*************************************************************************** The electronic version of this document has been prepared at the Fourth World Conference on Women by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in collaboration with the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women Secretariat. *************************************************************************** AS WRITTEN ISN'T IT TIME FOR A CHANGE? James Gustave Speth, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme Address at the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing 6 September 1995 Excellencies, Distinguished delegates, Colleagues, Friends: It is indeed a privilege to have this opportunity to speak to you this afternoon. This event is the culmination of recent world conferences, and many years of serious international effort, to find sustainable ways of living together on this small planet. What thrills us today is the palpable awareness that women the keys to solutions to many of the problems we face. If only the world would let women use those keys! We have the opportunity now to commit ourselves to the empowerment and full equality of women. That must end, not “with all deliberate speed” but now. The discrimination, deprivation and violence that women face -- from their personal lives to the highest reaches of decision-making power -- are described in a very concrete way in this year’s Human Development Report The report brought good news -- about the rapid strides being made in women’s health and education. But it also revealed that despite this expansion in women’s capabilities, the doors to economic and political power are barely open. I think we would all agree that today it is a man’s world, instead of a women’s and man’s world. The question that I would pose to you is ISN’T IT TIME FOR A CHANGE? The Human Development Report tells us that while women are the primary nurturers of families, they also spend more time than men at work. If their labour were paid or given a proper market value, women would emerge as the major breadwinners in most societies. It showed that while women are important food producers in many countries they do not have legal control over the land they farm and receive only a small share of agricultural and other credit. As food producers, water collectors and fuel gatherers, women in developing countries are first to feel the effects of environmental decline. Yet women’s concerns and knowledge about the environment are too often ignored in designing programmes to reverse these trends. We know that women constitute the majority of refugees and often suffer most as casualties of war. Yet in most of the world’s countries women are virtually excluded from the lofty realms of political power in which such situations are created. Men -- literally -- call the shots. From the skewed global patterns revealed in this year’s Human Development Report, it is no wonder that our world is out of balance -- and on a dangerous course. I ask you again ISN’T IT TIME FOR A CHANGE? All of us have it within our means to help rectify these imbalances. And for men who hold the reins of power there is a special responsibility. Parliamentarians and heads of state must seize the opportunity to revise legal codes to give women equal protection under the law and to ratify the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. The time is now. And the time is now for governments to commit to change the fact that only 4 per cent of the ambassadors to the United Nations are women. Policy-makers must also recognize women’s contributions to wealth creation and the well-being of societies and ensure equal access to resources and opportunities. Specific targets must be set for moving women into positions of decision-making power. We should take a moment to recognize the steps that China has taken to move toward gender equality. In the Human Development Report, China outperforms many richer countries in the Gender Empowerment Measure. While China ranks 111 among countries in the Human Development Index, it is number 23 in gender empowerment. China proves that a nation’s men can share opportunity with women regardless of the amount of wealth to be shared. Development planners and international agencies must work to create an enabling environment for equality between the sexes. We must incorporate gender concerns into all policies and programmes -- to ensure that men and women have the same chance to participate and that the needs of both are met. In this regard, I appeal to delegates to recognize and support the work of the United Nations agency that is at the center of the struggle to advance women in development -- the United Nations Development Fund for Women. UNIFEM has proven itself a powerful catalyst for women’s opportunities and a formidable advocate for women’s empowerment. Paragraph 336 of the draft Plan of Action gives UNIFEM the mandate to “increase options and opportunities for women’s economic and social development.” It also states very clearly that “Adequate resources for carrying out its functions should be made available.” I second that motion. UNIFEM can provide a lever to help women lift themselves to their full potential. But the force of that lever is only as strong as the funds provided by governments here assembled. UNIFEM should double its size and then double it again if it is going to be the strong arm that the world’s women are justly demanding. ISN’T IT TIME FOR THIS CHANGE? We must never forget that for many women it is not only economic and political deprivation that affects their lives. For all too many the most painful devaluation is the physical and psychological violence that stalks them from cradle to grave. For too many women life is shadowed by a threat of violence. Laws can do little to help these women unless present cultural and social values change. Equality begins at home The United Nations Development Programme has instituted a policy of affirmative action to achieve gender equality among UNDP's professional staff. We have set a target to fill nearly 40 per cent of our professional posts with women by the end of 1997. And we have made gender equity and the advancement of women one of our four main programme goals in the 175 countries we serve. I commit UNDP to building partnerships between women and men by "engendering" our programmes. And I make this pledge: To the- extent that governments make commitments to gender equality in their countries, UNDP will make particular efforts to support them, in drafting agendas, setting timetables and creating programmes to benefit women and build women-men partnerships. I do not want to understate the enormity of the challenge. Understanding the complex set of relationships and attitudes that make up the universe of gender relations, and which vary enormously from culture to culture, is no easy task. And then acting upon this understanding is another matter altogether. Eliminating gender disparities is a deep, system-wide problem and needs a system-wide response. But it must be done. And it must be done by having men and women sitting as equals at the table. It is certainly time for that change. In closing, I would like to draw your attention to UNDP's "Poverty Clock" that came alive at the Social Summit in Copenhagen and which is now ticking away at Huairou. From the moment the clock was first activated on 3 March, until the opening of the NGO Forum here in Beijing on 30 August, over 12 million babies have been born into poverty -- into families living on less than one US dollar a day. Many of them are girls, who will grow up more disadvantaged than their brothers, simply because they were born female. It is important to remember that of the 1.3 billion people living in abject poverty, 70 per cent are women. Poverty increasingly has a woman's face. UNDP's overriding priority is the Copenhagen objective of poverty elimination. Women must therefore be at the center of all our work. At the Social Summit last March I addressed equity and the emerging two- class world society of "haves" and "have-nots." Today, at Beijing, it is time to recognize that the most persistent disparity has been that between the sexes. Without true and equal partnerships between men and women -- without the talents, energy and aspirations of ALL OF US -- our common home can never flourish. No society can realize its potential while repressing the talents of half its people. ISN'T IT TIME FOR A CHANGE?