Preparatory
Meeting Holds Panel Debate on
Institutional Mechanisms for the Advancement of Women
Geneva, 21 January 2000
Setting of
Targets and Time Limits Recommended; NGOs Call
for Fifth World Conference on Women in 2005
European Governments, non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) and agencies participating in a panel discussion this morning on
"institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women" called for the setting
of targets and time limits as a way of ensuring sufficient consideration of women's issues
in Government and other decision-making institutions, and said more rhetoric than action
had occurred on the issue so far.
The debate was part of a three-day
Regional Preparatory Meeting on the 2000 Review of the Implementation of the Beijing
Platform for Action which will conclude this afternoon. The gathering, organized by the
Economic Commission for Europe (ECE), in partnership with the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the UN Division
for the Advancement of Women, the Council of Europe, and the European Commission, is
intended to provide European input for a special session of the United Nations General
Assembly entitled "Women 2000: Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the
Twenty-First Century" to be held in June in New York. The General Assembly will focus
on progress made in the wake of the Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing five
years ago.
Panellists on the topic of institutional
mechanisms for the advancement of women were Vera
Kosmik, Director of the Women's Policy Office of the Government of the Republic of
Slovenia; Mieke Verloo, Professor of Women's
Studies at the University of Nijmegen in the Netherlands; and Annette Lawson, Chairperson of the National Alliance
of Women's Organizations, of the United Kingdom.
In her introductory remarks, Ms. Kosmik
said, among other things, that national mechanisms for women's advancement should be
established in all European nations and should be incorporated into the specific contexts
of the countries concerned, but cautioned that institutional progress would take
"years and years" and would require continuous pressure and monitoring by
women's organizations.
Ms. Verloo told the meeting that policies
for "gender mainstreaming" had been adopted by many European Governments, but
not much action had followed, and it was time to move beyond rhetoric. She added that in a
number of the region's newer democracies, Governments facing serious economic problems had
claimed that gender issues would have to wait until later -- a worrisome attitude that had
to be changed.
Ms. Lawson, speaking on behalf of NGOs
attending the session, said that time-based targets should be set to measure institutional
progress in achieving gender equality and that sufficient resources be provided to meet
them. She said European NGOs were in favour of holding a Fifth World Conference on Women
in the year 2005.
Also participating in the morning's debate
were representatives of Finland; Ukraine; Assembly of First Nations; KARAT Coalition;
Italy; France; Croatia; CHANGE; Sweden; Georgia; Israel; Kazakhstan; Women's World
Foundation; Turkey; Belgium; Netherlands; Albania; Turkmenistan; Norway; Uzbekistan;
Belarus; Azerbaijan; Spain; The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia; and Action Canada
for Population and Development.
The preparatory meeting will resume at 4
p.m. to adopt agreed conclusions for the European region to be forwarded to the General
Assembly Special Session in June.
Introductory statements of panellists
VERA KOSMIK, Director of the Women's
Policy Office of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia, said a great deal had been
achieved in the five years since the Beijing Conference on women; the new democracies of
eastern Europe had become more well-established and now were focusing on such matters as
gender policy -- it was necessary that these democracies accept gender policy as an
integral part of all their activities. Many obstacles and barriers blocked further
progress, and these barriers varied from country to country. Clearly national mechanisms
for women's advancement had to be incorporated into the specific contexts of the countries
concerned; nonetheless, good practices from all regions and nations could and should be
considered as the basis of a useful "common policy".
Some countries had, since Beijing,
established ministries for the advancement of women. Other countries were less
well-advanced. Slovenia had been the first former socialist country to set up a national
mechanism for women's advancement; it had occurred as a result of pressure from women's
groups. Since then, however, not much had happened to change the relative power of women
in Government and society or to change traditional male-dominated attitudes. It was
understood that thorough achievement of equality for women would take years and years and
would require continuous pressure from women and women's groups -- at the moment, gender
equality occupied a low position in the hierarchy of issues concerning the Slovenian
Government.
MIEKE VERLOO, Professor of Women's Studies
at the University of Nijmegen in the Netherlands, said it was time to move beyond
rhetoric; Governments had to consider the impact on gender before they took decisions.
