Fourth World Conference WOM/BEI/26 on Women 11 September 1995 10th Meeting (AM) FOURTH WORLD CONFERENCE ON WOMEN BEGINS FINAL WEEK; HEARS 13 SPEAKERS IN CONTINUING EXCHANGE OF VIEWS WHO States That While Women Were Initially at Periphery of HIV/AIDS Pandemic, Disease Now Spreads Fastest Among Them The Fourth World Conference on Women began its second and final week of deliberations in Beijing this morning, with statements by 13 Governments, international agencies and organs of the United Nations system. Among this morning's speakers, the Senior Advisor on HIV/AIDS of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dorothy Blake, speaking as a co-sponsor of the joint United Nations Programme on AIDS, declared that while initially at the periphery of the disease, women now constituted the group in which the infection was spreading the fastest, and young women under 20 were the most vulnerable group among young people. Projecting that by the year 2000 some 16 million women will have been infected by HIV/AIDS, of whom more than four million will have died, she stressed that education was the most important aspect of prevention. Colombia's Minister for Environment, Cecilia Lopez Montano, stressed the need to identify the invisible barriers which are set up -- consciously or unconsciously -- to prevent gender equality. Without such research, the magic formula of "more education" would not be enough to trigger the process leading to gender equality. Investing in women would also be a determining factor in the reduction of poverty. The Executive Vice-President of the Inter-American Development Bank, Nancy Birdsall, stated that behind every mother truly liberated to contribute to development (more) Conference on Women - 2 - Press Release WOM/BEI/26 10th Meeting (AM) 11 September 1995 outside the home was likely to be a father, uncle or male colleague who has been liberated to contribute inside the home, . The Bank was working with governments on programmes that explicitly supported an expanded role for men in the family. While the plight of women was a major concern of both developed and developing countries, the question of resources to implement the platform of action loomed large for developing countries, Barbados' Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Tourism and International Transport, Billie Miller, said. There should be some way to reward countries which accorded priority to human development, just as countries which adopted appropriate structural adjustment policies were rewarded with additional resources. Economic adjustment programmes -- particularly those involving agriculture and at opening up markets for small and micro enterprises -- had often been of direct benefit to women, the Director of the Administration Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), K. Burke Dillon, said. Adjustment programmes could also benefit women and children through redirecting public expenditure. The IMF consistently urged governments to reduce unproductive expenditure, including military expenditures, and redirect it towards education health and nutrition. The Acting Director of the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women, Martha Duenas-Loza, stressed the need for research on such matters as women's access to credit, information and training needs, and the implications of economic change for women. The Institute also sought to promote women's access to appropriate technologies and economic resources and to determine ways in which the new technologies and increased flows of information can be used for the advancement of women. Statements were also made by the Minister of Youth, Women's Affairs and Sports of Maldives; the Minister of Planning and Economic Affairs of Liberia; the First Deputy Prime Minister of Moldova; the Minister of Women's Rights, Child Development and Family Welfare of Mauritius; the Minister for Youth, Religion and Home Affairs of Papua New Guinea; the Permanent Representative of Burkina Faso to the United Nations; and the Under Vice-Minister for Health of Uruguay. The Conference will meet again at 3 p.m. to continue its general exchange of views. (more) Conference on Women - 3 - Press Release WOM/BEI/26 10th Meeting (AM) 11 September 1995 CECILIA LOPEZ MONTANO, Minister of Environment of Colombia: Today, more than ever, development with equity is required. Colombian society has been ruptured by the presence of violence and the world problem of drugs. A great institutional reform is currently under way. Colombia still has hope of generating a society which will be economically productive, more tolerant in politics, aware of the worth of nature and integrated in culture. It has initiated a new policy to reduce inequality between men and women. After many years, Colombia has acknowledged the need for a qualitative jump to a gender equitable policy which will involve both the public and private sector. Women have gained decision-making positions, but in many areas the proper commitment has not been made in the areas of work and education. Today, countries and organizations are seeking strategies and policies to accelerate the revolution in gender issues. Gender inequality, which is unjust and inexplicable, is no longer the concern of small groups of women. Gender equity is now a real priority in the development strategy of most countries. Barriers which deprive humankind of the feminine view of life