DINNER ADDRESS: DR. MARGARET FULTON

TITLE: MID-DECADE WORLD CONFERENCE ON WOMEN

The dinner speaker on Saturday evening was Dr. Margaret Fulton, President of Mount St. Vincent University and C.C.L.O.W.'s representative at the Non Governmental Organizations' Forum of the Mid-Decade World Conference on Women held in Copenhagen in the summer of 1980. Dr. Fulton began her report on the conference by comparing the experience in Copenhagen to that of the original International Women's Year Conference in Mexico City in 1975.

A major difficulty in Copenhagen was the lack of adequate facilities (8,000 delegates attended, 2,000 more than were at Mexico City). No one auditorium would accommodate more than 600 people while providing adequate translation facilities. Criticism of the logistical problems is in no way a reflection on the Danish Government, it must be stressed, since without their generosity in hosting the conference, it could not have taken place. It was originally scheduled for Tehran in Iran. The confusion caused by space problems was compounded by the total inadequacy of the male-run newspaper, Forum 80. This paper not only failed to provide proper coverage but also printed sexist cartoons which provoked many protests from delegates.

The Mexico City conference adopted a World Plan of Action, providing guidelines for the ten year period from 1975-1985 in the areas of equality, development and peace. The World Plan of Action proposes that women should have: equal status with men in law, equal education and employment opportunities, equal rights within marriage and the family, and equal access to political and professional careers. In Copenhagen, the plan was under revision at the official conference. Although it was supported by 94 of the 120 nations represented, four national delegates, including Canada's, opposed the plan and 22 abstained. Canada's reasons for voting against the plan included the objection that the conference had been diverted from its purpose of addressing the inequalities between men and women by a relatively small number of delegations who introduced nationalist and anti-zionist references into the document.

Those who had attended both conferences were not surprised at this outcome. Such political axe-grinding and the lack of improvement in the world wide status of women since 1975 only reinforce the knowledge that real decisions of international importance are not made at such conferences; they are made elsewhere, mainly in the United Nations Assembly itself. This body, which decides for women even that there should be a decade to be dedicated to consciousness raising, has only 8% of women in its membership (including clerical staff). 1975 figures indicate that the general assembly had 180 women delegates to 2, 369 men.

The climate of the Copenhagen Conference was quite different from that of Mexico City, with tensions resulting from economic insecurities around the world being influenced by tensions resulting from rising nationalism.

The politicization that destroyed consensus at the official conference also affected the N.G.O. Forum even though there was no direct input or connection with those proceedings. In spite of this, the forum did important work in bringing a strong feminist perspective to bear on issues of concern to all women; peace, ecology and the environment, health and literacy. While all these issues were seen to be of major importance by women, it was also recognized that world expenditure on the arms race is now over $1,000 million per day. There are twice as many soldiers as there are doctors, teachers and nurses. Women and children are condemned to illiteracy, disease, starvation and death. This in a world where, according to a recent U.N. report, women number half the inhabitants of the globe, are one third of the "official" labor force, perform two-thirds of the world's actual labor, receive only one-tenth of the world's income and own less than one percent of the world's property.

Nevertheless, it must be concluded that the Copenhagen Conference represented an occasion of energy, connections, participation and hope. The World Plan of Action had revision problems. Yet the very special women involved and the feminist perspective presented at the conference combine to provide the groundwork for action by networks of women around the world. Even if such conferences themselves fail, the fact that they have taken place is a large step forward in making women and their concerns visible. The after-effects will be momentous if women implement the plans made and translate them into action in their own countries. Women at the conference represented the willingness of women the world over to work toward creating a more humane society, one which rejects the old male power games and changes the rules which have held women subordinate.

The EDUCATION CONNECTION conference and the work of C.C.L.O.W. is itself an important part of the follow-up work that is to be done. The World Plan of Action gives women a lever to use to force their governments into providing the necessary funds to bring about some real and lasting changes.