Prioritizing the Challenges before Countries in Asia and the Pacific:
Remaining Issues, Emerging Concerns and Future Actions

Introduction

This paper summarizes the accomplishments of ESCAP member countries vis-à-vis the 5-year implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action. It identifies some remaining critical issues, emerging concerns, and recommends appropriate actions and priorities, in the context of new opportunities, persistent obstacles and changing social and economic conditions of the region.

The Political Declaration and outcome document on future actions and initiatives adopted in June this year by the special session of the General Assembly, "Women 2000: gender equality development and peace for the twenty-first century", reaffirm the commitment of governments to the goals and objectives of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action adopted [1] at the Fourth World Conference on Women in l995 and the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women. The Political Declaration also reaffirms the commitment of governments to focus on the 12 critical areas of concern and work to overcome the obstacles encountered in the implementation of the proposed actions. Governments pledged an accelerated implementation "through the promotion and protection of all human rights and fundamental freedoms, mainstreaming a gender perspective into all policies and programs and promoting women's full participation and empowerment and enhanced international cooperation for the full implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action".[2]

Despite the disappointment of some groups over the conduct and some results of the review process, there are several major gains of the special session. The Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW), in its initial review of the outcome document,[3] notes the provisions on women and health that go beyond Beijing. These put emphasis on the gender dimensions of HIV/AIDS pandemic and STIs, malaria and tuberculosis, as well as promotion of the mental health of women and girls. The outcome document mentions aging and the need for programs to promote the security, health and active life of older women. Governments are also called upon to address with more vigor, the special needs of disabled women and children, and address the issues related to drug and substance abuse.

The outcome document recognizes the remarkable progress made in the last 5 years in promoting women's human rights. It considers "honour killing", forced marriage and marital rape as forms of violence against women; calls for the adoption of comprehensive measures to eliminate dowry-related violence as well as installation of stronger mechanisms to address all forms of violence against women and girls.

There is emphasis now on the gender dimension of the challenges presented by globalization. The outcome document notes that the globalization process has transformed patterns of production and accelerated technological advances affecting the lives of women, both as workers and consumers.[4] In developing countries, these changes have had adverse effects on the lives of women and have increased inequality.

Moreover, structural adjustment programs and the high costs of external debt servicing, including the declining terms of international trade in several developing countries have aggravated the feminization of poverty. Some of the proposed measures to mitigate the negative impact of globalization on women are the creation of social protection systems and safeguards against changes in work conditions and the integration of gender perspectives into macroeconomic and social policies and programs. These actions are intended to ensure women's equal access to resources and reduce the number of those living in poverty.

Among the actions proposed to accelerate the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPA) are to strengthen current initiatives to eradicate sex-role stereotyping and promote the balanced participation of women and men in paid and unpaid work. The outcome document reaffirms the right of women to inheritance and property and upholds the ILO declarations on women's rights at work. The allocation of gender budget has proven to be an effective enabling measure and should, therefore, be adopted, if not strengthened, especially by countries that have gone as far as developing gender plans and national machinery for gender mainstreaming.

The 5-Year Implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action by Asia Pacific Countries: Gains and Continuing Challenges [5]

The majority of countries in the Asian and Pacific region have implemented the Beijing Platform for Action in many similar ways but with varying degrees of enthusiasm. On the whole, there was progress in efforts to promote gender equality and women's empowerment especially in the areas of health, education, employment, access to credit and gender violence. In the last five years, many countries have created special policy making bodies, installed enabling mechanisms, allocated funds and enacted/reformed laws to achieve the goals of the Beijing Declaration. Countries affected by the financial crisis introduced safety net measures to mitigate its negative impact on poor women.

