| United Nations | A/CONF.177/20 |
Fourth World Conference on Women
Distr. GENERAL
17 October 1995
ENGLISH
ORIGINAL: ARABIC/ENGLISH/
FRENCH/RUSSIAN/
SPANISH
FOURTH WORLD
CONFERENCE ON WOMEN
Beijing, China
4-15 September 1995
REPORT OF THE FOURTH WORLD CONFERENCE ON WOMEN*
(Beijing, 4-15 September 1995)
* The present document is a preliminary version of the report of the
Fourth World Conference on Women. Annexes I to IV will appear in an addendum
to the present document. The complete report will be issued as a United
Nations sales publication.
CONTENTS
Chapter Page
I. RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED BY THE CONFERENCE ............... 4
1. Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action ...... 4
2. Expression of thanks to the people and Government of the
People's Republic of China ....................... 136
3. Credentials of representatives to the Fourth World
Conference on Women ............................. 137
II. ATTENDANCE AND ORGANIZATION OF WORK .................. 138
A. Date and place of the Conference ................. 138
B. Pre-Conference consultations ..................... 138
C. Attendance ....................................... 138
D. Opening of the Conference and election of the
President ........................................ 141
E. Messages from Heads of State or Government ....... 142
F. Adoption of the rules of procedure ............... 142
G. Adoption of the agenda ........................... 142
H. Election of officers other than the President .... 143
I. Organization of work, including the establishment of
the Main Committee of the Conference ............. 144
J. Appointment of the members of the Credentials
Committee .................................... 144
III. GENERAL EXCHANGE OF VIEWS ............................ 145
IV. REPORT OF THE MAIN COMMITTEE ......................... 149
A. Organization of work ............................. 149
B. Consideration of the draft platform for action ... 150
C. Consideration of the draft declaration ............ 156
V. ADOPTION OF THE BEIJING DECLARATION AND PLATFORM FOR ACTION
..................................................... 157
Reservations and interpretative statements on the Beijing
Declaration and Platform for Action................... 157
VI. REPORT OF THE CREDENTIALS COMMITTEE .................. 177
VII. ADOPTION OF THE REPORT OF THE CONFERENCE ........... 179
VIII. CLOSURE OF THE CONFERENCE .......................... 180
Annexes*
I. LIST OF DOCUMENTS
II. OPENING STATEMENTS
III. CLOSING STATEMENTS
IV. STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE CONFERENCE ON THE COMMONLY UNDERSTOOD
MEANING OF THE TERM "GENDER"
* To be issued as an addendum to the present document.
Chapter I
RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED BY THE CONFERENCE
Resolution 1
Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action*
The Fourth World Conference on Women,
Having met in Beijing from 4 to 15 September 1995,
1. Adopts the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which are
annexed to the present resolution;
2. Recommends to the General Assembly of the United Nations at its
fiftieth session that it endorse the Beijing Declaration and Platform for
Action as adopted by the Conference.
* Adopted at the 16th plenary meeting, on 15 September 1995; for the
discussion, see chapter V.
Annex I
BEIJING DECLARATION
1. We, the Governments participating in the Fourth World Conference on
Women,
2. Gathered here in Beijing in September 1995, the year of the fiftieth
anniversary of the founding of the United Nations,
3. Determined to advance the goals of equality, development and peace for
all women everywhere in the interest of all humanity,
4. Acknowledging the voices of all women everywhere and taking note of the
diversity of women and their roles and circumstances, honouring the women who
paved the way and inspired by the hope present in the world's youth,
5. Recognize that the status of women has advanced in some important
respects in the past decade but that progress has been uneven, inequalities
between women and men have persisted and major obstacles remain, with serious
consequences for the well-being of all people,
6. Also recognize that this situation is exacerbated by the increasing
poverty that is affecting the lives of the majority of the world's people, in
particular women and children, with origins in both the national and
international domains,
7. Dedicate ourselves unreservedly to addressing these constraints and
obstacles and thus enhancing further the advancement and empowerment of women
all over the world, and agree that this requires urgent action in the spirit
of determination, hope, cooperation and solidarity, now and to carry us
forward into the next century.
We reaffirm our commitment to:
8. The equal rights and inherent human dignity of women and men and other
purposes and principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, to the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights
instruments, in particular the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, as
well as the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women and the
Declaration on the Right to Development;
9. Ensure the full implementation of the human rights of women and of the
girl child as an inalienable, integral and indivisible part of all human
rights and fundamental freedoms;
10. Build on consensus and progress made at previous United Nations
conferences and summits - on women in Nairobi in 1985, on children in New York
in 1990, on environment and development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, on human
rights in Vienna in 1993, on population and development in Cairo in 1994 and
on social development in Copenhagen in 1995 with the objective of achieving
equality, development and peace;
11. Achieve the full and effective implementation of the Nairobi
Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women;
12. The empowerment and advancement of women, including the right to freedom
of thought, conscience, religion and belief, thus contributing to the moral,
ethical, spiritual and intellectual needs of women and men, individually or in
community with others and thereby guaranteeing them the possibility of
realizing their full potential in society and shaping their lives in
accordance with their own aspirations.
We are convinced that:
13. Women's empowerment and their full participation on the basis of equality
in all spheres of society, including participation in the decision-making
process and access to power, are fundamental for the achievement of equality,
development and peace;
14. Women's rights are human rights;
15. Equal rights, opportunities and access to resources, equal sharing of
responsibilities for the family by men and women, and a harmonious partnership
between them are critical to their well-being and that of their families as
well as to the consolidation of democracy;
16. Eradication of poverty based on sustained economic growth, social
development, environmental protection and social justice requires the
involvement of women in economic and social development, equal opportunities
and the full and equal participation of women and men as agents and
beneficiaries of people-centred sustainable development;
17. The explicit recognition and reaffirmation of the right of all women to
control all aspects of their health, in particular their own fertility, is
basic to their empowerment;
18. Local, national, regional and global peace is attainable and is
inextricably linked with the advancement of women, who are a fundamental force
for leadership, conflict resolution and the promotion of lasting peace at all
levels;
19. It is essential to design, implement and monitor, with the full
participation of women, effective, efficient and mutually reinforcing
gender-sensitive policies and programmes, including development policies and
programmes, at all levels that will foster the empowerment and advancement of
women;
20. The participation and contribution of all actors of civil society,
particularly women's groups and networks and other non-governmental
organizations and community-based organizations, with full respect for their
autonomy, in cooperation with Governments, are important to the effective
implementation and follow-up of the Platform for Action;
21. The implementation of the Platform for Action requires commitment from
Governments and the international community. By making national and
international commitments for action, including those made at the Conference,
Governments and the international community recognize the need to take
priority action for the empowerment and advancement of women.
We are determined to:
22. Intensify efforts and actions to achieve the goals of the Nairobi
Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women by the end of this
century;
23. Ensure the full enjoyment by women and the girl child of all human rights
and fundamental freedoms and take effective action against violations of these
rights and freedoms;
24. Take all necessary measures to eliminate all forms of discrimination
against women and the girl child and remove all obstacles to gender equality
and the advancement and empowerment of women;
25. Encourage men to participate fully in all actions towards equality;
26. Promote women's economic independence, including employment, and
eradicate the persistent and increasing burden of poverty on women by
addressing the structural causes of poverty through changes in economic
structures, ensuring equal access for all women, including those in rural
areas, as vital development agents, to productive resources, opportunities and
public services;
27. Promote people-centred sustainable development, including sustained
economic growth, through the provision of basic education, life-long
education, literacy and training, and primary health care for girls and women;
28. Take positive steps to ensure peace for the advancement of women and,
recognizing the leading role that women have played in the peace movement,
work actively towards general and complete disarmament under strict and
effective international control, and support negotiations on the conclusion,
without delay, of a universal and multilaterally and effectively verifiable
comprehensive nuclear-test-ban treaty which contributes to nuclear disarmament
and the prevention of the proliferation of nuclear weapons in all its aspects;
29. Prevent and eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls;
30. Ensure equal access to and equal treatment of women and men in education
and health care and enhance women's sexual and reproductive health as well as
education;
31. Promote and protect all human rights of women and girls;
32. Intensify efforts to ensure equal enjoyment of all human rights and
fundamental freedoms for all women and girls who face multiple barriers to
their empowerment and advancement because of such factors as their race, age,
language, ethnicity, culture, religion, or disability, or because they are
indigenous people;
33. Ensure respect for international law, including humanitarian law, in
order to protect women and girls in particular;
34. Develop the fullest potential of girls and women of all ages, ensure
their full and equal participation in building a better world for all and
enhance their role in the development process.
We are determined to:
35. Ensure women's equal access to economic resources, including land,
credit, science and technology, vocational training, information,
communication and markets, as a means to further the advancement and
empowerment of women and girls, including through the enhancement of their
capacities to enjoy the benefits of equal access to these resources, inter
alia, by means of international cooperation;
36. Ensure the success of the Platform for Action, which will require a
strong commitment on the part of Governments, international organizations and
institutions at all levels. We are deeply convinced that economic
development, social development and environmental protection are
interdependent and mutually reinforcing components of sustainable development,
which is the framework for our efforts to achieve a higher quality of life for
all people. Equitable social development that recognizes empowering the poor,
particularly women living in poverty, to utilize environmental resources
sustainably is a necessary foundation for sustainable development. We also
recognize that broad-based and sustained economic growth in the context of
sustainable development is necessary to sustain social development and social
justice. The success of the Platform for Action will also require adequate
mobilization of resources at the national and international levels as well as
new and additional resources to the developing countries from all available
funding mechanisms, including multilateral, bilateral and private sources for
the advancement of women; financial resources to strengthen the capacity of
national, subregional, regional and international institutions; a commitment
to equal rights, equal responsibilities and equal opportunities and to the
equal participation of women and men in all national, regional and
international bodies and policy-making processes; and the establishment or
strengthening of mechanisms at all levels for accountability to the world's
women;
37. Ensure also the success of the Platform for Action in countries with
economies in transition, which will require continued international
cooperation and assistance;
38. We hereby adopt and commit ourselves as Governments to implement the
following Platform for Action, ensuring that a gender perspective is reflected
in all our policies and programmes. We urge the United Nations system,
regional and international financial institutions, other relevant regional and
international institutions and all women and men, as well as non-governmental
organizations, with full respect for their autonomy, and all sectors of civil
society, in cooperation with Governments, to fully commit themselves and
contribute to the implementation of this Platform for Action.
