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Since the United Nations held the first world conference on women 20 years ago (Mexico City, 1975), important progress has been made towards achieving equality between women and men. Women's access to education and proper health care has increased, their participation in the paid labour force has grown and legislation that promises equal opportunities for women and respect for their human rights has been adopted in more countries. As a result, important changes have occurred in the relationship between women and men.
Yet discrimination against women is still widespread. Violence against women remains a global phenomenon. Women's equal access to resources is still restricted and their opportunities for higher education and training are concentrated in limited fields. A "glass ceiling" continues to bar women's advancement in business, government and politics. Women are an overwhelming majority of the 1 billion people living in abject poverty and among illiterates. Decisions that affect women continue to be made largely by men.
The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, adopted unanimously at the Fourth World Conference on Women (4-15 September 1995) by representatives from 189 countries, reflect a new international commitment to the goals of equality, development and peace for all women everywhere.
The Platform, divided into six chapters, identifies 12 "critical areas of concern" considered to represent the main obstacles to women's advancement. It defines strategic objectives and spells out actions to be taken over the next five years by Governments, the international community, nongovernmental organizations and the private sector for the removal of the existing obstacles.
The Platform was further reinforced in the Beijing Declaration. It reaffirmed the commitment of Governments to eliminate discrimination against women and to remove all obstacles to equality. Governments also recognized the need to ensure a gender perspective in their policies and programmes.
Since the 1985 Nairobi Conference on Women, the world has experienced profound changes, with both positive and negative effects on women. A worldwide movement towards democratization has opened up the political process in many nations. The growing strength of women's organizations and feminist groups has become a driving force for change.
At the same time, widespread economic recession, political instability, heavy military spending, poorly designed structural adjustment programmes, the servicing of the external debt burden and continuing environmental degradation have had a disproportionately negative impact on women.
The Platform for Action, an agenda for women's empowerment, seeks to reverse this trend. It seeks to promote and protect the full enjoyment of all human rights and the fundamental freedoms of all women throughout their life cycle. It also calls for establishing the principle of shared power and responsibility between women and men at home, in the workplace and in the wider national and international communities.
The success of the Platform for Action will require a strong commitment on the part of Governments, international organizations and institutions at all levels. It will also require adequate mobilization of resources at all levels as well as new and additional resources for the developing countries.
Today, more than 1 billion people live in extreme poverty; the overwhelming majority of them are women. In the past decade the number of women living in poverty has increased disproportionately to the number of men, and the risk for falling into poverty is higher for women than for men. Poverty is particularly acute among women living in rural households.
Women are poorer because they have fewer economic opportunities and less autonomy than men. Their access to economic resources, education and training, and support services is limited. They also have very little participation in the way decisions are made. The rigidity of socially prescribed roles for women and the tendency to scale back social services have increased the burden of poverty on women.
Education is a human right and an essential tool for achieving equality, development and peace. Though overall progress has been achieved in girls' enrolment at primary and secondary levels, girls in many countries still face discrimination due to customary attitudes, early marriages and pregnancies, lack of accessible schools, and inadequate and gender biased teaching and educational materials. Girls continue to be denied quality education, especially at higher levels and in science and technology. Investing in formal and non formal education and training for girls and women has proved to be one of the best means of achieving sustainable development and economic growth.
Women's health involves their emotional, social and physical well being. it is determined by the social, political and economic context of their lives, as well as by biology. The enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health is vital for the life and well being of women. It is also crucial to their ability to participate in all areas of public and private life, This right must be secured throughout their whole life cycle in equality with men.
The Platform defines reproductive health as a state of complete physical, mental and social well being and sexual health whose purpose is the enhancement of life and personal relations. Equal relationships between men and women in matters of sexual relations and reproduction require mutual respect, consent and shared responsibility. The Platform recognizes that reproductive rights rest on the recognition of the basic human rights of all couples and individuals to decide freely and responsibly how many children they want to have, and when. They also have the right to obtain information and make decisions on reproduction free of discrimination, coercion and violence.
In all societies, to a greater or lesser degree, women and girls are subject to physical, sexual and psychological abuse that cuts across lines of income, class and culture, in both public and private life. They often face rape, sexual abuse, sexual harassment and intimidation in the work place. They are particularly vulnerable to systematic violence during war. Sexual slavery, forced pregnancy, sterilization and forced abortion, prenatal sex selection and female infanticide are also acts of violence. All such acts of violence violate and impair or nullify women's enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms. Such groups of women as migrant workers require special attention because they are particularly vulnerable to violence.
Lack of preventive and protective laws, and lack of access or ineffective enforcement by public authorities of such laws where they exist, only perpetuate and increase violence against women.
Peace is a prerequisite for the attainment of equality between women and men. Unfortunately, armed and other types of conflict still persist in many parts of the world. Aggression, foreign occupation and ethnic and other conflicts are an ongoing reality affecting women and men In nearly every region, aided by excessive military expenditures and the arms trade.