must be removed. That involves greater generosity, affection and attention to problems, in place of the current model of domination and poverty. The magic formula of "more education" is not enough to trigger the process that will lead to gender equality. What we need is a process of research aimed at identifying the invisible barriers which are set up -- consciously or unconsciously -- to prevent gender equality. Action can no longer be restricted to the sphere of social policy. Equality requires tackling the economy. Investing in women is a determining factor in the reduction of poverty. We now have a new paradigm -- sustainable human development -- which involves growth and equity between generations. RASHIDA YOOSUF, Minister of Youth, Women's Affairs and Sports of Maldives: The women of the Maldives enjoy equal rights in most areas, including the right of property ownership and the right to vote. They have equal opportunities in education and equal pay for equal work. The Government aims at 100 per cent literacy, including basic legal literacy for women to empower them with knowledge of their rights. Maldives is finalizing arrangements for convening a national conference on family integrity, to enhance family values and responsibilities in Maldivian society. The country must act on national goals to expand women's economic capacity and commercial networks and to provide women with access to credit, savings mechanisms, and to promote women' self-reliance. Maldives is committed to establishing gender balance at the decision- making and power-sharing level in Government and in other areas. Every effort is being made to integrate women's concerns in all public policies and to generate and disseminate gender disaggregated data and information. While trafficking and infanticide are not major (more) Conference on Women - 4 - Press Release WOM/BEI/26 10th Meeting (AM) 11 September 1995 concerns in the Maldives, violence against women does occur. The country is committed to creating institutional mechanisms so that women and girls can report acts of violence against them in a safe and confidential environment. The Government plans to make a study on violence against women in order to promote ways of overcoming and eliminating it. It encourages the media to promote a positive and balanced portrayal of women. AMELIA A. WARD, Minister of Planning and Economic Affairs, of Liberia: In many developing countries it is often said women are successful, powerful and suffer no discrimination vis-a-vis their men. While this may be true for educated women and the few who have received political prominence, the majority, including those in Liberia, are illiterate, earn little or no income and are over-burdened by work, both inside and outside the home. They do not own or inherit property, have little control over their lives and are overlooked during the planning process. Liberian women hope this Conference will alter their lives positively after six years of civil war. Liberia, like most African countries, is a male dominated society. Women make up 50 per cent of Liberia's human resources and perform nearly 68 per cent of all subsistence agricultural work. Their efforts must be recognized in any development efforts. The Government's National Policy on Population for Socio-Economic Development, enacted in 1988, is being revised to conform to documents adopted in Dakar last March. Liberia believes the family is the basic unit of society and should be continuously strengthened. Women are constitutionally guaranteed equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities in development; however gender gaps remain a problem. There have been efforts by women's organizations to promote their rights through projects which include backyard gardening, animal husbandry, small-scale loan schemes and workshops for small businesses. Since Liberian women are affected by customary laws, there is also a need to establish institutions to provide free legal consultations and increased knowledge of human rights. BILLIE MILLER, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Tourism and International Transport of Barbados: Since the first World Conference on Women, Barbados has made dramatic progress in reforming laws and enacting legislation designed to guarantee women's rights and eliminate discrimination. The Government will continue to identify and implement needed reforms in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of Violence against Women. Barbados has not been immune to the adverse effects of economic stabilization and structural adjustment programmes. Its experience has shown, however, that human development is not solely a function of economic growth. The key lies in the political will to allocate the necessary financial and human resources and to commit to gender equality. While the plight of women is a major concern of both developed and developing countries, the question of resources looms large for developing countries in (more) Conference on Women - 5 - Press Release WOM/BEI/26 10th Meeting (AM) 11 September 1995 implementing the platform of action. Following the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, resources for agreed action plans of United Nations conferences have fallen short of the commitments made by donor countries to support developing countries. Despite prudent management of scarce economic and human resources, which has been