Institutional Mechanisms and Financial Measures. At least 17 countries in the region adopted a gender plan to guide policy development and the implementation of programs for women. The gender plan was supported in 12 countries by specific budget allocations. Other countries, however, claimed that the funds for women were already integrated in the budgets of various ministries and functional programs. In the Philippines, 5 percent of annual agency budget since l996 has been allocated for Gender and Development (GAD) activities; in Malaysia, approximately RM 50 million of the national budget is allocated annually for women-specific programs under its Department for Women's Affairs. Other countries like Vietnam, Nepal and Thailand have also special funds for gender/women's programs. (Table 1)

After l995, many countries in the region created their respective national mechanisms to facilitate the implementation of the BPA. Some formed national commissions to oversee the development of gender policies and programs while others assigned the work to already existing offices which handled programs for women and children. Key officials (e.g. deputy ministers or secretaries) of various government agencies and leading members of women's groups and NGOs sat in these national co-ordinating bodies. They served as the focal points for the mainstreaming of gender perspectives in ministry programs and policies. In order to strengthen the reach of the national bodies on women's/gender programs, many countries likewise created women's/gender focal points at the provincial, district and township levels.

Despite the presence of national machineries, several obstacles still stand in the way of maximizing their use for the advancement of women. The NGOs in the region observe that the gender focal points are still not located at the highest possible level of government.[6] The lack of political will and failure to fully appreciate the goals of gender equality by national leaders are very serious deterrents to effective gender work in government. There had been great difficulty to systematically integrate gender perspectives into government structures, policies and programs. The performance of national machineries are also affected by problems like absence of clear and strong mandate, poor coordination among collaborating units, competing demands of other work, and vulnerability to change of leadership.

Violence against Women and Women's Human Rights. A wide range of interventions were carried out to address the issue of gender violence. The organizational responses included the creation of national coordinating bodies to develop and implement integrated and comprehensive intervention programs. Indonesia, for example, established the National Commission on Violence against Women which now develops models of witness protection programs and laws for the protection of victims and witnesses. Other initiatives involved the establishment of special units in police departments to handle violence against women cases (e.g. women's desks and child protection units), women police stations, special courts to handle sexual crimes, and special judicial processes to facilitate the resolution of cases. Nearly all countries have passed new and/or amended old laws to strengthen the protection of women against abuse. These include laws against sexual harassment, rape, domestic battery, sex trafficking, and human rights abuses of women refugees.

Despite these gains, women still suffer from all forms of physical, sexual and emotional abuse. Cultural values and traditional patterns of social relations continue to legitimize and privilege the male exercise of coercive power; they often prevent the victims from taking action against their abusers. Additionally, tremendous work has yet to be done to eradicate the gender biases in the legislative, judicial and law enforcement systems so they can become more responsive to the needs of women and children. Advocacy work remains inadequate; so are efforts to systematically involve the school, communities and other social institutions in prevention and monitoring of programs.

Although efforts to generate relevant information about gender violence have already started in many countries, others have yet to sex disaggregate the files of their law enforcement, shelter and judicial offices, install appropriate monitoring and evaluation systems and utilise available information for policy and program development.

Some governments and multilateral institutions have yet to ratify and/or comply with the international instruments including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, CEDAW, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) and Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

Women and Health. In the last 5 years, there was increased attention to the generation of reliable and useful data to understand both the manifestations and causes of various reproductive health issues like HIV/AIDS, reproductive tract infections (RTIs), cancer, unsafe abortion and coercive fertility management. Many countries have used such information for advocacy work, resulting in policy reforms for the health sector, more systematic and effective handling of HIV/AIDS and related reproductive health problems, as well as improved health service delivery systems. Among the impressive initiatives to advance women's health were the introduction of the rights-based framework to reproductive health, socialized payment schemes, expansion of health services through decentralization of programs and subsidized pharmaceuticals. Improvement in delivery of safe water, community sanitation programs as well as provision of more advanced screening equipment for cancer, RTIs, and HIV/AIDS at local hospitals and clinics have all contributed to a better health of women. While some countries continued to strengthen their safe motherhood and fertility management programs, others initiated pioneering interventions to address the other reproductive health issues like male involvement in reproductive health, early pregnancy, unsafe abortion and infertility.

