Fourth World Conference               WOM/BEI/22
 on Women                     7 September 1995
6th Meeting (AM)



   FIRST LADY OF LEBANON CALLS FOR MORE FOCUS ON RIGHTS OF LEAST PRIVILEGED
   AND NEEDY WOMEN, INCLUDING HANDICAPPED, POOR, VICTIMS OF VIOLENCE


   World Conference on Women Continues General Exchange of Views


   Beginning the third day of its general exchange of views, the Fourth
World Conference on Women this morning heard the First Lady of Lebanon, Mouna
Hraoui, call for mechanisms to ensure major gains in the status of women at
the international and national levels.  She urged more focus on the rights of
the least privileged and needy women, including the handicapped, the poor, the
illiterate, the displaced, emigrants, the detained and victims of all forms of
violence.

   Also this morning, Norway's Minister for Children and Family Affairs,
Grete Berget, recommended that men's gender role be firmly established on the
global agenda for equality, development and peace, while the French Minister
of Equality among the Generations, Colette Codaccioni, pointed out that the
rejection of real equality between men and women led to a loss of human
resources and to a slowdown in economic development and social progress and
amounted to "an incalculable loss for humankind as a whole".

   The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women provided the legally binding framework for a strategy to promote women's
rights and eradicate discrimination, the Chairperson of the United Nations
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, Ivanka Corti,
said.  The Conference's draft platform of action should call for universal
ratification of the Convention by the year 2000, universal withdrawal of
reservations to the Convention, and the adoption of an optional protocol to
the Convention.

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   Statements were also made by the Foreign Minister of Latvia, the Federal
Minister for Women's Affairs of Austria; the Minister of Labour of Hungary;
the Minister of Labour, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic; the
Under-Secretary in the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs of the United
Arab Emirates; and the Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs and
Women's Affairs of Saint Lucia.  The Director-General of the United Nations
Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) also spoke.

   The Conference will meet again at 3 p.m. today to continue its general
exchange of views.






















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   Statements

   MAURICIO DE MARIA Y CAMPOS, Director-General of the United Nations
Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO):  At the policy level, governments
should ensure that economic plans and industrial strategies target social
goals by encouraging women's employment through the promotion of industries
where women have a high share of the workforce and through raising women's
educational, technical and material skills.  UNIDO supports the establishment
of mechanisms and legislation that promote micro, small and medium enterprises
and access for women to credit and technology.  Rural development initiatives
should be undertaken for the employment of women, whether by promotion and
support of micro and small manufacturing enterprises or by dispersal of
production activities to remote regions.  In urban areas it is crucial to
support employment and improve work conditions through reinvestment and
technology renewal.

   A comprehensive strategy for the enhancement of women in industry needs
qualified human resources, both in the technological and managerial fields.
Action in this direction must be supported by national policies that promote
education, employment and training opportunities for women, and by measures
that eliminate barriers to women's participation in certain activities.  UNIDO
supports the target of 30 per cent of women managers by the year 2010, both in
public and private sectors.  UNIDO's Director-General has approved the
development of a comprehensive programme on women entrepreneurship.
   
   HELGA KONRAD, Federal Minister for Women's Affairs of Austria:  In
Austria basic provision for women is guaranteed, but there is still an
inequality of men and women.  The platform for action must give impetus to the
empowerment of women.  Austria condemns genital mutilation, female
infanticide, forced sterilizations, forced abortion, rape of women and abuse
of women in refugees camps.  It emphasizes the principle of the freedom of
speech and free access to information.  An initial step towards eradicating
violence against women is the drafting of an optional protocol to the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Violence.  With respect to the
platform of action, Austria does not wish to merely repeat the achievements of
the Vienna Conference on Human Rights.  It supports the right of women to
self-determination in choosing their life style -- whether and when and how
many children to have.

   The women-related policies of the Austrian Government are designed to
achieve the de facto equality of women in all spheres of society.  Much
remains to be done.  A State Secretariat for Women's Issues was set up in 1979
and the Minister for Women's Issues became a cabinet member in 1989.  The high
level of socio-political awareness of Austrian women has been a key factor in
the improvements achieved.  To implement the final document of the Conference,
Austria will lead the fight to eliminate violence towards women; extend the
right to equal

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treatment to include the right to equality for women; speed the process of
redistributing paid and unpaid work; step up efforts to earmark funds for
development cooperation for women's projects and grant asylum to women who
have been victims of sexual violence.
   
