*************************************************************************** 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 MR. ADRIANUS MOOY EXECUTIVE SECRETARY OF THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMISSION FOR ASIA AND THE PACIFIC(ESCAP) Madam Chairperson, Secretary General of the Conference, Excellencies, distinguished representatives, ladies and gentlemen: On behalf of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), it is a great honour for me to address the Fourth World Conference on Women. This is the first time that this global Conference is being held in the ESCAP region which contains 58 per cent of the world's population out of which 49 per cent are women. It is also befitting that the Conference is being held in this historic country which has made important strides in achieving economic growth as well as gender equality. Madam Chairperson, I wish to join other speakers before me in extending my deep appreciation and gratitude to the Government of China for the excellent arrangements made for this Conference and for the warm hospitality accorded to the participants. ESCAP convened the Second Asian and Pacific Ministerial Conference on Women in Development at Jakarta, from 7 to 14 June 1994 which was the first regional preparatory meeting for this Conference. Seven hundred thirty four participants including 38 ministers, representing 48 out of 59 ESCAP members and associate members attended the Conference. The highlight of the Conference was the unanimous adoption of the Jakarta Declaration and Plan of Action for the Advancement of Women in Asia and the Pacific. The Jakarta Declaration and Plan of Action covers 10 areas which basically correspond with the 12 areas of the draft global platform for action. Those areas are: (i) vulnerable groups and feminization of poverty including structural adjustment process, female headed and female maintained households, elderly women and women with disabilities (ii) women's access to and participation in economic activities including informal sector, women migrant workers; (iii) women's role and concerns in environment and natural resource management; (iv) access to power and decision-making; (v) women's human rights including violence against women; (vi) access to health; (vii) access to education and literacy including science and technology; (viii) portrayal of women in the media; (ix) mechanisms for promoting the advancement of women; and (x) women's role in peace-building .Madam Chairperson, I will now highlight some significant features of the status of women in the ESCAP region. With 55 geographical members and associate members, ESCAP covers a region which is the most diverse in terms of culture, religion, ethnicity and political structures. It is also a region which has made significant economic gains in the last decade or so. During this period, the region's economic growth has been impressive. Women have contributed significantly towards this growth, as agents of development, through their participation in all sectors of the economy, especially in the manufacturing and service sectors. However, the region's economic performance has not been matched by the improvement of the status of its women. The Asia and Pacific region still contains about three quarters of all people living in chronic poverty in the world, and the majority of these poor are women. Deprivation of women has increased, especially among female-headed and female-maintained households. Since the adoption of the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women in 1985, the recorded labour force participation of women has increased in many countries in the region. However, gender disparity in participation rate as well as in wages and earnings persist in all countries of the region. Women are also concentrated in low- earning, low-skilled activities often in the informal sector. The number of women in senior technical or management levels is still very insignificant. Several countries in this region are embarking on structural adjustment policies and transition from planned to market oriented economic systems. While the experiences of countries have been divergent, one common feature is that those processes are having disproportionally adverse effects on women. However, while these changes present challenges which have to be overcome, new opportunities have also emerged for women as evidenced by the increasing number of women engaged in entrepreneurial activities in these economies. In the ESCAP region, significant progress has been made with regard to women's health, as depicted by the drop in infant and maternal mortality rates and the rise in female life expectancy rates. Total fertility rates continue to decline in the region throughout the post-Nairobi period. However, it should be noted that reductions in infant, child and maternal mortality rates had been unevenly distributed among and within countries. Increased vulnerability of women to the effects of HIV/AIDS infection also pose as a new challenge for concerted policy action. There has been notable improvements in the region in the access of girls and women to educational opportunities including formal education, non- formal and informal education. Furthermore, literacy levels of girls and their enrolment have improved in primary and secondary levels of education. Nevertheless, many problems persist. These include gender gaps in literacy rates and in school enrolment rates in most of the developing countries, major gender gaps at higher levels of education in all countries, lower representation of women in vocational education and in access to science and technology-based education and higher drop-out rates among girl children. These gaps contribute to greater illiteracy rates and skill disadvantages among women. Madam Chairperson, It is increasingly recognized that women specific programmes and projects often do not succeed unless they have been integrated into national development plans and have received institutional support at the political and community level. In this regard, most countries in Asia and the Pacific have established or strengthened national machineries for the advancement of women. The efficacy or efficiency of these focal points vary from country to country. In many countries in the region, inequalities inherent in legislation pertaining to inheritance, property rights, marriage and divorce have adversely affected women. The main international instrument for ensuring gender equality, the Convention for the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) has been ratified by only 20 out of 55 ESCAP geographical members and associate members, and many have done so with reservations. Compounding the problem of attaining legal equality is that although many countries have provided for de jure equality for