EXPERIENCE, EXPERTISE AND POTENTIAL OF WOMEN'S NGOS TO MONITOR IMPLEMENTATION OF BEIJING OUTCOME STRESSED BY SPEAKERS AT WOMEN'S COMMISSION
Press Release
WOM/1102
EXPERIENCE, EXPERTISE AND POTENTIAL OF WOMEN'S NGOS TO MONITOR IMPLEMENTATION OF BEIJING OUTCOME STRESSED BY SPEAKERS AT WOMEN'S COMMISSION
19990302 Dialogue Segment with NGO Representatives also Addresses Status of Widows, Situation of Women in Afghanistan, Women with DisabilitiesGovernments should use the experience, expertise and potential of women's non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to monitor the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, the Commission on the Status of Women was told this morning as it held a dialogue segment with non-governmental organizations.
Linda Souter, speaking on behalf of the International Federation of University Women, International Federation of Business and Professional Women, International Council of Women, and Soroptimists International, said that many women's NGOs had monitored the political will and commitment of governments in the implementation of the Platform for Action (Beijing, 1995). Their independent status from governments could help to bring a more balanced approach and increased objectivity to the follow-up process.
As women increasingly moved into the waged sector, there was a crisis of care in communities, said Margaret Prescott, of the International Women Count Network (IWCN) and a coalition of 30 organizations. Childcare programmes were inadequate and the care of the elderly and others dependent on care was insufficient. She added that national machineries must not rubber stamp policies that are not in the interests of women, nor should Governments bypass the issues, concerns and input from grass-roots women.
Other topics discussed in the dialogue segment included: Indian women, Arab women, the status of widows, the situation of women in Afghanistan and women with disabilities.
Representatives of the following NGOs also made statements: the NGO Committee on United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM); Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) Caucus (including Western Europe and Eastern Europe); Arab Women Alliance; Disability Groups; a collective of Indian NGOs (All India Women's Conference, YWCA of India, All India Democratic Women's Association, Centre for Women's Development Studies, Joint Women's Programme,
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Mahila Dakshita Samiti and National Federation of Indian Women); World Islamic Call Society; and the International Federation of Business and Professional Women.
Also this morning, the Commission continued its general discussion on the follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women. In that regard, a number of delegates discussed their own countries' efforts to improve the status of women. The representative of Kenya said that her country had made a substantial investment in a national health structure. There was a major concentration of health centres in areas where the majority of women live -- in rural areas. However there were challenges in providing health care in urban areas, where health services had not been able to expand as rapidly as needs.
Real equality between men and women was a basic democratic condition and an imperative for social justice, said the representative of Lithuania. Achieving gender equality was therefore an integral part of democracy. However, the process was mainly followed by male interests and values and women were forced to fight for their rights in the world of male norms. In her country, a significant step was the promotion of gender mainstreaming through the establishment of the Governmental Commission on Women's Issues.
The representative of Mexico said her country was continuing to update its legislation in the area of gender equality and empowerment of women. To empower impoverished women, it was important to promote basic education and other vital basic rights. It was also important to promote the training of women in science and new technologies to avoid their unemployment in new industries.
Statements were also made by the representatives of the Republic of Korea, Brazil, Australia, China, Ghana, Zimbabwe, New Zealand, Algeria, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Ecuador, United Republic of Tanzania, Slovakia and Argentina. The observer for Palestine also spoke.
The Commission will meet again at 3 p.m. today to hold a dialogue of representatives of national machineries on good practices.
Commission Work Programme
The Commission on the Status of Women met this morning to continue its general discussion on "Follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women: emerging issues, trends and new approaches to issues affecting the situation of women or equality between women and men", and on "Initiation of the comprehensive review and appraisal of the implementation of the Platform for Action and preparation for the special session of the General Assembly in the year 2000". (For background information on the Commission's forty-third session, see Press Release WOM/1098 of 26 February.)
Among documents before the Commission is a report of the Secretary- General on gender and ageing: problems, perceptions and policies (document E/CN.6/1999/3), which describes the key global issues regarding the differential impact of population ageing on men and women. It was prepared partly as a contribution to the International Year of Older Persons.