There are persistent obstacles to the achievement of the BPA objectives on women and health. They include structural, cultural and political factors. The wide gap in resources between rich and poor countries in the region underlies the inequality in access of women to health care. The problem of inadequate resources has been aggravated, in fact, by the recent financial crises that affected many countries in South and Southeast Asia, and the adoption of structural adjustment measures, resulting in budget cutbacks on health programs. Globalization is now causing job and income insecurity and is likely to have many negative effects on women's reproductive and occupational health.

Gender biases continue to plague the health practice in many countries. These biases include the continuous hegemony of the biomedical tradition in health research, the use of male experience as standards for health care, and the tendency to view as pathological "what are normal processes in women's physical and mental health".[7] Lack of sensitivity of health workers to the multiple roles of women and inequality in decision-making at home, often prevent the former from giving the most appropriate support.

Risky pregnancy and childbirth remains to be a serious women's health issue in the region. Unsafe motherhood is closely connected to poverty, the root cause of poor health and nutrition before pregnancy, as well as inadequate, inaccessible and unaffordable health care during childbirth.[8] It is also brought about by lack of resources, trained personnel and lack of political will.

Complications of pregnancy and childbirth are the leading causes of death and disability for women aged 15 to 49, in developing countries. At least 1,600 women are estimated to die each day or 585,000 each year, from complications of pregnancy and childbirth.[9] Asia has second to the highest estimated figure (1 in 65 pregnancies) of women who are likely to die from pregnancy. In contrast, Europe has estimates of 1 in 1,400 and North America, 1 in 3,700 women with lifetime risk of dying from pregnancy.

Around 80 million pregnancies each year are unwanted or mistimed.[10] This is caused by factors like women's lack of control over sexual relations and contraceptive use as well as lack of access to information. Around 50 million pregnancies each year end in abortion, 20 million of these are unsafe.[11] For Asia (excluding Japan, Australia and New Zealand), it is estimated that there are around 9,900,000 cases of unsafe abortions and 38,000 deaths due to unsafe abortion each year. Around 12 percent of maternal deaths is due to this problem.

The continuous rise in number of people living with HIV/AIDS and infected with other forms of sexually transmitted diseases, in the region, particularly in South and Southeast Asia, has far reaching social and economic impacts. The problem affects women more seriously because of both biological and cultural reasons. The transfer of infection is 4 times more efficient from men to women than from women to men. This is aggravated by women's lack of control over sexual relations and exposure to risk-prone situations like prostitution, migration and risky labour mobility.[12]

The estimate in l999 of people with HIV/AIDS is 6 million in South and Southeast Asia and 530,000 in East Asia and the Pacific.[13] In countries like Myanmar and Cambodia the HIV/AIDS epidemic is described as having "exploded" while in Malaysia, Nepal and Vietnam, rapid increases in HIV infection have been noted in various vulnerable populations. On the other hand, Bhutan, Brunei, DPR Korea, and Pacific Island countries have minimal spread of HIV/AIDS.[14] Of this number, women constitute around 25 percent, for South, Southeast and Central Asia and 11 percent for East Asia and the Pacific.[15] The number is expected to rise with better monitoring and documentation.

Women and the Media. The actions of the ESCAP member countries to issues related to women and media were not as focused and sustained as the responses along the other areas of concern. By and large, state interventions involved the provision of gender sensitivity seminars for media practitioners, and training programs for women to go into media practice. A few countries have enacted laws against the publication and distribution of pornographic materials. Others have formulated broad policies to guide the development of self-regulatory mechanisms, and ethical as well as professional programming and advertising. Some progress has been achieved all over the region in the use of non-sexist language and in influencing media to portray women and girls in varied, non-traditional and positive ways.

Nonetheless, there is still the tendency of media, in many countries, to sensationalize sexual crimes and present female victims in very vulgar and oppressive manner. Women and girls continue to be typecast in female-stereotyped roles. Some of the factors that impede the engendering process of media include the lack of gender advocates within the decision- making bodies of the industry and the tendency of practitioners to violate their guidelines in exchange for higher ratings and incomes.

