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Published on 10/16/1995 All articles from this issue

Residents optimistic about future of women after international conference

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By Sallie Reid

Special to the Town CrierLos Altos Hills resident Larissa Keet and Los Altos businesswoman Bonita Banducci recently returned from China where they attended the largest international conference for women in history.

The non-governmental forum, which took place from Aug. 31 to Sept. 8 in the Beijing suburb of Huairou, drew more than 35,000 women from 189 countries, and overlapped with the United Nations Fourth World Conference held from Sept. 4-15 in downtown Beijing.

Keet, who participated in both conferences, observed these meetings provide an unusual opportunity for "grassroots" women to influence international policy. For example, each day members of the official U.S. delegation to the U.N. made the two-hour round trip to Huairou to listen to the needs and ideas being expressed at the forum. Subsequently, more than 3,000 NGO participants attended the second week of the U.N. conference where they continued to meet in interest groups and make their opinions known to their countries' delegations.

As important as the relationship between the U.N. and NGO delegations was the interaction among all the women as they pursued their special concerns. For two weeks in Huairou, women of every race, religious persuasion, nationality and ideology met together for workshops, seminars and general discussions. Major topic areas were women's health, education, freedom from violence and economic/political status. Panels included titles such as "The impact of National Conflicts on Women-A Case Study in Southern Sudan;" "Feminist Economic Theory and Social Policy," and "Post-Modern Women in a Post-Communist Country" (presented by women from the Czech Republic).

Keet was pleased her seminar on conflict resolution met with success. She and colleague Janet Boggia led groups of women from enormously divergent backgrounds as they grappled with the concept of mutual gain in negotiation. One woman from a country at war with itself said quietly for the first time she had hope for seemingly unresolvable conflict.

Banducci's seminar, "Unmasking the Gender Effect: The Competitive Strategy of Women in Business for Sustainable Global Development" emphasized the talent many women have for producing results through team building and co-operation. She underscored the importance the "doable bottom line" - profit and social responsibility - that women in business must promote and defend. Banducci envisions a culture shift toward successful enterprise that is also relationally sound and morally non-expedient. She came away from the conference with the profound sense that her vision is shared by many women worldwide, as evidenced by their willingness to work within their NGOs, and with private sector profit makers toward this transition in values and strategy. Women in business also plan to unite globally to support each other and to speak as one voice in promoting their agendas.

A recurring question from onlookers, however, has been whether these conferences will actually make a difference now that the party's over. It is still the case that:

• Of the 1.3 billion people who live in extreme poverty, estimates are that 70 percent are women;

• Of the 1 billion people who are illiterate, two-thirds are women;
• Of the 40 percent of women who make up the world's paid workforce, less than 6 percent hold positions in senior management;

• Of approximately 200 countries in the world, as of late 1995, only 10 women occupied the position of president or prime minster.

In addition, each day more than 1,000 women die from lack of adequate medical care, especially for pregnancy-related complications; female genital mutilation and bride burnings for inadequate dowery are commonplace. In many countries, women's inferior status in held in place de jure as well as de facto, and globally, the discrepancy between women's and men's wages for identical work is widespread.

Despite the work that remains to be done in redressing these problems, progress has been made, and the infrastructure to ensure continuing progress becomes sounder and more expansive as a result of international conferences like these. For example, following the first U.N./NGO Conferences in 1975, the U.N. established the Convention of the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1979. CEDAW successfully has supported anti-discrimination legislation in many countries since that time.

At the U.N., in response to the women's rights, countries are slowly implementing specific remedial measures. Kenya, exemplifying the intent of the 1993 U.N. General Assembly Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women, banded female genital mutilation in 1990 and set an example for other African states. Some countries, most notably Sweden, Norwary, Denmark, and France, have experimented successfully with establishing quotas for women's participation in political parties. Brazil, Greece, and Hyngary have endorsed the concept of proportional representation.

Despite press reports of discord among various women's factions, such as those represented by the Vatican, Muslim, and American anti-abortion groups, or the lesbian community, this conference demonstrated that women's similarities and goals outweigh their differences. The enthusiasm mirrored by Keet and Banducci, as well as 30 other women from the Mid-Peninsula who went to China, is an indication that women are moving forward in a renewed alliance with one another toward a better future not just for women but for humankind and for the planet.

Dr. Sallie Reid , a Palo Alto resident and former Los Altos resident, has a private psychotherapy practice in Menlo Park, is a staff psychologist at Kaiser Santa Teresa in San Jose and an ombudsperson for Pacific Graduate School of Psychology. Her particular interests include conflict resolution and international human rights.