ISO: PRT
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The electronic version of this document has been prepared at the Fourth
World Conference on Women by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
in collaboration with the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women
Secretariat.
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AS WRITTEN


ADDRESS GIVEN BY THE HEAD OF THE PORTUGUESE DELEGATION, 
HER EXCELLENCY THE MINISTER FOREDUCATION, 
DR. MANUELA FERREIRA LEITE TO THE 4TH WORLD CONFERENCE ON WOMEN 
 
BEIJING - SEPTEMBER 5, 1995 
 
 
Madame Chairperson of the 4th United Nations World Conference on Women 
Honorable Delegates 
Ladies and Gentlemen 
 
1. On behalf of the Portuguese Delegations I wish to congratulate the 
Chinese Government for the organization of this Conference and express 
my thanks for the hospitality that has been extended to us.  
 
I also want to manifest the appreciation of the Portuguese Government 
for the extremely valuable work carried out by the United Nations 
Organization and praise the UN for is efforts to build peace, justice, 
development, progress and solidarity.  
 
I also wish to greet the honorable members of all delegations.  
 
2. Full equal rights for men and women is a basic condition for the 
overall development of any human being, both from an individual and from 
a social perspective.  
 
The situation of women in the modern world is a fundamental question of 
Human Rights.  
 
Every premise, condition and benefit discussed and agreed upon, in order 
to adopt the fundamental Charter of those Rights, are present when 
matters relating to women and to their situation at world level are 
being discussed.  
 
That is indeed the spirit of the documents adopted and fully approved, 
without reservation, by my country, in the UN Conferences of Rio de 
Janeiro, Vienna, Cairo and Copenhagen.  
 
We must constantly reaffirm that poverty is the very negation of social 
rights and of general well-being and that women constitute the majority 
of the poor all over the world, and that their numbers are increasing 
dramatically.  
 
We must constantly reaffirm that violence is the negation of the 
 
right to life and to physical integrity and that women are the victims 
of all types of violence, and very often face intolerable social, and 
even legal, indifference.  
 
We must constantly insist on the fact that access to education, health, 
the labor market, social, civic and political participations, and a 
share in decision making, is a basic condition of social justice, but is 
also, a fundamental factor for the respect of political and civic 
rights.  
 
Therefore, it is in the general context of the recognition and struggle 
for the exercise of Human Rights, that the theme of this Conference and 
all that it implies has to be considered.  
 
I must add that we fully support the positions of the Presidency of the 
European Union that underline this perspective.  
 
3. The need for and the way in which women participate, is also a 
priority for sustainable economic development, and interacts with 
education, health, economy, environment and cooperation, among others.  
 
With regard international cooperation, I would like to express the 
interest of the Portuguese government in mainstreaming equality issues 
in multilateral and bi-lateral agreements, in particular with the 
Portuguese speaking African countries.  
 
We must no longer tolerate that half of all humanity cannot express 
their talents and identity, for we are obviously wasting an immense 
resource for the well-being of the human community as a whole.  
 
Equality must not and cannot, at any time, be understood to mean a 
denial of the specific identity of women and of men.  
 
It is that very diversity that is so enriching, and can act as the main 
leverage for change in those sectors that, so far, have been exclusive 
to men. New concepts, points of view and practices will have to be 
adopted.  
 
4. It is a fact that much has been done in the last decade, both because 
the debate on equal rights has widened its scope, and also because 
positive action and specific policies have been followed, to correct 
mispractice and to guarantee legal equality.  
 
It is clearly an area in which the law can and should promote change, by 
drawing-up demanding and clear-cut legal frameworks that will make for 
new attitudes and, in particular, in order to prevent any type of 
limitation or impediment to women's lives, in the economic, social, 
cultural, civic and political field.  
 
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against 
Women was a very big step in the right direction and that is why 
Portugal was one of the first countries to ratify it, without any 
reservations.  
 
5. In Portugal, the participation of women can be felt in every sector, 
and was given a strong impulse with the establishment of political 
democracy, in 1974.  
 
Democracy brought us the full recognition of equal rights and duties as 
well as conditions of liberty, of freedom of expression and of cultural 
development, that has allowed for the indisputable advances that are 
described in our National Report.  
 
In the last ten years, there has been much progress in the access to 
education, with total parity in compulsory schooling, with more girls 
than boys going on to secondary schooling and, as for higher education, 
there is a clear majority of women graduates.  
 
This remarkable development will come to imply, in the near future, a 
better balance of power in the highest positions of authority.  
 
As for health, our statistics indicate a very significant improvement 
both in the life expectancy of women and with regard to the notable drop 
in the maternal and infant mortality rate.  
 
Reproductive rights are fully guaranteed in the Portuguese Political 
Constitution and integrated in health policy.  
 
With regard to employment, Portugal has one of the highest female 
activity rates in Europe, though negative factors are still present, 
such as women occupying the least qualified and more precarious jobs, 
while family responsibilities are very imperfectly shared. The struggle 
against violence has merited specific prevention and information 
measures - a national study has recently been undertaken, and this 
matter has been included in the training of the police forces.  
 
All that I have said above are very positive signs - but policy measures 
have to be continued.  
 
At world level, the road to full equality is as uneven road to 
follow, owing to the many cultural, social, political and economic 
differences.  
 
This is precisely why the Portuguese delegation expresses its full 
support for all the work that the United Nations and many countries are 
undertaking, to bring about the aims of this Conference.  
 
However, if we really want women and men to fully participate in all 
aspects of economic, social, cultural and political life, without 
affecting their family life, the bringing up of their children, the 
support of the aged in their charge, and the basic solidarity which must 
unite us all, we must urgently find new models of social and family 
organization.  
 
I have no doubt that education will play a big role in all of this.  
 
We also want to stress that the State and every public institution 
cannot do without private initiative, with special reference to the role 
of the Non-Governmental Organizations .  
 
The very fact that this Conference is taking place, implying enormous 
debate, evaluation and discussion, is in itself a huge achievement.  
 
Our commitments have to be generous and we must convince ourselves that 
we are perfectly capable of building a better world, where every person 
can develop their full humanity.  
 
If we were to attain this goals today, it would not be too soon.  
 
Thank you