WOMEN SHOULD SHARE EQUALLY IN WORK OF PEACE, SECURITY, HUMAN RIGHTS SAYS SECRETARY-GENERAL, TO MEETING HELD IN OBSERVANCE OF WOMEN'S DAY
Press Release
WOM/1106
OBV/85
WOMEN SHOULD SHARE EQUALLY IN WORK OF PEACE, SECURITY, HUMAN RIGHTS SAYS SECRETARY-GENERAL, TO MEETING HELD IN OBSERVANCE OF WOMEN'S DAY
19990304 Panel Addresses Theme of 'Equality for Women'; First Lady of United States Stresses Economic Opportunity, Equal JusticeWomen were as much affected as any man by peace and security, by human security, and by human rights, and it was, therefore, right and indeed necessary that women should be there to work towards those goals, with equal strength and in equal numbers, said Secretary-General Kofi Annan this morning, addressing a panel held in observance of the 1999 International Women's Day.
Speaking prior to the panel discussion, organized by the Group on Equal Rights for Women in the United Nations on the theme of "Equality for Women", he said that women were half of humankind and, as such, they should be equally involved in the work of the one Organization that worked for the advancement of all humankind. Thus, he hoped that the goal of 50/50 gender distribution in the United Nations Secretariat would be embraced by all Member States. He also announced that, on the troubling issue of staff members in default of court-ordered family support payments, the United Nations would voluntarily deduct the funds owed from the salaries of such staff members and pay it to the spouse and/or the children.
Hillary Rodham Clinton, the First Lady of the United States, told the meeting that progress depended not only on human rights for women, but on ensuring that women had the opportunity and right to participate in the economy and government. They had to be able to realize their potential. The world must strive to create the conditions that would allow women to make choices for their lives. However, when women did not have health care, when they did not have equal pay for equal work, their suffering would drag down their families and their societies.
She added that, for women to advance in society, democracy must advance as well. Rights could only be furthered in a society if it was imbedded in rights and freedoms. Therefore, nations must support institutions, such as labour unions and a free press, to make sure that elections actually brought
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about more freedom. There was a saying that, "women hold up half the sky". But, women could only hold up the sky if their feet were planted on freedom and equal justice.
Agnes Marcaillou, President of the Group on Equal Rights for Women in the United Nations, said that half of the world's population was female and that should be reflected everywhere, including at the United Nations. Rules and policies had to be implemented, particularly at a time when the Secretary- General was entrusting United Nations managers with increasing delegation of authority in the field of human resources. The Special Measures for the Achievement of Gender Equality, finalized a year ago, had to be promulgated and implemented.
Participants in this morning's discussion were: Susana Chiarotti, Regional Coordinator, Comité de America Latina y El Caribe para la Defensa de los Derechos de la Mujer; Lorna Myers, Director, Girls' Choir of Harlem; Penninah Ogada, Researcher ("Property Ownership for Women in Kenya"), Northeastern University (Boston); and Azizah Al-Hibri, Professor of Muslim Law at Richmond University. Carole Simpson, a senior correspondent at ABC News, moderated the panel.
Panellists discussed women's rights in relation to such factors as: a male-dominated society; religion; equality in the work place; and the policies of international financial institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
Work Programme
In observance of the 1999 International Women's Day, a panel discussion on the theme "Equality for Women", organized by the Group on Equal Rights for Women in the United Nations, was held this morning. The Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, and the First Lady of the United States, Hillary Rodham Clinton, were scheduled to address the meeting. The panellists were Agnès Marcaillou, President of the Group on Equal Rights for Women in the United Nations (GERWUN); Susana Chiarotti, Regional Coordinator, Comité de América Latina y El Caribe para la Defensa de los Derechos de la Mujer; Lorna Myers, Director, Girls' Choir of Harlem; and Penninah Ogada, Researcher ("Property Ownership for Women in Kenya"), North-eastern University (Boston).
Statements
Secretary-General KOFI ANNAN said that, as the world stood on the threshold of the new millennium, it was confronted by challenges both new and old. At the forefront of the new was the way women were affected by the negative side of globalization. Women were usually the first to lose their jobs as governments restructured and companies retrenched. Poverty among women -- especially heads of households and older women -- appeared to be deepening. Women were more likely to be unemployed or underemployed. If employed, they were more likely than men to be found in poorly paid and insecure jobs.
Also, they were more likely to suffer financially the consequences of the breakup of the family, he continued. As divorce rates increased everywhere, more women were left with the responsibility of caring for their children without the support which the father was legally -- and morally -- obliged to provide. It was, therefore, an issue of moral concern for those in the United Nations. It presented the United Nations with a duty to set an example. On the troubling issue of staff members in default of court-ordered family support payments, he announced that the United Nations would voluntarily deduct the funds owed from the salaries of such staff members and pay it to the spouse and/or children.
