15th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women

This year marks the 15th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women, which was held in Beijing, China in 1995.  With one hundred and eighty-nine Member States adopting the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which laid out a comprehensive agenda for women’s political and economic empowerment and the foundations for gender mainstreaming.  The Conference was seen as an historic milestone in the advancement to attain global gender equality and women’s and girls’ empowerment.

Since the Beijing conference, a number of significant UN and government steps have been taken toward securing women’s rights, including Goal 3 for Gender Equality in the Millennium Development Goals, the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution (SCR) 1325 on Women, Peace & Security, in October 2000 and then the subsequent adoption of Resolution SCR 1820 on Sexual Violence in Conflict, in June 2008.  The Resolutions, along with continued activism by organizations promoting women’s rights, have led to improved and increased national laws to address violence against women.

While improvements over the last  fifteen years have been seen, the 12 critical areas of action towards the achievement of gender equality, which were identified by Beijing Platform for Action identified, including that of the girl child, for which it was set forth to:

* Eliminate all forms of discrimination, as well as negative cultural attitudes and practices, against girls.

* Ensure that girls develop a positive self-image and have equal access to education and health care.

* Protect girls from economic exploitation and eliminate violence against them.

Woman and girls have been striving for throughout time for equality, for full equality. By equality, one means equal access to food, shelter, healthcare, education, employment and the right to life. The promotion of the rights of girls around the world to obtain equal access, will decrease instances of sexual violence, abuse, disease, and displacement. Gender inequality is a enormous contributor to global poverty, thus the key to eradicate poverty begins when we end the abuses and mistreatment of woman and girls around the world. Though girls suffer unjustly more than boys, all children suffer when their mothers are faced with inequality.

The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) will meet on 1-12 March 2010 in New York, for the Fifteen-year review of the Beijing Platform for Action (Beijing+15) bringing together government delegations, UN agencies and NGOs to review what progress has been made on women’s and girls’ rights since 1995 when the Beijing Platform for Action was adopted.

Are you a young person and want to take action to influence how the world works and stop discrimination and violence against girls? You can!  Join the discussion on the  UNICEF Voices of Youth website, and share your thoughts and ideas.

They ask that you please base your contributions on the following questions. You do not have to answer all the questions in each response, and we encourage you to follow the discussion over time and come back to read and respond to other posts.

1. Which rights do girls have? Which rights are denied? How do these rights shape girls’ lives today and their hopes for the future?
2. Do you believe that declarations and global policies actually have an impact on girls’ lives? If so, in what way? If not, what needs to happen to ensure they have an impact?
3. What are the key obstacles which continue to impede the realization of girls’ rights?
4. In the world today, what do you feel are the most significant new threats (such as climate change, food insecurity and economic crises) to girls’ rights, and why?
5. What future actions do you recommend should be taken by the world community to prioritize and invest in girls’ rights?

See previous posts on Gender Discrimination and Inequality here.