STRUGGLE FOR GENDER EQUALITY IS STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE AND HUMAN RIGHTS, PREPARATORY COMMITTEE FOR 2000 SPECIAL ASSEMBLY SESSION TOLD

15 March 1999

Press Release
WOM/1119

STRUGGLE FOR GENDER EQUALITY IS STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE AND HUMAN RIGHTS, PREPARATORY COMMITTEE FOR 2000 SPECIAL ASSEMBLY SESSION TOLD

19990315 Committee Hears Panellists on Further Actions and Initiatives for Special Session on Women

The struggle for gender equality was not a women's struggle against men, it was a struggle for justice and for human rights, Hassan Keynan, a researcher at the Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research, told the Commission on the Status of women this afternoon as it met as the Preparatory Committee for the 2000 special session of the General Assembly on women.

Mr. Keynan was one of four expert panellists addressing the Commission during its discussions on further actions and initiatives in preparation for the special session. He added that the problem of inequality could be attributed to men and masculinity. However, efforts aimed at promoting equality must include men -- not blame or demonize them. It was important to understand masculinity and its construction. Masculinity was a power structure caused by socialization; it was not a biological force. There was a need to reconfigure oppressive gender equations to eliminate aggressive masculinity.

A major obstacle to the implementation of the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action was the relative absence of proper monitoring mechanisms and methodologies, said Patricia B. Licuanan, President of Miriam College and Professor of Psychology, Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines. In national plans for implementing the Platform, very few had set actual targets. In all attempts so far at monitoring Platform implementation, both regionally and globally, reports were simply descriptions of actions taken. There was need to put more effort into developing and systematically using proper indicators.

Asma Jahangir, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, said change in the status of women presented a problem in most traditional societies on two counts. First, the status quo had become so frozen by history that unfreezing it required a will and

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mobilization of effort that was not available. Any change could only be a part of an overall societal transformation. Second, the status quo carried the seal of hallowed tradition and often even of religion. Suggesting any departure, therefore, became a sacrilege or even a blasphemy.

Mihaly Simai, Research Professor at the Institute for World Economics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, said this century had seen more favourable changes in the global position of women than, possibly, the last 1,000 years before it. Three processes had contributed greatly to those changes: the process of globalization, the ongoing urbanization process, and the technological revolution.

Peaceful development was crucial to furthering women's rights, he noted. War situations, especially civil war, were highly detrimental to gender development. Another important need was international cooperation. Multilateral structures that created a favourable environment for women's empowerment must be strengthened.

The Commission will meet again at 10 a.m. tomorrow, 16 March, to hold a second panel discussion on further actions and initiatives in preparation for the special session.

Commission Work Programme

The Commission on the Status of Women met this afternoon to continue its five-day session as the Preparatory Committee for the special session of the General Assembly entitled "Women 2000: Gender, Equality, Development and Peace for the Twenty-First Century". (For background information on the session, see Press Release WOM/1118 issued today.)

The Committee was scheduled to hold a panel discussion on further actions and initiatives in preparation for the special session.

Panel Discussion

PATRICIA B. LICUANAN, President of Miriam College and Professor of Psychology, Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines, began her presentation by presenting patterns or trends in the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action in Asia and the Pacific. It seemed that governments had focused implementation efforts on: violence against women; trafficking and rape; women and the law; women and the economy; gender mainstreaming and gender sensitivity; women's health; education and the training of women and girls; women and the environment; women and politics; women and poverty; and gender equality and women's empowerment. An analysis of reports showed that implementation was uneven and tended to emphasize certain areas of concern while ignoring or de-emphasizing others.

"As we process reports for Beijing +5, we must not only identify patterns of action and inaction, but also the reasons behind them, as well as their implications", she continued. Favourite programmes must be monitored and evaluated regularly for their impact on women. Implementation of the Beijing Platform in her region could not be assessed without analysing the impact of the financial crisis on that region. As the crisis affected women differently and more severely than men, it was feared that it was a threat to women's socio-economic gains. The challenge lay not only in minimizing the negative impact of the crisis on women, but also on emphasizing women's important role in the Asian economic miracle and the continuing importance of women in economic recovery.

She said that another major obstacle to implementation of Beijing was the relative absence of proper monitoring mechanism and methodology. In the national plans of governments for implementing the Platform, very few set actual targets. In all attempts so far at monitoring Platform implementation, both regionally and globally, reports were simply descriptions of actions taken. There was need to put more effort into developing and systematically using proper indicators. Whenever lists of what should be monitored were made or lists of gender sensitive indicators were proposed, even the most ideologically progressive and methodologically sophisticated, all fell short of recommending that "we monitor how people think and feel". There was a need

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to monitor women's psychological well-being and develop and use psychological indicators of empowerment that cut across all critical areas of concern of the Platform.

