to provide women farmers, especially
those involved in food production, with equal access to new
technologies, extension services and marketing and credit
facilities;
(b) Increase the proportion of women extension workers and other
government personnel who provide technical assistance or administer
economic programmes;
(c) Review policies and regulations to ensure that they do not
discriminate against small and medium-enterprises owned by women in
rural and urban areas;
(d) Establish advisory boards and other forums to enable women
entrepreneurs to contribute to the formulation of policies and
programmes being developed by economic ministries and banking
institutions;
(e) Conduct reviews of national income tax and social security systems
to eliminate any existing bias against women, including homemakers.
116. By national machinery for the advancement of women:
Analyse, advise on and coordinate policies that integrate the needs and
interests of self-employed and entrepreneurial women into sectoral and
inter-ministerial policies, programmes and budgets.
117. By Governments, central banks and national development banks:
(a) Provide wholesale lending, refinancing and incentives to the local
banking sector and intermediaries that serve the needs of women
entrepreneurs in both rural and urban areas;
(b) Structure services to reach rural and urban women involved in both
small and micro enterprises, especially young women who lack access
to capital and assets.
118. By Governments and non-governmental organizations:
Disseminate market, trade and resource information to women.
119. By multilateral funding organizations, such as the International Fund for
Agricultural Development, the World Bank, regional development banks and the
United Nations Capital Development Fund, as well as bilateral and private
funding agencies at the international, regional and subregional levels:
(a) Review policies, programmes and projects to ensure that a higher
proportion of resources reach women, especially in rural areas;
(b) Develop flexible funding arrangements to finance intermediary
institutions that target women's economic activities and promote
self-sufficiency and increased capacity in and profitability of
women's economic enterprises.
Strategic objective F.3. Provide business services and access
to markets, information and
technology to low-income women
Actions to be taken
120. By Governments, non-governmental organizations at the community and
national levels and the private sector:
(a) Provide communications, storage and transportation infrastructure to
ensure market access for women entrepreneurs;
(b) Develop special programmes that provide training and low-cost
services to women in business management, product development,
financing, production and quality control, marketing and the legal
aspects of business;
(c) Create special investment funds to support women's businesses and
target women in trade promotion programmes;
(d) Disseminate information to girls and young women about successful
women entrepreneurs and the skills necessary for such success;
facilitate networking and the exchange of information;
(e) Provide support services, such as child-care facilities.
121. By local, national and international business organizations and
non-governmental organizations concerned with women's issues:
Advocate, at the national level, for the promotion and support of women's
businesses, including those in the informal sector, and for full access
of women to productive resources.
Strategic objective F.4. Strengthen women's economic capacity
and commercial networks
Actions to be taken
122. By Governments:
(a) Adopt policies that support business organizations, non-governmental
organizations, cooperatives, credit unions, grass-roots
organizations and other groups to provide services to women
entrepreneurs in rural and urban areas;
(b) Design special programmes for women affected by structural
adjustment programmes and the transition to market economies and for
women who work in the informal sector;
(c) Adopt policies that strengthen women's self-help groups and workers'
associations through non-conventional forms of support;
(d) Use the research of women scientists and technologists and the
indigenous knowledge of women to improve income-earning capacity.
123. By financial intermediaries, national training institutes, credit unions,
non-governmental organizations, women's associations, professional
organizations and the private sector:
(a) Provide training in financial management and technical skills to
enable women, especially young women, to participate at the
national, regional and international levels;
(b) Provide business services, including marketing and trade
information, product design and innovation, technology transfer and
quality control, for both the domestic and export sectors of the
economy;
(c) Promote technical and commercial links and establish joint ventures
among women entrepreneurs at the national, regional and
international levels to support community-based initiatives;
(d) Strengthen women's production and marketing cooperatives, especially
in rural areas;
(e) Invest capital and develop investment portfolios to finance women's
enterprises;
(f) Support credit networks and innovative ventures, including
traditional savings schemes.
124. By transnational and national corporations:
(a) Adopt policies and establish mechanisms to grant contracts on a
parity basis to women who are self-employed or who are
entrepreneurs;
(b) Recruit women at decision-making and management levels and in
management training programmes on the same basis as men.
