AS WRITTEN

 Statement of the Austrian Federal Minister for Women's Issues
Ms. Johanna Dohnal on "Eradication of Poverty"
made on March 7, 1995, 3:00 - 6:00 p.m. 
at the World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen, Denmark


 Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

 As far as its timing and substance are concerned, the World Summit on 
Social Development is taking place between two United Nations Conferences 
that also focus on social issues.

 The United Nations Conference on Population and Development, which was 
held in Cairo in autumn 1994, dealt with such topics as family planning, 
sustainable development and the relationship between family size and social 
and economic status.

 One of the central issues of the 4th World Conference on Women, which is 
going to be held in Beijing in September 1995, will be the achievement of 
legal and actual equality of women and men. "Peace" and "development", the 
two other main themes, are major prerequisites of a policy of social 
justice, too.

In my capacity as Austria's Federal Minister for Women's Issues, I am here 
to represent my country in this week's general debate of the Social Summit 
because the three core issues of this Conference - poverty, unemployment 
and social exclusion - also have a particularly great impact on women

 1. Before speaking as the representative of an industrialized nation on 
poverty, which needs to be eradicated in my own country as well as in other 
comparable countries, let me state one thing quite clearly: The existing 
global gradient of poverty between the industrialized and the so-called 
developing countries, which is reflected in all available comparative data, 
must be reduced as quickly as possible. To give you just one example: The 
fact that there are still countries where merely 10-20% of the population 
have access to uncontaminated water is an indicator of poverty which the 
world cannot accept at the end of the 20th century.

 Therefore, it must be one of the priority objectives of the Program of 
Action to reduce the prosperity gap between industrialized nations and the 
so-called developing countries.

 In any society, the impact of poverty is disproportionately higher on 
women than on men. And a catchy term has already been coined for this fact 
as well: it is called the "feminization" of poverty.

 In Austria as well as in other European countries, participation in the 
social security system is directly linked to equitable participation in the 
labor market, to the level of income and to the duration of productive 
employment.

 Due to the gender-specific division of roles, women are covered by the 
social security system to a lesser extent. While the number of gainfully 
employed women is increasing in Europe, their private obligations as 
housewives, mothers or nurses for elderly, sick or handicapped family 
members do not diminish correspondingly.

 For the reasons I have just mentioned, elderly people - and elderly women 
in particular - as well as unemployed persons are also at risk of becoming 
impoverished.

 2. The aim of the Social Summit is to encourage joint efforts to fight 
unemployment and, hence, hopelessness and the growing potential for 
violence in the society at large.

 It is not only that countless jobs have been eliminated worldwide in the 
course of the last recession. High unemployment rates and an increase in 
the number of atypical forms of employment are the most visible signs of 
the current economic structural change.

 While the number of employment opportunities being afforded little 
protection under labor and social security laws has grown markedly in the 
past decade, that of secure jobs has been reduced. As we can see from the 
economic structural changes taking place in the countries in transition, 
women tend to be dismissed at an earlier stage and more readily than men 
and receive less integration assistance. More and more frequently, elderly 
employees are at risk of being dismissed and increasingly require the 
support of active labor market policies.

Therefore, the World Social Summit is called upon to lay down the right to 
productive employment as a fundamental right in a "gainfully active 
society" which assesses all social benefits and the social status of people 
on the basis of their work.

 3. As a measure to combat social disintegration tendencies, Chapter 4 of 
the Program of Action calls for the social integration of all people In all 
societies, it is women and children who are most severely affected by the 
consequences of social disintegration, which is also shown by the fact, for 
example, that 80% of all refugees are women and children.

 Single mothers and their children are among the groups that are least 
covered by social security schemes and are most heavily affected by 
marginalization.

 Social disintegration fosters violence. The resolutions of this Conference 
must address violence against women and children as well as violence 
against ethnic minorities and persons who hold different opinions and 
beliefs as priority issues.

 Let me now discuss a few topics of the negotiations in greater detail:

 1. It clearly follows from what I have said so far that in order to 
formulate a responsible social policy we need carefully developed social 
indicators. I am concerned about the fact that in the Program of Action the 
pertinent provision is still shown in brackets.

 Social development should no longer be a by-product of economic 
development but should be pursued and assessed as an independent goal. 
Social indicators must be disaggregated according to gender in order to 
facilitate the implementation and effective monitoring of social 
development policy. The improvement of statistics should go hand in hand 
with an improvement of the United Nations' reporting system on social 
progress.

 2. Second, I would like to refer to the role the state plays in connection 
with social development. By holding the Social Summit, the international 
community is showing its commitment to a broader definition of the security 
concept.

 In future, security will mean not only the absence of military threat but 
also the freedom from distress and social exclusion. This primary and 
fundamental responsibility of the state cannot and must not be turned over 
to other social mechanisms or to the family in its various forms.

 3. Moreover, it must clearly be pointed out that from the planning stage 
to their implementation and monitoring, social and economic programs must 
contain a gender-specific element since economic and social policies often 
affect men and women differently.

 4. Fourth, I would like to emphasize the importance of the regional 
implementation and the regional follow-up and monitoring of the Social 
Summit. I would suggest in this context that the European Economic 
Commission be given a clear social mandate.

 5. Last, but not least, it seems important to me that provision is made 
for concrete financing modes regarding the implementation of the 
recommendations of the Social Summit. The proposal to allocate a larger 
percentage than so far - i.e. some 20% - of national budgets and 
international development funds in order to meet the basic needs of people 
seems to be a realistic target in this respect.

 I would like to conclude my statement by expressing my conviction that to 
find a solution to the problems addressed at the World Summit on Social 
Development requires the active and equitable participation of women to a 
degree that corresponds to the proportion of women to men in the total 
population.