Annex II
PLATFORM FOR ACTION
CONTENTS
Chapter Paragraphs
Page
I. MISSION STATEMENT .................................... 1 - 5 10
II. GLOBAL FRAMEWORK ..................................... 6 - 40 11
III. CRITICAL AREAS OF CONCERN ............................ 41 - 44 19
IV. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES AND ACTIONS ..................... 45 - 285 21
A. Women and poverty ................................ 47 - 68 21
B. Education and training of women .................. 69 - 88 29
C. Women and health ................................. 89 - 111 37
D. Violence against women ........................... 112 - 130 51
E. Women and armed conflict ......................... 131 - 149 59
F. Women and the economy ............................ 150 - 180 68
G. Women in power and decision-making ............... 181 - 195 82
H. Institutional mechanisms for the advancement of
women ............................................ 196 - 209 87
I. Human rights of women ............................ 210 - 233 92
J. Women and the media .............................. 234 - 245 102
K. Women and the environment ........................ 246 - 258 106
L. The girl child ................................... 259 - 285 112
V. INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS ........................... 286 - 344 122
A. National level ................................... 293 - 300 123
B. Subregional/regional level ....................... 301 - 305 124
C. International level .............................. 306 - 344 125
VI. FINANCIAL ARRANGEMENTS ............................... 345 - 361 131
A. National level ................................... 346 - 350 131
B. Regional level ................................... 351 - 352 132
C. International level .............................. 353 - 361 132
Chapter I
MISSION STATEMENT
1. The Platform for Action is an agenda for women's empowerment. It aims
at accelerating the implementation of the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies
for the Advancement of Women 1/ and at removing all the obstacles to women's
active participation in all spheres of public and private life through a full
and equal share in economic, social, cultural and political decision-making.
This means that the principle of shared power and responsibility should be
established between women and men at home, in the workplace and in the wider
national and international communities. Equality between women and men is a
matter of human rights and a condition for social justice and is also a
necessary and fundamental prerequisite for equality, development and peace. A
transformed partnership based on equality between women and men is a condition
for people-centred sustainable development. A sustained and long-term
commitment is essential, so that women and men can work together for
themselves, for their children and for society to meet the challenges of the
twenty-first century.
2. The Platform for Action reaffirms the fundamental principle set forth in
the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, 2/ adopted by the World
Conference on Human Rights, that the human rights of women and of the girl
child are an inalienable, integral and indivisible part of universal human
rights. As an agenda for action, the Platform seeks to promote and protect
the full enjoyment of all human rights and the fundamental freedoms of all
women throughout their life cycle.
3. The Platform for Action emphasizes that women share common concerns that
can be addressed only by working together and in partnership with men towards
the common goal of gender* equality around the world. It respects and values
the full diversity of women's situations and conditions and recognizes that
some women face particular barriers to their empowerment.
4. The Platform for Action requires immediate and concerted action by all
to create a peaceful, just and humane world based on human rights and
fundamental freedoms, including the principle of equality for all people of
all ages and from all walks of life, and to this end, recognizes that broad-
based and sustained economic growth in the context of sustainable development
is necessary to sustain social development and social justice.
5. The success of the Platform for Action will require a strong commitment
on the part of Governments, international organizations and institutions at
all levels. It will also require adequate mobilization of resources at the
national and international levels as well as new and additional resources to
the developing countries from all available funding mechanisms, including
multilateral, bilateral and private sources for the advancement of women;
financial resources to strengthen the capacity of national, subregional,
regional and international institutions; a commitment to equal rights, equal
responsibilities and equal opportunities and to the equal participation of
women and men in all national, regional and international bodies and policy-
making processes; and the establishment or strengthening of mechanisms at all
levels for accountability to the world's women.
* For the commonly understood meaning of the term "gender", see
annex IV to the present report.
Chapter II
GLOBAL FRAMEWORK
6. The Fourth World Conference on Women is taking place as the world stands
poised on the threshold of a new millennium.
7. The Platform for Action upholds the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women 3/ and builds upon the Nairobi Forward-
looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women, as well as relevant
resolutions adopted by the Economic and Social Council and the General
Assembly. The formulation of the Platform for Action is aimed at establishing
a basic group of priority actions that should be carried out during the next
five years.
8. The Platform for Action recognizes the importance of the agreements
reached at the World Summit for Children, the United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development, the World Conference on Human Rights, the
International Conference on Population and Development and the World Summit
for Social Development, which set out specific approaches and commitments to
fostering sustainable development and international cooperation and to
strengthening the role of the United Nations to that end. Similarly, the
Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing
States, the International Conference on Nutrition, the International
Conference on Primary Health Care and the World Conference on Education for
All have addressed the various facets of development and human rights, within
their specific perspectives, paying significant attention to the role of women
and girls. In addition, the International Year for the World's Indigenous
People, 4/ the International Year of the Family, 5/ the United Nations Year
for Tolerance, 6/ the Geneva Declaration for Rural Women, 7/ and the
Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women 8/ have also
emphasized the issues of women's empowerment and equality.
9. The objective of the Platform for Action, which is in full conformity
with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and
international law, is the empowerment of all women. The full realization of
all human rights and fundamental freedoms of all women is essential for the
empowerment of women. While the significance of national and regional
particularities and various historical, cultural and religious backgrounds
must be borne in mind, it is the duty of States, regardless of their
political, economic and cultural systems, to promote and protect all human
rights and fundamental freedoms. 9/ The implementation of this Platform,
including through national laws and the formulation of strategies, policies,
programmes and development priorities, is the sovereign responsibility of each
State, in conformity with all human rights and fundamental freedoms, and the
significance of and full respect for various religious and ethical values,
cultural backgrounds and philosophical convictions of individuals and their
communities should contribute to the full enjoyment by women of their human
rights in order to achieve equality, development and peace.
10. 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, the world has experienced profound political,
economic, social and cultural changes, which have had both positive and
negative effects on women. The World Conference on Human Rights recognized
that the human rights of women and the girl child are an inalienable, integral
and indivisible part of universal human rights. The full and equal
participation of women in political, civil, economic, social and cultural life
at the national, regional and international levels, and the eradication of all
forms of discrimination on the grounds of sex are priority objectives of the
international community. The World Conference on Human Rights reaffirmed the
solemn commitment of all States to fulfil their obligations to promote
universal respect for, and observance and protection of, all human rights and
fundamental freedoms for all in accordance with the Charter of the United
Nations, other instruments related to human rights and international law. The
universal nature of these rights and freedoms is beyond question.
11. The end of the cold war has resulted in international changes and
diminished competition between the super-Powers. The threat of a global armed
conflict has diminished, while international relations have improved and
prospects for peace among nations have increased. Although the threat of
global conflict has been reduced, wars of aggression, armed conflicts,
colonial or other forms of alien domination and foreign occupation, civil
wars, and terrorism continue to plague many parts of the world. Grave
violations of the human rights of women occur, particularly in times of armed
conflict, and include murder, torture, systematic rape, forced pregnancy and
forced abortion, in particular under policies of ethnic cleansing.
12. The maintenance of peace and security at the global, regional and local
levels, together with the prevention of policies of aggression and ethnic
cleansing and the resolution of armed conflict, is crucial for the protection
of the human rights of women and girl children, as well as for the elimination
of all forms of violence against them and of their use as a weapon of war.
13. Excessive military expenditures, including global military expenditures
and arms trade or trafficking, and investments for arms production and
acquisition have reduced the resources available for social development. As a
result of the debt burden and other economic difficulties, many developing
countries have undertaken structural adjustment policies. Moreover, there are
structural adjustment programmes that have been poorly designed and
implemented, with resulting detrimental effects on social development. The
number of people living in poverty has increased disproportionately in most
developing countries, particularly the heavily indebted countries, during the
past decade.
14. In this context, the social dimension of development should be
emphasized. Accelerated economic growth, although necessary for social
development, does not by itself improve the quality of life of the population.
In some cases, conditions can arise which can aggravate social inequality and
marginalization. Hence, it is indispensable to search for new alternatives
that ensure that all members of society benefit from economic growth based on
a holistic approach to all aspects of development: growth, equality between
women and men, social justice, conservation and protection of the environment,
sustainability, solidarity, participation, peace and respect for human rights.
15. A world-wide movement towards democratization has opened up the
political process in many nations, but the popular participation of women in
key decision-making as full and equal partners with men, particularly in
politics, has not yet been achieved. South Africa's policy of
institutionalized racism - apartheid - has been dismantled and a peaceful and
democratic transfer of power has occurred. In Central and Eastern Europe the
transition to parliamentary democracy has been rapid and has given rise to a
variety of experiences, depending on the specific circumstances of each
country. While the transition has been mostly peaceful, in some countries
this process has been hindered by armed conflict that has resulted in grave
violations of human rights.
16. Widespread economic recession, as well as political instability in some
regions, has been responsible for setting back development goals in many
countries. This has led to the expansion of unspeakable poverty. Of the more
than 1 billion people living in abject poverty, women are an overwhelming
majority. The rapid process of change and adjustment in all sectors has also
led to increased unemployment and underemployment, with particular impact on
women. In many cases, structural adjustment programmes have not been designed
to minimize their negative effects on vulnerable and disadvantaged groups or
on women, nor have they been designed to assure positive effects on those
groups by preventing their marginalization in economic and social activities.
The Final Act of the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations 10/
underscored the increasing interdependence of national economies, as well as
the importance of trade liberalization and access to open, dynamic markets.
There has also been heavy military spending in some regions. Despite
increases in official development assistance (ODA) by some countries, ODA has
recently declined overall.
17. Absolute poverty and the feminization of poverty, unemployment, the
increasing fragility of the environment, continued violence against women and
the widespread exclusion of half of humanity from institutions of power and
governance underscore the need to continue the search for development, peace
and security and for ways of assuring people-centred sustainable development.
The participation and leadership of the half of humanity that is female is
essential to the success of that search. Therefore, only a new era of
international cooperation among Governments and peoples based on a spirit of
partnership, an equitable, international social and economic environment, and
a radical transformation of the relationship between women and men to one of
full and equal partnership will enable the world to meet the challenges of the
twenty-first century.
18. Recent international economic developments have had in many cases a
disproportionate impact on women and children, the majority of whom live in
developing countries. For those States that have carried a large burden of
foreign debt, structural adjustment programmes and measures, though beneficial
in the long term, have led to a reduction in social expenditures, thereby
adversely affecting women, particularly in Africa and the least developed
countries. This is exacerbated when responsibilities for basic social
services have shifted from Governments to women.