Currently in the European region, that, unfortunately, did not happen. Gender
mainstreaming had been adopted in all European Union countries and in several that were
applying for EU membership, but few had carried out any real action to achieve gender
mainstreaming. Other countries, however, amounting to half the nations of Europe, had not
even adopted gender-mainstreaming strategies; these countries said that the focus now had
to be on economic advancement, and that gender issues had to wait until later. That was a
very worrisome attitude; gender mainstreaming had to be established now before political
and institutional habits in these new democracies were set and women's points of view were
left out.
NGOs could play a key role in working with
Governments to establish support programmes and gender-mainstreaming strategies.
Currently, even policies and Government programmes on such matters as transport, which
might be considered gender-neutral, were, when studied, not gender-neutral; changing
attitudes and Government policy-formation procedures was not easy and took time. For
countries in transition, policies about restructuring of economies and for peace- and
democracy-building were essential, it was also essential that they be subjected to a
gender perspective. When critical areas had been identified, it was important to assign
sufficient resources, and such resources should come from regular budgets. The next step
was to set specific measures for progress: benchmarks and targets. It also had to be
emphasized that gender-mainstreaming improved the overall quality of policies.
ANNETTE LAWSON, Chairperson of the
National Alliance of Women's Organizations, of the United Kingdom, said recent years had
seen enormous changes in political and economic organization in the ECE region, especially
in the so-called countries in transition, and that such changes had not necessarily been
positive for women; however, there also had been positive and exciting developments. For
further progress towards achieving gender equality, it was necessary to muster sufficient
political will, to focus more attention on gender-mainstreaming issues, and to allocate
sufficient resources. Good practices also deserved to be studied and replicated; in
several countries of central and eastern Europe, for example, consultations with NGOs had
helped in the devising of effective national action plans.
Useful recommendations for progress
included the setting of time-based goals and benchmarks -- gender-equality targets should
be set to be met at all levels by specific dates. Civil-society dialogue also was helpful,
especially when NGOs were given effective access to Governments and decision-makers.
Institutional mechanisms and decision-making systems should be transparent to ensure
public accountability, and gender-analysis of Government budgets was necessary. It also
seemed necessary to the NGOs of the European region that there be a Fifth World Conference
on Women in the year 2005. Only with such a conference could women's NGOs, Governments,
and international institutions be brought together to continue progress towards gender
equality.
YVES BERTHELOT, Executive Secretary of the
ECE, adding to the debate, said the ECE would respond to the comments made at the meeting
by emphasizing gender mainstreaming within its areas of competence, including such fields
as statistics. The ECE's Conference of European Statisticians, for example, was where
policies and practices were set on statistical compilation for the region, and this body
would continue to concentrate on gender-based data.
Discussion
A repeated theme in comments from the
floor was that Governments in the new democracies of central and eastern Europe -- the
"transition countries" -- needed advice, help, and even pressure to advance the
institutional empowerment of women; these countries lacked experience in such concepts,
speakers said, and traditional attitudes, especially in times of economic difficulty, were
hard to change.
As with panel discussions earlier in the
week, numerous national representatives described steps taken by their own Governments to
set up institutional mechanisms for gender advancement and to spur and measure progress.
It was noted repeatedly that continuous monitoring was required and that benchmarks and
time-bound targets were necessary, or policies for gender advancement would languish. It
also was stated that institutional change occurred slowly and that women and women's
groups had to gird themselves for long, persistent campaigns to win lasting progress.
Sufficient official funding had to be provided for Government gender-advancement
programmes and policies, it was emphasized -- without money, little progress was achieved.
Mentioned among national methods for achieving institutional progress were educational
programmes on gender issues given to civil servants; employment of other countries'
"best practices"; "partnerships" between Governments and NGOs;
financial support for NGOs focusing on gender issues; and creation of NGO councils to work
with Governments on policy setting.
Several NGO representatives said
Governments had to stick to the commitments they had made in adopting the Beijing Platform
for Action; they complained that to date Governments had broken their promises to
implement the Platform and said the credibility of these Governments would be eroded if
they did not put the Platform into effect.
* * *
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