Strategic objective F.5. Eliminate occupational segregation and
wage inequality
Actions to be taken
125. By Governments, employers, employees, trade unions and women's
organizations:
(a) Incorporate international norms on the equal rights of women in the
economy into national legislation, as specified in the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 13/ and
International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions, especially
Convention No. 156 regarding workers with family responsibilities,
including the protection of the rights of migrant and disabled
women;
(b) Enact and enforce laws against age and sex discrimination in the
labour market, hiring and promotion, and the extension of employment
benefits and social security and regarding discriminatory working
conditions and sexual harassment;
(c) Develop employment programmes and services for women entering the
labour market, especially rural and young women and those affected
by structural adjustment programmes;
(d) Implement and monitor affirmative action programmes in the
recruitment and promotion of women in all sectors;
(e) Increase incentives to enterprises and expand the number of
vocational and training centres that provide training for women in
non-traditional areas;
(f) Provide women, especially young women, with information and
professional training in non-traditional, scientific and technical
careers, including areas with new economic opportunities;
(g) Develop special programmes to enable women with disabilities to
obtain and retain employment;
(h) Enact legislation that ensures equal pay for equal work;
(i) Strengthen and establish legal mechanisms to adjudicate matters
relating to wage discrimination;
(j) Reduce child labour by 50 per cent by the year 2000.
Strategic objective F.6. Create a flexible work environment
Actions to be taken
126. By Governments:
(a) Extend the protection of labour and social security laws to
part-time and temporary jobs and to seasonal and home-based workers
and enact laws to promote career development based on flexible work
conditions;
(b) Enact laws that grant parental leave to both women and men and
promote the sharing of responsibility for the family by men and
women.
127. By Governments, the private sector and non-governmental organizations:
(a) Establish training programmes to reintegrate women into the labour
market after parental leave or a career interruption;
(b) Encourage flexible work schedules;
(c) Design educational programmes to raise awareness and acceptance of
shared family responsibilities;
(d) Provide on-site child care at workplaces and flexible working hours.
G. Inequality between men and women in the sharing of power
and decision-making at all levels
128. Despite the widespread movement towards democratization in the past
decade, women have made little progress in attaining political power in
legislative bodies or in achieving the target of 30 per cent women in
positions at decision-making levels set by the Economic and Social Council.
Although women make up at least half of the electorate in almost all countries
and have had the right to vote and hold office for more than a generation, few
are candidates for public office. The continuing gap between women's de jure
and de facto equality, as well as their absence from power and political
decision-making, is indicative of both attitudinal and structural
discrimination. With the exception of the Nordic countries, where political
parties and Governments have undertaken specific initiatives, only 10 per cent
of the members of legislative bodies and a lower percentage of ministerial
positions are now held by women globally. The discriminatory attitudes that
permeate education and training, political party culture and government
structures restrict women's political participation and deprive the world of
women's leadership and vision. Only through the active participation of women
at all levels of decision-making will equality, development and peace be
achieved.
129. Women constitute over half of the electorate in almost all countries
where elections are held. They have participated significantly both as voters
and in political campaigns. They have also demonstrated considerable
leadership skills in public office. However, socialization and negative
stereotyping of women, including stereotyping through the media, affirm that
power and political leadership are the domain of men. This often discourages
women from seeking political office and reduces the credibility of women
candidates.
130. Due to their exclusion from traditional avenues to power, such as the
decision-making bodies of political parties and trade unions, women have
gained access to power through alternative structures, particularly in the
non-governmental organization sector. Through non-governmental organizations,
women have been able to articulate their interests and concerns and have
placed women's issues on the national, regional and international agendas.
Consequently, there has been increased collaboration between Governments and
women's organizations in decision-making processes.
131. Inequality in the public arena often starts with discriminatory attitudes
and practices within the household, where power relations between men and
women are first defined. A more equal sharing of domestic responsibilities
and decision-making can result in greater participation for women in public
life. Non-formal networks and patterns of decision-making that reflect a
dominant male ethos restrict women's ability to participate equally in
political and economic life.