19. Economic recession in many developed and developing countries, as well
as ongoing restructuring in countries with economies in transition, have had a
disproportionately negative impact on women's employment. Women often have no
choice but to take employment that lacks long-term job security or involves
dangerous working conditions, to work in unprotected home-based production or
to be unemployed. Many women enter the labour market in under-remunerated and
undervalued jobs, seeking to improve their household income; others decide to
migrate for the same purpose. Without any reduction in their other
responsibilities, this has increased the total burden of work for women.
20. Macro and micro-economic policies and programmes, including structural
adjustment, have not always been designed to take account of their impact on
women and girl children, especially those living in poverty. Poverty has
increased in both absolute and relative terms, and the number of women living
in poverty has increased in most regions. There are many urban women living
in poverty; however, the plight of women living in rural and remote areas
deserves special attention given the stagnation of development in such areas.
In developing countries, even those in which national indicators have shown
improvement, the majority of rural women continue to live in conditions of
economic underdevelopment and social marginalization.
21. Women are key contributors to the economy and to combating poverty
through both remunerated and unremunerated work at home, in the community and
in the workplace. Growing numbers of women have achieved economic
independence through gainful employment.
22. One fourth of all households world wide are headed by women and many
other households are dependent on female income even where men are present.
Female-maintained households are very often among the poorest because of wage
discrimination, occupational segregation patterns in the labour market and
other gender-based barriers. Family disintegration, population movements
between urban and rural areas within countries, international migration, war
and internal displacements are factors contributing to the rise of female-
headed households.
23. Recognizing that the achievement and maintenance of peace and security
are a precondition for economic and social progress, women are increasingly
establishing themselves as central actors in a variety of capacities in the
movement of humanity for peace. Their full participation in decision-making,
conflict prevention and resolution and all other peace initiatives is
essential to the realization of lasting peace.
24. Religion, spirituality and belief play a central role in the lives of
millions of women and men, in the way they live and in the aspirations they
have for the future. The right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion
is inalienable and must be universally enjoyed. This right includes the
freedom to have or to adopt the religion or belief of their choice either
individually or in community with others, in public or in private, and to
manifest their religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and
teaching. In order to realize equality, development and peace, there is a
need to respect these rights and freedoms fully. Religion, thought,
conscience and belief may, and can, contribute to fulfilling women's and men's
moral, ethical and spiritual needs and to realizing their full potential in
society. However, it is acknowledged that any form of extremism may have a
negative impact on women and can lead to violence and discrimination.
25. The Fourth World Conference on Women should accelerate the process that
formally began in 1975, which was proclaimed International Women's Year by the
United Nations General Assembly. The Year was a turning-point in that it put
women's issues on the agenda. 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. In 1979, the General Assembly
adopted the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women, which entered into force in 1981 and set an international
standard for what was meant by equality between women and men. 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. There has been important progress in achieving equality
between women and men. Many Governments have enacted legislation to promote
equality between women and men and have established national machineries to
ensure the mainstreaming of gender perspectives in all spheres of society.
International agencies have focused greater attention on women's status and
roles.
26. The growing strength of the non-governmental sector, particularly
women's organizations and feminist groups, has become a driving force for
change. Non-governmental organizations have played an important advocacy role
in advancing legislation or mechanisms to ensure the promotion of women. They
have also become catalysts for new approaches to development. Many
Governments have increasingly recognized the important role that
non-governmental organizations play and the importance of working with them
for progress. Yet, in some countries, Governments continue to restrict the
ability of non-governmental organizations to operate freely. Women, through
non-governmental organizations, have participated in and strongly influenced
community, national, regional and global forums and international debates.
27. Since 1975, knowledge of the status of women and men, respectively, has
increased and is contributing to further actions aimed at promoting equality
between women and men. In several countries, there have been important
changes in the relationships between women and men, especially where there
have been major advances in education for women and significant increases in
their participation in the paid labour force. The boundaries of the gender
division of labour between productive and reproductive roles are gradually
being crossed as women have started to enter formerly male-dominated areas of
work and men have started to accept greater responsibility for domestic tasks,
including child care. However, changes in women's roles have been greater and
much more rapid than changes in men's roles. In many countries, the
differences between women's and men's achievements and activities are still
not recognized as the consequences of socially constructed gender roles rather
than immutable biological differences.
28. Moreover, 10 years after the Nairobi Conference, equality between women
and men has still not been achieved. On average, women represent a mere
10 per cent of all elected legislators world wide and in most national and
international administrative structures, both public and private, they remain
underrepresented. The United Nations is no exception. Fifty years after its
creation, the United Nations is continuing to deny itself the benefits of
women's leadership by their underrepresentation at decision-making levels
within the Secretariat and the specialized agencies.
29. Women play a critical role in the family. The family is the basic unit
of society and as such should be strengthened. It is entitled to receive
comprehensive protection and support. In different cultural, political and
social systems, various forms of the family exist. The rights, capabilities
and responsibilities of family members must be respected. Women make a great
contribution to the welfare of the family and to the development of society,
which is still not recognized or considered in its full importance. The
social significance of maternity, motherhood and the role of parents in the
family and in the upbringing of children should be acknowledged. The
upbringing of children requires shared responsibility of parents, women and
men and society as a whole. Maternity, motherhood, parenting and the role of
women in procreation must not be a basis for discrimination nor restrict the
full participation of women in society. Recognition should also be given to
the important role often played by women in many countries in caring for other
members of their family.
30. While the rate of growth of world population is on the decline, world
population is at an all-time high in absolute numbers, with current increments
approaching 86 million persons annually. Two other major demographic trends
have had profound repercussions on the dependency ratio within families. In
many developing countries, 45 to 50 per cent of the population is less than
15 years old, while in industrialized nations both the number and proportion
of elderly people are increasing. According to United Nations projections,
72 per cent of the population over 60 years of age will be living in
developing countries by the year 2025, and more than half of that population
will be women. Care of children, the sick and the elderly is a responsibility
that falls disproportionately on women, owing to lack of equality and the
unbalanced distribution of remunerated and unremunerated work between women
and men.
31. Many women face particular barriers because of various diverse factors
in addition to their gender. Often these diverse factors isolate or
marginalize such women. They are, inter alia, denied their human rights, they
lack access or are denied access to education and vocational training,
employment, housing and economic self-sufficiency and they are excluded from
decision-making processes. Such women are often denied the opportunity to
contribute to their communities as part of the mainstream.
32. The past decade has also witnessed a growing recognition of the distinct
interests and concerns of indigenous women, whose identity, cultural
traditions and forms of social organization enhance and strengthen the
communities in which they live. Indigenous women often face barriers both as
women and as members of indigenous communities.
33. 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 the dissemination of information about women.
However, global communication networks have been used to spread stereotyped
and demeaning images of women for narrow commercial and consumerist purposes.
Until women participate equally in both the technical and decision-making
areas of communications and the mass media, including the arts, they will
continue to be misrepresented and awareness of the reality of women's lives
will continue to be lacking. The media have a great potential to promote the
advancement of women and the equality of women and men by portraying women and
men in a non-stereotypical, diverse and balanced manner, and by respecting the
dignity and worth of the human person.
34. The continuing environmental degradation that affects all human lives
has often a more direct impact on women. Women's health and their livelihood
are threatened by pollution and toxic wastes, large-scale deforestation,
desertification, drought and depletion of the soil and of coastal and marine
resources, with a rising incidence of environmentally related health problems
and even death reported among women and girls. Those most affected are rural
and indigenous women, whose livelihood and daily subsistence depends directly
on sustainable ecosystems.
35. Poverty and environmental degradation are closely interrelated. While
poverty results in certain kinds of environmental stress, the major cause of
the continued deterioration of the global environment is the unsustainable
patterns of consumption and production, particularly in industrialized
countries, which are a matter of grave concern and aggravate poverty and
imbalances.
36. Global trends have brought profound changes in family survival
strategies and structures. Rural to urban migration has increased
substantially in all regions. The global urban population is projected to
reach 47 per cent of the total population by the year 2000. An estimated
125 million people are migrants, refugees and displaced persons, half of whom
live in developing countries. These massive movements of people have profound
consequences for family structures and well-being and have unequal
consequences for women and men, including in many cases the sexual
exploitation of women.
37. According to World Health Organization (WHO) estimates, by the beginning
of 1995 the number of cumulative cases of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome
(AIDS) was 4.5 million. An estimated 19.5 million men, women and children
have been infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) since it was
first diagnosed and it is projected that another 20 million will be infected
by the end of the decade. Among new cases, women are twice as likely to be
infected as men. In the early stage of the AIDS pandemic, women were not
infected in large numbers; however, about 8 million women are now infected.
Young women and adolescents are particularly vulnerable. It is estimated that
by the year 2000 more than 13 million women will be infected and 4 million
women will have died from AIDS-related conditions. In addition, about
250 million new cases of sexually transmitted diseases are estimated to occur
every year. The rate of transmission of sexually transmitted diseases,
including HIV/AIDS, is increasing at an alarming rate among women and girls,
especially in developing countries.
38. Since 1975, significant knowledge and information have been generated
about the status of women and the conditions in which they live. Throughout
their entire life cycle, women's daily existence and long-term aspirations are
restricted by discriminatory attitudes, unjust social and economic structures,
and a lack of resources in most countries that prevent their full and equal
participation. In a number of countries, the practice of prenatal sex
selection, higher rates of mortality among very young girls and lower rates of
school enrolment for girls as compared with boys suggest that son preference
is curtailing the access of girl children to food, education and health care
and even life itself. Discrimination against women begins at the earliest
stages of life and must therefore be addressed from then onwards.
39. The girl child of today is the woman of tomorrow. The skills, ideas and
energy of the girl child are vital for full attainment of the goals of
equality, development and peace. For the girl child to develop her full
potential she needs to be nurtured in an enabling environment, where her
spiritual, intellectual and material needs for survival, protection and
development are met and her equal rights safeguarded. If women are to be
equal partners with men, in every aspect of life and development, now is the
time to recognize the human dignity and worth of the girl child and to ensure
the full enjoyment of her human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the
rights assured by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, 11/ universal
ratification of which is strongly urged. Yet there exists world-wide evidence
that discrimination and violence against girls begin at the earliest stages of
life and continue unabated throughout their lives. They often have less
access to nutrition, physical and mental health care and education and enjoy
fewer rights, opportunities and benefits of childhood and adolescence than do
boys. They are often subjected to various forms of sexual and economic
exploitation, paedophilia, forced prostitution and possibly the sale of their
organs and tissues, violence and harmful practices such as female infanticide
and prenatal sex selection, incest, female genital mutilation and early
marriage, including child marriage.
