500 women from Asia, Pacific convence here<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Around 500 women from 50 Asian and Pacific
\ncountries began yesterday a conference on women in development,
\nready to tackle crucial issues including discrimination and the
\nburden poverty places on women.<\/p>\n
State Minister for Women's Roles Mien Sugandhi opened the
\nSecond Asian and Pacific Ministerial Meeting on Women in
\nDevelopment calling for more gender-sensitive development
\npolicies.<\/p>\n
She reminded the participants that economic gains in many
\nparts of the world have not completely reached women. \"Throughout
\nthe world, poverty persists with an unequal claim on women and
\nchildren,\" she said in her opening remarks.<\/p>\n
\"It is our goal to now move towards economic self-reliance for
\nwomen through greater access to economic resources and control
\nover the necessary economic tools,\" she said.<\/p>\n
In order to achieve the objectives, women must have access to
\nhigher education and the opportunity for training, she said.<\/p>\n
She also touched on the issue of leadership, saying that there
\nare now a greater number of women in decision-making positions
\nthan ever before in history.<\/p>\n
Despite the progress, however, women still have a
\ndisproportionately small number of high level positions within
\ngovernment and international organizations. \"This, through our
\nunswerving determination, will change\".<\/p>\n
\"Women are not seeking to formulate a set of rights, but
\nrather to exercise and enjoy inalienable human rights as
\nrecognized by the international community,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Mien was accompanied by Seiko Takahashi, the deputy Secretary
\nExecutive of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission
\nfor Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), under whose auspices the week-
\nlong conference is being held.<\/p>\n
Inequities<\/p>\n
Takahashi said that despite the gains that have been made in
\nterms of education, health and employment in many countries in
\nthe region, inequities and the lack of progress for women
\ncontinue to be evident.<\/p>\n
\"Access to economic and political decision-making remain
\nelusive for the group,\" she said, pointing out that the
\npercentage of female parliamentarians in the region has not
\nimproved between 1987 and 1993.<\/p>\n
\"In fact, there has even been a marginal decrease of one
\npercent,\" she said. She attributed the discriminatory conditions
\nto the fact that only 18 ESCAP members in the region have
\nratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
\nDiscrimination against Women (CEDAW).<\/p>\n
She also pointed out that uneven economic growth has forced
\nmany countries in the region to implement economic restructuring
\nand structural adjustment policies which, while offering the
\npotential for long term growth, have resulted in declines in
\nincome and growing unemployment.<\/p>\n
Women as a group have been the most severely affected by the
\nnegative effects of these economic structural adjustment, she
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
\"This feminization of poverty has accelerated in some parts of
\nthis region exacerbated by the growing number of female-headed
\nand female-maintained households,\" she noted.<\/p>\n
The conference, which is a prelude to the September 1995 World
\nConference on Women in Beijing, is expected to draw up a plan of
\naction for the advancement of women in Asia and the Pacific.<\/p>\n
It will start discussing today several studies which have been
\nprepared by an expert group concerning the regional
\nimplementation of a number of \"forward-looking strategies for the
\nadvancement of women to the year 2000\" drafted in the 1985
\nconference in Nairobi.<\/p>\n
Themes<\/p>\n
Three major themes will dominate the week-long conference:
\nwomen in economic development, women in social development, and
\nwomen and empowerment.<\/p>\n
The conference is also the first ESCAP meeting on women in
\ndevelopment which involves the perspectives of non-governmental
\norganizations (NGOs). During the formal meetings, representatives
\nof 50 NGOs from countries in the region also held their own
\nmeetings in an adjacent room.<\/p>\n
The opening ceremony was also marked with a \"peace march\" by
\naround 30 Indonesian activists.<\/p>\n
Clad in white T-shirts and blouses and holding white orchids,
\nthe young women sang patriotic songs, and read poems expressing
\nconcern over women's plight in many parts of the world.<\/p>\n
One of the poems was entitled \"A Note for Marsinah\" and
\nwritten by activists from the Philippines for the slain labor
\nactivist Marsinah. \"The best way to remember a person is to keep
\non fighting...\" it said. (swe)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/500-women-from-asia-pacific-convence-here-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}