DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, UNWAGED WORK, GENDER PARITY IN DECISION-MAKING BODIES AMONG ISSUES DISCUSSED IN STATUS OF WOMEN COMMISSION
Press Release
WOM/968
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, UNWAGED WORK, GENDER PARITY IN DECISION-MAKING BODIES AMONG ISSUES DISCUSSED IN STATUS OF WOMEN COMMISSION
19970317 Between 20 to 50 per cent of women experience some degree of domestic violence during marriage, the Commission on the Status of Women was told this afternoon as it concluded its general discussion on the follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women.Drawing attention to the increasing violence against women and girls, a representative of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said such violence affected their health, disrupted their lives, narrowed their choices and destroyed their self-confidence and self-esteem. She also emphasized the fact that the primary victims of today's armed conflict were civilian women and not soldiers.
A representative of Housewives in Dialogues, a non-governmental organization, said the invisibility of unwaged work had been the single, greatest barrier to equity between the sexes. Stressing that women's unwaged contribution enabled survival for entire communities, she said that without an accurate measure of unwaged work, estimates and measures in just about every area were incomplete.
The need for active promotion of gender parity in activities and decision-making bodies at all levels was stressed by a representative of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU). She also drew attention to the importance of integrating gender perspectives in trade union work.
Statements were also made by the representatives of International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Also, the Commission heard statements by the representatives of the following non-governmental organizations: the Working Group on Girls; International Federation of Business and Professional Women; Soroptimist International; and World Islamic Call Society.
The Commission will meet again at a time to be announced in the Journal.
Commission Work Programme
The Commission on the Status of Women met this afternoon to continue discussing the follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995).
Statements
MARTHA DUENAS-LOZA, Acting Director of International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW), said training was INSTRAW's second mandate after research. Training was a proactive component of almost all research and analysis programmes carried out by the Institute. Since 1982, the Institute had prepared training packages and materials on the basis of which it had conducted seminars and workshops addressing areas of concern, such as: environmental issues, including water and sanitation; waste management; renewable sources of energy; and environment and sustainable development. Training materials had also been developed as outputs of a statistical research programme on the economic performance of women in the informal sector and the valuation of women's unpaid work.
A gender training portfolio was another package introduced by INSTRAW, she said. Moreover, in 1996, INSTRAW had co-hosted two expert group meetings in Santo Domingo on women and the economy and women in power and decision- making. Measuring and valuing women's contributions to economic development required serious empirical research. As a response to that, INSTRAW had produced a long-term research agenda on the development of techniques to quantify unremunerated production, including methods to collect the additional data required to carry out that exercise.
MISRAK ELIAS, a representative of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), said there was increasing violence against women and girls. It violated their rights to safety and security and their participation in the public and private areas of their lives. Violence affected their health, disrupted their lives, narrowed their choices and destroyed their self- confidence and self-esteem. Between 20 and 50 per cent of women experience some degree of domestic violence during marriage. The primary victims of today's armed conflict were civilian women, not soldiers. Armed opposition fighters of the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda had been responsible for scores of deliberate killings and sexual abuse. The human rights of women and girls were an inalienable part of all human rights.
SERGE NAKOUZI, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), said education and training constituted one of the pillars for the advancement of women. At all levels of education, men's enrolment in higher and intermediate education was greater than women. That situation limited the availability of female professional expertise and role models. Those obstacles needed to be overcome. Development specialists and policy makers must be sensitized to
Women's Commission - 3 - Press Release WOM/968 12th Meeting (PM) 17 March 1997
gender issues. One of the key areas receiving attention of the FAO was the potential role of rural women in the management soil conservation, irrigation and land-use planning, among other subjects. Women's productivity and income must be enhanced if rural poverty was to be alleviated.
MARY PURCELL, of the Working Group on Girls, said education was closely linked to all the issues that affected women and girls. Unless women were encouraged to participate in decision-making when they were girls, they would be ill-equipped for adult leadership roles. The Working Group on Girls called for a focus on teacher training, or preparation, beginning at the earliest level as an essential step to mainstreaming gender. The attitudes and behaviours of teachers represented a critical force in development of how boys and girls perceived themselves and each other. In that context, she called for priority being given to gender-sensitivity training for teachers. Also, teachers should be provided with community organizing skills and their self- esteem should be built up.
SYLVIA PERRY, of the International Federation of Business and Professional Women, said the Commission should adopt a resolution asking all organizations to urge their affiliates to cooperate on the most critical areas of concern pertaining to women in their locations. Moreover, it must ask them to take steps in cooperation with others to improve the position of women in their respective countries so that women could be empowered.
ANN NEALE, a representative of Housewives in Dialogues, supported by national and international non-governmental organizations network, said the invisibility of unwaged work had been the single, greatest barrier to equity between the sexes. Pay equity remained a distant hope because if women's unwaged work was not counted, their waged work was discounted. Women's unwaged contribution enabled survival for entire communities. Counting unwaged work would finally measure how much harder women in the South had to work for food, clothing and shelter. Without an accurate measure of unwaged work, estimates and measures in just about every area were incomplete.
BEATRICE VON ROEMER, representative of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), said her organization was particularly interested in women's roles in the economy and in the areas of power and decision-making. The sixteenth World Conference of the ICFTU held in June 1996 had not been satisfied with progress made towards gender parity at the international, regional and national levels. Therefore, it had adopted some new measures to address the concerns of the Beijing Platform for Action, specially in relation to equality between men and women in decision-making. The ICFTU had called for active promotion of gender parity in activities and decision-making bodies at all levels and had stressed the importance of integrating gender perspectives in trade union work. Moreover, the ICFTU Women's Committee was in the process of drawing up action plans on gender parity with a view to rectifying the lack of women in ICFTU's Executive Board.
Women's Commission - 4 - Press Release WOM/968 12th Meeting (PM) 17 March 1997
ANN YEDOWITZ, of the Soroptimist International, said the needs of rural women needed to be prioritized. Women produced 80 per cent of the food in Africa and 60 per cent in Asia. Public education programmes needed to be implemented which developed community awareness and raised the status of women's subsistence farming. Education was the key to progress. The training of women farmers in the most recent techniques would add to their status and lighten their burden. She said migrant women needed special consideration. Migration and the international flow of labour and skills could contribute to economic development and reduce imbalances in labour markets and bring potential benefits to countries of both origin and destination.
NAJIBA TABIBI, of the World Islamic Call Society, said her organization had been proud to send a delegate to the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing. The Platform for Action which had been issued by that conference had been a call for action to protect the human rights of women and girls was an integral part of universal human rights. It had called for action to remove obstacles that women faced in education and in playing decision-making roles. It had placed a heavy responsibility on the United Nations system. In that regard, she drew attention to the unequal treatment being given to Afghan women. That treatment was not in keeping with Islamic tenets, she added.
* *** *