Bangkok, October 28, 1999 -- To raise the status of women in societies in the Asia and Pacific region, women activists say, it is not enough to empower them economically or politically. Societies must also take a long and honest look at how traditions subject women to servitude and submissiveness.
A side panel discussion at the UN ESCAP meeting to review government commitments to the Beijing Platform for Action, "Barriers posed by cultural and customary practices to Women's Empowerment, " focused on how societies perpetuate traditional attitudes towards women. The participants also discussed how governments and NGOs can work to change these traditions and replace them with new ways of looking at and valuing women.
In India, Madhuri of the Joint Women's Program reported that crimes against women done in the name of centuries-old tradition are still glorified and encouraged in the value system of Indians today. Among such practices are "sati," where a widow is burned alongside her husband's body, the killing of girl babies, "dowry debt,'' or paying for a young girl to get married, and early marriage for girls. Madhuri adds that the strong influence of tradition is not exclusive to India, as this is also evident in most countries of Asia where culture systems continue to perpetuate discrimination against women.
Vida Parthasarati, Chairperson of the Indian National Commission for Women, explained that the process of perpetuating traditional stereotypes is a matter of conditioning. One example she cited are the songs being sung to children and the stories that are narrated to them where distinctions between boys and girls are set.
"We are not fighting a battle or two, it is a war, a war against deeply entrenched patriarchy, where women are systematically pushed to the bottom strata, with no status, no rights, no self-worth, no dignity, no sense of personhood," Parthasarati said. While she agrees that women's movements have been very effective, she thinks that it is equally important to "work at different levels, from the family to the nation to the global community and in all institutionalized structures."
The discussion concluded that there should be intensified sensitization of society, especially of men. The women recommended that changing the school curriculum and orienting the media to gender issues will help in effecting the needed change in perceptions.
*The Women's Media Team for the ESCAP High-level Intergovernmental Meeting to Review the Beijing Platform for Action is composed of Mavic Cabrera-Balleza, Lorna Israel, Isis International-Manila; Suchita Vemuri, Women's Features Service; Babita Basnet, Sancharika Samuha-Nepal; Adelle Khan, Fiji Women's Crisis Centre; Ung Vanna, Khmer Women's Voice Centre; Lim Siu Ching, All Women's Action Society-Malaysia; Fatmawati Salapuddin, Bangsa Moro Women and Development Foundation-Philippines; Rina Jimenez-David, Philippines; Chitraporn Vanaspong, Thailand. The Women's Media Team is co-ordinated by Isis International-Manila and is supported by UNIFEM.
