European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 06, 1995, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Law .nt.-rv-t-sjff1 if i in delegates to Beijing conference push for action not promises by Edith m. Leder Erthe associated press Guyen Thi Kim thu is learning the Fine " Points of cooking hamburgers. Phi Thi Phuong Ann is tackling word processing. Nguyen Thi Van Nam is struggling with English grammar. They re Hunting for a place in Vietnam s growing private Economy. Studying at Hanoi women s Union no. 2 boosts their chances 70 percent of its graduates find work. The . Women s conference in Beijing will hold up women like them As an example to women around the world. But jobs and a decent life remain Only a dream for millions of the world s poorest women. Nearly 20 years after the United nations optimistically declared a decade of women Many countries Haven t kept their promises of Equality and opportunities. The Beijing conference will try again what we re hoping for in Beijing is action said Gertrude Mongolia the conference Secretary general we arc not going to be the same As men. But we want equal opportunities and equal standing before the  since the first . Women s conference in Mexico City in -1975,.women have made some important gains on paper " a . Treaty on eliminating sex discrimination has been signed by 133 countries. The 1993 world conference on human rights declared that women a rights Are human rights and must be protected. The 1994 . Population conference in Cairo said women should have Access to modern birth control and the right to choose whether to become pregnant. Woman Are also living longer and Are better educated. But Equality remains far off and in Many cases conditions Are getting worse  women account for 70 percent of the world s 1.3 billion. Poor. Eighty percent of the world s refugees arc women and children. Women Are typically paid 30 percent to 40 percent less than men forgoing the same Job one third of wives in developing countries arc physically abused according to the Charity Oxnam. The number of women in parliaments has dropped from 15 percent in 1988 to 11 percent in 1994. We Are going into the 21 St Century with concentrations of wealth. Side by Side with the feminization of poverty said Nolyne Heyser executive director of the . Development fund for women created at the first women to conference. 1 in Hanoi about 35 percent of Young children Are malnourished because their impoverished mothers have to return to work and can t breast feed them said or. Khong Ngoc am director of the maternal and child health Center of Hanoi. I since International women s Yea r in 1975, women have been trying to figure out How to close the enormous gender Gap. In 1985, at the last conference in Nairobi governments promised that by 2000 they would enforce equal lights for women outlaw slavery and prostitution enforce a minimum age for marriage punish the killing of baby girls and give All women Access to education maternal health care and family planning. Yet Many countries Haven t carried out such proposals two iranian journalists sign up for the conference. Muslim leaders in Britain have accused feminists of attempting to dictate a secular platform to the Muslim world. Of three previous world conferences. Some governments have achieved these goals and gone even further including women in policy debates and combating sexual harassment. Participants in the Beijing conference Hope to pressure governments to keep their promises and to get Hern jux commit to doing even More to help women. Some believe one of the Best ways to improve women s economic condition is to give them Access to credit. In ,_ihp_11 Jan lion member women s Union has an extensive credit system run by 12,000 Village groups that make Loans averaging $35. Now it wants to Start a women s Bank but is having difficulty raising Money said a Nguyen Kim Cue head of the Union s foreign relations department. What will get into the plan approved by the Beijing meeting is still a matter of intense debate. Various governments have objected to about one third of a draft platform on poverty the workplace education health. Children and women like these bosnian make up 80 percent of the world s refugees. Violence and the effects of War. Many women Are afraid that delegates in Beijing will be refi Ghingold Battles on contentious issues such As abortion and human rights. Pope John Paul ii in an open letter to women in july pushed for equal rights but opposed abortion even for rape victims. The Vatican opposes All mention of contraception and sex education in the platform. Mongolia said she wants the conference to focus on the whole woman not on abortion after Cairo people Are. Looking at the womb All the time and not the brain she said. They never talk about men with their reproductive organs 24 hours a  Muslim leaders in Britain also accused a few wealthy spiritually lost feminist women of attempting to dictate a secular platform to the Muslim world. Conservative groups such  focus on the family Are sending delegations to Beijing to oppose Radical gender feminist ideology.". While the Beijing platform is not a binding treaty it is. Intended to help guide the. Policies of governments and International agencies into the 21st Century. The final document is to be voted on by about 6,000 official delegates from at least 150 . Nations