   KOSA MAGDA KOVACS, Minister of Labour of Hungary:  The real rights of
women, besides political and civil ones, are determined by the implementation
of economic, social and cultural rights.  Women will only attain de facto
equality if society realizes that equality does not depend only on the
adoption of international instruments and national laws.  Equality is really
tested by women's economic life, their access to work and knowledge, and a
social security system which includes maternity protection and a network of
child-care facilities.

   Hungary's transformation to a market economy shook the foundations of
cultural and social services and brought radical changes to the nation's way
of life.  Cultural and social rights, as well as civil and political rights,
have to be protected.  Programmes by the European Union, the World Bank and
the International Labour Organization have reduced inequities and developed
human resources.  They have also helped the development of women's
professional training and reduced unemployment in their ranks.  However, these
programmes cannot fundamentally change the situation of women, since their
prospects are inseparable from the general economic situation.  Grave economic
conditions in Eastern and Central Europe cannot be overcome without
international co-operation.  Global programmes are needed which will
facilitate not only the situation of women, but also the entire economic
transformation of the region.
   
   ZELMIRA M. REGAZZOLI, Director of the Department of Human Rights and
Women's Affairs of the Foreign Ministry of Argentina:  The challenge now
facing the world is to grow towards sustainable development while retaining
the values that are part and parcel of our social identity, so as to advance
to the future without breaking from the past.  Women have an essential
contribution to make as the generators of culture.  It is a matter of
launching a new style linked to feminine culture, so that male discourse will
change in the interest of greater parity and maturity.

   Issues traditionally considered feminine are today being built into the
training of top management.  These include developing sensitivity, capacity
for mediation and dialogue, and reaching agreements that go beyond mere
conflict-management.  These characteristics have been shown to bring greater
profit and closer identity with the place of work and enterprise.  Women must
work to ensure social equity in work, health, the home and all aspects which
will promote well-being and happiness in a world of peace for all mankind.
Women are the healers of the wounds of the past, the promoters of hope, the
renewers of the spirit and "hostesses at the banquet of peace".  What would
the world be like if there were more women defense ministers?

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   The Nairobi Strategies of equality, development and peace has served as
a framework for development in the Latin American and Caribbean region.  In
1994, a regional Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of
Violence against Women, defined as including physical, sexual and
psychological violence, both in public and private life, was adopted.
Argentina has promoted the participation of women in decision-making.  Under
Argentine law,human life is protected from the moment of conception, and there
is no discrimination against women in education.  Parents have a right to
choose the form of education most appropriate for their children.  The family
is acknowledged as the fundamental unit of society.


   MOUNA ELIAS HRAOUI, First Lady of Lebanon and President of the National
Committee:  Serious national efforts are being made to improve the status of
women in Lebanon.  Although shortcomings and inequities exist, they can be
attributed to the war, which hampered the promotion of human rights.   The
participation of Lebanese women in political decision-making has been launched
and there have been important achievements in their educational and working
lives.  The status of Lebanese women has improved over the last two years with
the removal of clauses from the civil law which undermined women's legal
capacity.  These changes include acknowledgement of women's testimony in real
estate matters; the right of married women to carry on commercial activities
without the consent of their husbands; and the legal capacity of women
regarding life insurance contracts.  The Ministry of Justice has formed an ad
hoc committee to study the ratification of the Convention on the Elimination
of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

   There is also a growing awareness by Lebanese society of women's rights,
which hopefully will have a snowball effect, leading to a qualitative
improvement in the status of Lebanese women.  However, the basic obstacle to
preventing the enhancement of women's rights, equality, development and peace
results from Israel's occupation of parts of the country and its continuous
assaults on other regions.  Lebanese women, especially in the south, are still
victims of Israel's aggression and occupation.  Many Lebanese women have been,
and are still being subjected to different kinds of torture in Israeli camps
and prisons.  Ad hoc mechanisms should be established and budgets earmarked to
implement a plan of action which will ensure a big leap in the status of women
at the international and national levels.  More focus is needed on the rights
of the least privileged and needy women, including the handicapped, the poor,
the illiterate, the displaced, emigrants, the detained and victims of all
forms of violence.

   OLGA KELTSOVA, Minister of Labour, Social Affairs and Family of the
Slovak Republic:  The Slovak Republic's transition to democracy and to the
market economy has placed a significant accent on the observance of human
rights and democracy, with a consequent impact on the status of women.
Unemployment rates among women are not dramatically higher than those of men,
and are decreasing rapidly.  Women benefit from the country's social and
medical

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welfare systems, receiving medical care during pregnancy, paid parental leave
and assistance for children.  In the face of financial difficulties incurred
as part of the transition process, women are taking an active role in job
creation.  The women's movement serves as a starting point for women to play a
more active role in the country's political life.  Having ratified the
provisions of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women, the Government of the Slovak Republic provides legal guarantees
for women's equality.

