Statement

by

 

H.E. Dr. Lamuel Stanislaus

Ambassador and Permanent Representative

of Grenada

to the United Nations

 

TO THE 23rd SPECIAL SESSION OF

 

THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY

 

“WOMEN 2000: GENDER EQUALITY, DEVELOPMENT

AND PEACE FOR THE TWENTY- FIRST CENTURY.”

 

New York

 

                                                                      Tuesday, 06 June 2000

 

 

 

 

 

Mr. President, Excellencies and distinguished Delegates, .......

 

A global gathering of this composition, size and quality representing the best in womanhood, provides an opportunity for Women 2000 to reaffirm their claim to gender equality in social, political and economic life, especially in the workplace.

 

Let me suggest here that men of quality should never feel, threatened by women for equality, as together, we seek to implement the Beijing Program for Action, while reducing to a minimum, the unnecessary repetitive, obfuscating rhetoric, and the political and diplomatic legerdemain, which ought not to dominate this Special Session. Action speaks louder than words.

 

Mr. President only a few days ago, 31 May, a UN publication entitled The World's Women 2000: Trends and Statistics was made public. It shows progress as well as persistent disparities between women and men worldwide, according to Under Secretary General of the UN, Nitin Desai. The six subject areas analyzed, out of the twelve contained in the Beijing Program for Action are health, human rights, political decision‑making, work, education and community, population and families.

 

Due to time constraint my delegation will touch only briefly on three subject areas, human rights, political decision‑making and work.

 

 

Mr. President and distinguished Delegates,

 

The distinguished Secretary General of the UN put it best when he referred to women's rights as human rights. This is amply borne out in his substantive and far‑reaching Millennium Summit report, the outcome of which is eagerly awaited with high expectation.

 

Similarly, Jane Fonda was right on target when she said the "you cannot alleviate poverty, and you cannot create sustainable development if you don't improve the lives of women.

 

Mr. President and distinguished Delegates,

 

The underlying theme in this Special Session the first in the 21 St Century‑is Gender Equality, which is a human rights issue nationally and internationally.

 

The preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights reaffirms the Charter of the United Nations, with respect to the "equal rights of men and women," and article 23 of the Universal Declaration emphasizes that "everyone without discrimination has the right to equal pay for equal work."

 

It is socially wrong and morally unjust that in the 21St Century so much time has to be spent discussing and debating how to implement a basic and fundamental human right, which is rooted in the divine admonition, "do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

 

Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, one of the architects of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in elucidating the gender equality provision, made the observation that no one can make you feel inferior without your consent.

 

Mr. President and distinguished Delegates,

 

Much lip service is given to this universal document, which is regarded by some as a flag to sail under, rather than a rudder to be guided by. Just as a song is not a song until you sing it and a bell is not a bell until you ring it, just so the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is meaningless until you practise it.

 

Isn't it incongruous that more than fifty years after ratification of the Universal. Declaration of Human Rights that "the political landscape is still dominated by men? Yet all international instruments and all national 'legislatures enshrine the principle of equality between men and women." Grenada has initiated a gender perspective in its policy and programs with respect to gender equality, not only in government, but in all walks of life.

 

The latest data in the UN publication worldwide, show that only nine women are heads of State or Government and only eight percent (8%) of the world's cabinet ministers are women, as of the early part of this century.

 

Sweden is the only country with a majority of women ministers‑fifty‑five percent (55%). My delegation is somewhat please to report that in my country, Grenada twenty‑seven percent (27%) are women ministers and members of the cabinet

 

Worldwide, more progress has been made in the appointment of women to sub­ministerial positions, particularly in the Caribbean and in the developed regions outside Europe, where women account for about twenty percent (20%). In my country the figure is 40%.

 

 

Women 2000, you deserve better representation. You must work together, and work with men of goodwill to loosen the patriarchal (male) dominance in the society, which is so much the poorer without your input. What a waste of talent!

 

Additionally, Mr. President,

 

Physical and sexual abuse of women and girls worldwide by men, such as honour killings, beatings, rape, prostitution, abortion and other forms of violation, some not reported, cry to high Heaven for redress.

 

Mr. President and distinguished Delegates,

 

In the world of work, women have made some gains, and with some exception, comprise one‑third of the world's labour force by virtue of self‑employment, part­time and home based work. Yet gender imbalance is nowhere more noticeable and keenly felt than in the work place where, on an average, women earn at least 30% less than men for equal work. In the highest echelon in the corporate world, women do not hold positions comparable to their male counterparts.

 

Mr. President,

 

It is true to say also that "women's domestic role as wife and mother, which is so vital to the well being of society is underpaid and undervalued. Unpaid domestic work everywhere is seen as the woman's responsibility" and part of the woman's condition.

 

No wonder, Mr. President that two‑thirds of the worlds poor and illiterate are

women, giving rise to a new term, the feminization of poverty.

 

 

 

In this connection, let me refer to the Lima consensus, which came out of the 8th Regional Conference of Latin America and the Caribbean in Peru, on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, 8‑10 February 2000. The consensus states that economic globalization, trade liberalization, structural adjustment programmes, external debt and the resulting migration patterns are factors which, among others, can have specific and negative impacts on the lives and situation of women, particularly those of the least economically developed regions, and can cause dislocation of families communities and nations .

 

Women 2000, I cannot end without recalling to you from Greek mythology, the resourcefulness, the commonsense and the power of Women 411 BC, during the silly and unnecessary Peloponnesian war between the city‑state of Athens and Sparta. How the women ended the military madness and exposed the absurdity and futility of war by seizing first the Acropolis which contained the treasury. Then they refused to have intimacies with their returning men soldiers. Taken together, these actions of seizure and sex strike on the part of Women 411 BC according to the Lysistrata of Aristophanes, a masterpiece in comedy, brought peace and development in a century very, very far removed from the 21st.

 

Finally, Mr. President and distinguished Delegates,

 

The Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen wrote more than 100 years ago that there is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come. It is the hope of my delegation that the outcome of this 23rd Special Session of the General Assembly of the UN, will demonstrate once and for all, that the time has come for Women 2000, and men of quality to make common cause through global and fraternal cooperation, in order to secure the rights of women in their entirety according to conscience, natural law and human rights.

 

Working and praying together, we are confident that as we leave here, we will be granted the Serenity to accept the things we cannot change, Courage to change the things we can, and Wisdom to know the difference.

 

Thank you.