Education and Training of Women and Girls. Improving the educational status of women and reducing the gender gap in literacy rates were among the priority concerns of most member-states of ESCAP. Some countries adopted the equity approach through giving of scholarships for girls to reach and finish high school and college or a vocational trade. Financial support went to families which have girls at risk of dropping out from schools or women wanting to enter non-traditional occupations. Others tried to develop women's full educational capacities by establishing educational centers in provincial areas, youth guidance and career counseling units, literary resource units for girls and women, research institutions for women's studies, information camps for female college students, vocational schools, boarding schools in rural and far-flung areas, and publication of career education and guidance material. Review of textbooks and curricular programs was widely carried out to do away with sex role stereotyping.

Many Asia Pacific countries still have extremely low literacy rates for adult females. (Table 2) For example, the rate for Cambodia in l998 was only 19.9 percent, 21.7 percent for Bhutan and 28.6 percent for Bangladesh. These figures pale in comparison to the 99 percent rate of Australia, New Zealand and Japan. Gender inequality in access to education and training continues to be a serious problem as the rates for literacy, enrolment and other education indicators generally favor men. The problem is again traced to deeply entrenched cultural traditions that favor sons, and to poverty. The NGO report underscores the need to get more girls to enter and finish their schooling.[16] At the same time, it is equally important to revise and reform curricula to make it gender sensitive, holistic, non-discriminatory and inclusive of both indigenous and new scientific knowledge. It also calls for special educational measures for ethnic minorities, indigenous people, people with disabilities and refugees.

Women, Poverty and the Economy. State measures to arrest the feminization of poverty and improve the overall economic status of women included a wide array of capability building programs, policy reforms and provision of welfare services. Income generation schemes with credit support, livelihood training, technical assistance for small business and marketing mechanisms featured prominently in government efforts to alleviate the situation of women in poverty.

Some governments increased their subsidies for food and other basic needs, while others strengthened women's access to employment and income through reform of laws pertaining to land rights, taxation, divorce and social security benefits. Many countries also reformed their labor policies to enable women to participate more actively in economic production. Workplaces have become women and family-friendly through introduction of flexible working hours, establishment of nurseries and child minding facility, expansion of maternity leave benefits, provision of paternity leave and widening the scope of insurance coverage.

Despite the many progressive actions of governments to address the structural causes of poverty, the number of very poor women has not declined over the last years. In fact, poverty seems to have worsened in some countries due to the deregulation of economies, substitution of food crops with cash/export produce, withdrawal of subsidies, downsizing of government and privatization of public utilities. Company preference for flexible time and contractual work has increased rates of female unemployment and underemployment. Greater obstacles to overcome poverty now lie in emerging international policies and arrangements on trade and finance.

Women in Power and Decision Making. The improvement of women's participation in politics and decision-making were done through various ways-electoral reforms, voters' education and skills enhancement for potential women leaders. Talent banks, nomination registers, recruitment centers and executive search firms were established to increase the number of women being recommended to various government positions. A few countries like Pakistan and India have set quotas for women in elective positions. Acceptance of women as leaders in politics and the bureaucracy has been enhanced through gender awareness seminars for public officials and civil servants.

The representation of women in politics has consistently remained low over the years in all Asian and the Pacific countries, despite marked improvement of their educational and economic status. The highly masculine construction of ideal leadership and governance makes it extremely difficult for women to enter politics and assume important leadership roles. Educational and training programs are generally inadequate to prepare them to assume political roles; neither have these programmes been transformed to incorporate more women-friendly principles of leadership and governance.

A key to the advancement of women's rights and interest in politics and governance lies in the ability of countries to push for the principles of democratization, transparency and accountability of leadership at all levels and in all institutions including business corporations, religious organizations, and NGOs. Corruption, incompetence and moral weakness of political leaders and economic managers all undermine the utilization of resources necessary to promote gender equality and women's empowerment.

