Date: Sun, 13 Apr 1997 02:12:20 -0400 (EDT) TO: Beijing Conference Action and Resource Network FROM: Judy Kramer This online update, published weekly in the greater San Francisco Bay Area, covers events, resources, and information related to follow-up to the UN Fourth World Conference on Women and the issues covered in the Platform for Action document. You are encouraged to send in information and news. UPDATE #8 April 12, 1997 Below is information which I picked up at the Mills College Women's Leadership Conference last weekend. The resources range from international and national newsletters to locally produced videos. In addition to these items, I am attaching notes from the March 22 conference at Stanford on Economic Opportunities and Women's Human Rights. The conference was sponsored by the Global Fund for Women and the Stanford Program in Feminist Studies. Notes were taken by Helen Young. Finally, a REMINDER: This Thursday evening, April 17, Coach Tara Van DerVeer of Stanford's women's basketball team, will speak on "Building Self-Esteem in Young Women." It will be at 7:30 pm at Spangenberg Auditorium, Gunn High School, 780 Arastradero Road, Palo Alto. FREE. *** "To Empower Women: The Beijing Platform for Action"--video In this 28-minute account of the UN Fourth World Conference on Women, women leaders tell of their efforts to improve conditions for women in their countries. Five planks from the platform--poverty, education, economics, human rights, and armed conflict--frame the work. Bella Abzug narrates. Videographer: Margot Smith Cost: $15, Add $10 for Platform for Action Order from: Off Center Video (Berkeley Gray Panthers) 1300 Shattuck Avenue, Suite A, Berkeley, CA 94709 Phone: 510-486-8010. Fax: 510-644-2139 E-mail *** "Women's International Network (WIN) News"--international newsletter WIN News is a world-wide open communications system by, for, and about women, transmitting information about women and women's groups from all over the world. Issues covered include health, violence, development, the environment, media, and the UN. Published since 1975. 4 issues a year Subscription cost: $40 institutions, $30 individuals Order from WIN News, Fran Hosken, 187 Grant Street, Lexington, MA 02173- 2140. Fax: 617-862-1734. *** "Women as Role Models"--video series This is a series of interviews with some of the world's most competent women in the fields of business, politics, science, sports, entertainment, and arts. In each hour-long video, three women from widely different cultures and nations address an area of expertise. Includes a study guide. Produced by the Video Project. For a detailed brochure with option to preview, call 1-800-4-PLANET, or e-mail to . Web site: *** "On Campus with Women"--newsletter This eight-page newsletter includes campus updates and a compilation of resources to help you improve the climate for all members of your campus, new research on women's learning and women's colleges, and references to new scholarship about women and gender. Books also available. Published by the Association of American Colleges, Program on the Status and Education of Women Cost: $28 individuals, $50 institutions. Order from: Publications Desk, AACU, 1818 R Street, NW, Washington, DC 20009. Phone: 202-387-3760 x404. E-mail: "IQ"--magazine Tapping the resources of the National Council for Research on Women, a coalition of 77 research and policy organizations, each quarterly edition of IQ gives careful analysis to a single, often controversial topic. Recent issues have focused on teen-on-teen sexual harassment, affirmative action, and the dearth of funding for programs benefiting women and girls. Future topics will cover the impact of the UN Conference on Women, girls in American society, and women entrepreneurs. Cost: $20 a year. Order from: National Council for Research on Women, 530 Broadway, 10th Floor, New York, NY 10012-3920 ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY AND WOMEN'S HUMAN RIGHTS March 22, 1997 Notes taken by Helen Young For more information about the Global Fund for Women and the conference, contact 415-853-8305, E-mail , Web site An Afternoon of Study and Discussion Presented by the Global Fund for Women And the Stanford Program in Feminist Studies Welcome and Introductions Janice Brody, The Global Fund for Women Session I: The Feminization of Poverty 1. "Macroeconomic Policy and the Feminization of Poverty" Caren Grown, the MacArthur Foundation author, Development Crisis and Alternative Visions Quote from INSTRAW: "While women represent 50% of the world population and 33% of the official labor force, they perform nearly 66% of all working hours, receive only 10% of the world income and own less than 1% of the world property" - Macroeconomics and international trade from a gender perspective - DAWN project - feminist economists examined why women are poor - 1975-1985 women's status and economic level declined - economic expansion is inequitable when examined across class, gender, among nations, regions - International Monetary Fund loans require structural adjustment - stabilization - puts floor under downward spiral, requires borrower governments to make spending cuts in non-trade areas (which means cuts in service areas) and shift economy to export production - women not working in tradable products but in non-tradable services - pace of change speeded up: - 1992: 78 countries accepted IMF structural adjustment loads, putting women at great disadvantage - 1997: women have less power, earn less, work more hours - unchanged since 