by Arvonne S. Fraser
Over 100 women from all comers of the world gathered in Vienna, Austria in February 1989. Representing many different and networks they came to discuss Women, Human Rights and Development and, in particular, how to implement the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women. The occasion was the Fourth Annual International Women's Action Watch (IWRAW) Seminar. We are reproducing here the presentation prepared by Arvonne S. Fraser, Co-Director IWRAW.
As we gather here in Vienna to discuss implementation of the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and to see how it relates to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it is important to remember that, "in terms of women, the whole world is still a developing world." That idea is an important one to consider and to remember not only during our deliberations here in Vienna but in our work year around. The phrase illustrates the commonality among women, but it also implies their diversity.
Some of us live in industrialized, technology-dominated cities with homeless people on the streets. Others of us live in rural villages, miles or kilometers from urban areas. But wherever we live when it comes to questions of women's status, we are still legally, socially, culturally, politically and economically second-class citizens when compared to our male peers. This last statement is not original with me, it is contained in the introduction to the World Plan of Action adopted at the first — 1975 — world conference on women in Mexico City during International Women's Year, at the beginning of the U.N. Decade for Women. Also, in that Mexico City document is the statement: "In our times, women's role will emerge as a powerful, revolutionary social force."
The women who wrote that Mexico City document knew what they were doing. They were carrying on a tradition begun with the adoption of the U.N. Charter and carried on in the writing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This tradition was making sure that the term "equal rights of men and women" or the word "sex" were included in any documents adopted by the United Nations. They knew they were attempting to change the course of human history by insisting that women were equal citizens of the world and that discrimination on the basis of sex would have to be eliminated if the world was to truly develop. Their ideas came to fruition in the Women's Convention and now we meet, forty years after the Universal Declaration and ten years after adoption of the Convention, to consider how we can continue the process of development by implementing the Convention at the local, national and international levels. Progress is being made; development is underway but there is still much to be done.
Two women are, so far as I know, the authors of this phrase: "in terms of women, the whole world is still developing." These two women are: Devaki Jain of India and Bjorg Leite of Norway. The fact that one lives in India, a country many consider to be a developing country, and the other lives in Norway, a country that is usually considered a part of the "developed" world, is relevant to our discussions. Their authorship of the same phrase shows that either women in very different parts of the world have, independently, come to the same conclusion about the world or that women are now networking so intimately that northern women and southern women are expressing the same ideas. Whatever the reason, the fact that both have expressed the same phrase simply proves the point that there is a new solidarity among women that transcends geography. And it is this idea that there are concepts that transcend geography, and cultural, economic and political distinctions —that is embodied in both the Convention and the Universal Declaration. Both documents are relevant to every society and every community in the world.
Now, when over a hundred people from more than forty countries come together to consider how the Convention can be and is being implemented, why and how it is a tool for development, and how women's rights are human rights, we know that a revolution is taking place. And when we have men joining us in our deliberations and activities, we also know that we are making progress.
During these two days of panels and workshops I know we will hear about many difficulties of implementing the Convention and securing human rights. It is important to analyze these difficulties, but not to dwell on them. I hope in our deliberations that we will all take a positive stance, examining what can be and is being done —how progress is being made — and not concentrate on the negative. It is a sad but historical fact that the Convention was necessary—that the Universal Declaration was not enough. But the good news is that we now have the Convention and you are all gathered here to consider how it can be used.
The first item in our agenda is how the Convention can be used as a tool for development. First, however, it is perhaps important to define development. Development is not just building of roads and bridges or increasing the gross national product of a country. True development has a human face; it is concerned with people and how they live and work together to make a better world for themselves and future generations. To quote the Forward Looking Strategies adopted at the 1985 Nairobi world conference on women: "Development means total development...in the political, economic, social, cultural and other dimensions of human life, as well as the development of the economic and other material resources and the physical, moral, intellectual and cultural growth of human beings. Development also requires a moral dimension to ensure that it is just and responsive to the needs and rights of the individual and that science and technology are applied within a social and economic framework that ensures environmental safety for all life forms on our planet." It is in this context that we want to consider the Convention as tool for development.
How the Convention is a Tool for Development
- The Convention is the most concise and usable document to come out of the U.N. Decade for Women. The sixteen substantive articles of the Convention — from Article 1 which defines discrimination to Article 16 on marriage and family law—cover every aspect of development and spell out the factors that inhibit women's full participation. These sixteen short articles present a framework for women's development on a personal or individual level and also illustrate how societies can build or develop the full human capacity of all their citizens. It is only when all citizens are functioning at full capacity and in full equality that there is true development. In short, the Convention spells out for half the human race the rights asserted for all peoples in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
- The fact that there is a monitoring and review mechanism for the Convention—the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination (CEDAW) which is now meeting in this same building-is a spur to countries to assess the status of women in their countries and begin to build and effectively use the full human capacity of their citizenry. Because women's subordination has been historical fact of life in every country, overcoming this subordination in order to empower or build the full human capacity of every citizen is an imperative for every society that wants to be a developed society.