MIHALY SIMAI, Research Professor at the Institute for World Economics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, said this century had seen more favourable changes in the global position of women than possibly the last 1,000 years before it. There were important factors in this century that resulted in those changes. Among them were the changes related to social movements which took place in all parts of the world; the other was the role of international organizations and international non-governmental organizations.

Those factors worked hand in hand with other processes, he said. Those were: the process of globalization, the ongoing urbanization process, and the technological revolution. Globalization was a complex process which had favourable and unfavourable consequences. Globalization was dividing society into three groups: one was the group that was involved in the globalization process such as multinational corporations; the second group was the one excluded from globalization such as most rural and unskilled people; and the third group was the one in-between. That was the largest group and it could either be included or excluded from the process. The future of globalization would be determined by whether that group was included.

Globalization was also creating ethnic States in many parts of the world, he added. Multi-ethnic States were being divided into countries with only one ethnicity. In ethnic States, women were seen as the agents of continuing an ethnicity. In those places, women were confined only to reproduction and were not empowered. Peaceful development was crucial to furthering women's rights. War situations, especially civil war, were very adverse to gender development. Another important need was democratic development. Democracy was a basic condition for women's rights movements. International cooperation was also needed. The multilateral structure that created a favourable environment for women's empowerment must be strengthened.

ASMA JAHANGIR, Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, said change in the status of women presented a problem in most traditional societies on two counts. First, the status quo had become so frozen by history that unfreezing it required a will and mobilization of effort that was not available. It was so interwoven in living that any change could only be a part of an overall societal transformation. Secondly, the status quo carried the seal of hallowed tradition and often even religion. Suggesting any departure, therefore, became either a sacrilege or even a blasphemy. Political will must include the willingness of the international community to take women's human rights with the seriousness it deserved.

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She said one of the frequent reservations made by States in their ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women had to do with family laws. Some societies found it difficult to change factors of women's subordination within the family. They found support in the surmise that in countries where women had achieved relative parity with males, family ties had become weak and the threat to the family as the basic social unit had become a widening and deepening concern. The lack of political will of States parties was quite apparent even where de jure gender discrimination remained. Removing such discrimination might not end the problem, but was certainly the start of it. A time frame to end such discrimination must be declared by the United Nations.

She said that in certain countries, the institutional sanctions of polygamy, ease of divorce by husbands and the requirements of segregation of the sexes had contributed to perpetuating women's dependence on men. That disparity within the family was a basic barrier to the empowerment of women. Another manifestation of women's subordination was the extent and variety of violence committed against them that was both permitted by society and condoned by the State. Special attention also needed to be paid to the needs of elderly women to ensure that their human rights were fully respected. Those women needed to be fully integrated in civil society. There was also a complete lack of sensitivity by governments to the rights of minority women. Women of minority groups suffered the burden of double oppression; they suffered as women and as members of a minority.

HASSAN KEYNAN, a researcher at the Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research, said he would discuss building partnerships with men to enhance the status of women in societies. There was little doubt that the bulk of the problem of inequality could be contributed to men and masculinity. The perpetrators of gender equality were almost always men. A quick look at the Beijing Platform for Action confirmed that. Efforts aimed at promoting equality must include encounters with men -- not to blame or demonize men, but to treat them as partners in the process.

He said a first step to women's empowerment was to define the cause of gender inequality. The struggle for gender equality was not a women's struggle against men, it was a struggle for justice and for human rights. It was clear that society looses if inequality exists. In the case of his country, Somalia, he said persistent inequality was a major factor in the collapse of that society. Human societies vary greatly in the way they construct and manage gender relations. But the one thing they all have in common was that gender inequality. Every culture oppressed women in its own distinctive way. It was important to look into the nature of gender relations to look for the causes of gender inequality.

It was also important to understand masculinity and how it was constructed, he said. Social systems that were heavy with aggressive masculinity also had

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gender inequality. Masculinity was a power structure caused by socialization, but it was not a biological force. Hegemonic masculinity focused on aggressiveness and a hunger for power. Masculinity could also be peaceful and it could be reconstructed to be positive. Patriotism, nationalism and other factors could all be wrapped up in masculinity. There was a need to reconfigure oppressive gender equations to eliminate aggressive masculinity. There were enlightened and liberated forces in society and that was where solutions should be sought.

Responses to Questions

Ms. LICUANAN, responding to a question on the economic situation in Asia and education of women, said she did not have basic statistics on education since Asia was made up of a wide range of countries. Essentially, however, women, educated or not, had really contributed to the pre-crisis positive economic situation in the region. Unfortunately, such contributions had not been recognized or measured. Part of the current effort was to stress those contributions.

Replying to a question on the real reason behind blocks to gender equality, she cited the traditional roles played by men and women in society. Habits and practices were much more difficult to change. In addition, equality did have trade-offs for those enjoying the status quo.

Addressing a point raised on access to information technology, she pointed out that such technology could become a great leveller in the new millennium. It essentially did not have all the baggage of other technological fields, and, as a result, women were not as far behind. It was, therefore, an area where they could easily and more quickly be equal to men. Globalization in Asia had allowed information technology to become more available to women, and they had been given more opportunities to work in the field. It was a new frontier for both women and men.

