Among the 35,000 plus women gathered in Beijing and Huairou in September 1995, ten were from The Feminist Majority. Here are on-site accounts that Feminist Majority Delegation members posted on The Feminist Majority Foundation Online throughout the conference. |
August 30, 1995 - Christine Onyango and Elizabeth Spahn
Opening Ceremony of the NGO Forum Amid tight security and restricted access for NGO Forum participants, the Opening Ceremony of the NGO Forum unfolded at the Olympic Stadium in Beijing. 20,000 Forum participants allowed access to the festivities watched as thousands of elaborately costumed young people performed intricate dances to music ranging from Beethoven's Ode to Joy to traditional Beijing Opera selections. Women performed the traditional Chinese lion dance, normally reserved to men.
Speeches by Gertrude Mongella, Secretary-General for the UN Fourth World Conference on Women, and Khunying Supatra Masdit, Convenor of the NGO Forum on Women, welcomed the conference to Beijing. "Millions have placed their trust in us, we must not fail them," declared Gertrude Mongella.
Equality, Development and Peace are the general themes of the NGO Forum, but the opening remarks remained brief and general. The largest ovation was reserved for the Secretary-General of the First World Conference on Women (Mexico, 1975), Helvi Sipila, who stressed the importance of women's work for world peace.
Many observers at the Opening Ceremony were surprised at the lack of focus on substantive women's issues. Some compared the extravaganza to an Olympic sports event. Other participants remarked that the event lacked the feminist momentum generated at the stirring opening ceremony at the Third World Conference in Nairobi, 1985. Still, many appreciated the feminist imagery and youthful energy of the gala.
Invitations to the Opening Ceremony were in short supply. Forum participants spent anxious hours chasing rumors in attempts to obtain the precious passes. Although the Chinese Organizing Committee limited the number of invitations, the unenviable task of distributing passes fell to hapless hotel concierges. Facing disappointed and tense conference participants, some hotel employees helpfully offered to broker underground sales of the free passes.
Security measures were fairly tight, although less intense that the Cairo U.N. Population Conference, where terrorists threats overshadowed the proceedings. Chinese security searched bags, confiscating bottles of mineral water. Uniformed and plainclothes Chinese police sat among the audience watching the extravaganza.
Schedule of Plenaries
Statistics on the Status of Women
Copyright 1995, The Feminist Majority Foundation and New Media Publishing Inc.
