ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, January 30, 1996 TAG: 9601300042
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PATRICIA MOORE HARBOUR
THE UNITED Nations' Platform For Action generated at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China, was a resolve to advance women and a commitment to dignity for women. Promoting the status of women benefits the whole society.
What if we combined our committed efforts to creating a new possibility for women that enhances quality of life for all?
The 189 delegates targeted 12 critical areas: human rights; poverty; education; health; violence; the environment; armed conflict; creating economic structures; power sharing and decision making; mechanisms to promote the advancement of women; the media; and the girl child.
This platform is a progression of work advanced since 1985 at previous single-focus world meetings. Progress through the dialogue and actions at these international conferences laid the groundwork for Beijing.
Men and women were present to educate and be educated, share stories and witness this incredible moment in world history to celebrate women. The Beijing conference was a call for partnerships between women and men.
There, women discussed the atrocities, violent abuses and indignities endured. Muslim women risked repercussions as they shared the horror of female genital mutilation. Korean women described the disgrace of being wartime "comfort women." Forced prostitution, female infanticide and pedophilia were among the many harmful practices of violence that women came to China to speak out against.
A session of African women from diverse cultures, including Sudanese, Christians and Muslims, began in heated debate centered on their differences. After a time they noticed that their focused concern was disarmament.
"These wars kill our sons," one woman tearfully said. "What we have in common is, we are mothers. It is up to us. We must stop the purchase of arms in our countries."
I heard women from India break from the silence revered in their culture and tell of bride burning. Chinese women spoke softly and tearfully of infanticide. American and other Western women told stories of battered women, of physical and sexual brutalities committed against girls and women .
Men and women suffer when women are denied dignity in the world. If they work together, in partnership, gender equality around the globe is achievable. In fact, it can't happen without the participation of both men and women. Collaboration will transform and move our relationships to ones that are mutually empowering and equal.
In Roanoke, a partnership can model an important global link for worldwide focus to reduce the burden of poverty on women, and raise the status of women from socially marginalized to productive and fully employed citizens. The platform calls our attention to the "situation of girls." In Roanoke, we can respond by focusing attention on teen pregnancy.
Teen-age pregnancy is a serious situation in our city. One in 10 girls in Roanoke is pregnant each year, twice the statewide average. Teen pregnancy is evidence of a core-value problem among girls who feel the absence of dignity and low self-esteem. The consequences of teen pregnancy cut across the platform's 12 areas of concern.
To target the "situation of girls" is to take responsibility for inventing a future with different outcomes. With each young woman at stake, so is
an aspect of our future - including the future quality of the work force, an informed citizenry and an economically viable community.
What if, in conjunction with existing services such as TAP, CHIP, Mentoring, New Beginnings and other successful programs, we intensified our effort and concentrated on building a citywide infrastructure for developing dignity, respect and positive self-esteem in young girls before the problem happens?
Can you imagine what would be possible?
The price of teen pregnancy is devastating. The circumstances are self-perpetuating and recur generation after generation. Teen pregnancy, coupled with dropping out of school, is the gateway to poverty, increased welfare costs and at-risk offspring.
In Beijing, women bonded at a level of commitment so deep none of the obstacles, distractions or challenges created by the Chinese government deterred us from the work we came to do. If similar focus and tenacity are applied city by city, we will achieve the goals set forth for the 21st century.
Could the world be a better place, could gender relationships be improved, if we created a new possibility for a prosperous future by focusing together on the situation of girls - "building sources of dignity"?
Ultimately, what matter are protecting and developing healthy women who are fully participating global citizens. Vehicles for this include equal and human rights; access to health care, credit, and education; shared power and decision making; and media coverage that promotes positive images of women.
We can commit and take action now - and then, celebrate the future!
Patricia Moore Harbour, an education consultant and a former school administrator, lives in Roanoke.
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