40. Half the world's population is under the age of 25 and most of the
world's youth - more than 85 per cent - live in developing countries. Policy
makers must recognize the implications of these demographic factors. Special
measures must be taken to ensure that young women have the life skills
necessary for active and effective participation in all levels of social,
cultural, political and economic leadership. It will be critical for the
international community to demonstrate a new commitment to the future - a
commitment to inspiring a new generation of women and men to work together for
a more just society. This new generation of leaders must accept and promote a
world in which every child is free from injustice, oppression and inequality
and free to develop her/his own potential. The principle of equality of women
and men must therefore be integral to the socialization process.
Chapter III
CRITICAL AREAS OF CONCERN
41. The advancement of women and the achievement of equality between women
and men are a matter of human rights and a condition for social justice and
should not be seen in isolation as a women's issue. They are the only way to
build a sustainable, just and developed society. Empowerment of women and
equality between women and men are prerequisites for achieving political,
social, economic, cultural and environmental security among all peoples.
42. Most of the goals set out in the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for
the Advancement of Women have not been achieved. Barriers to women's
empowerment remain, despite the efforts of Governments, as well as
non-governmental organizations and women and men everywhere. Vast political,
economic and ecological crises persist in many parts of the world. Among them
are wars of aggression, armed conflicts, colonial or other forms of alien
domination or foreign occupation, civil wars and terrorism. These situations,
combined with systematic or de facto discrimination, violations of and failure
to protect all human rights and fundamental freedoms of all women, and their
civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights, including the right to
development 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.
43. A review of progress since the Nairobi Conference highlights special
concerns - areas of particular urgency that stand out as priorities for
action. All actors should focus action and resources on the strategic
objectives relating to the critical areas of concern which are, necessarily,
interrelated, interdependent and of high priority. There is a need for these
actors to develop and implement mechanisms of accountability for all the areas
of concern.
44. To this end, Governments, the international community and civil society,
including 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
~ Inequalities and inadequacies in and unequal access to education and
training
~ Inequalities and inadequacies in and unequal access to health care
and related services
~ Violence against women
~ The effects of armed or other kinds of conflict on women, including
those living under foreign occupation
~ Inequality in economic structures and policies, in all forms of
productive activities and in access to resources
~ Inequality between men and women in the sharing of power and
decision-making at all levels
~ Insufficient mechanisms at all levels to promote the advancement of
women
~ Lack of respect for and inadequate promotion and protection of the
human rights of women
~ Stereotyping of women and inequality in women's access to and
participation in all communication systems, especially in the media
~ Gender inequalities in the management of natural resources and in
the safeguarding of the environment
~ Persistent discrimination against and violation of the rights of the
girl child
Chapter IV
STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES AND ACTIONS
45. In each critical area of concern, the problem is diagnosed and strategic
objectives are proposed with concrete actions to be taken by various actors in
order to achieve those 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, of
high priority and mutually reinforcing. The Platform for Action is intended
to improve the situation of all women, without exception, who often face
similar barriers, while special attention should be given to groups that are
the most disadvantaged.
46. The Platform for Action recognizes that women face barriers to full
equality and advancement because of such factors as their race, age, language,
ethnicity, culture, religion or disability, because they are indigenous women
or because of other status. Many women encounter specific obstacles related
to their family status, particularly as single parents; and to their socio-
economic status, including their living conditions in rural, isolated or
impoverished areas. Additional barriers also exist for refugee women, other
displaced women, including internally displaced women as well as for immigrant
women and migrant women, including women migrant workers. Many women are also
particularly affected by environmental disasters, serious and infectious
diseases and various forms of violence against women.
A. Women and poverty
47. More than 1 billion people in the world today, the great majority of
whom are women, live in unacceptable conditions of poverty, mostly in the
developing countries. Poverty has various causes, including structural ones.
Poverty is a complex, multidimensional problem, with origins in both the
national and international domains. The globalization of the world's economy
and the deepening interdependence among nations present challenges and
opportunities for sustained economic growth and development, as well as risks
and uncertainties for the future of the world economy. The uncertain global
economic climate has been accompanied by economic restructuring as well as, in
a certain number of countries, persistent, unmanageable levels of external
debt and structural adjustment programmes. In addition, all types of
conflict, displacement of people and environmental degradation have undermined
the capacity of Governments to meet the basic needs of their populations.
Transformations in the world economy are profoundly changing the parameters of
social development in all countries. One significant trend has been the
increased poverty of women, the extent of which varies from region to region.
The gender disparities in economic power-sharing are also an important
contributing factor to the poverty of women. Migration and consequent changes
in family structures have placed additional burdens on women, especially those
who provide for several dependants. Macroeconomic policies need rethinking
and reformulation to address such trends. These policies focus almost
exclusively on the formal sector. They also tend to impede the initiatives of
women and fail to consider the differential impact on women and men. The
application of gender analysis to a wide range of policies and programmes is
therefore critical to poverty reduction strategies. In order to eradicate
poverty and achieve sustainable development, women and men must participate
fully and equally in the formulation of macroeconomic and social policies and
strategies for the eradication of poverty. The eradication of poverty cannot
be accomplished through anti-poverty programmes alone but will require
democratic participation and changes in economic structures in order to ensure
access for all women to resources, opportunities and public services. Poverty
has various manifestations, including lack of income and productive resources
sufficient to ensure a sustainable livelihood; hunger and malnutrition; ill
health; limited or lack of access to education and other basic services;
increasing morbidity and mortality from illness; homelessness and inadequate
housing; unsafe environments; and social discrimination and exclusion. It is
also characterized by lack of participation in decision-making and in civil,
social and cultural life. It occurs in all countries - as mass poverty in
many developing countries and as pockets of poverty amidst wealth in developed
countries. Poverty may be caused by an economic recession that results in
loss of livelihood or by disaster or conflict. There is also the poverty of
low-wage workers and the utter destitution of people who fall outside family
support systems, social institutions and safety nets.
48. In the past decade the number of women living in poverty has increased
disproportionately to the number of men, particularly in the developing
countries. The feminization of poverty has also recently become a significant
problem in the countries with economies in transition as a short-term
consequence of the process of political, economic and social transformation.
In addition to economic factors, the rigidity of socially ascribed gender
roles and women's limited access to power, education, training and productive
resources as well as other emerging factors that may lead to insecurity for
families are also responsible. The failure to adequately mainstream a gender
perspective in all economic analysis and planning and to address the
structural causes of poverty is also a contributing factor.
49. Women contribute to the economy and to combating poverty through both
remunerated and unremunerated work at home, in the community and in the
workplace. The empowerment of women is a critical factor in the eradication
of poverty.
50. While poverty affects households as a whole, because of the gender
division of labour and responsibilities for household welfare, women bear a
disproportionate burden, attempting to manage household consumption and
production under conditions of increasing scarcity. Poverty is particularly
acute for women living in rural households.
51. Women's poverty is directly related to the absence of economic
opportunities and autonomy, lack of access to economic resources, including
credit, land ownership and inheritance, lack of access to education and
support services and their minimal participation in the decision-making
process. Poverty can also force women into situations in which they are
vulnerable to sexual exploitation.
52. In too many countries, social welfare systems do not take sufficient
account of the specific conditions of women living in poverty, and there is a
tendency to scale back the services provided by such systems. The risk of
falling into poverty is greater for women than for men, particularly in old
age, where social security systems are based on the principle of continuous
remunerated employment. In some cases, women do not fulfil this requirement
because of interruptions in their work, due to the unbalanced distribution of
remunerated and unremunerated work. Moreover, older women also face greater
obstacles to labour-market re-entry.
53. In many developed countries, where the level of general education and
professional training of women and men are similar and where systems of
protection against discrimination are available, in some sectors the economic
transformations of the past decade have strongly increased either the
unemployment of women or the precarious nature of their employment. The
proportion of women among the poor has consequently increased. In countries
with a high level of school enrolment of girls, those who leave the
educational system the earliest, without any qualification, are among the most
vulnerable in the labour market.
54. In countries with economies in transition and in other countries
undergoing fundamental political, economic and social transformations, these
transformations have often led to a reduction in women's income or to women
being deprived of income.
55. Particularly in developing countries, the productive capacity of women
should be increased through access to capital, resources, credit, land,
technology, information, technical assistance and training so as to raise
their income and improve nutrition, education, health care and status within
the household. The release of women's productive potential is pivotal to
breaking the cycle of poverty so that women can share fully in the benefits of
development and in the products of their own labour.
56. Sustainable development and economic growth that is both sustained and
sustainable are possible only through improving the economic, social,
political, legal and cultural status of women. Equitable social development
that recognizes empowering the poor, particularly women, to utilize
environmental resources sustainably is a necessary foundation for sustainable
development.
57. The success of policies and measures aimed at supporting or
strengthening the promotion of gender equality and the improvement of the
status of women should be based on the integration of the gender perspective
in general policies relating to all spheres of society as well as the
implementation of positive measures with adequate institutional and financial
support at all levels.
