BROAD APPROACH TO TACKLE POVERTY MUST GO BEYOND PROVISION OF RESOURCES, COMMISSION ON STATUS OF WOMEN TOLD
Press Release
WOM/909
BROAD APPROACH TO TACKLE POVERTY MUST GO BEYOND PROVISION OF RESOURCES, COMMISSION ON STATUS OF WOMEN TOLD
19960314 Expert Panel Members Say Effort Must Address Reproductive Health, Violence Against Women, Job Availability, Gender DiscriminationA broad and integrated approach to tackle poverty must go beyond the provision of resources and address reproductive health, violence, the availability of jobs and, above all, gender discrimination, top officials from United Nations agencies said Wednesday afternoon, 13 March. They were participating in an expert panel on poverty convened by the Commission on the Status of Women.
Several experts spoke about the negative impact structural adjustment policies continued to have for women. According to the head of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), those policies had led to a growth of the informal sector, where many women were concentrated. Development strategies that supported social services tended to benefit women, while structural adjustment in the context of globalization tended to contribute to the feminization of poverty, she said.
The dialogue on poverty will continue at 10 a.m. Thursday, 14 March, among Government representatives.
Statements by Panel
ROSARIO GREEN, Assistant Secretary-General and Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on gender issues, said that a growing body of evidence indicated that the more women participated in the planning of programmes addressed to their needs, the more likely they were to succeed. Thus, they should be involved in the planning process.
Ms. Green then posed several questions, asking first whether the Commission should study ways to involve international organizations in encouraging States to combat gender inequalities. Next, she asked if the United Nations system should build on its experience to develop a comprehensive set of indicators to measure poverty among women. Also, what
could be done to better incorporate women in the decision-making process within the United Nations Secretariat?
JYOTI SINGH, Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), said that because women's poverty was a result of gender discrimination based on deeply held and deeply mistaken views about women's inferiority, strategies to combat it required not just an increase in income, but also the elimination of discrimination and the provision of basic health services. At the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development, women's education and reproductive health were identified as critical for their full participation in the development process. The UNFPA was well- placed to respond to the reproductive health needs of women. Forty-eight per cent of the UNFPA professional staff were women. "At least in our case, we can report to you that we have achieved what we are preaching to others."
MINH CHAU NGUYEN, Manager of Gender Analysis and Policy at the World Bank, said the Bank had learned that women must have a voice in decisions affecting them. It had organized a conference entitled "Beyond Beijing" with the participation of senior World Bank officials and a keynote speech by United States First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. Beijing's message had been communicated in a variety of ways to Bank staff at all levels. It could play a unique role as a disseminator of information on successful programmes to alleviate poverty and supported efforts to promote networking among women. For example, it was working with African women to help them to strengthen their ties. Leadership was essential. "If it wasn't for the concern of the Bank President, I wouldn't be here to influence policy."
NOELEEN HEYZER, Director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), said the term, "feminization of poverty" must be properly understood. Sixty per cent of all illiterate people were women, thus denying them access to information and in many countries they did not have equal access to credit and inheritance. In some countries, hierarchies were so rigid that even women who enjoyed high levels of educational equality could not benefit socially from their education.
Responses to poverty must view women not as victims, but as agents of change, she continued. Economic and political empowerment went hand in hand. The UNIFEM focused on the political and economic situation of women with a view to eradicating poverty and violence. It was necessary to ensure a social safety net for women. Poverty alleviation programmes must provide women with credit, legal rights and a role in shaping the political life of their societies.
LEILA BISHARAT, Director of the Planning and Coordination Office of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), said the promises made at the World Summit for Children (New York, 1990) had not been mere paper promises.
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Efforts to meet them could be concretely measured. It was necessary to identify, measure and track the costs of discriminating against women. Poverty was on the rise, but the concepts used to discuss it were vague and the information base was very weak. While there was no time for long debates on terminology, it was critical to identify a clear definition of poverty that reflected its gender aspect. Such a definition should be determined from the perspective of those suffering from poverty, including such aspects as vulnerability, dependency and lack of access to capital.
JANE YOUYUN ZHANG, Special Adviser for Women Workers' Questions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), said the high proportion of women among the poor was explained by the fact that women working in developing countries were working in low-income and often casual or temporary employment. Women's reproductive responsibilities were often seen as their primary functions, restricting their access to credit, education and income-earning activities. "Women are perceived to be mere secondary income-earners, while men are perceived as being primary income-earners." Although women tended to be the major income-earners among poorer households, their work tended to be undervalued. Occupations that were feminized tended to be low-skill and low- status. The globalization of the economy and the increasing precariousness of jobs posed new challenges to the problem of poverty. Promoting productive employment was the key strategy to sustainable poverty alleviation.
ROSINA ELIZABETH WILTSHIRE, Manager of the Gender in Development Programme of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), said it would launch a $70 million anti-poverty initiative to assist national efforts. The initiative would encourage the measurement of women's unpaid work, which should be computed in national accounts and, ultimately, compensated. More must be done to strengthen partnerships with non-governmental organizations. The UNDP would incorporate environmental and gender concerns into all development cooperation activities. Its methodologies and tools were strong. Now coordination must be strengthened to ensure that the United Nations would make a positive contribution to the world's women.
