ISO: EST *************************************************************************** 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. *************************************************************************** AS WRITTEN STATEMENT by H.E. Siiri Oviir Minister of Social Affairs Republic of Estonia Fourth World Conference on Women Beijing, People's Republic of China September 8, 1995 Your Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen, I wish to express my sincere gratitude for the opportunity to address the Fourth World Conference on Women and thank Madame Secretary-General Gertrude Mongella and her staff from the Conference Secretariat for all the excellent work they have done. All Estonian women wish the Conference every success. It is encouraging to perceive the common will of so many women committed to strengthening the role of women and to recognise the importance of their status and responsibilities in society. This status must be achieved through legislation and redistribution of resources. However, we women, should be prepared to bear the responsibilities that arise with this enhanced status. Our grand common goal - the free realisation of a woman's will and the proper valuing of a woman's role in society -, cannot be reached without going through many different stages as may be characteristic of different cultures, because the women representing different cultures and traditions have different understandings and attitudes towards the overall environment and developments in the world. We, the women of Estonia, who four years ago, together with our husbands and children, regained our freedom and restored our independence, are certainly a remarkable example for many women who still struggle for the freedom of their native lands. At the same time the women of the Nordic countries set a good example for us. We wish to thank them all, especially the women of Finland who organised the successful Women's forum in Turku in 1994. Through their self-determination they have achieved equal recognition with men in all areas of society. We do not believe that a model of a man, or for that matter, a woman, should predominate in the society. Life should be equally-centred. We, Estonian women, consider it essential that there be freedom to develop for women, their choice of role in life as well as in society. Above all, we have to be accepting of a woman’s choice. This is our idea of freedom and democracy. In the last four years, profound changes have taken place in Estonia. Estonia recognises the universality of human rights and all these rights are guaranteed in the constitution. Further protection is provided through Parliamentary democracy and independent court system which recognises gender equality. On Nov. 20, 1991, Estonia adopted the "Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women". Although Estonia has no legislation on gender equality, the Labour and Family Act secure equal opportunities to all men and women. Unfortunately, we cannot state that the application mechanisms of that law guarantee gender equality. In principle the Estonian woman feels free to make her decisions, but she is still not and even does not want to be equal with men. Although the educational level of women is higher than that of a man, unfortunately their average salary is lower, comprising only 71% of man’s salary and this difference shows a tendency to increase. At the same time, employment of women of working age, 16-60 years, is constantly high - 84.9% of them are employed, whereas 87.3 8 of the males are employed. The jobs are divided clearly along on the gender principle and the posts connected with decision-making and greater responsibility belong overwhelmingly to men. It is conspicuous that traditional women’s jobs (primarily those in education, culture, health care and social welfare where women comprise 70-80% of the work force),are low-paid. A woman's chances to move up on the social career ladder are somewhat restricted. The number of women among the top decision makers and legislators is less than a third. Reaching the top is hindered for women by difficult choices between family and work, the non-confidence of female colleagues and their preference for males as employers and the discrimination practised by men. The sad truth is that there are only two female ministers who are members of our Government and the number of women in Parliament is only 12 deputies out of 101 members. The division of domestic house work between women and men presents a problem. Unlike in other countries, in addition to holding a job, 66-94% of different household work falls on the shoulders of women-since in the Estonian family the woman is responsible for home welfare and comfort. Having said this, it is clear that the work load of women is essentially higher than that of men and this leads to some of the causes of disharmony in domestic life. The sexual self-determination of women and their striving for perfection, in addition to their great work load and economic difficulties are the main causes of family crisis. According to a recent study the satisfaction level of women in their emotional relations between the spouses is somewhat lower as compared to men. This results in an increasing number of divorces. The sexual education of the whole population leaves much to be desired resulting in sexual dissatisfaction between the partners, in health disorders, unwanted pregnancies and frequent abortions. Today 1686 abortions per 1000 births are performed in Estonia. 69.ó abortions are registered per 1000 women in fertile age. The issues of prostitution and drug addiction, mostly ignored up to now, have been brought into the limelight. At a time when many countries try to limit the birth rate, we have just the opposite concern - how to ensure national survival. In spite of the solid economic progress to date, the economic situation of families with children is often difficult, particularly for families with single parents. Here the national policy will have to provide assistance. I know that it is not only a concern for our small country of 5-million people, but also a problem facing many small nations. Another concern is the 10-year difference in life expectancy between men and women. The shorter life-span of males has caused a problem for the ageing single woman in Estonia. From the point of view of the health of the nation it is essential to introduce policy that will eventually provide for approximately the same length of life for both females and males. It has become evident from the studies carried out among the adult population that the indicators reflecting subjective and objective welfare of females and males differ greatly. In conclusion it should be stated that the situation of women in the Estonian Republic while needing reform is not drastic. On the other hand for the Estonian society at the present level of development, the nation's survival and security are more essential issues at this time than the gender equality problem. I suppose that the same problem also exists in other countries. Each stage of development has its own prevailing problems. We do foresee solutions to the Estonian women's problems as follows: 1. At the national level it is planned: - to put into effect a Convention on eliminating all form, of discrimination against women, the society of human rights for females and males will be formed. - to create national structures for equal rights to solve women’s problems and make family planning more effective, to implement better monitoring and co-ordination; - to strengthen and develop social statistics concerning women's issues, in order to describe more precisely the different groups in society and to support gender studies; - through the public media to bring forward equality problems, to value the role of women in public, political and professional activities; 2. At the family level: - to develop the social security systems for the families with dependants, enabling better conditions for the mother in order to combine work and family life when the children are infants; - to support up-to date family planning; 3. At the self-actualisation level for women: to raise the confidence and competence level of women, to secure their position on the labour market and in public life. To provide for equal salary conditions on a legal basis; - to provide state support for programs of further training and retraining of women. Today we have an opportunity to participate in this important historical event - the 4th World Conference on Women. We sincerely hope that this Conference and the adopted final documents will meet our expectations and serve as a positive breakthrough for furthering the gender balance in the whole world. We are a small nation and our contribution in influencing the global processes is modest, but we want to do our part. The responsibility of greater nations and their women is to help in shaping greater events. Nature has determined that the role of the woman is to reproduce life, we need to pass to her greater responsibility for making human society safer. This concern, this responsibility should be common to all of society, irrespective of culture, traditions and differences in state order. Almost in all societies it is the women who bring up the children. Educating our children in love for peace, tolerance and understanding towards other peoples, understanding that it is a common world for all of us, teaching children self-dignity and respect for others, we can through them realise a safer world for all people. During the millenniums, the Chinese nation with its extraordinarily high culture has been one of the leading actors in shaping this world. Women of the whole world hope that, like women in other countries, the Chinese women keep exercising their influence, their understanding and their perseverance on their ancient nation in maintaining it in the global stream of peace, democracy and tolerance. Only through equal rights and responsibilities, only by creating favourable conditions and environment, and only by allowing everyone to freely make their personal choice, can we make the world equally safe for us all. We therefore look forward to the adoption of the Declaration and the implementation of the Platform of Action along with all of the other member States of the United Nations. Thank you.