Strategic objective A.1. Review, adopt and maintain macroeconomic
policies and development strategies that
address the needs and efforts of women
in poverty
Actions to be taken
58. By Governments:
(a) Review and modify, with the full and equal participation of women,
macroeconomic and social policies with a view to achieving the
objectives of the Platform for Action;
(b) Analyse, from a gender perspective, policies and programmes -
including those related to macroeconomic stability, structural
adjustment, external debt problems, taxation, investments,
employment, markets and all relevant sectors of the economy - with
respect to their impact on poverty, on inequality and particularly
on women; assess their impact on family well-being and conditions
and adjust them, as appropriate, to promote more equitable
distribution of productive assets, wealth, opportunities, income and
services;
(c) Pursue and implement sound and stable macroeconomic and sectoral
policies that are designed and monitored with the full and equal
participation of women, encourage broad-based sustained economic
growth, address the structural causes of poverty and are geared
towards eradicating poverty and reducing gender-based inequality
within the overall framework of achieving people-centred sustainable
development;
(d) Restructure and target the allocation of public expenditures to
promote women's economic opportunities and equal access to
productive resources and to address the basic social, educational
and health needs of women, particularly those living in poverty;
(e) Develop agricultural and fishing sectors, where and as necessary, in
order to ensure, as appropriate, household and national food
security and food self-sufficiency, by allocating the necessary
financial, technical and human resources;
(f) Develop policies and programmes to promote equitable distribution of
food within the household;
(g) Provide adequate safety nets and strengthen State-based and
community-based support systems, as an integral part of social
policy, in order to enable women living in poverty to withstand
adverse economic environments and preserve their livelihood, assets
and revenues in times of crisis;
(h) Generate economic policies that have a positive impact on the
employment and income of women workers in both the formal and
informal sectors and adopt specific measures to address women's
unemployment, in particular their long-term unemployment;
(i) Formulate and implement, when necessary, specific economic, social,
agricultural and related policies in support of female-headed
households;
(j) Develop and implement anti-poverty programmes, including employment
schemes, that improve access to food for women living in poverty,
including through the use of appropriate pricing and distribution
mechanisms;
(k) Ensure the full realization of the human rights of all women
migrants, including women migrant workers, and their protection
against violence and exploitation; introduce measures for the
empowerment of documented women migrants, including women migrant
workers; facilitate the productive employment of documented migrant
women through greater recognition of their skills, foreign education
and credentials, and facilitate their full integration into the
labour force;
(l) Introduce measures to integrate or reintegrate women living in
poverty and socially marginalized women into productive employment
and the economic mainstream; ensure that internally displaced women
have full access to economic opportunities and that the
qualifications and skills of immigrant and refugee women are
recognized;
(m) Enable women to obtain affordable housing and access to land by,
among other things, removing all obstacles to access, with special
emphasis on meeting the needs of women, especially those living in
poverty and female heads of household;
(n) Formulate and implement policies and programmes that enhance the
access of women agricultural and fisheries producers (including
subsistence farmers and producers, especially in rural areas) to
financial, technical, extension and marketing services; provide
access to and control of land, appropriate infrastructure and
technology in order to increase women's incomes and promote
household food security, especially in rural areas and, where
appropriate, encourage the development of producer-owned, market-
based cooperatives;
(o) Create social security systems wherever they do not exist, or review
them with a view to placing individual women and men on an equal
footing, at every stage of their lives;
(p) Ensure access to free or low-cost legal services, including legal
literacy, especially designed to reach women living in poverty;
(q) Take particular measures to promote and strengthen policies and
programmes for indigenous women with their full participation and
respect for their cultural diversity, so that they have
opportunities and the possibility of choice in the development
process in order to eradicate the poverty that affects them.
59. By multilateral financial and development institutions, including the
World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and regional development
institutions, and through bilateral development cooperation:
(a) In accordance with the commitments made at the World Summit for
Social Development, seek to mobilize new and additional financial
resources that are both adequate and predictable and mobilized in a
way that maximizes the availability of such resources and uses all
available funding sources and mechanisms with a view to contributing
towards the goal of poverty eradication and targeting women living
in poverty;
(b) Strengthen analytical capacity in order to more systematically
strengthen gender perspectives and integrate them into the design
and implementation of lending programmes, including structural
adjustment and economic recovery programmes;
(c) Find effective development-oriented and durable solutions to
external debt problems in order to help them to finance programmes
and projects targeted at development, including the advancement of
women, inter alia, through the immediate implementation of the terms
of debt forgiveness agreed upon in the Paris Club in December 1994,
which encompassed debt reduction, including cancellation or other
debt relief measures and develop techniques of debt conversion
applied to social development programmes and projects in conformity
with the priorities of the Platform for Action;
(d) Invite the international financial institutions to examine
innovative approaches to assisting low-income countries with a high
proportion of multilateral debt, with a view to alleviating their
debt burden;
(e) Ensure that structural adjustment programmes are designed to
minimize their negative effects on vulnerable and disadvantaged
groups and communities and to assure their positive effects on such
groups and communities by preventing their marginalization in
economic and social activities and devising measures to ensure that
they gain access to and control over economic resources and economic
and social activities; take actions to reduce inequality and
economic disparity;
(f) Review the impact of structural adjustment programmes on social
development by means of gender-sensitive social impact assessments
and other relevant methods, in order to develop policies to reduce
their negative effects and improve their positive impact, ensuring
that women do not bear a disproportionate burden of transition
costs; complement adjustment lending with enhanced, targeted social
development lending;
(g) Create an enabling environment that allows women to build and
maintain sustainable livelihoods.
60. By national and international non-governmental organizations and women's
groups:
(a) Mobilize all parties involved in the development process, including
academic institutions, non-governmental organizations and grass-
roots and women's groups, to improve the effectiveness of
anti-poverty programmes directed towards the poorest and most
disadvantaged groups of women, such as rural and indigenous women,
female heads of household, young women and older women, refugees and
migrant women and women with disabilities, recognizing that social
development is primarily the responsibility of Governments;
(b) Engage in lobbying and establish monitoring mechanisms, as
appropriate, and other relevant activities to ensure implementation
of the recommendations on poverty eradication outlined in the
Platform for Action and aimed at ensuring accountability and
transparency from the State and private sectors;
(c) Include in their activities women with diverse needs and recognize
that youth organizations are increasingly becoming effective
partners in development programmes;
(d) In cooperation with the government and private sectors, participate
in the development of a comprehensive national strategy for
improving health, education and social services so that girls and
women of all ages living in poverty have full access to such
services; seek funding to secure access to services with a gender
perspective and to extend those services in order to reach the rural
and remote areas that are not covered by government institutions;
(e) In cooperation with Governments, employers, other social partners
and relevant parties, contribute to the development of education and
training and retraining policies to ensure that women can acquire a
wide range of skills to meet new demands;
(f) Mobilize to protect women's right to full and equal access to
economic resources, including the right to inheritance and to
ownership of land and other property, credit, natural resources and
appropriate technologies.
Strategic objective A.2. Revise laws and administrative practices
to ensure women's equal rights and access
to economic resources
Actions to be taken
61. By Governments:
(a) Ensure access to free or low-cost legal services, including legal
literacy, especially designed to reach women living in poverty;
(b) Undertake legislative and administrative reforms to give women full
and equal access to economic resources, including the right to
inheritance and to ownership of land and other property, credit,
natural resources and appropriate technologies;
(c) Consider ratification of Convention No. 169 of the International
Labour Organization (ILO) as part of their efforts to promote and
protect the rights of indigenous people.
Strategic objective A.3. Provide women with access to savings and
credit mechanisms and institutions
Actions to be taken
62. By Governments:
(a) Enhance the access of disadvantaged women, including women
entrepreneurs, in rural, remote and urban areas to financial
services through strengthening links between the formal banks and
intermediary lending organizations, including legislative support,
training for women and institutional strengthening for intermediary
institutions with a view to mobilizing capital for those
institutions and increasing the availability of credit;
(b) Encourage links between financial institutions and non-governmental
organizations and support innovative lending practices, including
those that integrate credit with women's services and training and
provide credit facilities to rural women.
63. By commercial banks, specialized financial institutions and the private
sector in examining their policies:
(a) Use credit and savings methodologies that are 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) Simplify banking practices, for example by reducing the minimum
deposit and other requirements for opening bank accounts;
(d) Ensure the participation and joint ownership, where possible, of
women clients in the decision-making of institutions providing
credit and financial services.
64. By multilateral and bilateral development cooperation organizations:
Support, through the provision of capital and/or resources,
financial institutions that serve low-income, small-scale and
micro-scale women entrepreneurs and producers, in both the formal
and informal sectors.
65. By Governments and multilateral financial institutions, as appropriate:
Support institutions that meet performance standards in reaching
large numbers of low-income women and men through capitalization,
refinancing and institutional development support in forms that
foster self-sufficiency.
66. By international organizations:
Increase funding for programmes and projects designed to promote
sustainable and productive entrepreneurial activities for income-
generation among disadvantaged women and women living in poverty.
Strategic objective A.4. Develop gender-based methodologies and
conduct research to address the
feminization of poverty
Actions to be taken
67. By Governments, intergovernmental organizations, academic and research
institutions and the private sector:
(a) Develop conceptual and practical methodologies for incorporating
gender perspectives into all aspects of economic policy-making,
including structural adjustment planning and programmes;
(b) Apply these methodologies in conducting gender-impact analyses of
all policies and programmes, including structural adjustment
programmes, and disseminate the research findings.
68. By national and international statistical organizations:
(a) Collect gender and age-disaggregated data on poverty and all aspects
of economic activity and develop qualitative and quantitative
statistical indicators to facilitate the assessment of economic
performance from a gender perspective;
(b) Devise suitable statistical means to recognize and make visible the
full extent of the work of women and all their contributions to the
national economy, including their contribution in the unremunerated
and domestic sectors, and examine the relationship of women's
unremunerated work to the incidence of and their vulnerability to
poverty.
B. Education and training of women
69. Education is a 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 contributes to more equal
relationships between women and men. Equality of access to and attainment of
educational qualifications is necessary if more women are to become agents of
change. Literacy of women is an important key to improving health, nutrition
and education in the family and to empowering women to participate in
decision-making in society. Investing in formal and non-formal 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 and economic growth that is both sustained and sustainable.
70. On a regional level, girls and boys have achieved equal access to
primary education, except in some parts of Africa, in particular sub-Saharan
Africa, and Central Asia, where access to education facilities is still
inadequate. Progress has been made in secondary education, where equal access
of girls and boys has been achieved in some countries. Enrolment of girls and
women in tertiary education has increased considerably. In many countries,
private schools have also played an important complementary role in improving
access to education at all levels. 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, 12/ 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 rate
of illiteracy prevailing in most developing countries, in particular in
sub-Saharan Africa and some Arab States, remains a severe impediment to the
advancement of women and to development.
71. Discrimination in girls' access to education persists in many areas,
owing to customary attitudes, early marriages and pregnancies, inadequate and
gender-biased teaching and educational materials, sexual harassment and lack
of adequate and physically and otherwise accessible schooling facilities.
Girls undertake heavy domestic work 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 all aspects of
women's lives.
72. Creation of an educational and social environment, in which women and
men, girls and boys, are treated equally and encouraged to achieve their full
potential, respecting their freedom of thought, conscience, religion and
belief, and where educational resources promote non-stereotyped images of
women and men, would be effective in the elimination of the causes of
discrimination against women and inequalities between women and men.
73. Women should be enabled to benefit from an ongoing acquisition of
knowledge and skills beyond those acquired during youth. This concept of
lifelong learning includes knowledge and skills gained in formal education and
training, as well as learning that occurs in informal ways, including
volunteer activity, unremunerated work and traditional knowledge.