attending the fourth world conference on women which began monday and runs through sept. T 5. Supatra Mas Dit a thai lawmaker who will Lead the meeting of private groups said women around the world will be Able to Send in ideas jpy computer mail. 1 _., women at the grass roots level have a voice she. Said. We want to hear their  activists Are afraid the Beijing meeting will turn out to be mostly talk and Little action. The platform of action must include guarantees that the actions proposed in this official document will not simply dump More unfulfilled promises  Mountain of past pledges made to the female half of the world s population said Bella Abzug the former new Yorr f ingress worn who is co chairwoman of the. Women s environment and development organization. ,. Australia is trying to convince other governments to. Make specific commitments to spend Money on meeting the promises of the Beijing meeting but is running into resistance. .-.-. If you want to implement it involves a Lotof Money. Said Mas Dit. " strength in numbers the sheer number of women who will be in Beijing for the . Women s conference attests to the growth of the women s movement since the first conference 20 years ago. Women s average wage there were 2,000 official delegates and 6,000 members of activist groups at the first . Women s conference in Mexico City in 1975. Five years later at the second conference in Copenhagen there were 3,000 delegates and 8,000 activists. The last . Women s conference in Nat Robin 1990, was attended by 3,000 delegates and 1.1,000 activists c. " ". The Beijing conference which began monday is expected to attract More than 40,000 women. Some 6,000 delegates from at least 150 countries will attend the fourth world conference on women to adopt a plan to improve the lives of women. In addition some 36,000. Vyp Man were expected to attend the Ngo forum a. 1q-day.meclirig_ending_ Friday of activist groups trying to influence the official government decision makers. Because of Mexico Copenhagen and Nairobi we made the. Women s  very fast without the conferences. It would t be this fast said Supatra Mas Dit a. Thai lawmaker who will Lead the meeting of private groups. The associated press Mart s wa$9 100 Tanzania Sweden 100 Vietnam Spain Ecuador China Korea Bangladesh canada60 a West experiences change but not Equality by Margaret Philp Toronto Globe and mail n the Span of a generation a powerful women s movement has transformed the lives of women in Western countries. Women particularly those with Young children have traded in their aprons for briefcases in massive numbers Over the past two decades. More women Are now enrolled in University undergraduate courses than men. And there Are plenty of women with careers in politics business and professions such As Law and Medicine traditionally monopolized by men. Women throughout the industrialized world Are marrying later than their mothers did if at All having Juwer children and delaying having those children until inter in life. This is part of the Story the developed countries have to Tell at the fourth world conference on women. Another part details women s lower pay and the continuing Burden of child rearing and household chore s that still rests firmly on women s shoulders. According to United nations statistics released last month German women make 73 percent of what German men earn. In Canada women prepare 76�_.,percent of the meals in their Homes Are responsible for child care 71 percent of the time and perform 59 percent of the shopping and other housework. Elsewhere in the developed world men do even less. Only_5wedi_sh and lithuanian men share More equally in household tasks. Nor have most developed countries Flung open the doors of their parliaments and corporate boardrooms for women. In Canada 18 percent of the seals in the i Louse of commons Are filled by women. Just 11 Perc ent of seats in the . House of representatives belong to women. And France ranks among developing nations when it 7_ comes to women s political participation with 6 percent of National Assembly seats held by women. But there Are exceptions. In her 20 years As a politician Dagny Hovig 50, who represents the City of Oslo in Norway s storting,.has observed a startling transformation in Eicr country s electorate  that when norwegian  Gro Harlem Brundtland was first elected in 1981, she came under intense  for her weight her hair and How she dressed Lovig recalls taxi ride with a chatty Driver who wondered aloud when Are we finally going  rid of the fat Little woman. ". Fourteen years later worn in hold 39 percent of the seats in the storting. women politicians have become a hot commodity in Norway Sec Eythe mid hos when almost All of the political parties adopted quotas stipulating that at least 40 percent of members running for Public office be women and the effect is Clear on the norwegian government. A " Law parsed a year ago allowing women a Lull year of maternity leave paid by the government stands As one example of legislation Iha  to Hovig would t even have been debated were it not for the mighty. Influence of women in the storting. It  sort of examples and changes that delegates t of the Beijing conference Hope to promote by helping to forge a world where women have Snoie Power. Scripp j Howard Cwi s j Vico 16 the stars and stripes wednesday september 6, 1995 the stars and stripes 17