women under the law, de facto equality is usually elusive. The persistence and increasing reporting and incidence of various forms of violence against women poses another challenge which must be addressed. An important conduit for the empowerment of women to bring about changes in the policy arena is to increase the representation of women in the governance process. In this regard, the situation in the ESCAP region reveals significant gender disparities. Female political participation is generally very low, averaging less than ten per cent of parliamentary seats. However, countries with socialist regimes and those with a fixed quota for women under affirmative action programmes show better participation rates. Similar gender disparities are found in other decision-making positions in the public sphere. Institutional support systems for women have surged in recent years, especially through community-based and grassroots non-governmental organizations. These organizations range from those having a welfarist approach to those which are development oriented, and are often issue- based focusing on topics such as credit access, income generation, environment, health, adult literacy or domestic violence. This region is home to some reputable organizations such as the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh which makes over 90 per cent of its loans to women and the Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA) in India. Madam Chairperson, Some insights may be drawn from the experience and situation in the ESCAP region which I have outlined. One significant feature with regard to the status of women in this region is the divergence between countries and even within countries. Causality for the divergence would include differential economic growth, cultural and social constraints, often codified into law, and policies and programmes which impinge on the status of women. However, the experience of the ESCAP region has also demonstrated that economic development, while instrumental in improving health, nutrition, education, and economic participation, may not necessarily be a sufficient condition to advance the status of women. The situation in this region has also shown that the status of women can be improved and enhanced through political and policy interventions. Strategies are therefore required to integrate women into the mainstream of development so that they can play their role as agents of economic development and can fully benefit from such development. The pursuit of such strategies would require action on many fronts encompassing women's health, education, training, capacity-building, employment and career development. Furthermore, refinements in the measurement methodology currently used in determining the status of women are needed, particularly with regard to indicators which would capture essential elements related to the empowerment of women. Madam Chairperson, looking ahead to the follow-up on this important Conference, we are mindful that co-ordinated action would be required from various parties - governments, intergovernmental organizations, NGOs, donor countries and agencies, and the private sector. At the national level, governments would need to develop national plans of action for the advancement of women based on the Global Platform for Action. These plans should have specific outcome indicators to facilitate monitoring and evaluation, should be coordinated by their respective national focal points, and should involve multisectoral participation. These national plans should also be incorporated into national development and planning mechanisms. At the regional level, the regional commissions have a role to play in implementing relevant aspects of the Global Platform for Action with collaboration among relevant intergovernmental organizations. In the Asia and Pacific region, ESCAP could co-ordinate the formulation of a regional implementation plan and arrange for its regular monitoring and evaluation. ESCAP could also arrange to provide training to enhance relevant skills of governments and NGOs, organize research in relation to advancement of women, facilitate intraregional exchanges of experience and expertise, organize subregional and regional meetings of national focal points and senior officials and disseminate regional information. Focus would be on key substantive issues which have been identified as being the significant gaps in the ESCAP region. These would include: i) poverty alleviation programmes targetted to stem the growing feminization of poverty especially in female-headed and female- maintained households ii) provision of basic social services and reproductive health programmes to reduce the persistent low literacy rate, high maternal mortality rate and high total fertility rate in some countries in the region, particularly in South Asia and some countries in Southeast Asia iii) promotion of legal equality and advocacy to ensure that countries sign and ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) iv) programmes to ensure equal access to economic participation which would include access to credit, and improvement of the working conditions and career prospects of women in low-paying and low-skilled jobs v) measures to promote equality in political participation and decision-making vi) enhancement of women's participation in environmental and natural resources management vii) programmes to combat the increasing incidence of violence against women While specialized agencies of the United Nations would be taking leading roles in their respective areas of expertise e.g. WHO on health in all stages of the life cycle, UNESCO in female literacy etc., regional commissions could play important roles in issues, such as legal literacy, economic participation, violence against women, and institutional aspects of empowerment particularly women in decision making in both the public and private sectors, and strengthening of national machineries for the advancement of women. To avoid duplication and facilitate co-operation we have recently established a regional interagency co-ordinating mechanism - the Interagency Subcommittee on the Advancement of Women in Asia and the Pacific. Since non-governmental organizations play an important role in advocacy, information dissemination and activity implementation, liaison and co-ordination with NGOs including networks of NGOs would be continued and developed. I shall conclude with the fervent hope that the Conference will build upon the consensus and commitment which have been made by all governments at their respective regional preparatory meetings. The time has come to move forward together towards the next step - the adoption and implementation of the Global Platform for Action. I wish the Conference all success and look forward to its outcome with keen interest.