74. Curricula and teaching materials remain gender-biased to a large degree,
and are rarely sensitive to the specific needs of girls and women. This
reinforces traditional female and male roles that deny women opportunities for
full and equal partnership in society. Lack of gender awareness by educators
at all levels strengthens existing inequities between males and females by
reinforcing discriminatory tendencies and undermining girls' self-esteem. The
lack of sexual and reproductive health education has a profound impact on
women and men.
75. Science curricula in particular are gender-biased. Science textbooks do
not relate to women's and girls' daily experience and fail to give recognition
to women scientists. Girls are often deprived of basic education in
mathematics and science and technical training, which provide knowledge they
could apply to improve their daily lives and enhance their employment
opportunities. Advanced study in science and technology prepares women to
take an active role in the technological and industrial development of their
countries, thus necessitating a diverse approach to vocational and technical
training. Technology is rapidly changing the world and has also affected the
developing countries. It is essential that women not only benefit from
technology, but also participate in the process from the design to the
application, monitoring and evaluation stages.
76. Access for and retention of girls and women at all levels of education,
including the higher level, and all academic areas is one of the factors of
their continued progress in professional activities. Nevertheless, it can be
noted that girls are still concentrated in a limited number of fields of
study.
77. The mass media are a powerful means of education. As an educational
tool the mass media can be an instrument for educators and governmental and
non-governmental institutions for the advancement of women and for
development. Computerized education and information systems are increasingly
becoming an important element in learning and the dissemination of knowledge.
Television especially has the greatest impact on young people and, as such,
has the ability to shape values, attitudes and perceptions of women and girls
in both positive and negative ways. It is therefore essential that educators
teach critical judgement and analytical skills.
78. Resources allocated to education, particularly for girls and women, are
in many countries insufficient and in some cases have been further diminished,
including in the context of adjustment policies and programmes. Such
insufficient resource allocations have a long-term adverse effect on human
development, particularly on the development of women.
79. In addressing unequal access to and inadequate educational
opportunities, Governments and other actors should promote an active and
visible policy of mainstreaming a gender perspective into all policies and
programmes, so that, before decisions are taken, an analysis is made of the
effects on women and men, respectively.
Strategic objective B.1. Ensure equal access to education
Actions to be taken
80. By Governments:
(a) Advance the goal of equal access to education by taking measures to
eliminate discrimination in education at all levels on the basis of
gender, race, language, religion, national origin, age or
disability, or any other form of discrimination and, as appropriate,
consider establishing procedures to address grievances;
(b) By the year 2000, provide universal access to basic education and
ensure completion of primary education by at least 80 per cent of
primary school-age children; close the gender gap in primary and
secondary school education by the year 2005; provide universal
primary education in all countries before the year 2015;
(c) Eliminate gender disparities in access to all areas of tertiary
education by ensuring that women have equal access to career
development, training, scholarships and fellowships, and by adopting
positive action when appropriate;
(d) Create a gender-sensitive educational system in order to ensure
equal educational and training opportunities and full and equal
participation of women in educational administration and policy- and
decision-making;
(e) Provide - in collaboration with parents, non-governmental
organizations, including youth organizations, communities and the
private sector - young women with academic and technical training,
career planning, leadership and social skills and work experience to
prepare them to participate fully in society;
(f) Increase enrolment and retention rates of girls by allocating
appropriate budgetary resources; by enlisting the support of parents
and the community, as well as through campaigns, flexible school
schedules, incentives, scholarships and other means to minimize the
costs of girls' education to their families and to facilitate
parents' ability to choose education for the girl child; and by
ensuring that the rights of women and girls to freedom of conscience
and religion are respected in educational institutions through
repealing any discriminatory laws or legislation based on religion,
race or culture;
(g) Promote an educational setting that eliminates all barriers that
impeded the schooling of pregnant adolescents and young mothers,
including, as appropriate, affordable and physically accessible
child-care facilities and parental education to encourage those who
are responsible for the care of their children and siblings during
their school years, to return to or continue with and complete
schooling;
(h) Improve the quality of education and equal opportunities for women
and men in terms of access in order to ensure that women of all ages
can acquire the knowledge, capacities, aptitudes, skills and ethical
values needed to develop and to participate fully under equal
conditions in the process of social, economic and political
development;
(i) 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;
(j) Encourage ratification of the International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights 13/ where they have not already done so.
Strategic objective B.2. Eradicate illiteracy among women
Actions to be taken
81. By Governments, national, regional and international bodies, bilateral
and multilateral donors and non-governmental organizations:
(a) Reduce the female illiteracy rate to at least half its 1990 level,
with emphasis on rural women, migrant, refugee and internally
displaced women and women with disabilities;
(b) Provide universal access to, and seek to ensure gender equality in
the completion of, primary education for girls by the year 2000;
(c) Eliminate the gender gap in basic and functional literacy, as
recommended in the World Declaration on Education for All (Jomtien);
(d) Narrow the disparities between developed and developing countries;
(e) Encourage adult and family engagement in learning to promote total
literacy for all people;
(f) Promote, together with literacy, life skills and scientific and
technological knowledge and work towards an expansion of the
definition of literacy, taking into account current targets and
benchmarks.
Strategic objective B.3. Improve women's access to vocational
training, science and technology, and
continuing education
Actions to be taken
82. By Governments, in cooperation with employers, workers and trade unions,
international and non-governmental organizations, including women's and youth
organizations, and educational institutions:
(a) Develop and implement education, training and retraining policies
for women, especially young women and women re-entering the labour
market, to provide skills to meet the needs of a changing socio-
economic context for improving their employment opportunities;
(b) Provide recognition to non-formal educational opportunities for
girls and women in the educational system;
(c) Provide information to women and girls on the availability and
benefits of vocational training, training programmes in science and
technology and programmes of continuing education;
(d) Design educational and training programmes for women who are
unemployed in order to provide them with new knowledge and skills
that will enhance and broaden their employment opportunities,
including self-employment, and development of their entrepreneurial
skills;
(e) Diversify vocational and technical training and improve access for
and retention of girls and women in education and vocational
training in such fields as science, mathematics, engineering,
environmental sciences and technology, information technology and
high technology, as well as management training;
(f) Promote women's central role in food and agricultural research,
extension and education programmes;
(g) Encourage the adaptation of curricula and teaching materials,
encourage a supportive training environment and take positive
measures to promote training for the full range of occupational
choices of non-traditional careers for women and men, including the
development of multidisciplinary courses for science and mathematics
teachers to sensitize them to the relevance of science and
technology to women's lives;
(h) Develop curricula and teaching materials and formulate and take
positive measures to ensure women better access to and participation
in technical and scientific areas, especially areas where they are
not represented or are underrepresented;
(i) Develop policies and programmes to encourage women to participate in
all apprenticeship programmes;
(j) Increase training in technical, managerial, agricultural extension
and marketing areas for women in agriculture, fisheries, industry
and business, arts and crafts, to increase income-generating
opportunities, women's participation in economic decision-making, in
particular through women's organizations at the grass-roots level,
and their contribution to production, marketing, business, and
science and technology;
(k) Ensure access to quality education and training at all appropriate
levels for adult women with little or no education, for women with
disabilities and for documented migrant, refugee and displaced women
to improve their work opportunities.
Strategic objective B.4. Develop non-discriminatory education
and training
Actions to be taken
83. By Governments, educational authorities and other educational and
academic institutions:
(a) Elaborate recommendations and develop curricula, textbooks and
teaching aids free of gender-based stereotypes for all levels of
education, including teacher training, in association with all
concerned - publishers, teachers, public authorities and parents'
associations;
(b) Develop training programmes and materials for teachers and educators
that raise awareness about the status, role and contribution of
women and men in the family, as defined in paragraph 29 above, and
society; in this context, promote equality, cooperation, mutual
respect and shared responsibilities between girls and boys from pre-
school level onward and develop, in particular, educational modules
to ensure that boys have the skills necessary to take care of their
own domestic needs and to share responsibility for their household
and for the care of dependants;
(c) Develop training programmes and materials for teachers and educators
that raise awareness of their own role in the educational process,
with a view to providing them with effective strategies for gender-
sensitive teaching;
(d) Take actions to ensure that female teachers and professors have the
same opportunities as and equal status with male teachers and
professors, in view of the importance of having female teachers at
all levels and in order to attract girls to school and retain them
in school;
(e) Introduce and promote training in peaceful conflict resolution;
(f) Take positive measures to increase the proportion of women gaining
access to educational policy- and decision-making, particularly
women teachers at all levels of education and in academic
disciplines that are traditionally male-dominated, such as the
scientific and technological fields;
(g) Support and develop gender studies and research at all levels of
education, especially at the postgraduate level of academic
institutions, and apply them in the development of curricula,
including university curricula, textbooks and teaching aids, and in
teacher training;
(h) Develop leadership training and opportunities for all women to
encourage them to take leadership roles both as students and as
adults in civil society;
(i) Develop appropriate education and information programmes with due
respect for multilingualism, particularly in conjunction with the
mass media, that make the public, particularly parents, aware of the
importance of non-discriminatory education for children and the
equal sharing of family responsibilities by girls and boys;
(j) Develop human rights education programmes that incorporate the
gender dimension at all levels of education, in particular by
encouraging higher education institutions, especially in their
graduate and postgraduate juridical, social and political science
curricula, to include the study of the human rights of women as they
appear in United Nations conventions;
(k) Remove legal, regulatory and social barriers, where appropriate, to
sexual and reproductive health education within formal education
programmes regarding women's health issues;
(l) Encourage, with the guidance and support of their parents and in
cooperation with educational staff and institutions, the elaboration
of educational programmes for girls and boys and the creation of
integrated services in order to raise awareness of their
responsibilities and to help them to assume those responsibilities,
taking into account the importance of such education and services to
personal development and self-esteem, as well as the urgent need to
avoid unwanted pregnancy, the spread of sexually transmitted
diseases, especially HIV/AIDS, and such phenomena as sexual violence
and abuse;
(m) Provide accessible recreational and sports facilities and establish
and strengthen gender-sensitive programmes for girls and women of
all ages in education and community institutions and support the
advancement of women in all areas of athletics and physical
activity, including coaching, training and administration, and as
participants at the national, regional and international levels;
(n) Recognize and support the right of indigenous women and girls to
education and promote a multicultural approach to education that is
responsive to the needs, aspirations and cultures of indigenous
women, including by developing appropriate education programmes,
curricula and teaching aids, to the extent possible in the languages
of indigenous people, and by providing for the participation of
indigenous women in these processes;
(o) Acknowledge and respect the artistic, spiritual and cultural
activities of indigenous women;
(p) Ensure that gender equality and cultural, religious and other
diversity are respected in educational institutions;
(q) Promote education, training and relevant information programmes for
rural and farming women through the use of affordable and
appropriate technologies and the mass media - for example, radio
programmes, cassettes and mobile units;
(r) Provide non-formal education, especially for rural women, in order
to realize their potential with regard to health, micro-enterprise,
agriculture and legal rights;
(s) Remove all barriers to access to formal education for pregnant
adolescents and young mothers, and support the provision of child
care and other support services where necessary.
