Equality, Development and Peace. This was the slogan for the first Decade of Women declared by the United Nations in 1975.

It is the slogan of the Fourth World Conference on women which opened in Beijing on September 4, 1995, and it shows clearly not only the priorities of women in the world at that time, but also how universal peace might be achieved if each stage of the slogan could lead into the next.

Journey to Beijing

At the end of August that year, Jamaica's official delegation to the conference set out on the long journey to Beijing. The delegation was headed by Portia Simpson, then minister of social services and welfare. The members included Carole Narcisse, coordinator of the Association of Women's Organisations; Elsa Leo-Rhynie, head of gender studies, UWI; Lisa Lawrence, head of the Bureau of Women's Affairs; and attorney Margaret McCauley.

Representatives of local non-governmental organisations dealing with women's affairs were also present at the concurrent NGO Forum, a powerful force for change, as was demonstrated at the 1992 UN Environmental Conference in Rio. Some 30,000 representatives from women's organisations worldwide were expected to attend either the official conference in Beijing or the NGO Forum.

Women's issues

Portia Simpson Miller

One thousand delegates attended the first international meeting dealing exclusively with women's issues, the International Women's Year Tribune in Mexico City in 1975. The surprise that was expressed that so many women would attend such a conference suggests that few people then could have envisaged a Conference on Women on the scale of the one to be held in Beijing. Certainly, it would have been unimaginable in 1945 when the first 50 nations adopted the United Nations charter. Only four women signed the charter, from China, Brazil, the Dominican Republic and the USA. In the male world of international relations then, it was remarkable that even four women could be signatories to the charter.

Most remarkable, however, was the fact that the charter was the first international document of its kind to mention equal rights of men and women in unmistakable terms. In the preamble, the charter proclaims the determination of the peoples of the United Nations "to reaffirm faith and fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women".

Interesting perspectives

The conclusion of this and other interesting perspectives on the United Nations can be found in Jamaica Journal Vol. 25 No. 3. An extensive collection of other Jamaica Journal back issues are also available.

All correspondence and subscription requests should be addressed to:

The Institute of Jamaica,

10-16 East Street, Kingston

Telephone: (876)922-0620-6

Fax: (876)922-1147 Email: pr.ioj@mail.infochan.com website: www.instituteofjamaica.org.jm