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- Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
- Path: sparky!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!wupost!mont!pencil.cs.missouri.edu!rich
- From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
- Subject: Women's Road to UNCED
- Message-ID: <1992Sep3.082315.13512@mont.cs.missouri.edu>
- Followup-To: alt.activism.d
- Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
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- Organization: PACH
- Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1992 08:23:15 GMT
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- Lines: 86
-
- /** gen.newsletter: 136.3 **/
- ** Written 5:41 pm Aug 27, 1992 by ecologycntr in cdp:gen.newsletter **
- Women's Road to UNCED by Angela Williams copyright 1992 Ecology
- Center Terrain
-
- Women's rights has been a major issue throughout history,
- coinciding with the concerns of environmentalistson issues from
- abortion rights to the ecofeminist movement. Last November, a
- group of headstrong women led by former US Congresswoman Bella
- Abzug gathered in Miami for four days to decide the terms of a
- document entitled "Women's Action Agenda 21". It was the women's
- recommendation for what should be on the agenda to save the planet
- at the Earth Summit in Rio in June 1992.
-
- Over 1500 women from 83 countries all over the world convened at
- the conference in Miami, entitled "Global Assembly of Women and
- the Environment: Partners in Life". The Assembly was the first
- international gathering of women held to discuss environmental
- issues: it highlighted women's leadership and participation in
- environmental project planning. Significantly, the Assembly
- process confirmed the capacities of women to advance environmental
- management in ways that benefit public health, food security,
- energy efficiency, education and appropriate technology. "Local
- solutions help solve global problems" said Joan Martin-Brown,
- director of UNEP's Washington office and Assembly Coordinator.
-
- In the Assembly's planned itinerary, Action Agenda 21 was drafted
- with the idea of bringing to Rio a clear, new perspective to
- combat and dispel any myths about women lacking a place in the
- environmental arena. The Assembly's report, among other
- recommendations, called for the heads of Governments to sign
- binding conventions on climate change and biodiversity, to reach
- agreement on principles on world forestry, and to assure that the
- Earth Charter included both men and women in its rights and
- obligations.
-
- Designed as a blueprint for action to be taken all the way into
- the twenty-first century by the world's governments, Agenda 21 was
- a centerpiece for the conference. The text included a plan to end
- serious and interrelated environmental problems facing the world,
- in part through global transformation in human values and
- activities. Including specific proposals to increase empowerment
- of women at all levels to contribute to the achievement of
- principles of equity and social justice, Action Agenda 21
- reinforced the effort that has been made toward eliminating
- discrimination against women.
-
- This year's International Women's Day in March was a timely
- opportunity to reaffirm strongly the goal of equal rights for men
- and women, as spelled out in the Charter of the United Nations.
- While we continue to take another step forward in ensuring greater
- respect for human rights and far greater freedoms for peoples
- everywhere, the pace of progress of the advancement of women has
- slackened visibly, with a growing gap between equality before the
- law and equality in practice. The Global Assembly recommendations
- point out that "too few women have been involved in decision
- making with regard to policies, programs, projects or funding for
- the environment, despite the international target of 30% of women
- in leadership positions [sic] by 1995, and equal and equal
- representation between women and men by the year 2000IWe insist
- that the perceptions and priorities of women be fully reflected in
- Agenda 21. We urge the United Nations and their agencies to supprt
- these recommendations."
-
- The Earth Summit, the first legally mandated global summit,
- brought together not only top-echelon policy makers from every
- country in the world, but also women Q women who have marked a
- great distance in their continuing efforts to overcome
- discrimination and in their struggle for social justice.
-
- Although genuine equality for women in the present day stands shy
- from reality, women the world over are pushing to make true the
- ideal. The Earth Summit offered women a chance for the first time
- to voice their perspectives on environmental problems and women's
- place in the environment to a captive global audience. Action
- Agenda 21 was an acheivement in itself, declaring precisely what
- women believe will change the world for the better both
- ecologically and socially.
-
- If the UN stays on the right track, guaranteeing 50 percent
- representation of women in leadership positions, the Earth Summit
- will be seen as a "milestone" conference in the history of woman's
- role in society. But until the world sees results, we might as
- well file the Summit away as rhetoric.
-
- ** End of text from cdp:gen.newsletter **
-