Though women rarely have any role in the decisions leading to armed conflicts, they work to preserve social order in the midst of the conflicts. They also make an important contribution as peace educators and resolvers of conflicts.
The Platform recognizes that rape, which is common during armed conflicts, is a crime, and under certain circumstances is an act of genocide. It condemns "ethnic cleansing" as a strategy of war and rape as one of its consequences. Such practices must be stopped and their perpetrators punished, it asserts.
Women contribute significantly to economic life everywhere. Their share in the labour force continues to rise, they are becoming more involved in micro-, small and medium enterprises and their income is becoming increasingly necessary to all households.
However, women are largely excluded from economic decision-making. They face low wages, poor working conditions and limited employment and professional opportunities. Though women contribute to development through paid as well as unpaid work, their unpaid work, such as domestic and community work, is not measured in quantitative terms and not valued in national accounts.
Discrimination in education and training, hiring, and remuneration and promotion, as well as inflexible working conditions, lack of access to productive resources and inadequate sharing of family responsibilities, contribute to restricted employment, economic and professional opportunities for women.
Women's equal participation in decision-making is not only a demand for simple social justice or democracy. It is essential for achieving transparent and accountable government. It will also provide a balance that more accurately reflects the composition of society.
Despite the widespread movement towards democratization in most countries, women remain largely underrepresented at most levels of government, especially in ministerial and other executive bodies or in reaching the target of having 30 per cent of decision-making positions held by women by 1995, as endorsed by the UN Economic and Social Council. They have achieved little progress in attaining political power in legislative bodies. Globally, only 10 per cent of legislative positions, and a lower percentage of ministerial positions, are held by women.
Similarly, the unclerrepresentation of women in decision-making positions in the arts, culture, sports, the media, education, religion and law have prevented women from having a significant impact on many key institutions and policies.
Most countries have established institutions for the advancement of women. These are diverse in form and uneven in their effectiveness. They are often marginalized in national government structures, without a clear mandate, and lack adequate staff and resources as well as support from national political leadership. At the regional and international levels, mechanisms and institutions for the advancement of women encounter similar problems.
Many organizations have developed methodologies for gender-based policy analysis. Unfortunately, they are applied either sporadically or not at all.
All human rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated. Their full and equal enjoyment by women and girls is a priority for Governments and the United Nations and is essential for the advancement of women.
Governments must not only refrain from violating the human rights of all women but work actively to promote and protect these rights,
Recognition of the importance of women's human rights is reflected in the fact that three quarters of the UN Member States have become parties to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. However, the gap between the existence of rights and their effective enjoyment derives from a lack of commitment by Governments in promoting and protecting those rights and the failure of Governments to inform women and men alike about them.
Today, many women work in the media, but few have reached positions at decision-making levels. In most countries, the media continue to project a negative and degrading image of women and do not reflect women's diverse lives and contributions to society. Violent and degrading or pornographic media products in particular affect women negatively.
Everywhere the media have the potential to make a far greater contribution to the advancement of women. They can create self-regulatory mechanisms that can help eliminate gender biased programming. Women can also be empowered by having greater skills, knowledge and access to information technology.
Through their management and use of natural resources, women provide sustenance to their families and communities. As consumers and producers, caretakers of their families and educators, women play an important role in promoting sustainable development.
The deterioration of natural resources results in negative effects on the health, well-being and quality of life of the population at large, especially girls and women of all ages.
However, women, who are rarely formally trained as natural-resource managers, remain largely absent from decision-making and have their experience and skills too often marginalized. Despite the leadership role played by women's organizations, institutional coordination with national bodies is very weak.
In many countries, the girl-child faces discrimination from the earliest stages of life, through childhood and into adulthood. Due to harmful attitudes and practices, such as female genital mutilation, son preference, early marriage, sexual exploitation and practices related to health and food allocation, fewer girls than boys survive into adulthood in some areas of the world. Due to lack of protective laws, or failure to enforce such laws, girls are more vulnerable to all kinds of violence, particularly sexual violence. In many regions, girls face discrimination in access to education and specialized training.
More than 15 million girls aged 15 to 19 each year give birth and face pregnancy-related complications. Girls are also more vulnerable than boys to the consequences of unprotected and premature sexual relations, including HIV/AIDS.
The Platform for Action establishes a set of actions that should lead to fundamental change. Immediate action and accountability are essential if the targets are to be met by the year 2000.
Governments are primarily responsible for their implementation. However, success depends also on various national, regional and international institutions, public and private, which require clear and strong mandates, authority and resources.
To ensure system-wide implementation of the Platform and to advise on gender issues, the Secretary-General of the United Nations is invited to establish a high-level post in his office. The Platform also calls for committing adequate financial resources from all sources and across all sectors.
Published by the United Nations Department of Public Information
DPI/1762/WOM-November 1995--50M
Reprint-96-93123-June 1996--30M
For further information contact:
Department of Public Information
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©1999 Dessima Williams and CIMTech at Brandeis University. All rights reserved. Further copywright and contact information available at the site index.
United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women