Women in Armed Conflict. The pervasive internal and border conflicts in the region has brought many and serious destructive effects on communities and families. Horrific crimes against women like rape, enforced sterilization, sexual slavery and prostitution, and food blockade have been committed in periods of armed conflict. Some of the important measures taken to address the issue included the appointment of women representatives in settlement processes, either as members of the peace councils or as refugee volunteers. Some countries extended citizenship status to women refugees and their children, while others increased support for refugee settlement programs, providing shelter, clothing, food and water.

Humanitarian relief organizations and NGOs have played an increasingly important role in provision of humanitarian assistance and monitoring of human rights violations by feuding forces.

The issues that continue to undermine the capacity of state and non-state parties in the region to protect women and children during wars and armed conflicts include the continued preference for military action to settle differences and huge budget allocations for military expenditures. Very little effort has gone into the integration of gender principles into the theory and practice of humanitarian assistance, conflict resolution and confidence building measures. Moreover, there is generally very poor documentation and monitoring of population displacements and specific cases of abuse.

Women and the Environment. The close connection between environmental problems and women's situation both at home and in the workplace has been extensively substantiated by numerous studies conducted during the last several years. Deforestation, air and water pollution and other environmental problems directly affect women's income and employment, domestic workload and health. The situation of indigenous women is far worse because of persistent threats to their ancestral domains. The initiatives of ESCAP member countries in this particular area of concern included research and advocacy campaigns to raise public awareness of environmental issues and their gender impact. Gender perspectives, using innovative gender and development mainstreaming tools, were integrated into environmental programs like coastal and forest resource management. Various models of gender-sensitive community-based approaches of sustainable development has been pilot-tested and replicated in communities around the region. Affirmative actions have been taken to increase the participation of women in decision-making and management bodies on environment. Women were proactively included in skills enhancement seminars related to resource management and monitoring of levels of pollution and environmental destruction.

The aforementioned efforts have been very inadequate to arrest the continuous degradation of the environment and mitigate its adverse effects on women's health, employment and reproduction roles. There is a need for interventions that are holistic in approach to be able to get to the roots of the problem.

Girl Child. The majority of ESCAP member countries instituted programs for the girl child. Inter-agency and multi-sector networks were formed to consolidate information, and install enabling mechanisms and policies, in compliance with the CRC. Some countries were able to implement national action plans and programs for the girl child. Others produced education and information packages to raise public awareness and mobilize support for shelter care, hotline counseling, and preventive measures. The inclusion of the life-cycle and human rights perspectives in the reproductive health programs has improved the health, legal and educational support for girls.

Initiatives for the girl-child are hamstrung by inadequate sex and age-disaggregated data and lack of information on a number of persistent and emerging child rights issues (i.e. sex slavery, illegal adoption of children, transnational trafficking in babies, participatory rights). Serious gaps in policy and program development exist and account for the persistence of marked gender inequality in access to education.

Emerging Concerns and Issues

The enthusiasm of many countries in implementing the Beijing Platform for Action and complying with the provisions of international human rights may account for the general improvement of GDIs and HDIs. (Table 3) However, the gains in human development do not accrue to both sexes equally as GDIs continue to be lower. Many ESCAP member countries remain in the list of those with low development performance.

Even as countries therefore continue with the gender programs already started, recent global and regional developments have caused some gender issues to become worse and created new obstacles. It is important to identify these and take immediate actions.

The emerging concerns related to women's health include occupational and mental health, issues around aging and adolescence, and leading non-communicable diseases such as tuberculosis and cardiovascular ailments.

The dramatic rise in number of working women over the last decades has also increased their risks to various forms of accidents and occupational hazards. In particular, there is mounting concern over the reproductive health of female workers as "researchers identify more and more types of environmental and occupational exposure potentially hazardous to reproduction".[17] But even if interest over this problem is increasing, there is very little data that can guide program and policy development. The possible areas to examine are the effects of workload and type of work on posture and on physical and psychological health; effects of workplace exposure on reproductive function, fecundity and fertility, and gender differences in occupational risks.