According to the report, one legacy of the twentieth century has been the shift towards global population ageing, which particularly affects older women. Gender inequalities shape older women's experiences, despite their majority status among the older population. In both the developing and developed worlds, elder women endure unequal and inadequate access to wealth, property and resources. Although a critical synthesis of gender theory and ageing is emerging, until recently, little research focused on the study of women and gerontology. The report addresses issues such as ageing, gender and poverty; gender quality of health; perceptions and misconceptions; and the contribution of older women.
The report offers some policy recommendations related to research, economic situation of elderly women, their well-being, empowerment and their portrayal by the media. To fill the information gap, governments, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, including research institutions, should: promote research on the interrelationship between poverty, ageing and gender; integrate the analysis of the situation of older women in research and studies related to all aspects of the situation of women; incorporate the elderly's voice in research designs and methodologies; and conduct and record oral history reflecting the contributions of older women to society.
Women live longer and are less prosperous than men, the report continues. To improve their living conditions, Governments should: design and implement policies that would provide minimal income and social safety nets for elderly in need, women and men alike; amend laws that discriminate against women with regard to property and inheritance rights; eliminate property taxes on residential homes of older women and provide housing for those who are propertyless; create employment opportunities for older women
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free of discrimination and ensure adequate employment benefits; and support family care leaves.
Also, the report states that the analysis of the differential aspects of population ageing should consider the context in which it occurs. To support older women's well-being and health status, Governments, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations should: educate health care providers to recognize and address the specific needs of elderly women; provide mental health services that target older women, recognizing their diversified backgrounds; provide to older women suffering from chronic illnesses access to in-home assistance services in lieu of institutionalization; encourage functionally challenged elders to maintain their independence by providing non-medical home-care services or appropriate assistive devices; and broaden the parameters of medical research to recognize heterogeneity in older women.
Despite some improvements in their status, older women continue to be marginalized and erroneously perceived, the report goes on. To empower older women and change their stereotyped perceptions, governments, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, including the mass media, should join efforts to: identify and address the diversity of needs of older women; support their participation in educational opportunities for sharing personal experiences, histories, and accumulated observations; encourage older women to form their own support groups and networks; create an enabling environment for older women to focus on their personal development, including new careers, participation in public life and politics.
In addition, they should work towards altering misconceptions of ageing and eliminating negative stereotyping through school, the family, work environment, the media and advertising; foster social support services at the local level for women to communicate with other women and, if possible, facilitate through training and free access to cyberspace the use of electronic media by older women, so that they can find new ways to participate in the society and the world at large.
Statements
F.R.B. OERI (Kenya) said her country was committed to the implementation of the Beijing outcome through developing action plans for the enhancement of the status of women. Since the attainment of independence, substantial investment had been made in the national health structure. There was a major concentration of health centres in areas where the majority of women live -- in rural areas. However, there were challenges in providing health care in urban areas where health services had not been able to expand as rapidly as needs.
Despite progress made in the area of women's health, the situation was aggravated by the HIV/AIDS epidemic, she said. One of Kenya's major
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challenges was how to expand and strengthen its health services. In every household, women were the main custodians of health care. To address their needs, the Government had established a number of programmes, including those dealing with maternal health care.
SUH DAE-WON (Republic of Korea) said the implementation of the Beijing commitments had met with a certain degree of resistance and difficulties. The obstacles encountered had slowed the realization of the Conference's vision of gender equality, development and peace. In many parts of the world, the weight of cultural backgrounds compounded with the lack of financial resources kept the gender issue from being addressed in national agendas. Moreover, as the female workforce was immediately hit by the economic downturn, women had now become the most vulnerable victims of the current economic crisis.
He said gender perspectives should therefore be taken fully into account in the economic restructuring process and the formulation of economic policies. In addition, the increasingly worsening situation of the trafficking in women and girls was an urgent matter that should be brought to the forefront of the twenty-first century. Women and children were also an easy prey in armed conflicts, as they were defenceless. The International Criminal Court would serve as an effective tool to prevent such crimes.
