WOMEN-OUTLOOK 2000: The Slow March Towards Gender Equity

By Marcela Valente Reprint | | Print |

Marcela Valente

BUENOS AIRES, Nov 23 1999 (IPS) - In Uganda, a non-governmental organisation hails successful efforts to reduce genital mutilations; in Jordan women no longer have to obtain permission from their husbands or fathers to apply for a passport; and in Fiji, an increasing numbers of women are gaining access to political posts.

The examples symbolise the significant strides women in developing countries have madein the past five years towards eliminating gender discrimination. But there is still a long way to go to close the gap between agreements reached on paper and day- to-day realities in all regions.

In Uganda, which has the largest concentration of AIDS (Acquired Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome) orphans in the world, the disease continues spreading like wildfire, especially among poor, uneducated women who cling stubbornly to cultural values that often lead them to the grave.

In Africa and the Arabian peninsula, an estimated two million girls are subjected annually to genital mutilation, while many girls and adolescents are the victims of abduction and forced marriages, according to the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA).

Over half of all women in Africa and one-third of Latin American women have their first child during adolescence. In Asia, especially in the wake of the recent financial meltdown, networks of sexual exploitation and sex tourism have spread their tentacles, affecting another two million girls, teenagers and women.

For many engaged in human rights activism, the fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995, attended by delegates of 189 governments and 2,600 Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), was a watershed marking a “before” and “after” in the movement seeking to put an end to inequities and promote equal participation by women and men in the development process.

The conference gave rise to a Platform for Action calling on governments to act in areas affecting women, such as poverty, education, health, domestic violence, armed conflict, human rights, communications media, environment, participation in the economy and political decision-making.

The headway made on the commitments will be assessed by “Beijing+5”, a special United Nations assembly slated for next June in New York, and women’s organisations worldwide are equipping themselves for that conference by evaluating the progress made in their respective regions.

In dialogue with IPS, Noeleen Heyzer, executive director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), says: “I believe we are at the start of a new and enlightened millenium for gender equality. Governments the world over are more willing than ever before to develop programs that promote women’s progress.”

A total of “32 nations have now created reservation systems to bring more women into political offices; 165 have ratified the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women; and a major international effort to end violence against women is changing laws and customs in all regions,” she says.

Heyzer lamented, however, that besides the opportunities it presented, globalisation also threatened the economic security of women. Heyzer attributes the progress made by women largely to “the courageous and vibrant activism of women’s networks” across all regions.

She added that “the strength of this movement is only increasing, as women use new forms of communication technology to reach out and support each other in ways that were never before possible.”

And the UN official applauded the fact that women were finding “many creative ways to translate…the strong global consensus on gender equality, as expressed in United Nations agreements such as the Beijing Platform for Action…into concrete and effective local action.”

But now “our challenge is making sure that we follow our words with actions,” she underlined. Some of the gains made are reflected in UNFPA’s report on the progress seen in the last 30 years.

The document points out that from 1969 to 1999, the average number of children per woman had dropped in Asia, Africa and Latin America from six to less than three, thanks to improved access to family planning services and birth control methods.

But the study indicates that there are still 350 million women worldwide who lack access to safe and sure contraceptives, while an estimated 20 million abortions are practiced annually in developing countries, 70,000 of which end in death due to unclean and unsafe conditions.

In Latin America, the birth control method par excellence is sterilisation, often carried out without the woman’s consent, according to the Latin American Centre for Women’s Health.

The fourth most widely used “birth control method” is abortion, which nevertheless remains illegal in most countries in the region.

Among those who decide to carry their pregnancies to term, the situation generally bears little resemblance to the idyllic image of a pregnant woman sitting in a rocking chair and gazing out the window with a dreamy look in her eyes.