HEADQUARTERS PRESS CONFERENCE OF WOMEN HEADS OF STATE

Press Briefing

HEADQUARTERS PRESS CONFERENCE OF WOMEN HEADS OF STATE

Tuesday afternoon’s Meeting of Women Heads of State and Government presented an opportunity to survey the achievements and failings of the past century and to reflect on the goals, aims and values to be promoted in the coming one, President Vaira Vike-Freiberga of Latvia told correspondents at a Headquarters press conference.

President Vike-Freiberga was joined by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, former President of Ireland and Chair of the Women's Meeting, Mary Robinson; the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Helen Clark; and the former Prime Minister of Canada and current Chair of the Council of Women World Leaders, Kim Campbell.

While the fact that such a meeting took place attested to the progress made since 1900, President Vike-Freiberga said that considering that half of the world's population were women, the number of women leaders indicated that there was a long way to go.

Today's meeting was the first of women heads of State and government to be held at the United Nations, noted Ms. Robinson. Among the issues discussed were the importance of women in peacekeeping operations, the feminization of poverty, health care, HIV/AIDS and the need for a strong gender perspective in all issues before the Millennium Assembly. The Drafting Group of the Meeting had prepared a list of the key recommendations, which would be finalized and circulated on Wednesday 6 September.

In addition to those present at the press conference, also attending the Women's Meeting were United States’ Secretary of State Madeleine Albright; United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Sadako Ogata; Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Carol Bellamy; World Food Programme (WFP) Director Catherine Bertini; Nafis Sadik, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA); Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM); and Angela King, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Gender Issues and the Advancement of Women.

Ms. Campbell said that the Council of Women World Leaders was created in 1997 to raise the visibility of women heads of State or government in order to dispel many of the stereotypes of women leaders, such as the belief that they could not take tough decisions and were not good in crisis situations. What was extraordinary was that 10 years ago, such a meeting could not have taken place. As Secretary Albright had stated during the meeting, if such a meeting had taken place in 1900, Queen Victoria would have been talking to herself.

Prime Minister Clark said that having only 10 women world leaders was utterly inadequate. The Meeting had discussed using the Internet -- a good way to network -- as a tool to help keep women leaders, past and present, together.

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The Meeting also discussed what more the United Nations itself could do to promote the advancement of women.

Asked about Australia's refusal to sign the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, Ms. Robinson said that she hoped Australia would revisit that issue. The Protocol enabled women to bring a complaint directly to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. Australia had actively participated in discussions on the Protocol and she hoped that its concerns would not deter it from continuing to participate actively in international instruments.

Prime Minister Clark added that New Zealand had come to sign, ratify or accede to seven treaties, including the Optional Protocol. While what Australia did was a matter for Australia, given its strong record in the past of participating in international treaties, she hoped the refusal to sign the Optional Protocol would only be a temporary setback.

In response to a question on why there were so few women heads of State and government, Prime Minister Clark said her country had many women in leadership positions. While New Zealand's next Governor-General would be a woman and the Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition, Attorney-General, Cabinet Secretary and Chief Justice were all women, she was not satisfied. Only 30 per cent of the Parliament was female and there was a long way to go in that respect. It was a question of each country seeing a critical mass of women in decision-making positions.

Asked if women in politics represented different values than men, Ms. Campbell replied that a paper from the University of Maryland last year had argued that when you have critical masses of women in politics, government and business, you had lower levels of corruption. Whether that was true or not, the important thing was the notion that the world could not go along with only half its creativity, strength and courage being brought to bear on the solution of its problems.

She had observed that there was a reservoir of intelligence and courage that had a huge amount to offer to the world in the solution of its problems. It would be a tragedy if that resource was not brought to bear for the good of all people.

Ms. Robinson added that, in chairing the women's meeting, she was struck by the number of substantive issues that were raised, such as the emphasis on girls' education, tackling violence against women and the need for gender perspective in peacekeeping operations. All of which reflected the fact that women in leadership positions had a different ordering of priorities.

Asked if they had been subjected to scrutiny because they were women, Ms. Robinson noted that women often put women leaders under tough scrutiny. In that context, it was important to have positive female role models in leadership positions.

In response to a question on how the United Nations could retain its importance, President Vike-Freiberga said that one of the aims of the women's

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meeting was to examine how the recommendations they put together could make the United Nations stronger.

Prime Minister Clark noted that New Zealand, like Canada, had been a strong supporter of the United Nations from the very beginning. The issues that confronted the world could not be solved by single States but needed international action.

Ms. Robinson added that the afternoon's discussion had mirrored the areas to be discussed during the Millennium Assembly. The main thrust of the Meeting was to identify those issues of particular importance to women. The next step was to finalize the draft recommendations overnight and circulate them to the Millennium Summit.

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