We meet today to celebrate the first International Women’s Day of the new millennium.
Five year ago in Beijing, the Fourth World Conference on Women adopted the Beijing Platform of Action on equality, development and peace for the 21st Century. This year, the United Nations will hold a special session of the General Assembly to evaluate progress made so far in implementing that Platform of Action.
No doubt that evaluation will recognize the many major legislative, cultural and economic advances that have been made, but also the considerable obstacles to equality and human rights that still persist.
Without being long this morning, I should like to highlight a few of the advances that have been made in FAO on gender equality over the past few years. First, I believe it is appropriate to stress that the Director-General is particularly sensitive to issues related to the advancement of women and their key role in food security. At the International Steering Committee on the Economic Advancement for Rural Women, held in Brussels shortly after he took up office, he declared his personal commitment to improving gender equity in the Organization. Since then, he has been an active supporter of advocacy activities in this Organization and by this Organization for the advancement of the role of women at national, regional and international levels. The most striking recent example of his commitment is most certainly that we now have three women Assistant Directors-General who are responsible for three key areas of the work of the Organization, namely Agriculture, Information, and the follow-up to the World Food Summit. And it is a particular pleasure this morning to share the head table with Ms Fresco, Ms Gardner and Ms Killingsworth. Welcome, and warmest congratulations on your well deserved promotions.
Let me now mention a few gender milestones that FAO has reached over the past few years. During the World Food Summit in 1996 you may remember that a special place was given to women in both the Rome Declaration and the Plan of Action. The numerous Heads of State and Government who honoured us with their presence declared that "equal participation by men and women is essential to achieve food security for all".
The Special Programme for Food Security, launched in 1994 and further expanded after the World Food Summit, is a concrete example of the Organization’s commitment to consider both men’s and women’s perspectives in agricultural production and development activities. In fact, I believe that we estimate women to be the primary beneficiaries of most SPFS activities. Also, in 1997, on the occasion of the First Summit on African Women for Peace, held in Abuja, the Director-General launched an appeal for improved recognition of the multiple roles of rural women: as, for example, active agents for food security, as environmental managers and custodians of biodiversity, just to mention a few.
To better organize and promote FAO’s activities in favour of rural women, the unit responsible for this programme was elevated to the level of a division with the responsibility of coordinating implementation of the Women in Development Plan of Action. The FAO technical divisions, which participated in the Plan’s formulation, committed to review their programmes and resources so as to more equitably integrate gender considerations into their activities.
In 1997 on the occasion of the celebration of World Food Day on the theme "Invest in Food Security", the Director-General stressed the need to give special attention to the situation of women, and in 1998, the year of the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, World Food Day was dedicated to women "who feed the world", so as to pay tribute to those women often not recognized by decision-makers, statisticians and the media, who struggle daily to ensure their families’food security.
Despite the financial constraints experienced by the Organization in recent years, we have been able to retain emphasis on programmes focussing on gender and women in development. We have good guidance for the future in the Strategic Framework, which takes into account the gender perspective. Women represent the majority of the beneficiaries of the Organization’s Telefood projects, which aim at strengthening the national capacity for agricultural production in order to ensure food security at household and national levels.
In particular, I should like to mention the High-level Consultation on Rural Women and Information, held in Rome in October 1999, at which 130 countries were represented, and about 50 at ministerial level. Then, for the first time, FAO was able to provide a forum for planners and decision-makers, civil society and the media to discuss the roles of information and communication in ongoing efforts in favour of the advancement of women. Rural women were truly at the centre of that debate! The Strategy for Action, which resulted from the meeting, is an essential document for FAO. It offers, for example, considerable guidance on the collection of data disaggregated by gender, formulation of agricultural and rural development sectoral policies, training and extension programmes, and especially information and advocacy campaigns.
Despite the good progress that has been made, I do not wish to give the impression of declaring victory. We are all perfectly aware that there is still much to be done. For example,
Nevertheless, I would like to close by reiterating that the Organization is committed to work on these challenges and help make equal opportunities for men and women a reality at all levels. It is not possible to reach sustainable development without peace, social justice and equal respect for men’s and women’s human rights.
Fortunately, we have the support of our Governing Bodies to move forward on gender matters. In particular, I should like to recognize the good work of the Programme Committee on helping us monitor progress on gender mainstreaming of the last session of the Conference, which also provided clear guidance on gender. By working aggressively within the House and in close cooperation with our Member Nations, I am confident that we will reach our gender goals.
Thank you for your kind attention.