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Report on Women 2000: Beijing Plus Five - Dec. 6, 1999, Chicago
By Akari Yamada
I attended a one-day conference at the Chicago Cultural Center which marked the five year anniversary of the United Nations Women's Conference in Beijing. The title of the conference was "Women's Rights are Human Rights, Exploring the Local-Global Linkages." The morning session centered on a panel of speakers who reviewed the progress made on the UN Platform for Action that arose from Beijing. In the afternoon, there were three workshops that focused on the areas of health, domestic violence, and economic self-sufficiency. The plenary concluded by identifying remaining challenges and suggesting action strategies for the future.
The opening address was delivered by Kavita N. Ramdas, the President and CEO of the Global Fund for Women. Kavita has a MA from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, and was a program officer for the MacArthur Foundation. The Global Fund for Women is a grant making foundation that works with women's groups outside the United States and provides them with the financial means to support their struggle for equality and social justice. The Global Fund gives over 200 grants each year, which range in size from $500 to $15,000. For example, one grant went to Sanlaap, a women's rights center in Calcutta, India. They provide a shelter for girls rescued from the sex trade, seminars in health and HIV/AIDS awareness, legal aid, and job retraining.
In her opening address, Kavita stressed the importance of the global community. On the one hand, globalization keeps most of the world impoverished. The face of poverty is increasingly a feminine face, where 70% of the 1.6 billion people who live in poverty are Women and girls. Even in the United States, the wealthiest nation in the world, 15% of the population remains at or below the poverty line. Poverty is perhaps the greatest barrier to realizing human rights. On the other hand, globalization can be harnessed as a force for protest and positive change. The international treaties and documents by the United Nations provide leverage for groups to push for more decent standards in labor rights, human rights, and the environment. Women can use human rights legislation to improve their status in society. For example, the Women Lawyers Association in Ethiopia cited CEDAW (Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women) as a way to get men prosecuted for rape and abduction cases where such language was lacking in their own legal systems.
Another outstanding speaker was Linda Tarr-Whelan, the US Ambassador to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. Linda asked everyone to remember the Human Rights charter which spoke to the right of inherent dignity of all human beings regardless of gender. She cited three themes that arose from the 1995 UN Women's Conference. First, governments should be held accountable for upholding rights. We must work to create institutional mechanisms that ensure the advancement of women at all levels of government. Second, women's contributions are invaluable. We should recognize the strengths of women's contributions to each society, especially through the media. Third, we need to work together to affect change. Unfortunately, women's political participation and wage indicators have not changed significantly over the past five years in the US. Women need to take a more active role in political and economic decision-making. Thus, the need for partnership - between women, between men and women, and between people and government - is the key to implementing equality for all people.
How much progress have we made since 1995? A brief summary follows some of the remarks from the panel of speakers who reviewed individual areas of concern from the UN Platform for Action:
Kavita Ramdas: President and CEO of the Global Fund for Women
Poverty - Develop both macroeconomic and microeconomic mechanisms to improve access to economic resources.
Connie Evans: Board of the Federal Reserve Bank
Economy - Promote women's economic rights and independence, including access to employment and appropriate working conditions and control over economic resources. We must improve pay equity in the United States since women make up 2/3 of the minimum wage workers. We can help by funding micro-enterprises.
Education and Training - We must also work against the increasing feminization of poverty as 3/5 of those living in poverty in the US are women. We need to provide social and cultural support for working women, and continue to improve women's education. We should promote lifelong learning and training for women.
Paula DiPerna: President of the Joyce Foundation; film maker for Cousteau Foundation
Environment - Integrate gender concerns and perspectives in policies and programs for sustainable development. The environmental movement will only work if it includes poverty reduction measures and improvement of health care.
Esther Nieves: Executive Director for the Erie Neighborhood House, Chicago
Armed Conflict - Increase participation of women in conflict resolution at decision-making levels, condemn ethnic cleansing and rape as a consequence of war and a violation of human rights. Women and children have become the real victims of war in recent years. In World War II, 5% of those killed were women, now 90% who are killed in armed conflicts are women and children. Women suffer on all sides - as victims of war, as refugees, as economic providers when husbands are killed, and as war tools when rape is used to demoralize.
Christine Grumm: Executive Director for the Chicago Foundation for Women
Violence - Adopt and implement legislation to end violence against women, ratify the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and encourage international cooperation to dismantle trafficking in women. Furthermore, we should remember that violence against women is deeply connected to women's reproductive rights.
Moderator - Joan Dunlop:
In summary, we should focus on international legislation as the basis for change. By setting international standards for human rights and supporting the United Nations, we can improve the political and economic status of women. The United States ahs been negligent about supporting these international documents:
- Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)
- UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
- Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
- Anti-Land Mine Campaign
- Establishment of an International Court
In short, women must exercise their political voices and economic power as consumers to affect positive change!