1985 - in areas where women farmers were given the same opportunities and help as men, women's level up by 20% - Macroeconomic trade models are being studied, using gender as category of analysis - work includes grassroots women - DAWN, ALTWID (Alternatives for Women in Development) - Women's Eyes on World Bank, IMF, World Trade Organization, etc. 2. "Sources of the Feminization of Poverty" Carol Delaney, Stanford Department of Anthropology - "Feminization of Poverty" first coined in 1978 in a book by Diane Paine - in the US, women are poor because they are women 1. increase in number of single mothers 2. women primarily responsible for childcare 3. women are disadvantaged in the workplace - huge increase in number of poor women over the last 20 years - marriage is no solution, divorce increasing = - quote from Carl Degler's book, At Odds on women ??? - 60% of divorced fathers pay no child support - how different the welfare system and the way we think about it would be if the state had given subsidies to poor fathers instead of poor mothers - women's work: seasonal, temporary, parttime in service, light industry and retail, with few or no benefits, especially health benefits 3. "Gender Inequality and Cultural Differences" Susan Okin, Stanford Department of Political Science She is a feminist political theorist Rather than looking at gender and cultural differences, can talk about gender inequality despite cultural differences 1. why and how has gender inequality been so universally prevelant? 1.1 unit of analysis in census, loans, etc. is male head of household [my aside: when China began economic reforms, plots of lands in former communes were given to heads of households to work -- almost always men, so women immediately lost status and power they had before] 1.2 there is an assumption that the concept of justice doesn't apply to the family 1.2.1 everyone loves each other and will of course be fair 1.2.2 family is by nature hierarchical, so can't talk about justice and equality 1.3 policy makers, scholars, theorists have refused to look at gender 1.3.1 women's work is not counted in national economies - especially a problem in poor countries 1.3.2 recommend's Marilyn Waring's book, If Women Counted 2. why is gender justice important? 2.1 we all know why, or we wouldn't be here 2.2 if a child grows up in a home with gender inequality, how can she understand gender justice? 3. what are examples of gender injustice: 3.1 women work longer hours than men on the average everywhere in the world except Australia and North America, where they work equal hours 3.2 when women's work is valued, their value as people goes up 4. what are policy implications? 4.1 households are are usual allocation mechanisms The Platform for Action from the Beijing Women's Conference urged men to participate in family work -- the first world document to do so 4. "Adjusting Structurally: Women and Poverty in Latin America" Elisabeth Friedman, Stanford Department of Political Science Case study of affects of macroeconomic policy and structural adjustment on women in Latin America * outcome debatable + inflation down + increased exports - debt service huge burden - use 7% of GNP for repayment - per capita incomes 7% less - disproportionate impact on poor 40% poverty population, earn 14% of income in Latin America * impact on women - work harder, earn less - work only in areas subject to gender discrimination - women 28% of labor force in Latin America Guatamala - 16% Uruguay - 20% - highly segregated labor force - women work as employees, not employers - work in service industry - earn 2/3 what men earn + women moving into more professional work clerical women working in public sector * growing percentage of all workforce in private sector men's status high in private sector: boss * women do formal work plus all housework selling, produce for export, domestic service * women head of 25% of urban households - hard on girls who are kept home to help with housework, childcare + organize "collective kitchens" over 7000 in Lima alone buy and prepare food collectively mechanism for collective political action 5. "The State and the Feminization of Poverty" Akhil Gupta, Stanford Department of Anthropology - the state is important in redistributing income and raising economic levels - these are not gender neutral interventions - sees a relationship between welfare and domestic violence/military subsidies and military-industrial institutions there is a construction of gender relations going on relation of state welfare to high salaries of Lockheed engineers -problem with question, "why are women poor in the first place?" by constructing category of "poor," can leave the why unaddressed - with globalization of labor markets, production etc., can see the pattern of domination of households paralleled by patterns of domination of nations Questions 1. population problems not mentioned - if women have education and access to paid work, they only have the children who are wanted - the enabling conditions for reducing population are power, education and work for women - gender inequality has been responsible for population growth 2. religion? - Catholic church has done a lot for women in Latin America, short of offering birth control - "liberation theology" - the countries which had reservations about the language of the Platform for Action were Catholic and Islamic countries - Sisterhood is Global is working to translate human rights for women into acceptable discourse for Moslems - religious right a problem, but