critical to Barbados' ranking in social development performance, it still needs new and additional resources to maintain its record of gender equality. There should be some way of acknowledging or rewarding countries which have given priority to human development in the same way that countries that adopt appropriate macro-economic policies of structural adjustment are encouraged and rewarded with additional resources and concessionary financing. K. BURKE DILLON, Director, Administrative Department, International Monetary Fund, (IMF): The IMF can help to increase women's role in economic decision-making. Women from developing countries make up one third of those selected for IMF training programmes aimed at government decision-makers. This year, one third of the young economists who entered the IMF through its economist programme were women. The IMF's Managing Director recently launched a major effort to increase diversity among its staff by gender, nationality and region. However, it is critical to expanding women's role in international organizations, including the IMF, that Governments remove restrictions on the employment of spouses. High quality sustainable growth promotes greater equity and equality of opportunity. By law or custom, women still have few options and face greater restraints than men in responding to changing economic conditions and policies. The IMF offers its staff training in gender analysis. In many cases, policies adopted under economic adjustment programmes have directly benefited women, particularly those aimed at the agricultural process and at opening up markets for small and micro enterprise sectors. Marketing, foreign and financial sector reforms can benefit women. When given access to credit and other sources, women have shown they are able to compete on market terms. Adjustment programmes can also benefit women and children through redirecting public expenditure. The IMF consistently urges governments to reduce unproductive expenditure, including military, and redirect it towards education health and nutrition. Women can only respond to changing economic circumstances and share fully in growth if governments take the steps necessary to ensure women's rights and their access to resources, including under laws on land rights, real estate, credit, inheritance and marriage. GRIGORE OJOG, First Deputy Prime Minister of Moldova: Like other Central and Eastern European States, Moldova is passing through a transition to a market economy and the creation of a democratic society governed by law. In this process, the (more) Conference on Women - 6 - Press Release WOM/BEI/26 10th Meeting (AM) 11 September 1995 influence of Moldovan women has increased. There are women in Parliament, governing bodies of Ministries, local governments, private and state enterprises, schools and high schools. Their numbers, while small, are increasing. Ensuring the equal participation of women in all fields of social life is not a simple matter. A woman is a mother, wife and employee and needs conditions to enable her to combine those functions successfully. Moldova's Parliament has therefore passed a Law on Rights of Children, which endorses raising the prestige of the family and especially of women. A programme designed to protect children's rights contains measures to protect women's health. The end of the twentieth century is marked by national, regional and global transformations which affect human development, the position of woman and her contribution to society. The practical implementation of the action plan to be produced by the Conference will improve the status of women and have an inevitable effect on the human community as a whole. NANCY BIRDSALL, Executive Vice-President of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB): The IDB, the largest of the regional development banks in Latin American and the Caribbean, is committed to gender equality and to using its resources to support and catalyze the development process in all its dimensions. Behind every mother truly liberated to contribute to development outside the home is likely to be man who has been liberated to contribute to inside the home. Public policy, except in a few Scandinavian countries, fails to support an expanded role for men in the family. The Bank is working with member governments to develop and support programmes and policies in education, health, training, social insurance, child care and employment that explicitly support an expanded role for men in the family. To address constraints to women's prosperity in its member countries, the Bank supports programmes in micro-enterprise development, vocational training and child development. It has made special efforts to ensure that gender concerns are an integral part of all the programmes it supports and all the policies it recommends through dialogue with borrowing members on economic policy and in the context of lending for agriculture, infrastructure and urban development, as well as for education, health and family planning. In collaboration with other donors, it is launching the Fund for Women's Leadership and Representation, which will finance programmes of leadership training and capacity-building for non- governmental organizations. Together with the Pan American Health Organization, it is also designing a regional programme to treat and prevent violence against women. SHEILA BAPPOO, Minister of Women's