132. The low proportion of women among economic and political decision makers
at national, regional and international levels reflects structural and
attitudinal barriers that need to be addressed through positive measures.
Transnational and national corporations, banks, and regional and international
organizations, including those in the United Nations system, have failed to
recruit and promote women as top-level managers, policy makers, diplomats and
negotiators.
Strategic objective G.1. Take special measures to ensure women's
equal access to and full participation
in power structures and decision-making
Actions to be taken
133. By Governments:
(a) Establish targets and mechanisms for the inclusion of women in the
lists of political parties as candidates for public office and for
the appointment of women to the public service at decision-making
levels;
(b) Appoint women on a parity basis to public advisory boards and other
bodies;
(c) Collect, analyse and disseminate quantitative and qualitative data
on women at decision-making levels in the public and private sector;
(d) Support non-governmental organizations and research institutes that
conduct studies on women's participation in decision-making and
their impact on the decision-making environment.
134. By political parties:
(a) Adopt the goal of parity and partnership in all internal
policy-making structures, maintaining the goal of 50-50
representation in all appointive and electoral nominating processes;
(b) Provide greater visibility and opportunities for leadership by
women, recognizing that an important source of potential national
leadership exists at the local and community levels, where women
have created informal and formal networks that provide a democratic,
informed and responsible base for decision-making.
135. By Governments, national bodies, the private sector, political parties,
trade unions, employers' organizations, subregional and regional bodies,
non-governmental and international organizations:
(a) Take affirmative action to build a critical mass of women leaders,
executives and managers in strategic decision-making positions;
(b) Create regulatory bodies and enforcement mechanisms to monitor
women's access to senior levels of decision-making;
(c) Monitor progress towards the Secretary-General's target of having
women in 50 per cent, or at least 40 per cent, of managerial and
decision-making positions by the year 2000.
136. By the United Nations:
(a) Adopt and implement existing and new policies and measures relating
to all types of contracts in order to achieve complete overall
gender parity in employment at the Professional level by the year
2000;
(b) Adopt affirmative action measures to achieve gender balance in all
committees by the year 2000;
(c) Continue to collect and disseminate quantitative and qualitative
data on women in decision-making and analyse the differential impact
on decision-making by women in the public and private sectors.
137. By women's organizations, non-governmental organizations, trade unions,
political parties and professional organizations:
Mobilize women to organize, support and advocate on behalf of candidates
committed to implementing the Platform for Action before the year 2000.
Strategic objective G.2. Increase women's capacity to participate
in decision-making and leadership
Actions to be taken
138. By Governments, national bodies, the private sector, political parties,
trade unions, employers' organizations, subregional and regional bodies, and
non-governmental and international organizations:
(a) Restructure recruitment and career-development programmes to ensure
that women, especially young women, have equal access to managerial,
entrepreneurial, technical and leadership training, including
on-the-job training;
(b) Develop programmes for career advancement for women through career
planning, tracking, mentoring and coaching;
(c) Provide gender-sensitive training for men and women to promote
non-sexist working relationships and respect for diversity in work
and management styles.
139. By women's organizations, non-governmental organizations and trade
unions:
(a) Organize women to use their purchasing power as consumers to
determine national economic policies;
(b) Advocate at all levels to enable women to influence political and
economic decisions, processes and systems;
(c) Establish databases on women and their qualifications for use in
appointing women to senior decision-making and advisory positions
and for dissemination to Governments, international organizations
and private enterprises.
H. Insufficient mechanisms at all levels to promote the
advancement of women
140. National machineries for the advancement of women have been established
in almost every Member State. Created to advocate, implement, monitor and
mobilize support for policies that promote the advancement of women, national
machineries are diverse in form and uneven in their effectiveness. Often
marginalized in national government structures, these mechanisms are hampered
by unclear mandates; lack of staff, training, adequate data and sufficient
resources; and the absence of unequivocal support from national leadership.
At the international level, mechanisms to promote the advancement of women as
an integral part of mainstream political, development or human rights
initiatives encounter similar problems emanating from a lack of commitment at
the highest levels.