Discussion
The representative of Sudan said that women bore the major burden of taking care of their families. Poverty alleviation must be addressed through many sectors including eduction and health. Vulnerable groups such as orphans and women must be protected. Her Government ensured women's active participation in the productive sector.
Antigua asked, what plans did the World Bank have to implement the concerns and readjust their structural adjustment programmes so that they addressed the human dimension?
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Ghana said the Government had a structural adjustment programme for rural women which had been very successful, with a debt repayment rate of more than 95 per cent. It also lent money through the non-governmental organizations, which was also a huge success.
Netherlands said the World Bank should train its staff on gender analysis and adopt more binding procedures on gender for its own operations. If it was to set an example for governments, the Bank must make changes in its own institutions. She suggested an examination of the methodology used by different bilateral organizations and work towards coordination.
Guinnea-Bissau said that the debt burden in developing countries prevented governments, despite political will, from helping poor people.
Canada asked what the United Nations agencies were doing to coordinate their examination of policy impact on gender analysis. How did they implement their policies, particularly the economic ones?
The Poverty Caucus said unpaid work was a major cause of women's poverty. She asked the panel to comment on the impact of structural adjustment on women, particularly cuts in social services.
Ms. NGUYEN, Manager of Gender Analysis and Policy of the World Bank, said the Bank was learning from its experiences. Investments in education and health were receiving more prominence. A dialogue was being conducted with non-governmental organizations to analyze the effects of structural adjustment. Priority was being given to addressing the debt crisis. Work was being carried out to examine public expenditures that were gender-sensitive.
Ms. WILTSHIRE, Manager of the UNDP Gender Development Programme, said gender training was being integrated into all training activities within the agency. Systematic efforts were being made to achieve gender equality on the UNDP staff. On the issue of unpaid work, she said that work had already been done to develop indicators on that phenomenon, as reflected in the 1995 Human Development Report.
Ms. BISHARAT, Director of UNICEF's Planning and Coordination Office, said there were adequate tools to promote gender equality. The challenge was to use them.
Ms. HEYZER, UNIFEM Director, said many lessons had been learned along the way of assisting war-torn or debt-ridden societies. One of the best practices was to build women's leadership skills at the grass-roots level.
United Republic of Tanzania said lack of collateral was a major hindrance facing women seeking access to credit. The Government was exploring
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the possibility of providing land ownership as a guarantee for credit. She asked if the World Bank could assist in that effort.
Dominican Republic asked why the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW) had not been invited to participate on the panel, given its critical work in the analytical field.
The Commission Chairperson, SHARON BRENNEN-HAYLOCK (Bahamas), said the Institute was not represented in the panel discussion, in part because of the constraints of space on the podium. Both the Institute and the Division for the Advancement of Women were represented by the Secretary-General's Special Adviser, Ms. Green. In light of its importance in the advancement of women, the Institute had had the opportunity to speak at length during the Commission's general discussion.
Russian Federation discussed the economic crisis faced in her country, stressing that women suffered greatly from poverty there. The Government had taken measures to alleviate their plight, but ongoing subsidies were critical to a long-term solution to the problem. Resources must be mobilized for programmes to assist women in countries undergoing an economic transition.
Togo said there was some contradiction in the message being sent from organizations of the United Nations system, including the World Bank, to governments. For example, the UNDP would not provide funding unless structures were in place to use it, but in order to have structures it was necessary to develop human resources, and that would run counter to structural adjustment regimes.
Finland noted that governments were represented on the governing boards of the United Nations agencies and must themselves work to integrate a gender perspective into the Organization's work.
The Commonwealth Secretariat asked the panellists to discuss how they were working on macroeconomic policies, and whether or not such efforts were found to be useful in alleviating poverty.
Ms. NGUYEN, Manager of Gender Analysis and Policy at the World Bank, said that many of the governments that the Bank worked with did not genuinely accord priority to gender issues. She appealed to participants to impress upon their governments the need to address gender concerns in a serious manner. It was easy to talk about integrating gender concerns into macroeconomic policies in the abstract, but difficulties arose when trying to actually implement such policies on the ground.
Swaziland said she was concerned about the feminization of poverty, particularly in Africa. How could that be addressed?
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Namibia asked how members of the private sector could be convinced that while they were making a profit, they had a responsibility for working to eradicate poverty. To what extent were discussions on poverty addressing the issue of free trade?
Mexico asked about the role of the specialized agencies in developing special efforts on the feminization of poverty and how they were coordinating those efforts.
The United States said that the work of the Commission on Sustainable Development should be examined. She also wanted to know about the work being done in developing indicators. There had been much talk on coordinated follow-up programmes, she said, expressing concern about coordination within the Secretariat on policies, programmes and new agreements.
Guinea asked the World Bank about its collaboration with non- governmental organizations, rather than States who initiated many programmes. Women did not always benefit at the grass-roots level. Why had the Bank not included a women's component for better follow-up on the work being carried out by States?
Dominican Republic said that it could not accept the explanation that there were only six seats and, therefore, INSTRAW could not be present at the Commission's current session. It could not be finished off by a whim.
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