Rights, Child Development and Family Welfare of Mauritius: Mauritius is a multi-racial, multi religious and multicultural (more) Conference on Women - 7 - Press Release WOM/BEI/26 10th Meeting (AM) 11 September 1995 country whose people, with origins in Asia, Europe and Africa, live together in peace and harmony. Laws have been enacted or amended to give equal rights to women, with the active participation of the country's non- governmental organizations. Only last month, the Government amended its Constitution with a view to eliminating all discrimination based on sex. Equality constitutes the basis for promoting the economic and social empowerment of women. One of the central challenges of development is how to ensure the access of women to paid work. However, women's unpaid work also must be accounted for in national economic indicators. Gender development is now a main concern in Mauritius. Girls are taking full advantage of free education, with enrolment at the primary level at 93.3 per cent. At the secondary level, it is 47.6 per cent, compared to 45.3 per cent for boys. The overall fertility rate has decreased. The fact that women have controlled their fertility has been a factor enabling them to join the labour force and to take part in the process of nation-building. This Conference should be a Conference of commitments. Mauritius commits itself to the integration of gender issues into the mainstream of government and private-sector activities. The Government has already approved the setting up of a gender management machinery. It also commits itself to a holistic approach to the health and welfare of women, with special attention to the girl-child, women and work, and the elderly woman. A third commitment involves the enactment of a domestic violence act, and reinforcing its family counselling service. Its fourth commitment is in education. Girls will be encouraged to study for professions which were formerly considered male domains only. FELECIA DOBUNABA, Papua New Guinea: Agriculture, largely subsistence farming, accounts for 84 per cent of the labour force and women form the backbone of the economy. Wife beating is the most serious form of domestic violence. The formation of the Women and Law Committee in 1987 spear- headed a national campaign on domestic violence. During the crisis on the island of Bougainville, where traditional land owners demanded a greater share of copper mine profits, women's right to movement was restricted and they were subjected to all forms of violence. Many died from lack of medicine. They regrouped under the Provincial Council of Women and pushed for peace, expressing their concerns through the "Bougainville Women's Declaration on Peace, Unity and Development for Bougainville" in June. The Government has re-established political and administrative mechanisms on the island since April and is approving a reconstruction programme for United Nations inter-agency assistance. A Human Rights Commission will be established in Papua New Guinea later this year and hopefully will give due attention to the rights of women. There has been an increase in female-headed households over the last 15 years but overall, employment in the public and private sectors heavily favours men. Only a (more) Conference on Women - 8 - Press Release WOM/BEI/26 10th Meeting (AM) 11 September 1995 few women occupy managerial positions and the majority of young women do not receive adequate training to participate in the formal sector or to function productively in their villages and communities. However, their visibility is increasing in small-scale businesses, trade stores, food shops, gardening, betelnut sales and handicrafts. The over-all status of women's health is low, with a life expectancy of 47 years. Malaria, inadequate nutrition, heavy workloads and multiple pregnancies are contributing factors. Women's projects have benefited from multilateral and bilateral assistance. Papua New Guinea appeals to donor countries to be more sensitive to its needs and to work with us to find solutions rather than to promote ready-made programmes. MARTHA DUENAS-LOZA, Acting Director, International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women: Closing the gap between principles and ideals and the reality faced by women and men worldwide is at the heart of the mandate and work of the Institute. Its five priority areas of work are women's access to economic resources; women in the global economic restructuring process; women and environmental and sustainable development; women, media and the new communication technologies; gender statistics and indicators; and women as a heterogenous group. Research is needed to address women's access to credit, to identify information and training needs of women; understand the implications of economic change for women; promote women's access to appropriate technologies and to economic resources; and determine ways in which the new technologies and the increased flows of information can be used as a tool for the advancement of women. Further research is also needed on gender statistics and indicators; gender division of labour; time-use and income; gender-specific information on access to credit and technology; and the specific situation and conditions of young girls, the elderly, migrant women refugees and internally displaced women, as well as women in situations of armed conflicts. To close the gap requires