Women progress still minimal, despite strategies

JAKARTA (JP): Asia and Pacific countries have made little progress in the last decade in terms of ensuring equality and development for women, officials said yesterday.

The second day of the Second Asian and Pacific Ministerial Meeting on Women in Development, yesterday, reviewed the condition of women in 50 countries in the region since the last World Conference on Women in 1985 in Nairobi.

The delegates used the Nairobi Forward-Looking Strategies (NFLS) as their yardstick for the Advancement of Women. NFLS was adopted by consensus in 157 countries, which set "Equality, Development and Peace" as the main objectives for women's development.

Despite concerted efforts for advancement and empowerment, many delegates still found much to be desired. Violence against women -- including rape and spousal abuse -- limited education opportunities and the degrading image of women in the mass media were among the major issues discussed by dozens of delegates at the conference, convened by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.

The delegates decried women's limited access to political decision making, a condition which they said leads to the establishment of policies which either by-pass women or work counter to their interests and welfare.

Malaysian delegates said violence against women, including rape, domestic violence and spousal abuse, are still widespread and often go unreported. They called for affirmative action by relevant institutions to address the problems adequately.

The Malaysian spokeswoman said her country was fortunate because they had succeeded in ratifying a bill on domestic violence which is expected to mete out stiffer penalties for, and presumably deter, violators.

The 1993 Vienna Declaration of Human Rights stated that violence against women, even within the family, should be treated as a violation of women's human rights, for which the state is responsible.

At least two country delegates, Malaysia and Iran, spoke about the "degrading image of women" carried in the media. They said these images reinforced the age-old patriarchal prejudices and gender-biases that have kept women from assuming a partnership role in the home, on the social front or in the work-force.

Media

Both countries agreed that the existing situation of women, vis-a-vis in the media in the Asian and Pacific region during the last decade, shows that the portrayal of women has worsened. They said that this was especially true of the electronic media.

Dr. Parvin Maroofi from Iran told The Jakarta Post that, although her country has no problem of censorship over local media, the country has been overwhelmed by an onslaught of Western broadcasts via satellite.

"We recognize the benefits of the rapid advancements in communication technology, but we are concerned to see how our children enamored with films containing values which run counter to our own," Maroofi said.

In a more upbeat tone, Indonesian delegates spoke about the success their country has made in incorporating the women's perspective in overall development policies.

Chief delegate Syamsiah Ahmad said that efforts have been made to promote gender-sensitivity in the government apparatus and especially with those in decision making positions.

However, she also called for more concerted efforts to spearhead the women's movement into an era of empowerment.

The week-long Jakarta conference on women in development is expected to establish a plan of action to bring about more equal participation of women in politics and public administration.

Several key steps will be incorporated in the plan of action, ranging from the selection, appointment and promotion of women to higher political, judicial and administrative positions, to the establishment of quotas for women's representations in legislative bodies at various levels.

The 1985 NFLS defines women's empowerment as a process that influences gender relations, changes in the perception that women have of themselves and of others, and the way the roles and functions of women are defined.

As of June 1993, only 10.3 percent of seats in the lower chambers of parliaments around the globe were held by women even though they make up half of the bodies politic.

In the Asia-Pacific region, the situation is worse than elsewhere, according to ESCAP.

The countries of Kiribati, Papua New Guinea and Tonga have no women in parliament; those countries with the largest representation of women in parliament include China (21.3 %); Democratic People's Republic of Korea (20.1%); Vietnam (17.7%); Indonesia (12.5%); and Bangladesh (10.3%). (swe)