|
What Does Beijing Mean to You?
>>Also available in French, Portuguese, and Spanish
>>Click for background on the Beijing conference and the Platform for Action
Ten years ago in 1995, representatives from 184 governments and women from nearly 2,500 nongovernmental organizations gathered in Beijing for the Fourth World Conference on Women. Together, they forged an agreement that recognized that investing in women's health and rights is the key to solving global challenges.
From February 28 to March 11, 2005, women from around the world gathered in New York City to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the historic Beijing conference. In preparation for this event, IWHC invited a group of our colleagues and allies from around the world to write brief statements on what Beijing means to them. Below, you can read their stories—together with the stories, struggles, and successes of advocates for health, equality, and justice worldwide—in our online feature celebrating ten years of the Beijing agreement, "What does Beijing Mean to You?"
| |
Dorothy Aken'Ova and the young people of the International Centre for Reproductive Health and Sexual Rights, Nigeria
"Beijing marks a point in the struggle for human rights at which rights for autonomy, integrity, diversity and choice can be tabled..." |
| |
Maria José Rosado, Católicas pelo Direito de Decidir / Catholics for the Right to Decide, Brazil
"For me, Beijing was deeply moving. I experienced that meeting as a singular historic moment..." |
| |
Hillary Rodham Clinton, United States Senator, New York
"In Beijing, we articulated a vision that underscored the importance of linking a nation's progress with full societal inclusion of women..." |
| |
Damaris Mounlom, Femmes, Santé, et Développement / Women, Health, and Development, Cameroun
"Slowly but surely, Beijing advanced the status of women in all respects..." |
| |
Wanda Nowicka, Polish Federation for Women and Family Planning and ASTRA, Poland
"Beijing is very important for me for at least two reasons..." |
| |
Margarita Díaz, Reprolatina - Innovative Solutions in Reproductive Health, Brazil
"Beijing was a milestone that determined not only the actions of many countries and movements, but the lives of many women like me..." |
| |
Grace Osakue and voices from Girls' Power Initiative, Benin City, Nigeria
"Beijing was a confirmation of the good work we had done by then on women's reproductive rights..." |
| |
Teresa Valdes, Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales / Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences, Chile
"Beijing represents an important milestone in the long struggle to improve women's status and to change the distribution of power in society..." |
| |
Sonia Correa, Associação Brasileira Interdisciplinar de AIDS / Brazilian Interdisciplinary AIDS Association and DAWN, Brazil
"A few months ago I did a search for DAWN hits on the Internet and found one on Beijing..." |
| |
Bene Madunagu, Girls' Power Initiative and DAWN, Nigeria
"Personally, Beijing has been very useful in the work I do, particularly advocacy..." |
| |
Mabel Bianco, Fundación para Estudio e Investigación de la Mujer / Foundation for Women's Studies and Research, Argentina
"The Beijing Conference on Women represented a major achievement for women throughout the world..." |
| |
Women's Health Organisation of Nigeria
"Firstly, the publicity given to the Beijing event and the Platform for Action made everyone—that is, the stakeholders—become more conscious of the importance of women's health..." |
| |
Marcos Nascimento, Instituto Promundo, Brazil
"For nearly 15 years now, I have devoted myself to studies and intervention projects focused on gender and masculinities. One of the recurring themes in my work with groups of both adult and young men is violence against women..." |
| |
The staff of Aahung, Pakistan
"Almost ten years after the Beijing Conference, women around the world are still battling for the recognition of their rights..." |
| |
Angela Teixeira de Freitas, Instituto Patrícia Galvão, Brazil
"I am of the generation of Brazilian feminists who have worked hard since the early 1980s to see that Brazil's transition from dictatorship to reconstructed democracy includes legislative and public policy changes designed to eliminate discrimination against women..." |
| |
Djingarey Maiga, Femmes et Droits Humains / Women and Human Rights, Mali
"To me, Beijing means: an action by women to show the world that they have a voice..."
|
| |
Almira Rodrigues and Malô Simões Lopes, Centro Feminista de Estudos e Assessoria / Feminist Center for Study and Assessment, Brazil
"We see the Platform for Action, adopted in Beijing in 1995, as a great global agreement on gender equality and women's citizenship..." |
| |
Gloria Careaga, International Lesbian and Gay Association-Latin America and the Caribbean, Mexico
"Beijing was a dream come true for us..."
|
| |
Olaide Gbadamosi, Network for Justice and Democracy, Nigeria
"The Beijing Platform for Action was the most comprehensive document produced by a United Nations conference on the issue of women's rights..."
|
| |
Maria Gerlivia, Coordinator, Sexual and Reproductive Health Program, Rio Branco, Acre, Brazil
"We face great challenges in our endeavor to fulfill the objectives proposed at the Beijing conference..."
|
| |
Siké Billé, Association de Lutte Contre la Violence Faite Aux Femmes / Association for the Struggle Against Violence Against Women, Cameroun
"To me, Beijing means five things..."
|
|
|
Debora Oliveira, Rede Jovens do Brasil dos Direitos Sexuais e Direitos Reprodutivos and Rede Feminista de Saúde, Brazil
"I am going to New York to participate in Beijing + 10 because I believe that it is really important for someone from Brazil to be there representing our constituency, which is mainly young people and women..."
|
|
Adrienne Germain, President, International Women's Health Coalition, United States
"For me, Beijing means sleepless nights, foodless days, searing bigotry, courageous replies, tenacious advocacy, and the sure knowledge that we stood firm for justice..."
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
