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. |
September 12, 1995 - Colleen Dermody
Human Life International Vows to Barnstorm US Elections in '96 Saying that the "Platform for Action at the Fourth World Conference on Women is laced with provisions that would take control of the mental, moral, emotional and physical well-being of children away from the family -- the basic unit of society -- and transfer it to national and multinational bureaucracies," spokeswomen of several "Family Life" groups protested the Platform for Action at a late afternoon press conference.
In her statement, Dale O' Leary, who lists herself as a freelance writer for Catholic World Report and a radio newscaster, called the proposed Platform for Action a "war on motherhood...lead by Bella Abzug and the girls from WEDO."
O'Leary also asserted in her statement that the "gender feminists" want "statistical equality requiring all women to work outside the home...and, according to gender feminists, womanhood, heterosexuality, and motherhood are not natural, but socially constructed roles and women should be free to choose their gender, their sexual orientation, their lifestyle, and even their sexual identity."
Anette Moran, spokesperson and director of education for Family Life International based in New Zealand said that her group would take the children's rights sections f the Platform and "create a firestorm of opposition from conservatives," in the coming year in New Zealand.
Schedule of Plenaries
Statistics on the Status of Women
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