Next year, five years would have passed since the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action -- the world's first truly comprehensive plan in areas of critical concern to women's advancement, he said. The ideal of gender equality was still far from a reality. On the last International Women's Day before the new millennium, everyone should rededicate themselves to eliminating the discrimination and disadvantage to which women were still subjected -- whether in access to health-care services, in the provision of social services and social safety nets, in peace-building and reconstruction, in the home, or in the workplace.
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In taking an honest look at how the United Nations was doing in the area of gender equality, he said that the full and equal participation of women and men at all levels in the workplace was pivotal to the successful implementation of the Organization's mandates. Yet, as the century came to a close, the United Nations Secretariat was still short of the goal it had set for itself -- full gender balance by the year 2000. Remarkable things had been accomplished since the Organization's inception, when the proportion of women at professional and higher levels was very low. Today, there was no better source of courage and inspiration than the way in which Louise Fréchette had assumed her duties and asserted her authority. She joined Carol Bellamy, Catherine Bertini, Gro Harlem Brundtland, Sadako Ogata, Mary Robinson, Nafis Sadik, Rafiah Salim, Angela King and others in the growing number of women in top positions -- women who were living proof that genuine ability had nothing to do with gender.
Yet, he continued, the slow rate at which women's overall representation had increased was cause for serious concern. There was considerable improvement in how men and women perceived each other in the workplace, in gender sensitivity and in awareness of gender perspectives. But, that must be expanded to include all staff in all departments and at all duty stations. There was not one single issue dealt with in the United Nations that was not a woman's issue. Women were every bit as much affected as any man by peace and security by human security and by human rights. It was, therefore, right and indeed necessary that women should be there to work towards those goals, with equal strength and in equal numbers.
He said that some had expressed concern that the Special Measures for the Achievement of Gender Equality had the effect of discriminating against men. Yet, more men than women continued to be recruited and promoted in the Professional and higher categories. He stressed that preference was given to women only when two candidates were otherwise equally qualified. The point was to redress an imbalance that went against the very founding principles of the Organization.
He often found himself wishing that Member States would put more women forward for service to the United Nations, both as permanent representatives and as United Nations officials, he said. He hoped that the goal of 50/50 gender distribution in the United Nations Secretariat would be embraced by all Member States. It was clearly in the interest of all countries to field as many women candidates as possible for key positions, to optimize their country's presence in the Organization. Women were not the feel-good factors of international affairs -- they were half of humankind. As such, they were equally concerned with, and should be equally involved in, the work of the one Organization that worked for the advancement of all humankind.
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The First Lady of the United States, HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, said it was a great honour to return to the United Nations. The Secretary-General's speech was a combination of education, determination and down-to-earth advice. The world should be grateful for his leadership during these important times. As women gathered for International Women's Day, they should all be grateful that the Secretary-General stood with them as a true champion of women's rights and human rights.
She said that, when she addressed the United Nations last year on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the International Declaration of Human Rights, she quoted Eleanor Roosevelt, who had devoted her life to human rights. Mrs. Roosevelt reminded the world that human rights began in small places close to home. In such places, like homes and schools, women were lifting up their lives and the lives of their families. It all began in the small places -- our hearts and minds. Those places might never appear on any globe or map of the world, but they were important in helping each other achieve rights and freedoms and for making good on the promise of the United Nations.
For the first time, nations were investing in women and girl's educations, she said. More women were surviving child birth due to better health care, and they were contributing to their economies and societies as workers and holding positions of power and authority. Women in Nigeria, who had struggled for years, were celebrating the end of the traditional denial of their rights to inheritance. And, for the first time in history, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia was prosecuting rape as a war crime. Those actions were due to the work of the United Nations.
However, it was not until recently that domestic violence was recognized as a crime and not a cultural tradition. Women were just recognized as being at the heart of development efforts, and it was not until the Beijing Conference for Women that it was recognized that women's rights were human rights. Non- governmental organizations (NGOs) and advocacy groups had been encouraged to do the important work at the grass-roots level to make a difference in women's lives. The United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) was working on mircocredit and women's loans, which was also improving women's lives all over the world.
She said the United States had created a programme called "Vital Voices", which allowed people from all over the world to talk about their needs. It had allowed her to hear the voices of women. In Romania, she heard women talk about their struggle to recreate civil society. She had also heard women in Guatemala and El Salvador who were on opposite sides of the civil war. They agreed that they shared the common goals of creating a more peaceful future. The world must do all it could to make sure their voices were amplified. Sometimes, personal stories made more difference than all the statistics. It made it clear that people were all in the same story and shared the same future.
