CSW 2010: A Look Back at Beijing

The 1995 World YWCA Council and first International Women’s Summit met only seven weeks before the Beijing Women’s Conference. How were they linked?

The World YWCA Executive Committee thought they should have some sort of connection since the two events were so close together. We decided to host an International Women’s Summit (IWS) just prior to the World Council—it was the first IWS. We invited women from other organisations to the summit to start a dialogue that would continue in China. The Women’s World Agenda emerged from that and we called it “A new agenda for the YWCA”. The IWS was also the culminating event of the World YWCA’s 100^th anniversary celebration that had begun in 1994.

How did the UN Women’s Conferences influence the World YWCA and vice-versa?

I think the conferences have had a big impact on the women’s movements and influenced the World YWCA’s work but the World YWCA also influenced the women’s conferences, especially the first ones in which the World YWCA had a leading role.

By 1995, there were many YWCA women who were part of official government delegations. The YWCA was and is very strong: we have both the grassroots constituencies and connections to the UN and its agencies. In Beijing, the World YWCA had a delegation of 17 women; of these, five were accredited to the official UN conference. More than 300 women from YWCAs around the world attended the parallel NGO Forum that was held outside of Beijing in Huairou. The YWCA’s presence in both the NGO Forum and the UN conference was important for lobbying for the YWCA’s priority issues. We collaborated with other women’s organisations and many of the YWCA team had good access to and relationships with their government delegates. Those who did not learned from those who did and tried to make contact. We did this well, although we probably could have done even better.

The Women’s World Agenda was a good advocacy tool for us, although we were working on so many issues that it was difficult to emphasise one. Having a checklist or manual might have been good. Now the World YWCA has been highlighting HIV and AIDS and that gives us more of a focus than we had earlier.

What has changed between now and then?

Many things have improved. If you look back to the first women’s conference in 1975, NGOs had to struggle to be admitted to the UN meeting. Now the UN and most nations count on support from NGOs and women’s organisations when they discuss equality and the situation of women. And now there are many, many NGOs.

The conferences really grew over time, with 3,000 women attending the first NGO Forum in Mexico and nearly 31,000 attending the one in Beijing. Of course this can also make it more confusing and less focused.

There is much more consciousness of young women as a group with distinct needs. In Beijing, they talked about women, the girl child, and youth, but didn’t recognise the separate needs of young women. This was very frustrating—it made them seem anonymous. In 1995, we were also able to discuss sexual rights and sexual orientation but it was very controversial and not much came out in the final document, but now in both industrialised and developing countries, there is much more open dialogue.

And even though I attended the women’s conference in Copenhagen in 1980, I hadn’t realised how strong the influence of the Vatican was. In Beijing, they played a big role in the process of deciding the wording of the final document. They influenced some of the Roman Catholic countries as well as some of the more conservative Arab countries who shared their views. Although it is very small geographically, the Vatican has a lot of power.

Also, in the Beijing Platform for Action, HIV and AIDS are mentioned but not strongly. The impact it would have wasn’t understood at the time. It makes me wonder what issues we are not paying much attention to now that will eventually have a larger impact when we look back in 15 years.

* Anita was interviewed by Muna Kaldawi-Killingback

This interview will be featured, along with other YWCA women leaders, in the upcoming World YWCA magazine publication of Common Concern : Beyond Beijing

World YWCA Leadership at NGO Forums at the UN Women’s Conferences During the UN Decade for Women (1975-1985)

World YWCA Lead Representative to the UN Mildred Persinger chairs the NGO Tribune that ran parallel to the 1975 International Women’s Conference in Mexico City.

114 NGOs register for the NGO Forum; 6,000 activists attend.

World YWCA General Secretary Elizabeth Palmer chairs the NGO Forum at the 1980 Copenhagen Mid-Decade Conference.

134 NGOs; 7,200 activists attend

World YWCA President Dame Nita Barrow chairs the NGO Forum at the 1985 Nairobi End-of-Decade Conference:

163 NGOs; 13,500 participants

**Statistics for Beijing NGO Forum: 300 women from YWCAs attend; 2,000 organisations register; 31,000 participants; 5,000 events scheduled at the Forum

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