MARCELA MARIA NICODEMOS (Brazil) reaffirmed her country's commitment to implement the strategic objectives and actions approved in Beijing under the critical area of concern on women and health. The Programme of Integral Assistance to Women's Health, which was in place since 1984, was aimed at providing health care to women, free of charge, taking into account their specific needs. As a direct result of the programme, the number of women receiving pre-natal care had almost doubled in the last 15 years. The Programme of Sexually Transmitted Diseases, including HIV/AIDS, was another important part of the Government's effort to live up to the commitments undertaken in Beijing.
On the work of the Commission, she said that, while assessing the progress made and the obstacles encountered in carrying out the commitments made in Beijing, the Commission should not only reflect on possible ways and means to foster the implementation of the Platform for Action. It should also look into the new millennium and advance ideas to face new challenges.
IRENA DEGUTIENE (Lithuania) said real equality between men and women was a basic democratic condition and an imperative for social justice. Achieving gender equality was therefore an integral part of democracy. However, the process was mainly followed by male interests and values and women were forced to fight for their rights in the world of male norms. A significant decision was the promotion of gender mainstreaming in Lithuania through the establishment of the Governmental Commission on Women's Issues. That body,
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composed of high level officials, had to ensure that the gender equality principle was implemented in all governmental policies.
She said the greatest achievement in the legal framework of her country regarding gender equality was the law on equal opportunities for women and men, which was approved by the Lithuanian Parliament on 1 December 1998. In addition, a special division for labour market and equal opportunities was established in the Ministry of Social Security and Labour. The main task of that division was to enforce a non-discriminatory principle in the labour market for both sexes.
AIDA GONZALEZ MARTINEZ (Mexico) said the elaboration of indicators on gender issues had been a major contribution of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). Mexico was continuing to update its legislation at both federal and local levels in the area of gender equality and empowerment of women. Her country felt that international cooperation in all spheres on gender issues -- North/South and South/South -- was a high priority. To empower impoverished women it was important to promote basic education and other vital basic rights. It was also important to promote the training of women in science and new technologies to avoid their unemployment in new industries.
She said most of the women in the world were still living in extreme poverty. Lack of education and information prevented women from becoming aware of their real value. Equal opportunities for men and women should allow empowerment of women in all areas. Sensitization on gender issues should involve all, including civil society. Economic development was vital in raising women's living standards. International cooperation was essential to large scale preparation of programmes to implement the Beijing outcome.
PRU GOWARD, Executive Director of the Office of the Status of Women of Australia, said most of her country's health campaigns implemented over the years had been structured to meet the needs of people from diverse backgrounds, who speak different languages. There had also been a number of programmes to address the health needs of indigenous communities. Access to services depended on the need for care, not capacity to pay. Domestic violence continued to be a priority for Australia's women-related programmes. It had implemented wide-ranging reforms to enhance the status of women. Specialized machinery existed at all levels in that regard. Her country had also taken steps to combat discrimination through the Federal Sex Discrimination Act.
Affirmative action had also been implemented to increase women's presence in the work place, she said. The Office of the Status of Women coordinates policies, analyses those policies and was a catalyst for new policies. It also outlined measures within each national budget that would impact on women. Australia was proud of its achievements to date in the
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implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action. But it realized that much more needed to be done. "When women could fully participate in the community, then their family, community and nation will grow and prosper", she concluded.
SHEN SHUJI (China) said that over the past three years, all government departments and local governments in China had identified priorities for women's development and worked out corresponding programmes that were more specific and workable. A series of activities had been carried out in the fields of poverty-alleviation for women, re-employment of laid off women workers, women's political participation, and women's education. All those had greatly promoted the development of the Chinese women's cause. In 1998, a national evaluation programme was initiated to monitor the work of women's programmes and monitoring indicators were set out.
Regarding women's health, she said women's enjoyment of ideal health care in the whole of their life cycle was the necessary condition for the realization of equality, development and peace. It was also of crucial importance to the survival of women and their participation in public life. National governments and the international community were now paying more attention to women's health care. However, poverty had prevented women from enjoying full and equal access to health care services. That was a major problem especially among rural and urban poor.