One of the purposes of IWRAW - the International Women's Rights Action Watch - is to help CEDAW in its process. A second purpose is to help groups implement the Convention at the local and national level. For this latter purpose both we, and the Commonwealth Secretariat's Women in Development Program, have published manuals to help groups assess the status of women using the principles of the Convention as guidelines. - The sixteen articles of the Convention offer enough diversity in subject matter to capture the interest of a wide variety of individuals and organizations interested in development. There is something in the Convention — and in the Universal Declaration— for everybody. We can argue among ourselves about what must come first in order to assure orderly development, but we can all get to work immediately on the implementation of the Convention, building on our own, individual or group sense of the priorities.
My personal conviction is that the education article (Article 10) may be one of the most important. I do not know how, in today's world, one can long tolerate massive illiteracy if one is interested in development. Information and knowledge are power. To be illiterate in today's world is to be at the mercy of information and knowledge provided by others. The ability to read and to calculate empowers, builds self confidence, and enhances community, national and world development. I am not saying that illiterates are powerless. I am only saying they cannot operate at full capacity. I learned this lesson personally on a trip to Japan, a country in which I am an illiterate. I could not function to my full capacity. I felt afraid to venture out on the streets alone, unable to control my own destiny.
For others, however, I know there are more important articles. Many here believe health and family planning are crucial to women's development and to a country's development. They can make a good case for their priority. Others will argue that legal equality and changing marriage and family laws which hamper women's equality are the most important articles. I can agree with them as well. The point to be made is that in the Convention there is something for everybody. There is enough work for all of us and something relevant to every development project in any country of the world — whether it be an economic development project in my city or a rural development project in another area of the world. - The fact that the Convention is relevant at all levels of government and society and to personal endeavor is perhaps the most important point, the reason why the Convention is an effective tool for development. Take Article 11 on employment rights as an example. It assures the same employment rights for women as for men; the free choice of employment or a profession; training for employment; equal renumeration, benefits, social security, health protection and safety, prohibition against dismissal for pregnancy or marital status, maternity leave and special protection during pregnancy against harmful work. Where are these conditions not relevant? Where can they not be applied? And in how many places are these rights being abrogated?
- Evaluation is an important factor in the development process. The Convention is an excellent set of guidelines for evaluating any project or programs. In addition, it covers the constraints to development and ways to overcome those constraints. Article 5 on sex roles and stereotyping outlines the current and historical constraints, the cultural impediments that limit women's lives and restrict their contributions to development of their communities and nations. This same article ensures that "family education teaches that both men and women share a common role in raising children," a common sense but revolutionary idea in most societies. Article 4 allows for "temporary special measures to accelerate women's equity," affirmative action to enhance development.
- The Convention is a stimulus to intellectual work. It challenges old assumptions and sets out new ones. Development implies rising to challenges — thinking new thoughts, writing new laws, changing behavior and perspectives on the world. It means learning from each other, not re-inventing the wheel in every community of the world and not looking only to the north or west for new ideas.
Enroute to Vienna I read the report of the African Women's Development and Communication Network foundation meeting held in Nairobi last April. Sara H. Longwe's keynote paper for the meeting entitled: From Welfare to Empowerment: The Situation of Women in Africa, is an example of new intellectual effort. In that paper Longwe looks at both quantitative and qualitative indicators of progress implementing the Forward Looking Strategies, ratifying the Convention, and including women in development projects or programs. She found that, as of September 1, 1987, 49% of all African countries had ratified the Convention compared to 55% of the total world. (The fact that Sierra Leone has become the ninety-fifth country to ratify may change those statistics slightly.) But even more importantly, she developed a "Women's Status Criteria" by which to assess the contribution of any particular development intervention to the improvement of women's status. The scale moves from welfare services at the lowest level to control their own destiny at the highest. In between is access to services, conscientization, participation and ultimate control. This paper and the Network meeting is the kind of intellectual organizational activity that the Decade for Women stimulated and that further analysis and implementation of the Convention will provide. The activity itself — and the sharing of the results of this kind of activity—are a crucial part of the development process. We are, in fact, all part of a developing world. And our efforts contribute to the development process.
Development, ultimately, means giving a bit of ourselves—of our time and energy—to the greater good —to the community and the world and to the physical and moral development of our world. It means figuring out ways to assess and improve life for all people. This is the challenge for us at this meeting. How do we use the Convention and the Universal Declaration—two great
documents? We are nearing the 21st century. Couldn't we make it the century of human rights, the century of development, of equality, and of peace? Why not?
For more information contact: IWRAW Women, Public Policy and Development Project Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs 301-19th Avenue South Minneapolis, MN 55455 U.SA.
IWRAW publishes a quarterly newsletter "The Women's Watch." It has also published "Assessing the Status of Women: A Guide to Reporting Using the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women."