Mr. SIMAI said that, according to some statistical data, the world had not even reached the halfway mark on the issue of gender. His question was why girl children were still being murdered. Was it cultural or something else? He felt that there was no specific reason because factors were varied.

Regarding the disparity between the rates of gender equality in different areas, he said it was evident that deeply rooted cultural and religious factors were playing a fundamental role in different parts of the world in affecting the rates of change. While the cultural roles remained, the will and mission to implement changes were missing.

Addressing a question on the role of the State, he said that one of the consequences of the destabilization of global development was the withdrawal of the State from certain areas. That had been detrimental for women. A direct

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result had been the decrease of social expenditure in areas such as education, and a dwindling away of State enterprises which traditionally provided jobs to women in the State-owned sector.

Turning to a question raised on empowerment, he said that concept meant different things in different societies. In some societies, it meant that girls who were educated should achieve functional literacy. In other societies, functional literacy now meant computer literacy.

On the question of access to information technology, he said women should have more access to data on factors that influenced their lives. That would enable them to enter society on a more equal footing. Non-governmental organizations were playing and could play a fundamentally useful role in that respect.

Ms. JAHANGIR, answering a question on honour and passion killings, said that Turkey had led the way in addressing that practice.

In response to the question of women's rights in Pakistan, she said the claim that the rights in that country were there, but that the women did not make use of them, spoke volumes about that country's Government, since women had obviously not been empowered to secure their rights. There was still widespread discrimination in Pakistan, as well as in India and Bangladesh. The women in those societies were among the bravest in the world. They had fought against relentless discrimination, poverty, intolerance and ethnic division. Women there had brought the attention of their Governments to the issue their rights. She urged that an approach based on sympathy and charity not be taken -- such approaches needed to be abandoned. There was now a need for political will and action.

Mr. KEYNAN said that while the lack of political will and education, poverty and illiteracy were all relevant factors in the issues of gender, the concept of masculinity wrapped all of them into one. Masculinity was a world view that conceptualized a social system. What was needed now was a look into how social systems were conceptualized and built.

Honour killings and the murder of girl children could also be linked to masculinity, he said. In the case of honour killings, one had to ask whose honour was being violated. Masculinity had nothing to do with men, biologically. It was a social construct that positioned women in a certain way.

Responding to the issue of culture and religion, it was important to look into the texts of religions and their interpretations, he said. Regarding interpretation, the question to be asked was, who made it and who would make it?

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The State could be good or bad, he said. It depended on who constructed it. The argument that the State was always bad was not always valid.

Mr. Keynan said that women in Norway had a good understanding of masculinity. Also, masculinity played a large role in politics and leadership -- it was important to understand that relationship.

Ms. JAHANGIR, on the topic of honour killing, said that such killing happened because men were given the moral justification for such acts by society. Honour killing did not happen when the punishment for it was made clear. It must be rejected that men had more honour than women. On taking actions for women's rights, she said that women had always been afraid of backlash, and that fear had stifled their actions. It was time to move past that fear.

Mr. SIMAI, regarding a question on fragmentation of multi-ethnic States, said there could be more than 5,000 countries if every ethnic group created its own States. Even today, there were a large number of small countries that were economically very weak. The trend of fragmentation could not continue. On the topic of globalization, he said that, in the world of today, there was no longer a possibility for "de-linking". There was only increasing interdependence between States. Women in most countries were more vulnerable to globalization because of increasing competitiveness, and there was a need to examine ways to make women more competitive in society.

Ms. LICUANAN, also speaking on globalization, said that in the process of globalization, while women tended to be the losers in globalization, there were some cases were they had benefited from it, such as the case of South- East Asia. On the special session of the General Assembly, she said dynamic participation was needed at all levels for it to be successful. While there would not be as much excitement for the special session as there had been for the Beijing Conference, there would be interest, and the door had to be open for participation by all sectors. On building alliances between women and men, there was a need to have partnerships between equals and to have power distributed equally between men and women.

Ms. JAHANGIR, in regard to international cooperation, said her examples were focused on Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, because that was the area she new best. The world should know that the women of India and Pakistan stood against nuclearization when it was very dangerous and risky to do so.

Mr. SIMAI, on the issue of countries in transition, said the adverse consequences of globalization of crime and trafficking affected countries in transition the most because they did not have the institutions to deal with such crimes. The United Nations should conduct greater studies in that regard.

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Mr. KEYNAN, in response to a question on women and conflicts, said that women were not given an important role in the resolution of conflicts. In Somalia, the only voices of peace were the voices of women, and they should be heard.

Ms. LICUANAN, in a general comment on the special session, said there was a need for strong advocacy at the grass-roots level to make sure that governments stayed honest and concerned with women's needs. That was also the case with the special session -- there was a need for advocacy at the top and at the bottom.

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