BEIJING, China -- From my perspective as a reproductive health scientist observing the United Nation's Fourth World Conference on Women, the September conference in Beijing was about our commitments to improve women's lives. Past U.N. conferences in Mexico (1975), Copenhagen (1980), and Nairobi (1985) outlined a number of issues facing women around the world. In Beijing, country delegations focused on the policies and programs necessary to create equality for the world's women.
The Beijing conference themes were consistent with those at the U.N.'s International Conference on Population and Development, held in Cairo in 1994, which stressed the need to view family planning in the context of reproductive health. Beijing emphasized the need to view reproductive health in the broader context of women's lives. The themes from the Beijing conference reflected those of FHI's Women's Studies Project, designed to assess the impact of family planning on women's lives.
Women's reproductive decisions are often affected by other aspects of their lives. Women facing domestic violence view their reproductive choices differently than women who live free from the fear of violence. Women prohibited from inheriting property, who have no choice in old age but to rely on children for support, might view their children in a different light than women who are free to inherit.
NGO Sessions
As with other recent U.N. conventions, the Beijing conference was held concurrently with a Nongovernmental Organization (NGO) Forum. Representatives from FHI's AIDSCAP Project took part in workshops involving women and AIDS, while I participated in two FHI cosponsored workshops at the forum. "Reproductive Health: A Requisite to Women's Empowerment" was cosponsored with the Washington-based Centre for Development and Population Activities (CEDPA). This session highlighted women's lack of access to even rudimentary reproductive health services around the world. A participant from Cambodia, for example, described the difficulties faced by pregnant women in rural areas, many of whom would need days of travel to obtain trained obstetric care during an emergency. Another workshop, cosponsored with the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists (ACOG), entitled "Contraceptive Methods and Users' Perspectives," emphasized the need for balanced information on methods of contraception, especially for providers and clients. Many sessions at the forum focused on contraception but not always in a positive light. At one session, there was a drawing of a woman being looked at by a man with a magnifying glass. The woman was being jabbed by needles, and pills were scattered around. A caption read: "No more unethical medical research on women!" Family planning providers must be aware of these negative perceptions, so they can appropriately and accurately address women's concerns.
Women's groups discussed contraceptive safety and the need to develop women-controlled methods that protect against pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV. A study on women's views and practices in negotiating reproductive rights, conducted by the International Reproductive Rights Research Action Group (IRRRAG), drew considerable attention. The three-year study documented how women in seven countries consider themselves entitled to make decisions regarding their reproductive health and childbearing but often lack social, cultural or institutional support to achieve those rights.
185 Countries
At the conference, government delegates from 185 countries reached agreement on a declaration calling on governments to improve the economic conditions of women, protect them from increasing levels of violence, and improve the status of girls. Language on reproductive health and reproductive rights from the Cairo conference remained intact within the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. Key points from the platform regarding reproductive health and reproductive rights include the following:
- Women should be guaranteed inheritance rights, although they may not necessarily inherit the same amount as their sons.
- Women should have the right to decide freely all matters related to their sexuality and childbearing.
- The family is the basic unit of society and should be strengthened, protected and supported. Women must not suffer discrimination because they are mothers.
- Marital rape, genital mutilation of girls, attacks on women because their dowries are too small, domestic battering and sexual harassment are all forms of violence against women and violations of their human rights.
U.S. First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton told the NGO Forum that the success of the conference rests with NGOs, whose representatives should return to their countries and hold their governments accountable for implementing the Beijing platform. More than 35,000 NGO delegates met in Beijing and returned to their countries determined to take on the challenge of implementing the promises of the conference. While the conference failed to win sizable financial commitments from governments to pay for new programs, some governments did pledge to redirect national budgets and resources.
For reproductive health, the goals of the Cairo conference were reinforced and ratified in Beijing. It is now our job, as family planning and women's health NGOs, to work with governments to continue to implement reproductive health programs, always keeping in mind the complex and varied contexts of women's lives.
Dr. Karen Hardee, deputy director of FHI's Division of Service Delivery Research and principal research scientist, represented FHI at the NGO Forum.
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