141. Successive international conferences have demonstrated the need to take
gender factors into account in policy and programme planning. Regional bodies
concerned with the advancement of women have been strengthened, together with
international machinery, such as the Commission on the Status of Women and the
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. Methodologies
for incorporating women's concerns in policies and programmes and dealing with
the differential effects of policies on women and men have been developed in
many organizations and are available for application.
Strategic objective H.1. Create or strengthen national machineries
and other governmental bodies
Actions to be taken
142. By Governments:
(a) Create, where it does not exist, national machinery for the
advancement of women that has clearly defined mandates, political
commitment, the ability to influence policy and the functions of
advocacy, policy analysis, communication, coordination and
monitoring;
(b) Provide staff trained in both gender and managerial skills to carry
out policy analysis, negotiation, communication and design and to
monitor activities;
(c) Establish procedures to allow the machinery to gather relevant
information on policy issues at an early stage and apply it in the
policy development process within government.
143. By national machinery:
(a) Establish cooperative relationships with members of parliament,
centres for women's studies and research, private sector bodies,
private enterprises and non-governmental organizations;
(b) Establish direct international links with other national machineries
and with international bodies;
(c) Provide training and advisory assistance to government agencies to
integrate gender perspectives into their policies;
(d) Report periodically to the parliament and the cabinet.
144. By international organizations, especially the United Nations Development
Fund for Women (UNIFEM), and bilateral donors:
(a) Provide advisory and financial assistance to national machinery to
increase the ability to gather information, develop networks and
undertake gender analysis;
(b) Strengthen international mechanisms to promote the advancement of
women.
Strategic objective H.2. Integrate women's concerns in all
public policies
Actions to be taken
145. By Governments:
(a) Regularly review policies and projects to ensure that they reflect
the costs and benefits of women's contribution to the economy and
society and take into account the impact of policies on women's
situation with regard to employment and earning policies;
(b) Require officials to apply gender analysis in developing policies
and programmes and to provide training to the staff in the areas of
planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of programmes
and projects;
(c) Establish networks of focal points in all ministries and agencies
with a mandate to review policies and programmes and create
mechanisms for the focal points to meet regularly with national
machinery to monitor progress in the implementation of the Platform
for Action.
Strategic objective H.3. Generate and disseminate gender
disaggregated data and information
for planning and evaluation
Actions to be taken
146. By national and international statistical services, in cooperation with
research organizations, in their respective areas of responsibility:
(a) Collect data disaggregated by age, sex and socio-economic indicators
for utilization in policy planning and implementation;
(b) Integrate centres for women's studies and research in defining new
indicators and in monitoring the goals of the Platform for Action;
(c) Ensure that all statistics related to individuals are collected,
analysed and presented by sex and age and reflect problems and
questions related to men and women in society;
(d) Designate staff to strengthen the structure and programmes of gender
statistics and ensure their close link to all fields of statistical
work by coordinating and monitoring this work and preparing outputs
that integrate statistics from the various subject areas;
(e) Improve the concepts and methods of data collection on and the
measurement of the full contribution of women and men to the economy
by taking steps to improve the measurement of their participation in
the informal sector, agriculture and, in particular, small holdings,
industry, trade and the domestic service sector, and to quantify the
remunerated and unremunerated work of women and men, including
housework and child care;
(f) Develop an international classification of activities for time-use
statistics, with Governments also undertaking time-use studies, and
develop further work at the national level to prepare satellite
accounts of women's and men's economic contribution to production
and income;
(g) Improve concepts and methods of data collection on the measurement
of poverty among women and men, including their access to resources;
(h) Strengthen vital statistical systems and incorporate gender analysis
into publications and research; give priority to gender differences
in research design and in data collection and analysis to improve
data on morbidity; and improve data collection on access to health
services, including access to comprehensive maternal care and family
planning, giving special priority to adolescent mothers.
