MISION PERMANENTE DE MEXICO

STATEMENT BY THE GENERAL COORDINATOR

OF THE NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR WOMEN

AND HEAD OF DELEGATION OF MEXICO,

GUADALUPE GOMEZ MAGANDA

GENERAL ASSEMBLY "WOMEN 2000: GENDER

EQUALITY, DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE FOR

THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY" (TWENTY

THIRD SPECIAL SESSION)

NEW YORK, JUNE 7, 2000

Mr. President:

The Mexican Delegation congratulates you and wishes you the greatest success during this General Extraordinary Assembly: Women in the Year 2000: Equality, Development and Peace for the Twenty-first Century.

Five years after the Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing, the Government of Mexico is represented in this Assembly to ratify its commitment and priorities towards the Platform of Action and to speak of the achievements attained in the common objective of improving the social condition of women.

Multiple actions have been undertaken. However, the most important one is that during this period Mexico has enriched its juridical framework to benefit women and, above all, it has been building an institutional scaffold in which the roots of the commitment of the public power in pro of the equity of gender are growing.

The Head of the Mexican State, Doctor Ernesto Zedillo instituted in 1996 the National Program for Women, a government instrument which defines commitments and actions targeted at guaranteeing the full exercise of the human rights of women and at the benefits of development, under equal conditions as men. In addition, it is contributing to the translation of the principle of juridical equality for men and women, as set forth in Article 4° of our Political Constitution into facts.

The creation of the National Commission for Women, the body which is in charge of coordinating and following up the Program, which is compulsory for the Federal Public Administration, was a step forward. The Commission has fostered the incorporation of the gender approach in public policies.

On the other hand, the Equity and Gender Commissions were instituted in the Legislative Power of the Federation. This has been a determining factor to start shaping a legal framework which includes the perspective of gender and which is exempt of regulations which discriminate women.

In the construction of this juridical and institutional structure the National Commission has promoted before the governments and congresses of the states the creation of similar local bodies. At the same time, laws have been proposed, and actions and full resources for the benefit of women have been coordinated.

To make the condition of women and their contribution to development visible, statistics broken-down by sex are required. Thanks to the support of the corresponding national office, today we not only have the statistics but we also have a system of gender indicators that has enabled us to closely follow-up the condition of Mexican women.

Together with this national mechanism, the efforts of the Equity and Gender Commissions of the Federal Legislative Power have been determinant to gradually shape the legal framework which takes into account the perspective of gender and which is exempt from regulations discriminating women. Today, it is possible, under this framework, to implement policies to attend the needs and priorities of women and men in a differentiated way.

Mexico, consistent with its foreign policy, has always tried to comply with its international commitments. These include the Belem do Para Convention and the Convention to Eliminate all Types of Discrimination Against Women. Mexico was one of the first countries to subscribe its Facultative Protocol. And under the framework of this meeting, it is to mention the efforts to implement the Beijing's Platform of Action.

In view of the broad coincidence among the spheres of special concern set forth in that important document and the lines of our National Program, I will briefly discuss some of the most relevant actions carried out in compliance with them.

In the educational sector, efforts have been channeled to eliminate inequities in the access and permanence of girls and young women in school, and also to fight against sexist attitudes and contents in education. Additionally, programs aimed at attending the rural, urban marginal and indigenous population, of which women are a substantive fraction, are being implemented.

This has led to an increasing presence of women in basic, technical and professional education. The feminization of certain disciplines should be noted, although there still persist, in parallel, high rates of female illiteracy.

Concerning health, a proof-of evidence of the achievements in the high life expectancy of Mexican women: 77 years. In addition, instruments, such as the Women's National Health Carnet, which has resulted in the feminine population's receiving health care during all their life cycle, are available. Prevention and control of cervix and breast cancer has gone up and been improved, and family planning and reproductive health services have been expanded. A special care has been given to the prevention and attention of pregnancy among adolescents. And, last, but not least, official norms related to climaterium and the postmenopausal condition of women, AIDS and medical attention to domestic violence have been drafted.

To make up for poverty, productive activities for women, especially rural and indigenous women living in marginalized areas are being encouraged. In addition, resources for an amount at least equal to that assigned to men are being directed to women.

In as to labor, the participation of women is increasing. The modernization process experienced by the country and its increasing educational level, has allowed them to access more and better jobs. Women's industrial agricultural units have also been strengthened through credits channeled and the diversification of their activities.

Regarding human rights, activities tending to enrich the corresponding legislative frameworks stand out. Interpretation issues were removed from two important international conventions affecting women; constitutional reforms were approved to guarantee respect to the rights of children and to support victims of crimes. Laws were modified so that women working for the state can have their legal spouses or common law spouses admitted to medical care, and also to sanction domestic violence.

The latter is being importantly complemented by the implementation of the National Program against Domestic Violence. Together with the application of surveys, this Program has increased the understanding, prevention and attention of such a severe social problem. In addition, it has been promoted that those who procure and grant justice should be updated, especially on the application of international instruments. This has resulted in a better attention to victims of violence.

Even though women's participation in the public sphere has expanded, the actual access women have to the decision-making levels is still a task to be undertaken.

Proof of this and many other actions is included in the report distributed to participating delegations. It emphasizes that in the achievements attained, the conjunction of the efforts of the civil society whose participation will be also encouraged in the future has been determinant.

Five years after Beijing, the situation of Mexican women has been substantially improved in every order. Nonetheless, we are still far from reaching the objectives set forth. Among other things, we will have to double our efforts to significantly reduce maternal death rate and to diminish the vulnerability of poor, indigenous women, those who are somehow handicapped and those who are living through their senior years.

We will go on striving to incorporate the gender approach in the economic and social policy of Mexico; to expand and dignify the spaces belonging to women in the labor market; and to make their contribution be recognized as one of the major strengths of the country. All this must become a reality.

We will not rest as long as the legal loopholes which violate the rights of women in the work environment persist, violations such as the requirement to show proof of non- pregnancy, and cultural atavisms which limit their insertion and performance, since they have to bear double or triple work-journeys.

We will go on struggling for a more equitable distribution of house chores and family responsibilities and, in general, for the private and public ambits stop being two separate worlds, one reserved for women and the other for men.

Lastly ,we hope to be able to reduce the asymmetries between women and men, and to increase the presence of women in the decision-making process, so that they may in all fairness participate in the construction of the Nation and in the benefits of the development of Mexico, as well.

This is why we will devote a good part of our future endeavor to encourage an affirmative action that will guarantee that issues related to women and equity of gender be attended, to turn them into facts in a State policy.

We will continue in this path, strengthening the democratic life in our country with the full participation of women and men on an equal basis.

Thank you.