Beijing, Backlash, and the Future of Women's Human Rights

Abstract

The Fourth World Conference on Women is occurring at a time when women are increasingly making their voices heard the old world order is being reorganized and religious fundamentalists and patriarchal nationalists are promoting traditional roles for women. World conferences have recently recognized that rights are human rights; that human rights are universal inalienable and indivisible; and that elimination of public and private violence against women is a human rights obligation. The nongovernmental forums held parallel to the UN world conferences have allowed an unprecedented number of women to share their experiences and strategies and to work toward a global analysis of status. Women are becoming increasingly adept at connecting local experiences with global policy-making and thus at linking individual with social experience. The ability of women to participate in society depends upon their ability to exercise their human rights to 1) speak and participate in the public world; 2) control their bodies and lives in the private world; and 3) secure their basic needs and the gainful employment that provides a livelihood. While these rights are implicit in the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights a male perspective can lead to gendered interpretations of these documents. Active participation of women in global depends upon securing their rights through work on womens issues. The 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women faces the challenge of being recognized as a vehicle for women to address global problems not as a way for women to deal with womens issues as if they existed in a vacuum.