MOLLY ANIM-ADDO, Chairperson, National Council on Women and Development of Ghana, said health care was a priority concern for her Government. Primary health care had been adopted in Ghana as a basic strategy for improving the delivery of health-care services to the population. Health posts had been established in the most remote areas of the country and the overall infrastructure had been improved. Considerable progress in overall health conditions had been achieved after the Fourth World Conference on Women. However, both maternal and infant mortality rates were relatively high. To address that problem, her Government's health policy measures allowed free medical care to pregnant and lactating mothers and the aged.
She said that to address the problem of mental health in women, there was an ongoing debate on the enactment of a sexual harassment law. That was in recognition of the fact that domestic violence was one of the major causes of mental disorder in women in her country. There was also an ongoing programme to remove the stigma attached to people suffering from mental disorders as well as AIDS patients and also to raise awareness of human rights. Ghana was also elaborating a policy document to address the needs of older persons, most of whom were women. It was expected that they would be exempted from medical fees and taxes as a first step.
T.V. LESABE, Minister of National Affairs, Employment Creation and Cooperatives of Zimbabwe, said that in implementing the Platform for Action, her country identified four priority areas: economic empowerment of women;
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education and training of women; participation of women in politics and decision-making; and institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women. A lot of progress had been made in those areas and other critical areas of concern. In the area of participation in politics and decision-making, there was an ongoing civic education programme which was aimed at: encouraging women to stand as candidates in elections; building the capacity of women who were already in power points; and sensitizing women to vote for other women.
She said that in spite of the fact that access to credit was one key element that empowered women and enabled them to take advantage of economic opportunities, credit institutions rarely gave loans to women since they did not have collateral to overcome that problem. Women in Zimbabwe had formed their own savings and credit facilities in the form of cooperatives and village banks. HIV/AIDS continued to be a public health problem in Zimbabwe, and women, because of their socio-economic status, were more vulnerable. Her Government, in conjunction with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and civil society had come up with programmes aimed at controlling the spread of AIDS. Community-based projects which consisted of both men and women had been established in most parts of the country.
PATTI O'NEILL (New Zealand) said that, as the international community faced the new millennium, it was clear that in spite of impressive progress in many areas, the ideals of Beijing remained unrealized. Her delegation attached high priority to the right of women to have control over and to decide for themselves on matters related to their sexuality, including sexual and reproductive health. Since 1995, her country had developed a sexual and reproductive health strategy which was aimed at: promoting responsible sexual behaviour, minimizing unwanted pregnancies and reducing abortion rates, among other things.
On the situation of older persons, she said that, all over the world, age structures in families were changing. The traditional population pyramid of many youth and fewer elderly was being inverted. In this century alone, 20 years had been added to the average life span. New Zealand had chosen for the International Year of Older Persons the theme of "Valuing older people" in order to promote positive attitudes towards ageing and older people and prepare society for an ageing population.
MELLE DALILA SAMAH (Algeria) said that at the Beijing Conference the world had attempted to empower women through a global framework for women's development. In that regard, she stressed the need to make services accessible to all, especially women and small girls. In Algeria, the right to health was enshrined in the Constitution. Access to health services was guaranteed, and there were expenditures for health care for the poorest groups of society. There was also a new action plan that made child and maternal health services a priority. Also, contraceptive products were made available free of charge in public health centres.
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The free nature of health care had helped to reduce the level of maternal mortality and increased life expectancy, she said. The international community had strived to give women their rightful place in society, however, not all the commitments of Beijing had been implemented. Progress must be evaluated and an analysis of obstacles to women's rights should be undertaken. During the inter- sessional period, consultations should be organized to ensure the success of the special session next year.
LI HYONG CHOL (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) said that, among the 12 areas of concern indicated in the Beijing Platform for Action, violence against women was the area that required urgent action of the international community. As a violation and complete denial of women's human rights and fundamental freedoms, violence against women constituted the main impediment to achieving the objectives of peace, development and equality. In international efforts to eliminate violence against women, priority should be given to prevention and punishment of the crime of war-time sex slavery. He cited the crime of "military comfort women" as just one of many that were without exception, medieval acts of barbarity that treated women as nothing but slaves and material objects.
