CIAO DATE: 08/07

Georgetown Journal of International Affairs

Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, Volume 7, Number 2, Summer/Fall 2006

 

Empowering Women: Ten Years after the Beijing Conference
Carolyn Hannan

 

Excerpt

Carolyn Hannan has served as director of the UN's Division for the Advancement of Women since December 2001.

In the context of the ten-year review of implementation of the global policy framework, the Beijing Platform for Action, an historical perspective allows for a critical assessment of progress made and identification of both the major achievements that should be built upon and gaps and obstacles that will need to be addressed in the years to come. The article provides an overview of efforts to promote gender equality and empowerment of women and highlights the central role of the UN. It begins by outlining the importance of the four world conferences on women organized between 1975 and 1995, as well as the adoption of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 1979. It discusses the critical influence of non-governmental organizations. The article highlights the broader context of the World Summits in 2000 and 2005, the MDGs, and the work of the Security Council, and discusses some of the challenges in moving forward.

Six decades of work by the UN

The Charter of the UN established in 1945 endorsed equality between women and men as a fundamental human right.1 Initially, the UN focused its work on developing awareness of the status and situation of women around the world and establishing legal measures to protect the human rights of women. By the mid 1960s, the UN had developed a strong focus on women’s role in economic and social development.

Efforts to increase equality between women and men and facilitate the empowerment of women were significantly enhanced with the first UN world conference on women in Mexico in 1975 and the proclamation of the International Decade for the Advancement of Women from 1976-1985.2 Three further world conferences on women were organized in Copenhagen (1980), Nairobi (1985), and Beijing (1995). The world conferences set in motion a systematic cycle of research and analysis, goal-setting, reviewing progress to identify achievements as well as gaps and obstacles, and renewing and expanding commitments.

The UN has played a major role globally as a catalyst for change,particularly in the promotion and protection of the human rights of women, formulation of policy recommendations in critical areas, collection of information and statistics, and monitoring progress.3 The UN has been the political forum where much of the critical discussion has taken place and important global decisions have been made. The work of the Commission on the Status of Women, which held its fiftieth session and commemorated sixty years of work in 2006, has been particularly significant for the promotion of gender equality, development, and peace. As well as providing a unique opportunity for the exchange of experiences and good practices in the annual meetings of gender equality experts, the Commission has been responsible for organizing and following up the world conferences on women.

A crucial factor in ensuring that States parties comply with international conventions and policy commitments at the national level is pressure from civil society. The world conferences increased the voice of women’s organizations in shaping the work of the UN. Women’s groups and networks have played a significant role in moving the global agenda forward, energizing the debates, and contributing to the increased visibility of gender equality issues. A great deal of the sustained attention and achievements at the national level has been due to their efforts. The increasing partnerships between governments and civil society, including representation of non-governmental organizations on government delegations at inter-governmental meetings, provides strategic opportunities to influence the direction of efforts on gender equality and women's empowerment.

1 Charter of the UN, Articles 1(3) and 8, signed 26 June 1945.
2 UN, The UN and the Advancement of Women 1945 - 1996 (New York, UN, 1996).
3 Carolyn Hannan, Promoting equality between women and men in bilateral development cooperation. Concepts, goals, rationales and institutional arrangements (Lund, Sweden: Lund University, 2000), 122-147.