a vision of society with equal rights and equal opportunities -- a vision of peace. Peace demands that women and men are empowered to enjoy all the fundamental human rights guaranteed to them by international covenants. GAETAN R. OUEDRAOGO, Permanent Representative of Burkina Faso to the United Nations: Women must be brought into the mainstream of the development process; there must be an equal partnership between men and women. In Africa, Asia, America and Europe, helpless and exhausted mothers see their children die before their eyes, because of one conflict or another. These women are victims as women, wives and mothers, and yet they have had little or nothing to say about their misfortune. To proclaim human rights and duties is not enough -- they must be put into effect. Despite the progress made, the task of achieving equality, development and peace is colossal. In Burkina Faso, women account for 51.1 per cent of the population. They have also participated in the country's development efforts. However, they face obstacles in the ares of health care, education, employment and food security. In the preparation of (more) Conference on Women - 9 - Press Release WOM/BEI/26 10th Meeting (AM) 11 September 1995 development projects, the women's component has not always been taken into account. The country's programme for sustainable economic recovery includes environmental protection and action to prevent desertification; support for the informal and crafts sector; support for small and medium- sized industries; increasing the general level of basic education; and the development of sports and cultural activities. Burkina Faso is doing what it can to reduce the gap in school enrolment between boys and girls. The central question in Beijing is how to put fine words into action. The commitments made will only have impact if they are accompanied with action at the international and national levels. Statistical data has compelled the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to state that "poverty has a woman's face". To work to meet women's needs is to work for development and peace. LAURA ALBERTINI, Vice-Minister for Health of Uruguay: The women and men of Uruguay have made commitments for respect for human rights, access to education for all, and the elimination of all forms of violence. The cause of women in the world is a just cause, a human rights cause. Women and girls in many countries are murdered because they are female. There are women and girls who lack appropriate health services and who are not fed comparably to their male peers, merely because they are female. This is all unjust. Uruguay is committed to the struggle to remove these stains upon the conscience of the world. Uruguay commits itself to give effect to its commitment to the struggle for equality between its men and women. The Government is committed to draw up a plan of action to enrich the platform of action being developed at the Conference. Activities are to be undertaken to diminish the burden of poverty on women through training and employment; to promote integrated education, with a gender perspective; to guarantee access to family planning and state health services; to promote respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms; to create and use mechanisms to achieve equal participation of men and women in decision-making at all levels, private and public; and to provide information and education to promote respect for the human rights of women. DOROTHY BLAKE, Senior Advisor on HIV/AIDS, World Health Organization (WHO), speaking as a co-sponsor of the United Nations Programme on Aids (UNAIDS): At the last women's conference, the question of AIDS was not addressed. Since then, much has been learned about the disease. Women who were initially at the periphery are now the group in which infection is spreading the fastest and young women under 20 are the most vulnerable group among young people. Some eight million women have been infected. By the year 2000, 16 million will have been infected, of which over four million will have died. Millions of their children will be infected and millions more left orphans. The platform of action must note that women are not at high risk because of sexual risk behaviour. Their vulnerability is both biological, as a receptive partner during sexual intercourse and their gender role in (more) Conference on Women - 10 - Press Release WOM/BEI/26 10th Meeting (AM) 11 September 1995 society. The receiving partner is four times more vulnerable to contracting the virus. In many cases her only risk factor for the disease is the risk- taking behaviour of her partner. In addition, the most effective barrier to transmission, the male condom, is not under her control. Education is the most important aspect of prevention as the largest group to be infected is people under the age of 25. They must be informed about how to protect themselves. Programmes must be developed to respond to the needs of HIV-positive women, their children and families. Enabling environments must be created. There should be legislation ensuring their rights and accessible services for care and support. UNAIDS, a joint co- sponsored programme established by UNICEF, UNDP, UNFPA, UNESCO and WHO, is committed to supporting governments at the global and national levels to coordinate United Nations response to the epidemic in general and in women in particular. * *** *