   ANDRIS BERZINS, Vice Prime Minister of Latvia:  Today's world is quite
different from that of 1985 when the Nairobi Forward-Looking Strategies were
adopted.  The collapse of totalitarian regimes in Central and Eastern Europe
was due in part to the efforts of national and international non-governmental
organizations which communicated the truth to the rest of the world about
human rights violations.

   The transition to democracy in Latvia, while welcome, had not been
without difficulties, and women are most vulnerable to the hardships thus
incurred.  It is not unusual to see employment advertisements which
specifically seek men, even for jobs which could readily be filled by women.
Domestic instability is revealed in the high divorce rate (70 per cent of all
marriages end in divorce), alcoholism, and the growing number of children born
out of wedlock -- all of which contribute to the feminization of poverty.
While Latvia gained its independence peacefully, its citizens are sympathetic
to those who are victims of war.  In situations of armed conflict, women and
girls are subjected to especially brutal forms of violence, such as mass rape.
 The section of the draft platform dealing with the effects of armed conflict
on women must be strengthened.

   MOHAMMAD ISSA AL SUWAIDI, Undersecretary in the Ministry of Labour and
Social Affairs of the United Arab Emirates:  The Emirates' Constitution
ensures equality, social justice, peace and security and equal opportunities.
 It also calls for demonstrating compassion within families and communities.
Women have a high status in the Emirates.  They occupy positions in medicine,
engineering, civil service and other areas.  Considerable efforts have been
undertaken to eradicate illiteracy.  Female school enrollment rates have
jumped dramatically over the past 10 years.  Many centres have been set up for
mother and child care.  Intensive training programmes have been established
with a view to enhance the health awareness of women.

   Many centres for rehabilitation and training have been established,
which has reflected favourably on women's economic opportunities.  Women have
come to constitute a substantial proportion of productive national work force,
increasing to 16 per cent.  Monotheistic religions, such as Islam, give a
special status to women and specify the right to life, which must be respected
by all means.

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6th Meeting (AM)                     7 September 1995


   Women and children are the main victims of such problems as illiteracy,
poverty and violence.  The women and children of Bosnia and Herzegovina have
been the victims of particular oppression.  Certain aspects of the draft
platform of action run counter to Islamic law.

   GRETE BERGET, Minister for Children and Family Affairs of Norway:  In
Norway, a government with only a few women members would be thought to be
undemocratic.  Women are an integral part of every aspect of the political
structure.  There have been changes in deeply rooted attitudes.  The steady
march to equality began more than 20 years ago.  The process is nearly
complete in political life, but the nation still has a long way to go in other
areas.  It has never been accused of having to elect less qualified candidates
simply because they are women.

   There was concern in the beginning that children would suffer when women
took employment outside the home.  Norway's answer was to adopt mechanism to
make it easier to manage work outside the home.  After the birth of a child,
parental leave of one year, paid by the Government, may be taken at 80 per
cent of pay.  Both parents may also take an additional year of unpaid leave,
with job protection and protection of seniority.

   Two thirds of all unpaid work in Norway is done by women.  In the
developing world, that unequal distribution is even worse.  The contribution
of women's unpaid work should be reflected in satellite accounts.  Norway's
aim is to create a balance between work and home, to allow sufficient time for
family life.  All over the world, children see too little of their fathers.
Men have left the home, and now it is time for them to come back.  The absence
of men from the home was harmful to the family.  In Norway, fathers must take
a minimum of four weeks of paid parental leave after the birth of a child.

   A major reason for divorce was frustration on women's part because men
do not take their share of household responsibilities.  We are on the way to a
new family pattern, adapted to family life.  Equality will not be reached if
men do not move also.  A Nordic conference on men was recently held.  We want
to firmly establish man's gender role on the global agenda for equality,
development and peace.

   Norway has proposed that the Conference's platform of action support the
decriminalization of women who have had illegal abortions.  In Norway, the
woman has the last word in whether to have an abortion or not.  Despite fears,
the number of abortions have not risen with the enactment of Norway's abortion
laws.  Norway was very pleased when it was decided to include a section on the
girl-child in the plan of action.  The trend towards increasing feminization
of poverty will not change until girls and women get equal access to education
and health care, and until women can participate fully in politics and have
equal access to economic resources.

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   COLETTE CODACCIONI, Minister of Solidarity among the Generations of
France:  The Fourth World Conference is not an isolated event.  It lays at the
crossroads of two major evolutions, spanning the past 20 years.  The first is
the increasing attention being given to improving the status of women.
Equality, development and peace -- this is the framework which has marked the
hopes, achievements and disappointments of women during this period.  The
second process deals with the achievement of common social objectives.  There
is an awareness that economic progress and development is inseparable from
social development and respect for human rights.  This is a major advance for
women and for humankind as a whole.

