ECONOMIC POLICIES ARE NOT GENDER NEUTRAL AND IT IS WRONG TO CONSIDER THEM SO, SPEAKERS STRESS IN STATUS OF WOMEN COMMISSION
Press Release
WOM/964
ECONOMIC POLICIES ARE NOT GENDER NEUTRAL AND IT IS WRONG TO CONSIDER THEM SO, SPEAKERS STRESS IN STATUS OF WOMEN COMMISSION
19970313 Structural adjustment programmes should be gender sensitive as cuts in basic services brought about due to their impact affected women the most, the Commission on the Status of Women was told this afternoon as it held an exchange of views on the theme of "women and the economy".Governments should ensure that women were not adversely affected by structural change and economic recession, speakers said. It was stressed that economic policies were not gender neutral and it was wrong to consider them so. Some speakers noted that structural adjustment had increased the total amount of women's work and had restricted their access to resources. Today's dialogue was part of a series of discussions that the Commission is holding on four critical areas of concern included in the Platform for Action of the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing. Those areas include: education and training of women; women and the economy; women in power and decision-making; and women and the environment. During the exchange of views, where many speakers reacted to yesterday's panel discussion on the same theme, it was emphasized that governments should be open to analysing their macroeconomic policies. They should re-evaluate policies like liberalization to see if those had a negative impact on women. Moreover, some speakers said that such efforts by governments should be complimented by global efforts, including the cancellation or reduction of debt owed by developing countries.
Speakers also noted that women's involvement in chambers of commerce and industry associations could be an important step towards their empowerment. They called for women's equal access to land, property and credit and stressed that women's participation in economic development was essential for their equality. It was crucial that women be provided with improved access to child care facilities and social security services, it was stressed. The need for improving women's ability to make household economic decisions was also stressed. In that context, the representative of Canada said that the "floors are much stickier at home than at work". The importance of putting a value on women's unpaid work was underlined. However, some speakers said it was not clear what governments should do once they knew the true worth of women's unpaid work.
Women's Commission - 2 - Press Release WOM/964 8th Meeting (PM) 13 March 1997
The need for equal pay for work of equal value was noted, as was the importance of raising the status of part-time work. Women should be encouraged to set up businesses of their own, it was said. Moreover, new areas of activity should be opened up for women and girls. In that context, speakers called for changing the gender-based division of labour.
It was emphasized that women should be provided access to technology so that they could be employed in technology-oriented industries. Calls were also made for enhancing their presence in banking, in particular, and the financial industry in general. Some speakers suggested that incentives should be provided to women entrepreneurs in family-friendly industries and in the recycling industry. The particular obstacles faced by female entrepreneurs should be addressed by governments, it was said. Vocational training and retraining for women was important in that regard. Some speakers drew attention to the double standards of transnational corporations in developing countries. Those corporations did not implement the same equal opportunity standards in developing countries that they ostensibly supported in their own countries.
On the subject of providing women with access to economic resources, it was noted that micro-financing schemes for women had been around for a very long time. While those served a useful purpose, it should be ensured that such schemes did not in the long-term lead to further marginalization of women.
Other speakers stressed the need for preferential treatment to women in the provision of credit and for simplifying procedures for access to credit. They noted the achievements of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, which provides micro-credit to a mainly female clientele. Such a credit scheme, with low interest rate, should be implemented for women in African countries as well, some speakers said.
The need for examining basic gender biases in the formal education systems was also stressed. It was noted that girls had traditionally been discouraged from pursuing the male-dominated fields of mathematics and science. In that context, the stereotypical attitudes of teachers needed to be changed. Ways should also be found to address hidden gender-oriented messages that were transmitted to students.
Speakers also urged the United Nations to establish regular and substantive dialogue with its funds and programmes for more effective coordination of assistance in order to strengthen the effectiveness of their programmes for the benefit of women and their families. Such coordination was specially important at the field level, they said. Moreover, the General Assembly should give consideration to inviting the World Trade Organization to consider how it might contribute to the implementation of the Platform for Action, including activities in cooperation with the United Nations system.
The Commission will meet again at 10 a.m. tomorrow, 14 March, to hear a panel discussion on "education and training of women".
* *** *