secularism itself is a religion 3. environment? some "green accounts" in UN accounting systems not much for women's work, but beginning 4. develop idea of allocation of resources to households? = food, clothing, etc distributed along unequal gender lines within families 5. where do volunteerism and work intersect? in assessing economic value, ILO is trying to include women's volunteer work Comment: When South African women got political freedom, they didn't get economic freedom Comment: comparative work being done to show efficient and equitable redistribution of wealth central is property rights Comment: recent microcredit summit [Washington, February] 2006 people from everywhere goal: to increase micro-enterprises to one million Grameen bank, etc -- effective particularly for women Session II - Successful Strategies for Alleviating Poverty 1. "Successful Economic Opportunities" Kavita Ramdas, President, The Global Fund for Women Basically summed up with examples Global Fund's criteria for making grants. 2. "Cooperative Ventures for Alleviating Poverty" Gayle Haberman, WAGES [Women's Action to Gain Economic Security] A new group working in East Palo Alto = - help women start small co-op enterprises = - co-ops provide support and promote egalitarianism - training includes group process skills, since the women are working collectively. - fosters unity through conflict resolution, cooperation and communication. - helped two co-ops form: 1. non-toxic housecleaning 2. retail party store, targeting Latino community with special things for religious holidays 3. "Economic Opportunity Programs for Indigenous Women" Nellys Palomo, K'inal Antsetik, San Cristobal, Mexico [difficult for note-taking--speaker spoke Spanish, translator drafted unexpectedly] "if women aren't appreciated, it is like living a life without leaving any footprints" "women in Chiapas say that now they have taken a step into public sphere, men must move more into private sphere and participate in family work" 4. "Toward a New Economy: Race and Gender Equity in the California Budget" Rinku Sen, CTWO, Oakland - tax revolt which began with prop 13 and is continuing has these effects: - defunding of government - deregulation by government - redistribution of money upward - scarcity of government funds is an argument used racially [there are plenty of government funds for rich whites in form of tax credits, for example, but cuts in allocations for poor women of color] - described a project benefiting women which used the strategy of getting local government to fund it - have begun wide discussions on state budget to - open secret doors on budget - tie allocations to revenue: see where allocations have been made in form of tax credits 5. "Making Microenterprise Work" Etienne LeGrand, the Enterprise Group, Oakland - many avenues into proverty -- must be avenues out - microenterprise strategies (10 years old in US) teaching women to create jobs for themselves - business environment is regulatory, competitive; women can work in it - state association of microenterprises - work with state policy makers -national organization - working on family self-sufficiency in 9 states (including California) to determine bare minimum way to sustain a family - use data to influence state legislation - microenterprises and organizations are women dominated and women led 6. "Reconceptualizing Development and Macroeconomic Policy" Caren Grown, MacArthur Foundation Again focusing on macro policy, not micro projects - four countries have women's budgets: Australia, Sweden, Canada and South Africa - in US, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) is working on a women's budget - South Africa's women's budget - coalition of members of parliament, ministry of finance, NGO's and scholars - analyze gendered composition of taxes and expenditures - international group of women economists formed - look at economic models to see how they are gendered - work with UN, World Bank, Donor agencies, etc. - OECD in France - analyses of national budgets - economy: gendered sturcture = - reform: gendered process - WID in project assistance to improve health, ensure no adverse impact on women and that women receive equal benefits - balance of payments financing - World Bank structural adjustment loans - USAID - works on gender issues, makes recommendations - UNDP - has issued booklet with gendered measurements - World Bank - has women's consultative group = - World Trade Organization (WTO) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) are secretive - International Center for Research on Women - series of papers - analyze donor projects Questions: 1. African-American women need access to donors. Suggestions? Network 2. Economic rights for Women? No hierarchy of rights: decent livlihood work at work of choice 3. Ethics? (from South African finance minister) - most countries want trade, not aid need to support socially responsible companies Concluding Remarks Anne Firth Murray, founding president Global Fund - Common thread in afternoon - women can and must make changes - Can problems of women be solved by working within the same structures which caused them? - If we break down structures, what do we create? - Can we change the situation of discrimination which permeates every structure and institution? - we can network - we need to be advocates, activists, givers - we need to reflect our values in what we do - write our legislators, elect responsible people - stop bowing to money, stop valuing it - Read Marilyn Waring's book, Who's Counting