   How can it be accepted that poverty bears a human face, that 70 per cent
of those living in poverty are women, that the bulk of their work carries no
recognition, that when they are paid a salary, it is less than that given men?
 How can it be accepted that women, who constitute half of the electorate,
hold only 10 per cent of parliamentary seats and 6 per cent of ministerial
functions?

   All those working in the field know that the results of development
action is increased tenfold if women participate in the planning and
implementation of projects.  In that context, the rejection of real equality
between men and women leads to a loss of human resources and to a slowdown in
economic development and social progress.  It is an incalculable loss for
humankind as a whole.  Equality is thus a keystone to progress.  Equity
requires subjective evaluation of situations; equality is the only acceptable
alternative.   There is a long road from equality in law to equality in
fact.

   Despite fears which have been expressed, the fact that women and men
have identical rights does not make them identical.  Education is essential to
the empowerment of women.  Women must be informed of their rights and
supported in their effective implementation.  Also crucial is access to
resources -- both food and financial resources.  Women must be guaranteed the
best possible level of health.  The right of women to control their fertility,
to decide freely the number and spacing of their children, is also
fundamental.

   IANKA CORTI, Chairperson of the United Nations Committee on the
Elimination of Discrimination against Women:  The legally binding and
internationally accepted nature of the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women makes it the basic legal framework for a
far-reaching strategy to protect and promote the fundamental rights of women,
and to eradicate de jure and de facto discrimination.  The Conference must
strongly reiterate that the human rights of women are an inalienable,
indivisible and integral part of all human rights.  A number of recent
international initiatives have been taken to protect the rights of women,
including the adoption of the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence
against Women and the emphasis placed by the 1994 International Conference on
Population and

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Development on, among others, the critical importance of family planning and
sex education for girls and women as means of ensuring the right to freedom of
choice in matters of reproduction.  All such conclusions reinforce what is
already codified in the Convention.

   Unfortunately, the Convention has not been adequately reflected in the
draft platform for action.  The draft should call for universal ratification
of the Convention by the year 2000; universal withdrawal of reservations to
the Convention; and the adoption of an optional protocol to the Convention.
The Conference has been convened not only to affirm women's human rights, but
also to promote action to achieve those rights both in the family and in
society as a whole.  The Convention focuses on the full range of women's human
rights -- as mothers, wives or daughters, as working women, as politicians,
whether in rural or urban areas and in all regions of the world.  "Women's
rights are human rights.  This is a fundamental truth.  Respect for these
rights will give the whole of humanity hope for a new social order, liberated
from injustice and the legacy of past oppression."

   LORRAINE WILLIAMS, Attorney-General and Minster of Women's Affairs of
Saint Lucia:  The Platform of Action should strike a telling blow at
exploitation by constructing a charter of rights for domestic workers and
those at the bottom of the economic spectrum.  A charter should outline
rights, conditions of work, duties and benefits for domestic workers.  It
should embody not only human rights and women's rights, but also aim to
correct the imbalances and inequities of social systems.  Caribbean societies
are seen historically as matriarchal, but that view often masks their male-
dominated nature and the substantive inequality of women's position.  The
gender imbalance of economic systems is so strong that structural adjustment
solutions of the International Monetary Fund have a multiple effect on women,
intensifying their poverty.  Caribbean women are the last hired and the first
fired.  All obstacles to the economic emancipation of women should be removed
by pushing for employment, equal wages, credit facilities and loans, the
waiver of collateral requirements, and day-care and pre-school services as
part of complete health care programmes.

   According to a 1992 report by the United Nations Children's Fund
(UNICEF), Saint Lucia has an illiteracy rate of 46 per cent with women the
main casualties of the restricted availability of formal and informal
education.  However, the situation is improving and girls now outnumber boys
at the tertiary level.  Support for the Platform for Action will help
accelerate the thrust for an education system that ensures equal access and
training opportunities and the development of text books and curricula which
are free from sexual stereotypes.  Increased development, progress and
prosperity seem to exacerbate the incidence of domestic violence.  Saint Lucia
has enacted legislation against domestic violence and is in the process of
constructing a shelter for abused women.  It is also setting up a family court
where women and families can resolve disputes in an atmosphere of respect for
all parties.  Saint Lucian women still perceive and do not want to be
associated with it.  There is only one female member of the Cabinet and two
women senators in the Upper House of Parliament.  The Government is fully
committed to involving women in the top levels of political decision-making.
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