PRESS CONFERENCE BY US WOMEN CONNECT

Press Briefing

PRESS CONFERENCE BY US WOMEN CONNECT

US Women Connect began as merely an "idea" -- a way to "connect" women in the United States to one another and to the larger global women's movement following the outcome of the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women, Kit Cosby, the Baha'i United States Office and US Women Connect Board Member, told correspondents today at a Headquarters press conference.

Such an organization would work to inform women that the pressing gender issues of the day, whether in the areas of health, education, human rights or political participation, were part of the agenda of the Beijing Platform for Action, and that the United States Government had agreed to carry out that agenda. "We reached out to hundreds of women around the country", she said "to learn whether they wanted a network that would help develop campaigns to access and review the progress of their governments. The answer was always a resounding 'yes'".

Ms. Cosby was joined at the press conference by Suzanne Kindervatter, Director, Commission on the Advancement of Women/InterAction, Alexandra Speildoch Women's Project, Center of Concern, and Shari Miles, of the African American Women's Institute of Howard University to announce the release of the US Women Connect "Report Card", an assessment of the United States' implementation of the 12 critical areas of concern identified in the Platform. United States progress in areas such as "violence against women", "women and the environment" and "the girl child" were graded on a scale from A to F; fulfillment of the Platform objectives or total inaction.

"We came up with report card grades, which we know are tough", Ms. Cosby said, "because the goals and objectives for the Platform for Action are high -- it's an agenda for the full equality of women".

Ms. Cosby went on to say that the organization's board of directors, a diverse and representative cross section of the United States population, based the grades on two reports: the United States Government's report on it's achievements in the areas of critical concern over the last five years; and a "shadow report" filed by the Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), which analyzed the gains made and the gaps that still existed. "The grades reflect the reality of women's lives around the country", she said, "as experienced by the board members". As United States citizens, the Board had examined the Federal Government's actions and seen how well it had implemented and acted on those commitments. The challenge before the organization, then, was to take those practices that were working, to disseminate them broadly and to address those areas where progress was lacking, or where women were falling behind.

Providing a more in-depth analysis of the Board's deliberation process, Ms. Kindervatter said those members had divided the 12 areas of critical concern amongst themselves. Those that had experience in those areas took the lead in the analytical process and deliberations. And while the diverse group had three days of "intense" discussions on all their findings, what was not reflected in the

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report was the filter of how the programmes impacted upon the lives of women and girls, particularly outside major urban centers.

A correspondent asked if the group had compared the results of its analysis with progress in other countries. Did such tough grades applied to critical areas such as "women and the environment" and "the girl child" -- both of which received a grade of D -- reflect a fair and balanced analysis? How many other countries had performed better than the United States in some of these areas?

Ms. Cosby replied that while it was recognized that the United States was in the lead in terms of implementing laws and policies for women, no comparison had been done with other countries. "We simply looked at the goals of the Platform, the objectives and the standards that are so comprehensive, and looked at the work done over the last few years. The gaps that exist, particularly in the arena of poverty, were most strongly expressed by our colleagues that were outside the Washington-New York corridor."

Despite the tough grades, the highlights and gains were many, Ms. Cosby said. It was important to note that the successes in the report card were, in almost every case, due to the efforts of the members of the President's Interagency Council on Women. That Council, under the leadership of the First Lady and the Secretaries of State and of Health and Human Services, coordinated and encouraged each Federal department to implement the goals of the Platform. Its continuation was essential, therefore, to the continued progress of Federal implementation of the Platform. There had been impressive investments for research in women's health, older women's health and HIV/AIDS. The United States was also a leader in the fight against trafficking in women and girls.

"Despite these gains, critical gaps still exist for many reasons", she continued. After years of effort to eliminate discrimination against women, and of painstaking progress to reduce inequalities, it was not reasonable to expect that the Platform objectives could have been fulfilled in just five years. When US Women Connect completed its analysis, it was also discovered that many minority women and women of color had not experienced the benefit of many of the Federal programmes that began over the last five years. The Group's general sense had been that, very frequently, the benefit and impact of Government action did not "trickle down" to low income women and women of color. "These women feel very strongly that more needs to be done, because they feel left out", she added.

Ms. Cosby noted that, to that end, in the critical area of "women and poverty", the United States received a failing grade, the lowest of any area in the Report Card. Although overall poverty in the United States has decreased, poverty for women had increased. "US Women Connect believes that it is time for the United States Government to re-evaluate its poverty alleviation policies", she said. Also on the critical area of poverty, Ms. Speildoch said that the Group had assembled a set of economic indicators based on information provided in the Federal and shadow reports, such as housing, welfare reform and childcare, that were included in the analysis.

She added that there were also three areas that the organization identified for "immediate and priority" action: accessible and affordable healthcare,

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particularly for women of color and low income women; increasing the number of women in elected positions, particularly in the United States Congress; and the ratification of Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

A correspondent asked if the group would use its analysis to influence the United States political process in any way. While there was no plan to get involved in the assessment of any political candidates or campaigns, Ms. Miles said that the group would love to have politicians use the report card or any of the groups information to inform public policy decisions. That would be an important way to become involved with US Women Connect.

Another correspondent wondered about the future of US Women Connect. What would happen now that the report card had been issued? "We're planning to take the report card campaign on the road", Ms. Cosby said. Since, at the moment, there were no United Nations conferences on women's issues planned for the near future, it was up to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) like US Women Connect to hold their governments accountable for implementing the Platform, and to work with those governments to achieve the full equality of women in society. On Friday, 9 June, the group will launch a campaign where women and girls at the State and local levels would create their own assessments of their governments' progress in achieving equality. "To achieve further gains from this point on", she said, "required even broader leadership from the top and continued pressure and action from the bottom".

The goal was not simply to stop at giving a grade, Ms. Cosby continued. "The purpose of the grade is to energize people so they can see where the gaps are," she said. Those indicators were for a purpose: as an organizing principle for women at the local, state and national levels, so that they could work on legislation and policies that could close those gaps and, perhaps one day, achieve the full implementation of the Platform.

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