Only
8 months have passed since the United Nations Fourth World Conference
on Women (FWCW), and the push to implement its strategies for
women's equality are in full swing in the United States. At Expo
'96, speakers discussed implementing the "Platform for Action,"
the official document of the FWCW. Though not legally binding,
the Platform for Action represents a political contract with the
world's women. Representatives from government, education, and
nonprofit organizations described advocacy to make the recommendations
from the FWCW a reality.
US Platform Implementation
Establishment of a President's Interagency Council on Women to coordinate implementation of the Platform for Action by the United States government was one of the eight commitments made by President Clinton prior to the Beijing Conference. Interagency Council of Women representatives Teresa Loar and Kathy Hendrix reported that through the Interagency Council, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will launch new initiatives on teen pregnancy reduction, breast and cervical cancer and HIV/AID. In addition, the U.S. Agency for International Development (AID) has launched microenterprise programs in 15 countries to make credit more accessible to poor women entrepreneurs in the developing world. An Interagency Council on Women report announcing additional initiatives is expected later this Spring.
Bella Abzug, Co-chair of Women's Environment and Development Organization and Leslie Wolfe, President of the Center for Women's Policy Studies, described a joint initiative, the Contract for Women in the United States. Endorsed by over 80 women's organizations, the Contract adapts major recommendations from the Platform for Action to a national grassroots campaign to make women's concerns central to policy making at federal, state and local levels. Several women state legislators have developed parallel state-level progressive "contracts" that reflect women's concerns at the state and local level.
Native American women are using the Platform for Action's recommendations on indigenous women to bolster advocacy for sovereignty and economic development for Native American peoples. Out of 555 officially recognized tribal governments, 125 are currently run by women. Gloria Duus, President of Women Empowering Women of Indian Nations (WEWIN) and a member of the Navaho tribe, set up the first tribally-funded women's program on her reservation ten years ago. Duus asked that all women's groups help hold Congress accountable for breaking long-established Native American treaties. WEWIN will work to get more Native American women on Boards of Directors and will forge ties with women in other countries starting with an exchange program with Kenyan women.
Violence against women and improving images of women were much discussed at the FWCW. Nell Merlino, Director of Communication for the 1995 NGO Forum on Women and consultant with the YWCA described the YWCA's national campaign to enlist non-violent men in the fight to decrease all forms of violence. In addition, the YWCA will launch a "week without violence" which will include collecting firearms from people at local YWCAs in exchange for toys, concert tickets and gift certificates.
Women students and professors are also
making use of the Platform for Action. Joan Winship, Vice-President
of the Stanley Foundation noted that faculty have reorganized
courses to focus on using the Platform for Action as an organizing
agent. Nicole Lattimer, a student at Marymount Manhattan
College announced that as a result of the Fourth World Conference
on Women, she started a newspaper to educate young adults on social
and economic issues. And Claire Moses, Chair, of Women's
Studies at the University of Maryland - College Park announced
the creation an international network of women's studies groups.
Empowering Women Worldwide
The Platform for Action contains substantial recommendations on strengthening ensuring women's human rights, including eliminating violence against. Given the U.S.'s major role in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), U.S. women should advocate that the US pressure NATO to arrest and prosecute war criminals responsible for mass rape and genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovnia, suggested Charlotte Bunch, Director of the Center for Women's Global Leadership.
Traditionally, international institutions such as the World Bank have been notorious for policies that ignored and even harmed women. Susan Davis, Executive Director of the Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO) urged that U.S. women's groups support Women's Eyes on World Bank, a campaign created at the FWCW to increase the participation of grassroots women in the World Bank's policymaking, the World Bank's investment in projects that directly benefit women and the number and racial diversity of women in World Bank senior management positions.
Frances Kissling, President
of Catholics for a Free Choice, asked that U.S. women address
the exportation of fundamentalism from the U.S. to other countries
as well as the various forms of violence perpetuated by the U.S.
military. And Kit Cosby, Deputy-Director of the National
Spiritual Assembly of the Bahai's, asked Expo '96 participants
to pressure the U.S. Senate to ratify the Convention to Eliminate
All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), a UN treaty
already signed by 148 countries.
To get involved in the U.S. chapter of the Women's Eyes on the Bank campaign, contact Nancy Forsythe, Department of Sociology, University of Maryland, College Park. College Park, MD 20742. T: (301) 405-6420 Email: af55@umail.umd.edu