Strategic objective B.5. Allocate sufficient resources for
and monitor the implementation of
educational reforms
Actions to be taken
84. By Governments:
(a) Provide the required budgetary resources to the educational sector,
with reallocation within the educational sector to ensure increased
funds for basic education, as appropriate;
(b) Establish a mechanism at appropriate levels to monitor the
implementation of educational reforms and measures in relevant
ministries, and establish technical assistance programmes, as
appropriate, to address issues raised by the monitoring efforts.
85. By Governments and, as appropriate, private and public institutions,
foundations, research institutes and non-governmental organizations:
(a) When necessary, mobilize additional funds from private and public
institutions, foundations, research institutes and non-governmental
organizations to enable girls and women, as well as boys and men on
an equal basis, to complete their education, with particular
emphasis on under-served populations;
(b) Provide funding for special programmes, such as programmes in
mathematics, science and computer technology, to advance
opportunities for all girls and women.
86. By multilateral development institutions, including the World Bank,
regional development banks, bilateral donors and foundations:
(a) Consider increasing funding for the education and training needs of
girls and women as a priority in development assistance programmes;
(b) Consider working with recipient Governments to ensure that funding
for women's education is maintained or increased in structural
adjustment and economic recovery programmes, including lending and
stabilization programmes.
87. By international and intergovernmental organizations, especially the
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, at the
global level:
(a) Contribute to the evaluation of progress achieved, using educational
indicators generated by national, regional and international bodies,
and urge Governments, in implementing measures, to eliminate
differences between women and men and boys and girls with regard to
opportunities in education and training and the levels achieved in
all fields, particularly in primary and literacy programmes;
(b) Provide technical assistance upon request to developing countries to
strengthen the capacity to monitor progress in closing the gap
between women and men in education, training and research, and in
levels of achievement in all fields, particularly basic education
and the elimination of illiteracy;
(c) Conduct an international campaign promoting the right of women and
girls to education;
(d) Allocate a substantial percentage of their resources to basic
education for women and girls.
Strategic objective B.6. Promote life-long education and
training for girls and women
Actions to be taken
88. By Governments, educational institutions and communities:
(a) Ensure the availability of a broad range of educational and training
programmes that lead to ongoing acquisition by women and girls of
the knowledge and skills required for living in, contributing to and
benefiting from their communities and nations;
(b) Provide support for child care and other services to enable mothers
to continue their schooling;
(c) Create flexible education, training and retraining programmes for
life-long learning that facilitate transitions between women's
activities at all stages of their lives.
C. Women and health*
89. Women have the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard
of physical and mental health. The enjoyment of this right is vital to their
life and well-being and their ability to participate in all areas of public
and private life. Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social
well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Women's health
involves their emotional, social and physical well-being and is determined by
the social, political and economic context of their lives, as well as by
biology. However, health and well-being elude the majority of women. A major
barrier for women to the achievement of the highest attainable standard of
health is inequality, both between men and women and among women in different
geographical regions, social classes and indigenous and ethnic groups. In
national and international forums, women have emphasized that to attain
optimal health throughout the life cycle, equality, including the sharing of
family responsibilities, development and peace are necessary conditions.
90. Women have different and unequal access to and use of basic health
resources, including primary health services for the prevention and treatment
of childhood diseases, malnutrition, anaemia, diarrhoeal diseases,
communicable diseases, malaria and other tropical diseases and tuberculosis,
among others. Women also have different and unequal opportunities for the
protection, promotion and maintenance of their health. In many developing
countries, the lack of emergency obstetric services is also of particular
concern. Health policies and programmes often perpetuate gender stereotypes
and fail to consider socio-economic disparities and other differences among
women and may not fully take account of the lack of autonomy of women
regarding their health. Women's health is also affected by gender bias in the
health system and by the provision of inadequate and inappropriate medical
services to women.
91. In many countries, especially developing countries, in particular the
least developed countries, a decrease in public health spending and, in some
cases, structural adjustment, contribute to the deterioration of public health
systems. In addition, privatization of health-care systems without
appropriate guarantees of universal access to affordable health care further
reduces health-care availability. This situation not only directly affects
the health of girls and women, but also places disproportionate
responsibilities on women, whose multiple roles, including their roles within
the family and the community, are often not acknowledged; hence they do not
receive the necessary social, psychological and economic support.
92. Women's right to the enjoyment of the highest standard of health must be
secured throughout the whole life cycle in equality with men. Women are
affected by many of the same health conditions as men, but women experience
them differently. The prevalence among women of poverty and economic
dependence, their experience of violence, negative attitudes towards women and
girls, racial and other forms of discrimination, the limited power many women
have over their sexual and reproductive lives and lack of influence in
decision-making are social realities which have an adverse impact on their
health. Lack of food and inequitable distribution of food for girls and women
in the household, inadequate access to safe water, sanitation facilities and
fuel supplies, particularly in rural and poor urban areas, and deficient
housing conditions, all overburden women and their families and have a
negative effect on their health. Good health is essential to leading a
productive and fulfilling life, and the right of all women to control all
aspects of their health, in particular their own fertility, is basic to their
empowerment.
93. Discrimination against girls, often resulting from son preference, in
access to nutrition and health-care services endangers their current and
future health and well-being. Conditions that force girls into early
marriage, pregnancy and child-bearing and subject them to harmful practices,
such as female genital mutilation, pose grave health risks. Adolescent girls
need, but too often do not have, access to necessary health and nutrition
services as they mature. Counselling and access to sexual and reproductive
health information and services for adolescents are still inadequate or
lacking completely, and a young woman's right to privacy, confidentiality,
respect and informed consent is often not considered. Adolescent girls are
both biologically and psychosocially more vulnerable than boys to sexual
abuse, violence and prostitution, and to the consequences of unprotected and
premature sexual relations. The trend towards early sexual experience,
combined with a lack of information and services, increases the risk of
unwanted and too early pregnancy, HIV infection and other sexually transmitted
diseases, as well as unsafe abortions. Early child-bearing continues to be an
impediment to improvements in the educational, economic and social status of
women in all parts of the world. Overall, for young women early marriage and
early motherhood can severely curtail educational and employment opportunities
and are likely to have a long-term, adverse impact on the quality of their
lives and the lives of their children. Young men are often not educated to
respect women's self-determination and to share responsibility with women in
matters of sexuality and reproduction.
94. Reproductive health is a state of complete physical, mental and social
well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, in all matters
relating to the reproductive system and to its functions and processes.
Reproductive health therefore implies that people are able to have a
satisfying and safe sex life and that they have the capability to reproduce
and the freedom to decide if, when and how often to do so. Implicit in this
last condition are the right of men and women to be informed and to have
access to safe, effective, affordable and acceptable methods of family
planning of their choice, as well as other methods of their choice for
regulation of fertility which are not against the law, and the right of access
to appropriate health-care services that will enable women to go safely
through pregnancy and childbirth and provide couples with the best chance of
having a healthy infant. In line with the above definition of reproductive
health, reproductive health care is defined as the constellation of methods,
techniques and services that contribute to reproductive health and well-being
by preventing and solving reproductive health problems. It also includes
sexual health, the purpose of which is the enhancement of life and personal
relations, and not merely counselling and care related to reproduction and
sexually transmitted diseases.
95. Bearing in mind the above definition, reproductive rights embrace certain
human rights that are already recognized in national laws, international human
rights documents and other consensus documents. These rights rest on the
recognition of the basic right of all couples and individuals to decide freely
and responsibly the number, spacing and timing of their children and to have
the information and means to do so, and the right to attain the highest
standard of sexual and reproductive health. It also includes their right to
make decisions concerning reproduction free of discrimination, coercion and
violence, as expressed in human rights documents. In the exercise of this
right, they should take into account the needs of their living and future
children and their responsibilities towards the community. The promotion of
the responsible exercise of these rights for all people should be the
fundamental basis for government- and community-supported policies and
programmes in the area of reproductive health, including family planning. As
part of their commitment, full attention should be given to the promotion of
mutually respectful and equitable gender relations and particularly to meeting
the educational and service needs of adolescents to enable them to deal in a
positive and responsible way with their sexuality. Reproductive health eludes
many of the world's people because of such factors as: inadequate levels of
knowledge about human sexuality and inappropriate or poor-quality reproductive
health information and services; the prevalence of high-risk sexual behaviour;
discriminatory social practices; negative attitudes towards women and girls;
and the limited power many women and girls have over their sexual and
reproductive lives. Adolescents are particularly vulnerable because of their
lack of information and access to relevant services in most countries. Older
women and men have distinct reproductive and sexual health issues which are
often inadequately addressed.
96. The human rights of women include their right to have control over and
decide freely and responsibly on matters related to their sexuality, including
sexual and reproductive health, free of coercion, discrimination and violence.
Equal relationships between women and men in matters of sexual relations and
reproduction, including full respect for the integrity of the person, require
mutual respect, consent and shared responsibility for sexual behaviour and its
consequences.
97. Further, women are subject to particular health risks due to inadequate
responsiveness and lack of services to meet health needs related to sexuality
and reproduction. Complications related to pregnancy and childbirth are among
the leading causes of mortality and morbidity of women of reproductive age in
many parts of the developing world. Similar problems exist to a certain
degree in some countries with economies in transition. Unsafe abortions
threaten the lives of a large number of women, representing a grave public
health problem as it is primarily the poorest and youngest who take the
highest risk. Most of these deaths, health problems and injuries are
preventable through improved access to adequate health-care services,
including safe and effective family planning methods and emergency obstetric
care, recognizing the right of women and men to be informed and to have access
to safe, effective, affordable and acceptable methods of family planning of
their choice, as well as other methods of their choice for regulation of
fertility which are not against the law, and the right of access to
appropriate health-care services that will enable women to go safely through
pregnancy and childbirth and provide couples with the best chance of having a
healthy infant. These problems and means should be addressed on the basis of
the report of the International Conference on Population and Development, with
particular reference to relevant paragraphs of the Programme of Action of the
Conference. 14/ In most countries, the neglect of women's reproductive rights
severely limits their opportunities in public and private life, including
opportunities for education and economic and political empowerment. The
ability of women to control their own fertility forms an important basis for
the enjoyment of other rights. Shared responsibility between women and men in
matters related to sexual and reproductive behaviour is also essential to
improving women's health.
98. HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, the transmission of
which is sometimes a consequence of sexual violence, are having a devastating
effect on women's health, particularly the health of adolescent girls and
young women. They often do not have the power to insist on safe and
responsible sex practices and have little access to information and services
for prevention and treatment. Women, who represent half of all adults newly
infected with HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, have
emphasized that social vulnerability and the unequal power relationships
between women and men are obstacles to safe sex, in their efforts to control
the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. The consequences of HIV/AIDS
reach beyond women's health to their role as mothers and caregivers and their
contribution to the economic support of their families. The social,
developmental and health consequences of HIV/AIDS and other sexually
transmitted diseases need to be seen from a gender perspective.
99. Sexual and gender-based violence, including physical and psychological
abuse, trafficking in women and girls, and other forms of abuse and sexual
exploitation place girls and women at high risk of physical and mental trauma,
disease and unwanted pregnancy. Such situations often deter women from using
health and other services.
100. Mental disorders related to marginalization, powerlessness and poverty,
along with overwork and stress and the growing incidence of domestic violence
as well as substance abuse, are among other health issues of growing concern
to women. Women throughout the world, especially young women, are increasing
their use of tobacco with serious effects on their health and that of their
children. Occupational health issues are also growing in importance, as a
large number of women work in low-paid jobs in either the formal or the
informal labour market under tedious and unhealthy conditions, and the number
is rising. Cancers of the breast and cervix and other cancers of the
reproductive system, as well as infertility affect growing numbers of women
and may be preventable, or curable, if detected early.
101. With the increase in life expectancy and the growing number of older
women, their health concerns require particular attention. The long-term
health prospects of women are influenced by changes at menopause, which, in
combination with life-long conditions and other factors, such as poor
nutrition and lack of physical activity, may increase the risk of
cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis. Other diseases of ageing and the
interrelationships of ageing and disability among women also need particular
attention.
102. Women, like men, particularly in rural areas and poor urban areas, are
increasingly exposed to environmental health hazards owing to environmental
catastrophes and degradation. Women have a different susceptibility to
various environmental hazards, contaminants and substances and they suffer
different consequences from exposure to them.
103. The quality of women's health care is often deficient in various ways,
depending on local circumstances. Women are frequently not treated with
respect, nor are they guaranteed privacy and confidentiality, nor do they
always receive full information about the options and services available.
Furthermore, in some countries, over-medicating of women's life events is
common, leading to unnecessary surgical intervention and inappropriate
medication.
104. Statistical data on health are often not systematically collected,
disaggregated and analysed by age, sex and socio-economic status and by
established demographic criteria used to serve the interests and solve the
problems of subgroups, with particular emphasis on the vulnerable and
marginalized and other relevant variables. Recent and reliable data on the
mortality and morbidity of women and conditions and diseases particularly
affecting women are not available in many countries. Relatively little is
known about how social and economic factors affect the health of girls and
women of all ages, about the provision of health services to girls and women
and the patterns of their use of such services, and about the value of disease
prevention and health promotion programmes for women. Subjects of importance
to women's health have not been adequately researched and women's health
research often lacks funding. Medical research, on heart disease, for
example, and epidemiological studies in many countries are often based solely
on men; they are not gender specific. Clinical trials involving women to
establish basic information about dosage, side-effects and effectiveness of
drugs, including contraceptives, are noticeably absent and do not always
conform to ethical standards for research and testing. Many drug therapy
protocols and other medical treatments and interventions administered to women
are based on research on men without any investigation and adjustment for
gender differences.
105. In addressing inequalities in health status and unequal access to and
inadequate health-care services between women and men, Governments and other
actors should promote an active and visible policy of mainstreaming a gender
perspective in all policies and programmes, so that, before decisions are
taken, an analysis is made of the effects for women and men, respectively.
Strategic objective C.1. Increase women's access throughout the
life cycle to appropriate, affordable
and quality health care, information
and related services
Actions to be taken
106. By Governments, in collaboration with non-governmental organizations and
employers' and workers' organizations and with the support of international
institutions:
(a) Support and implement the commitments made in the Programme of
Action of the International Conference on Population and
Development, as established in the report of that Conference and the
Copenhagen Declaration on Social Development and Programme of Action
of the World Summit for Social Development 15/ and the obligations
of States parties under the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women and other relevant
international agreements, to meet the health needs of girls and
women of all ages;
(b) Reaffirm the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable
standards of physical and mental health, protect and promote the
attainment of this right for women and girls and incorporate it in
national legislation, for example; review existing legislation,
including health legislation, as well as policies, where necessary,
to reflect a commitment to women's health and to ensure that they
meet the changing roles and responsibilities of women wherever they
reside;
(c) Design and implement, in cooperation with women and community-based
organizations, gender-sensitive health programmes, including
decentralized health services, that address the needs of women
throughout their lives and take into account their multiple roles
and responsibilities, the demands on their time, the special needs
of rural women and women with disabilities and the diversity of
women's needs arising from age and socio-economic and cultural
differences, among others; include women, especially local and
indigenous women, in the identification and planning of health-care
priorities and programmes; remove all barriers to women's health
services and provide a broad range of health-care services;
(d) Allow women access to social security systems in equality with men
throughout the whole life cycle;
(e) Provide more accessible, available and affordable primary health-
care services of high quality, including sexual and reproductive
health care, which includes family planning information and
services, and giving particular attention to maternal and emergency
obstetric care, as agreed to in the Programme of Action of the
International Conference on Population and Development;
(f) Redesign health information, services and training for health
workers so that they are gender-sensitive and reflect the user's
perspectives with regard to interpersonal and communications skills
and the user's right to privacy and confidentiality; these services,
information and training should be based on a holistic approach;
(g) Ensure that all health services and workers conform to human rights
and to ethical, professional and gender-sensitive standards in the
delivery of women's health services aimed at ensuring responsible,
voluntary and informed consent; encourage the development,
implementation and dissemination of codes of ethics guided by
existing international codes of medical ethics as well as ethical
principles that govern other health professionals;
(h) Take all appropriate measures to eliminate harmful, medically
unnecessary or coercive medical interventions, as well as
inappropriate medication and over-medication of women, and ensure
that all women are fully informed of their options, including likely
benefits and potential side-effects, by properly trained personnel;
(i) Strengthen and reorient health services, particularly primary health
care, in order to ensure universal access to quality health services
for women and girls; reduce ill health and maternal morbidity and
achieve world wide the agreed-upon goal of reducing maternal
mortality by at least 50 per cent of the 1990 levels by the year
2000 and a further one half by the year 2015; ensure that the
necessary services are available at each level of the health system
and make reproductive health care accessible, through the primary
health-care system, to all individuals of appropriate ages as soon
as possible and no later than the year 2015;
(j) Recognize and deal with the health impact of unsafe abortion as a
major public health concern, as agreed in paragraph 8.25 of the
Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population
and Development; 14/
(k) In the light of paragraph 8.25 of the Programme of Action of the
International Conference on Population and Development, which
states: "In no case should abortion be promoted as a method of
family planning. All Governments and relevant intergovernmental and
non-governmental organizations are urged to strengthen their
commitment to women's health, to deal with the health impact of
unsafe abortion 16/ as a major public health concern and to reduce
the recourse to abortion through expanded and improved
family-planning services. Prevention of unwanted pregnancies must
always be given the highest priority and every attempt should be
made to eliminate the need for abortion. Women who have unwanted
pregnancies should have ready access to reliable information and
compassionate counselling. Any measures or changes related to
abortion within the health system can only be determined at the
national or local level according to the national legislative
process. In circumstances where abortion is not against the law,
such abortion should be safe. In all cases, women should have
access to quality services for the management of complications
arising from abortion. Post-abortion counselling, education and
family-planning services should be offered promptly, which will also
help to avoid repeat abortions", consider reviewing laws containing
punitive measures against women who have undergone illegal
abortions;
(l) Give particular attention to the needs of girls, especially the
promotion of healthy behaviour, including physical activities; take
specific measures for closing the gender gaps in morbidity and
mortality where girls are disadvantaged, while achieving
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;
(m) Ensure that girls have continuing access to necessary health and
nutrition information and services as they mature, to facilitate a
healthful transition from childhood to adulthood;
(n) Develop information, programmes and services to assist women to
understand and adapt to changes associated with ageing and to
address and treat the health needs of older women, paying particular
attention to those who are physically or psychologically dependent;
(o) Ensure that girls and women of all ages with any form of disability
receive supportive services;
(p) Formulate special policies, design programmes and enact the
legislation necessary to alleviate and eliminate environmental and
occupational health hazards associated with work in the home, in the
workplace and elsewhere with attention to pregnant and lactating
women;
(q) Integrate mental health services into primary health-care systems or
other appropriate levels, develop supportive programmes and train
primary health workers to recognize and care for girls and women of
all ages who have experienced any form of violence especially
domestic violence, sexual abuse or other abuse resulting from armed
and non-armed conflict;
(r) Promote public information on the benefits of breast-feeding;
examine ways and means of implementing fully the WHO/UNICEF
International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes, and
enable mothers to breast-feed their infants by providing legal,
economic, practical and emotional support;
(s) Establish mechanisms to support and involve non-governmental
organizations, particularly women's organizations, professional
groups and other bodies working to improve the health of girls and
women, in government policy-making, programme design, as
appropriate, and implementation within the health sector and related
sectors at all levels;
(t) Support non-governmental organizations working on women's health and
help develop networks aimed at improving coordination and
collaboration between all sectors that affect health;
(u) Rationalize drug procurement and ensure a reliable, continuous
supply of high-quality pharmaceutical, contraceptive and other
supplies and equipment, using the WHO Model List of Essential Drugs
as a guide, and ensure the safety of drugs and devices through
national regulatory drug approval processes;
(v) Provide improved access to appropriate treatment and rehabilitation
services for women substance abusers and their families;
(w) Promote and ensure household and national food security, as
appropriate, and implement programmes aimed at improving the
nutritional status of all girls and women by implementing the
commitments made in the Plan of Action on Nutrition of the
International Conference on Nutrition, 17/ including a reduction
world wide of severe and moderate malnutrition among children under
the age of five by one half of 1990 levels by the year 2000, giving
special attention to the gender gap in nutrition, and a reduction in
iron deficiency anaemia in girls and women by one third of the 1990
levels by t