147. By Governments:
(a) Produce a statistical publication on gender that presents and
interprets topical data on women and men in a form suitable for a
wide range of non-technical users;
(b) Organize a review by producers and users of statistics in each
country to assess the adequacy of the official statistical system
and the coverage of gender issues and prepare a plan for needed
improvements;
(c) Develop statistics and qualitative studies on the sharing of power
and influence in society, including the number of women and men in
senior positions in decision-making in both the public and private
sectors;
(d) Use more gender-sensitive data in policy formulation.
148. By the United Nations:
(a) Promote the development of statistical methods to improve data that
may relate to women's human rights, including violence against
women, for use by the Commission on Human Rights, the Committee on
the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and other human
rights treaty bodies;
(b) Prepare a new issue of The World's Women at regular five-year
intervals;
(c) Assist countries in the development of gender statistics programmes
and outputs;
(d) Report on progress at the national and international levels to the
United Nations Statistical Commission and the Commission on the
Status of Women in a coordinated fashion.
I. Lack of awareness of and commitment to internationally and
nationally recognized women's human rights
149. Universal respect of the indivisible and inalienable human rights of
women of all ages is the basis for all efforts for the advancement of women.
In most countries, steps have been taken to reflect these rights in national
law; in others, however, these human rights' instruments are being undermined
by reservations that conflict with their object and purpose. Unless women's
human rights, as defined by international conventions and standards, are fully
applied, interpreted and enforced in civil, penal and commercial codes and
administrative rules and regulations, they will exist only in name. In many
countries, lack of awareness of one's rights and of how to exercise them
remains a considerable obstacle to women's access to full and equal human
rights.
150. The World Conference on Human Rights reaffirmed clearly that the human
rights of women throughout the life cycle are an inalienable, integral and
indivisible part of universal human rights. The International Conference on
Population and Development reaffirmed women's reproductive rights and the
right to development. Both the Declaration of the Rights of the Child and the
Convention on the Rights of the Child guarantee children's rights and uphold
the principle of non-discrimination on the grounds of gender. Three quarters
of the States Members of the United Nations have become parties to the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
An increasing number of countries have established mechanisms to enable women
to exercise their rights.
151. In countries that have not become party to the Convention or where
serious reservations have been entered, or where national laws have not been
modified to comply with international norms, women's de jure equality is not
yet secured. Unresponsive legal systems, overly complex administrative
procedures, insensitive judicial personnel and inadequate monitoring of the
violation of the human rights of women undermine women's access to full and
equal rights. Lack of enforcement of civil, penal and commercial codes or
administrative rules and regulations have undermined women's access to the
protection offered under international human rights instruments.
152. Furthermore, the lack of appropriate recourse mechanisms at the national
and international levels and inadequate resources for institutions monitoring
the violation of the human rights of women at the international level, such as
the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, compounds
the problem.
153. Changes in both men's and women's knowledge, attitudes and behaviour are
necessary conditions for achieving harmonious partnerships between women and
men. It is essential to improve communication between women and men on issues
of shared responsibility, including sexuality and reproductive health, so that
women and men are equal partners in public and private life. Special efforts
are needed to emphasize men's shared responsibility and promote their active
involvement in responsible parenthood and sexual and reproductive behaviour.
154. Special emphasis should be placed on the prevention of violence against
women and children. Any form of violence against women, in private and public
life, or experienced as a result of armed conflict, is an abrogation of
international human rights law.
155. Women in particularly vulnerable circumstances such as migrant, refugee
or displaced women or those from minority or indigenous groups, are often
disadvantaged and marginalized by their lack of knowledge and recognition of
their basic human rights and the absence of recourse mechanisms to redress
violations of their rights.
156. Legal literacy programmes and media strategies have been effective in
helping women understand the link between their rights and other aspects of
their lives and in demonstrating that cost-effective initiatives can be
undertaken to help women obtain those rights.