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Progress depended not only on human rights for women, she said, but on ensuring that women had the opportunity and right to participate in the economy and government. They had to be able to realize their potential. There were as many options open to women as to men, and maybe even more. The world must strive to create the conditions that would allow women to make choices for their lives. Such responsible choices deserved the support of societies. However, when women did not have health care, when they did not have equal pay for equal work, their suffering would drag down their families and their societies.
There was probably no more egregious trampling of rights today than in Afghanistan under the iron rule of the Taliban, she said. Women used to represent half the doctors and teachers in that country, but they were now forbidden from pursuing their careers. Women were flogged with metal cables because a bit of their ankles were showing. That was the most extreme example of abuse, but it should be examined because it was being justified in the name of culture and tradition. Abuse of women could not be considered cultural. It should be called what it was: criminal. It should be addressed by individual leaders in society. A programme the United States was sponsoring was concerned with helping Afghan women in small camps outside the borders of their country.
Every year, 1 to 2 million women and girls were trafficked around the world, she said. Women were sold to sweatshops, where they were sometimes literally worked to death. The United States Government was working with other countries on the issue of trafficking. For women to advance, democracy must advance as well. Rights could only be furthered in a society if it was imbedded in rights and freedoms. Therefore, nations must support institutions, such as labour unions and a free press, to make sure that elections actually brought about more freedom. The United Nations work in that regard would continue and gain greater support in the years to come. There was a saying that: "women hold up half the sky". But women could only hold up the sky if their feet were planted on freedom and equal justice.
AGNES MARCAILLOU, President of the Group on Equal Rights for Women in the United Nations, said that since 1971 much progress had been achieved, and the Group had contributed to that through its vigilance. However, a long road remained before all objectives could be achieved. The core of the problem was still an incredible misogyny that circulated here, as it did in many nations worldwide. Equality was not simply a matter of parity, it should be a fact of life. Half of the world's population was female, and that should be reflected everywhere, including at the United Nations.
Everyone appeared to share the career concerns of the General Service staff, whose glass ceiling was desperately low, she said. However, the administrative reform's imagination and creativity seemed to be lacking.
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Everyone also shared the concerns of staff at junior level; those who had just joined, full of energy and enthusiasm. The United Nations had to show them a light at the end of the long tunnel of horizontal mobility. Otherwise, after training them, they would be lost to a world eager to reward their newly acquired international expertise. Rules and policies had to be implemented, particularly at a time when the Secretary-General was entrusting United Nations managers with increasing authority in the field of human resources. The Special Measures for the Achievement of Gender Equality, finalized a year ago, had to be promulgated and implemented.
There was, indeed, a general agreement in the polite and educated company of the senior management, that women deserved equal rights under the law, she said. However, there were still too many "exceptional circumstances and technical job requirements" that denied women equal rights. The Group was counting on the Secretary-General to remove the "gender detector", which was still in place in the decision-making offices. At every level, the Organization had to use the talent, vision and potential of women.
The Group understood that matters of peace and war could easily take up all of the Secretary-General's time, she said. Thus, to help him remember his noble commitment to achieve gender parity by the year 2000, she presented him with a Millennium Clock, which showed that there were only 302 days left.
Panel Discussion
Moderating the panel, CAROLE SIMPSON, Senior Correspondent for ABC News, said she had been fighting for equal rights in journalism for over 20 years. She told the story of a female journalist in Pakistan who had also struggled for equal rights. The Pakistani journalist's struggles had caused her increased stress, which led to high blood pressure and irritated her diabetes. Doctors told her she had to stop, but she said she could not stop because no one else would take up her cause. The journalist later died of a cerebral haemorrhage at age 51. Ms. Simpson had vowed that she would never let that women's courage die with her. The journalist's story was a reminder of the work that still needed to be done to promote women's rights in the world, she said.
SUSANA CHIAROTTI, Regional Coordinator, Comite de America Latina y El Caribe para la Defensa de los Derechos de la Mujer, said that women were made invisible by the policies of international financial institutions. Such institutions considered housewives as inactive in the economy. Their long-term future financial plans were made without the participation of women. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank must include women in their decisions and policies. They must take into account the right of women to a healthy life, free from violence and poverty.
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Statistics from Brazil, showed that women received only 60 per cent of men's salaries, she continued. That situation required action at the international, national and local level. In Latin America, there were very few women at the decision making level in government. That was also reflected in the international governmental bodies. Further, religious institutions continued to campaign to take away the right of women to control their own bodies. Also, few countries designated funds in their national budgets to help women.
