Message-ID: <199509060042.RAA05262@cdp.igc.apc.org> Date: Tue, 5 Sep 1995 17:42:51 -0700 From: Jagdish Parikh <mailto:jagdish@IGC.APC.ORG> Subject: Women Challenging Priorities To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L <mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU>
/* Written 4:47 PM Sep 5, 1995 by jagdish in igc:labr.global */ /* ---------- "Women Challenging Priorities" ---------- */ From: Jagdish Parikh <jagdish>/* Written 1:38 PM Sep 3, 1995 by wcw:hercilia in igc:women.unwcw */ /* ---------- "NGO FORUM 03/09" ---------- */ From: Hercilia Camargo <mailto:hercilia@wcw.apc.org> De facto ïglobal governmentÀ formed By: Rina Jimenez David There is today a de facto ``global governmentÙÙ in existence that is beholden to no constituency save its own interests but whose policies and actions greatly affect the lives of people around the world, especially women. The challenge facing women is to seek ways to influence and transform the structures of global governance, to provide a counterweight, so to speak, to the institutions that make up the invisible but powerful global government. But before such a challenge can be raised, said Irene Santiago, executive director of NGO Forum Ú95 and moderator at yesterdayÙs plenary on ``Regional Perspectives,ÙÙ a solid analytical framework is necessary on which to base such plans and actions. Such a framework was provided by the four women at the plenary, who not only analyzed the ``major forcesÙÙ at work in this period of transition, but who also pointed the way towards new directions and new responses by the womenÙs movement. Gita Sen of the Development Alternatives for Women in a New Era (DAWN), an economist from India, said three major economic developments have shaped womenÙs lives in the last decade: a development model or paradigm that placed a higher priority on econom ic growth rather than human well-being; the growing crisis of debt among the poorest economies; and the uneven distribution of the fruits of development. ``There is a need to change the development approach to better serve the interests of women and men who are poor, exploited and marginalized,ÙÙ she said. Sen also enumerated new factors that have arisen in the global economic sphere: the speed with which new technologies are developed and popularized, the new uses to which womenÙs labor has been put, across borders, and in such fields as electronics and micro-chip technology, and in sex tourism and migrant work. Winnie Karagwa Byanyma, a politician from Uganda who heads the Constituent Assembly WomenÙs Caucus, linked economics to politics: ``Of what use is a free press in a country where only half of the people can read and write? When a woman is hungry, what me aning does the ballot hold for her?ÙÙ Democracy in Africa, she said, is fragile because nations ``have only embraced the idea of democracy, and people pay a high price for failure.ÙÙ She pointed to the use of an ``ethnic platformÙÙ and traditional values to gain political office, urging lis teners to stand with people resisting religious bigotry, especially with the women of Algeria, a statement which drew resounding applause. On the global economy, Byanyma noted that while citizens of poor and debtor countries are being told to tighten their belts,`` others are belt-loosening.ÙÙ She asked: ``Who designs adjustment programs? Who is supposed to benefit? Are free markets really free? How global is the global economy?ÙÙ Charlotte Bunch, a leading American theoretician and strategizer in the movement to have world governments recognize womenÙs rights as human rights, characterized the present era as a the `` end of the Cold War and the beginning of the Hot Peace.ÙÙ
The shift in global power blocs, she said, has resulted in the escalation of racial, ethnic, religious and gender-based violence. The situation presents opportunity and danger to women, she said. For women, it offers a new opportunity to enter public p olicy debates ``in ways we never did before.ÙÙ But women also face the danger that ``the gains will be reversed if we donÙt move forward.ÙÙ Woman has been the original ``other,ÙÙ Bunch noted, and a major shift in international thinking on human rights occurred when government s and world bodies were made to redefine human rights to include the fundamental recognition of the right to exist, t o life, to food, and to freedom from violence at home and on the street. And that for many women, ``repressed at home and by the economy, there is no time or opportunity to engage in political activity that leads them to confront the state,ÙÙ which has been the context in which human rights have been historically viewed. But while women have won this important recognition, Bunch added, ``we must become better listeners, bring in voices that are not heard ÚÙ into public debates. While the speakers centered on analysis of issues and forces shaping the world, Santiago said, the next dayÙs plenaries will go in depth into strategies and actions.