He said that in spite of the repeated discussion on the liquidation of the crime of "military comfort women" within the framework of the United Nations, unfortunately, it still remained outstanding due to refusal on the part of Japanese authorities. What could not be overlooked was the persistent fact that some Japanese politicians and scholars were openly challenging the international community by behaving as if the recognized crime of "military comfort women" was a distortion of history. Japanese authorities must apologize for that crime it committed in infringement on international justice, make clear political commitment to offer governmental compensation and indicate their will to prevent the recurrence of the crime.
SOMAMIA BARGHOUTI, observer for Palestine, said Palestinian women continued to suffer and face the harsh reality of Israeli occupation, which was the main obstacle in the path of their advancement. In spite of the difficulties faced, however, they continued to participate actively with the rest of the Palestinian people in the struggle for freedom and independence. Palestinian women were committed to the strategies necessary for their advancement and empowerment. Their goals were the establishment of an independent and democratic Palestine, based on the principles of equality and social justice for all.
She said the Middle East peace process continued to be subjected to persistent undermining due to Israeli policies and practices carried out in violation of the agreements reached, as well as of international law and relevant United Nations resolutions. The far-reaching ramifications of such policies and practices could not be overemphasized. That had impeded the progress strived for by Palestinian women. As the Secretary-General had
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stated, "the status and situation of Palestinian women are inextricably linked to development on the peace front. Progress in the peace process should be translated into tangible benefits for the people of the occupied territories and refugee camps".
LOLA VILLAQUIRAN (Ecuador), on political representation and decision- making in her country, said a ministerial-level office was dedicated to monitoring the status of women and ensuring that programmes met their needs and concerns. There was also a maternity reform law that ensured free, quality-health attention during the maternity and birth stages. Programmes also were dedicated to timely cancer detection and to preventing violence against women in the family. Also, the number of women judges in Ecuador had risen to allow women to participate in the decision-making sphere.
She said another source of significant progress had been the establishment of women's and families' commissions in each of the provinces in Ecuador. So far, there had been 32 reform proposals accepted that would improve the national laws in regard to women. There were, however, still many obstacle to be overcome. Her country utilized limited resources to further the status of women, but greater help was needed from the international community to help Ecuador build a world of equality.
DAUDI MWAKAWAGO (United Republic of Tanzania) said that now was the crucial time to assess implementation of the Beijing Platform and to identify what still needed to be accomplished. His country had developed an action plan to mobilize communities to address women's issues. Government programmes had focused on enhancing women's legal empowerment, decision-making ability in society, and training and employment. Measures had also been taken to improve gender mainstreaming and advocacy for women and gender advancement. The Government hoped to achieve economic empowerment of women and the improvement of the status of women in employment, among other things.
He said that the passage of two acts last month had repealed customs that discriminated against women and had made possible the ownership of land accessible to them. His Government's ability to live up to the Beijing Platform for Action, however, was restricted by the lack of economic resources. One key problem was a huge external debt. Because of those restraints, governments might not be able to be the sole providers of all social services. Civil society might have to bare some of the burden for supporting some services.
DANIELA ROZGONOVA (Slovakia) said the equality of women and men was a basic principle of law in her country. The first official body dealing with women's issues in Slovakia was the Governmental Committee for Women and Family. In 1996, the Coordinating Committee for Women's Issues had been established as a response to the Beijing Conference and was endowed with new competencies. That Committee represented an advisory, coordinating and
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initiating body of her Government, with the objective of representing women's interests in all governmental policies and programmes. One of the concrete outputs of the Committee's activities was the elaboration of a National Plan of Action for Women.
She said that Slovakia's National Plan of Action contained a thorough analysis of women's position in various areas, such as employment, social policies, social security, health, criminality, media, women's non- governmental organizations, and domestic and foreign policies. On the basis of that analysis, concrete strategies had been defined and translated into activities and measures that would eliminate existing problems over the next 10 years. In September 1997, the National Action Plan for Women in Slovakia had been adopted as a policy guideline by the Government.