She said that few countries adequately punished violence against women. While some penal codes existed, sometimes those laws were never put into effect. In many Latin American countries rapists and sexual offenders go free if the perpetrators agreed to marry the victims. What kind of family could be built on such a foundation? she asked. The world must change from a male dominated model of society to one where the two sexes could live equally.
Panel Discussion
Moderating the panel, CAROLE SIMPSON, Senior Correspondent for ABC News, said she had been fighting for equal rights in journalism for more than 20 years. She told the story of a female journalist in Pakistan who had also struggled for equal rights. The Pakistani journalist's struggles had caused her increased stress, which led to high blood pressure and irritated her diabetes. Doctors told her she had to stop, but she said she could not stop because no one else would take up her cause. The journalist later died of a cerebral haemorrhage at age 51. Ms. Simpson had vowed that she would never let that women's courage die with her. The journalist's story was a reminder of the work that still needed to be done to promote women's rights in the world, she said.
SUSANA CHIAROTTI, Regional Coordinator, Comité de America Latina y El Caribe para la Defensa de los Derechos de la Mujer, said that women were made invisible by the policies of international financial institutions. Such institutions considered housewives as inactive in the economy. Their long-term future financial plans were made without the participation of women. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank must include women in their decisions and policies. They must take into account the right of women to a healthy life, free from violence and poverty.
Statistics from Brazil showed that women received only 60 per cent of men's salaries, she continued. That situation required action at the international, national and local level. In Latin America, there were very few women at the decision-making level in government. That was also reflected in the international governmental bodies. Further, religious institutions continued to campaign to take away the right of women to control their own bodies. Also, few countries designated funds in their national budgets to help women.
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She said that few countries adequately punished violence against women. While some penal codes existed, sometimes those laws were not put into effect. In many Latin American countries rapists and sexual offenders went free if the perpetrators agreed to marry the victims. What kind of family could be built on such a foundation? she asked. The world must change from a male-dominated model of society to one where the two sexes could live equally.
AZIZAH AL-HIBRI, Professor of Muslim Law at Richmond University, said that she was at the panel today not as a stereotype of a Muslim woman, but as one of the latest manifestations of a long line of strong Muslim women. While the whole world was racing towards the information age, today she had fewer rights than her female Muslim predecessors had thousands of years ago. It was sad that Muslim women and men were finding life in some Muslim countries intolerable. Islam guaranteed the freedom of conscience, but some Muslims were suffering in undemocratic Muslim States. Only Muslim women and men could improve the status of Muslim women. It could not be done by those who did not take the issue seriously or judged them according to media stereotypes.
The United Nations had a duty to empower Muslim women, she said. How many women were in high-profile, high-level positions in the Organization and, of those, how many were Muslim? she asked. She also asked whether the United Nations included grass roots women in drafting documentation that related to them. The situation varied from country to country in the Muslim world and each country had problems that had to be addressed according to its specific needs. Over the centuries, women in Muslim countries were gradually removed from participating in public life. That trend had to be reversed. In that regard, the United Nations and non-governmental organizations had to support Muslim women in developing authentic leadership.
LORNA MYERS, Director, Girls' Choir of Harlem, said that since the group's debut just a few years ago, they had appeared and performed at numerous events. She had often been asked how the girls were selected. The young girl must know all the music and choreography by memory, maintain a certain average in school, adhere to the dress code, avoid long nails and colored nails while in uniform, and have the stamina to endure long rehearsals. Discipline and commitment were of paramount importance.
There were some inequalities, she said, between her group and the Boys' Choir of Harlem. For example, there was no independent infrastructure for the girls apart from the boys. All the decisions were made by the founder and director of the Boys Choir. The girls were required to maintain a high level of dignity, discipline and decorum. They were also encouraged to hold on to their dreams.
PENNINAH OGADA, Researcher on Property Ownership for Women in Kenya, Northeastern University, said that, since her husband died more than 20 years
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ago, she had realized her place as a role model. Sometimes, however, she was overwhelmed by a sense of helplessness. In the years since the Beijing Conference, Kenya only allocated 0.01 per cent of its national budget to improving the status of women. While the picture looked bleak, had to keep going and influence at least some people, even if, in the end, she helped only one person.
She said that all her life, society had tried to tell her that she had to be responsible to and appended to a man -- whether it was her father, her husband or her sons. But, she decided not to follow society's model and she fought in the Kenyan courts to buy land under her own name. In her research, she wanted to find out how society came up with policies that oppressed women and kept them down, based on culture. Everyone had talked about creating beautiful policies, but how would those policies be implemented without resources dedicated to changing attitudes?
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