Strategic objective I.1. Implement fully the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women and other
human rights instruments
Actions to be taken
157. By Governments:
(a) Ratify or accede to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms
of Discrimination against Women, if they have not yet done so,
without reservations, so that universal ratification is achieved by
2000;
(b) Report on the schedule for implementation of the Convention to the
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women,
following fully the guidelines established by the Committee and
involving non-governmental organizations in the preparation of the
report;
(c) Include gender aspects in reporting on all other human rights
conventions, as well as those of the ILO;
(d) Revise the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women to grant the Committee adequate meeting
time to complete its mandate;
(e) Review any substantive reservations entered to the Convention with a
view to having all reservations removed before 2000;
(f) Adopt an optional protocol to the Convention to establish a
communications procedure that can enter into force before 2000;
(g) Implement the Convention on the Rights of the Child to ensure equal
rights for girls and boys.
158. By the High Commissioner for Human Rights:
(a) In the exercise of his/her mandate to promote universal respect for
and observance of all human rights, give full and equal
consideration to the human rights of women;
(b) Ensure the inclusion of gender issues in his/her activities with
regard to advisory services, technical assistance, coordination,
public information and human rights education;
(c) Monitor the work of all human rights bodies and mechanisms and their
secretariats to ensure that women's human rights are duly taken into
account and that coordination is achieved among them in that
respect;
(d) Ensure a gender perspective in national programmes of action and in
human rights and democratic institutions, within the context of
human rights advisory services programmes.
Strategic objective I.2. Ensure equality and non-discrimination
under the law
Actions to be taken
159. By Governments:
(a) Provide and guarantee constitutions that prohibit discrimination on
the basis of sex and assure women of all ages full and equal
citizenship;
(b) Adopt, where necessary, equal opportunity legislation to give
practical effect to constitutional guarantees;
(c) Complete national law reviews by 2000 in order to incorporate the
principles and provisions of accepted international norms and
standards into national legislation and to revoke any remaining
discriminatory laws;
(d) Provide gender sensitivity and women's human rights training for all
public officials, including law enforcement officers, legal and
medical personnel, members of parliament and social workers, so that
they may better exercise their public responsibilities;
(e) Strengthen or establish alternative administrative mechanisms and
legal aid programmes to assist disadvantaged women seeking redress
for violations of their rights;
(f) Strengthen and encourage the development of independent national
institutions on human rights, such as human rights commissions or
ombudspersons, and accord them appropriate status, resources and
access to the Government to assist individuals in ensuring their
human rights.
Strategic objective I.3. Achieve legal literacy
Actions to be taken
160. By Governments and non-governmental organizations:
(a) Translate into local languages, publicize and disseminate laws and
information relating to human rights, including the Convention on
the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the
Vienna Declaration adopted by the World Conference on Human
Rights, 14/ particularly that section relating to the equal status
and human rights of women;
(b) Include human rights education in school curricula and undertake
public campaigns for girls and boys, and adolescents in particular,
in the most widely used languages of the country, on the equality of
women and men and on women's human rights and the instruments
available to ensure them.
J. Insufficient mobilization of the mass media to promote
women's positive contributions to society
161. During the past decade, advances in information technology have
facilitated the development of international media organizations that
transcend national boundaries and have the power to shape public policy and
private attitudes. These media offer the promise of greater interaction among
people, rapid exchange of knowledge and accessible sources of education. They
can, on the one hand, be powerful tools for development and social progress
or, on the other, reinforce exploitative stereotypes, particularly of women.
In many countries women are working to make the mass media more sensitive to
women's reality and to the emerging roles of both women and men. Everywhere
the potential exists for the media to make a far greater contribution to the
advancement of women in society and to the public's acceptance of women's true
roles.
162. There has been an increase in the number of women involved in the
communications industries, but not at the decision-making levels. Their lack
of power and influence in the organizations that employ them, mainly at the
writing and production levels, is evidenced by the failure to eliminate the
sex-based stereotyping that characterizes so much of the output of the major
international media organizations.
163. The continued projection of out-of-date images of women in the global
media system is now overdue for correction. Print and broadcast media in most
countries still do not provide an accurate picture of women's roles and value
in a changing world. There is still too great a reliance on programming that
includes images of violence and dominance, with women invariably portrayed as
victims. Foreign-produced programming is often culturally damaging, with
negative impact on both the perception of women's roles and behaviour and the
cultura