TERESA GONZALEZ FERNANDEZ DE SOLA (Argentina) said her country had implemented a great number of policies and programmes aimed at protecting women's rights. Argentina had spared no efforts and did not plan to do so in the future. Her country's ad hoc commission on the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action had been restructured and had held meetings in various parts of the country to diagnose the situation of Argentinean women. At the present time, the national strategy had various tools and instruments. She cited the Federal Plan for Women, financed by the Inter-American Development Bank, which would assist various offices in incorporating gender perspectives into their business.
Argentina had also put the Equal Opportunity Plan for Men and Women in Labour in place, she continued. In health, there were various programmes geared to assess specific problems encountered by women. She pointed out pre- natal care as one specific area in that regard. The participation of women in public and political life increased their self-esteem, she noted. There were, therefore, programmes to build awareness with regard to gender. She noted there was no rule that stated that genders had to be same to be politically, socially or economically free.
NGO Dialogue Segment
BANI DUGAL GUJRAL, NGO Committee on United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), said the members of the NGO Committee endorsed the following recommendations: Member States of the United Nations should implement the Beijing Platform through a full commitment to the institutional and financial requirements within the United Nations system; greater financial support should be provided by Member States for UNIFEM and its programmes; governments should commit themselves to establishing the goal of gender balance in decision-making; nations must strengthen the relationship between national machineries and civil society; and the United Nations must continue to foster inter-agency collaboration to achieve gender equality.
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LINDA SOUTER, International Federation of University Women, International Federation of Business and Professional Women, International Council of Women, and Soroptimists International, said that many women's NGOs had monitored the political will and commitment of governments in the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action. Over the last two decades, their programmes had included capacity and institutional development workshops for women. Governments should use the experience, expertise and potential of women's NGOs to monitor the implementation of the Platform for Action. The NGOs' independent status from governments could help to bring a more balanced approach and increased objectivity to that process.
DENISE FUCHS, representative of the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) Caucus (including Eastern and Western Europe), said that apart from reviewing the Beijing +Five, the General Assembly should determine the successive stages that would lead to a new women's and men's contract. The Caucus drew the attention of Governments to the need for measuring indexes and indicators on women's issues. It was also a requirement that women's health be taken into account, including the health of handicapped, elderly, migrant and homeless women. The struggle to counter violence against women needed to be stepped up. There was also a need to strengthen equality of opportunity and to adopt the optional protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. The one question to be raised was "how could there be reservations about adopting such a protocol".
HUDA BADRAN, Arab Women Alliance, said her organization had been working for women's rights since 1985. The Alliance was coordinating a network of about 350 NGOs to implement the Beijing Platform for Action. Another project was increasing the role and presence of women in decision-making structures. The Alliance was also establishing a database about women's problems. All the projects represented challenges and opportunities. The availability of financial resources, however, was a major issue.
KICKI NORDSTROM, on behalf of NGOs for Women with Disabilities, said that women in her organization, like women everywhere, were kept out of decision-making because they did not have equal access to information. New technologies had changed that, if only women would have access to them. For example, a blind person could have a computer that read information from the Internet to him or her. However, women with disabilities did not have the same access as other women. More broadly, women with disabilities were probably the lowest priority to obtain new technologies -- the last to get computers and the last to get Internet connections. If women could have access to those technologies, they could achieve equality, with other women and with men.
LALITA BALAKRISHNAN spoke on behalf of a collective of Indian women's NGOs: All India Women's Conference, YWCA of India, All India Democratic
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Women's Association, Centre for Women's Development Studies, Joint Women's Programme, Mahila Dakshita Samiti and National Federation of Indian Women.
She said those NGOs were responsible for a number of programmes that dealt with universal immunization, oral rehydration therapy for dysentery, and for safe motherhood. They were also active in programmes for women and child health. India had made progress in the area of maternal health as well as female literacy and child health care. Indian NGOs initiated efforts in the areas of employment and job training and had also tried to popularize the use of renewable resources by women in their household work. In-door pollution from the use of fuels in the home was a major source of sickness and death and women were being encouraged to use safer fuels. Economic independence was one of the key factors in the empowerment of women. However, the problem faced by all Indian NGOs was a lack of resources for implementing important programmes.
NAJOBA TABIBI, World Islamic Call Society, said that the world must admit that today the rights of women were violated based on male-dominated cultural and social views. Events in the past decade in Afghanistan were an example of that. One million individuals had given their lives in the fight for independence from the former Soviet Union. They left behind more than one million widows and orphans who were presently suffering from the harsh attitude of the Taliban who were practising their own brand of Islam. The world community should provide an immediate and definitive solution to the Afghan conflict. The future of Afghan women and children was in the hands of the international community -- they needed peace, education, health care, respect and quiet homes.
LIN PUGH, on behalf of Women's Information Services in 90 countries, said information was vital in improving the decisions of women. Information technology could capacitate and mobilize people to change policies. It could also help challenge the dominant male status. There was need to create a new space for women on line and a new vocabulary. Her organization had created a database called map of the world of women's information services that could be accessed on the Internet.
MARGARET PRESCOTT, representative of the International Women Count Network (IWCN) and a coalition of 30 organizations, said that they had worked for more than two decades to bring the issue of measurement and the valuation of unwaged work to the attention of policy-makers and social movements. The network had the support of more than 2000 NGOs and represented millions of women and men. The unwaged issue was one of the more important ones to have emerged from the Beijing Conference. Trinidad and Tobago was the first State to pass corrective legislation in that respect with Spain following second. In a study by the late economist Henry Neuberger, he estimated that unwaged work in the United Kingdom was valued at over 700 billion pounds sterling and outstripped the waged sector. That along with the 1995 figure from United
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Nations Development Programme (UNDP), that an estimated $16 trillion was added to the world economy in unwaged work every year, was no surprise to women.
She said that today her aim was to be the voice of the women who never got out of their home countries, or attended United Nations meetings. "They want you to understand the devastating impact of not implementing the United Nations decision to count all our work." As women increasingly moved into the waged sector, there was a crisis of care in communities. Child-care programmes were inadequate and the care of the elderly and others dependent on care insufficient. National machineries must not rubber stamp policies that are not in the interests of women. In addition, the issues, concerns and input from grass-roots women at the bottom should also not be bypassed. National machineries that operated contrary to those concerns could not be tolerated.
PNINA HERZOG, International Council of Women, said women's health, their status and their multiple contributions were pivotal links between the health of a population and its prospects of sustainable development. Yet, sex discrimination was often hidden within the general issue of poverty and underdevelopment. In the industrialized countries, the excuse for such discrimination was often cuts in the budget that put everyone at risk. Sex discrimination acted on the health of girls and women in a variety of ways -- through differential feeding, through the additional burden or work inside and outside the home, and through the absence of provisions for women's special needs. Those problems needed to be addressed by the international community.
MARGARET OWEN, Empowering Widows in Development, said that her organization was an umbrella group for widows grass-roots NGOs. No group was more censored in the global discussion of women's rights than widows. Globally widows were the poorest group in society. In developing countries, widows were not just the old -- many were young women or even children. Because of war and other factors, there was an extreme increase in the number of young widows who suffered from violations such as rape. Widows often lack all rights to inheritance, they were subject to abuse at the hands of their male relatives. However, in the Beijing Platform for Action, there was no mention of that problem. Member States should work with their NGOs to make sure that the issue of widows emerged as topic of discussion.
PAT HARRISON, of the International Federation of Business and Professional Women, said it had been ascertained that laws relating to safe working conditions were not uniform and that in many countries there were no laws. With the increasing ageing of the population, her organization urged governments to enact legislation to allow for job security for family leave: when a worker must take time of for family leave; or when a worker must take time off to care for an older relative. Her organization also urged
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governments to assist employers to provide creches at the workplace for those women who were still breastfeeding after they returned to work, and to allow them time to go and feed their babies. "We encourage governments to provide adequate screening facilities, at minimal cost, for diseases which affect mainly women", she added.
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