Women also meet serious accidents and get exposed to health risks by just staying and working at home. But again, data on domestic accidents and hazards in developing countries are extremely sparse.[18] As globalization gradually returns formal work back to the home, through information technology and as a result of more flexible work arrangement, there is an urgent need to examine the gender dimensions of domestic health risks. Studies can focus on the harmful effects on health of chemicals in farm inputs, cleaning materials and even food.

The promotion of women's mental health is another important emerging concern. The World Health Organization defines mental well-being as an integral definition of health. It broadly encompasses the ability of an individual to realize "his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community".[19] In developing countries, women's mental and emotional well-being must be examined in the context of other gender issues like sexual abuse, prostitution and sex trafficking, overseas contract work, multiple burden, marital separation, childbearing and the like.

The rapid growth of information technology in the region has brought many positive effects on women and women's groups. It has facilitated communication, gave better access to knowledge and provided new career opportunities for women. Its downside, however, has been the use of the technology for promoting sex trafficking and prostitution. Internet facilities are now being used for advertising sex tours, listing mail order brides, exchanging information of the whereabouts of prostitutes. "After their trips, men write reports on how much they have paid for women and children and write pornographic descriptions of what they did to those they brought. Video conferencing is bringing live strip shows to the Internet".[20]

The problem of trafficking in person, particularly sex slavery, mail-order brides and smuggling of children to work in factories and farms, has worsened in recent years. Notwithstanding the numerous regional and international meetings held and the increase in number of national laws and policies to address the issue, organized crime groups, recruiters and agencies continue to ply the trade, using a variety of channels such as labor migration, entertainment and marriage.[21]

Proposed Priorities and Actions

In light of past and ongoing efforts to advance gender equality and women's empowerment, as well as emerging economic and social developments in the region, this paper suggests the following priorities and actions:

1. In December 1999, 23 countries signed the Optional Protocol to the Women's Convention. It is now in force with the recent ratification of ten state parties. It is important to establish right away the mechanism for its speedy application and enforcement. This includes the installation of the complaints and follow-up procedures and system of inquiry.

2. Poverty remains to be the most serious gender problem of most countries in the region. The most urgent task is to reduce the disproportionate number of women living and poverty through structural reforms of the market, education, taxation, and the finance system.

3. Accelerate the integration of gender perspectives in macro-economic plans and policies; mainstream gender concerns in all current international and regional processes and outputs related to trade, finance, markets and labor. Macro-economic policies should be in accordance with the principles of sustainable development and distributive justice. In particular, the gender perspectives of the region must be integrated in global deliberations and discussions of issues related to the appropriation, ownership and control of biological resources and indigenous knowledge.

4. Support international, regional and national initiatives to stop the trafficking in women and children. The meeting of the Asian Regional Initiative Against Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (ARIAT) held in Manila on March 29-31, 2000 specifically called for the adoption of measures that would strengthen law enforcement and criminal justice agencies and procedures to deal especially with transnational organized criminal groups; develop innovative techniques and effective programs to combat human trafficking at all levels and provide the necessary support for victim witnesses;[22]

5. Promote and protect the human rights of migrant women through multilateral and bilateral agreements, updated information about them, and provision of appropriate legal, welfare support by host countries. Encourage all countries to ratify all international instruments that promote and protect the human rights of migrant workers.

6. Continue to strengthen the national machineries through advocacy for sustained and sufficient budgetary support and endorsement by higher level officials. Gender plans and action programs must be enhanced by effective monitoring mechanisms and policies on accountability. Of particular relevance here are paragraph 2 (a) of the outcome document which calls for countries and international organizations to promote the development of gender statistics and regular strategic surveys, and paragraph 93 (b) to develop a "South-south cooperation program with a view to assisting in the capacity building of national machineries on women through, inter alia, the sharing of expertise, experiences and knowledge of national machineries on … gender mainstreaming methodologies and approaches…"

7. Support all measures to maximize the benefits for women of information technology on one hand, and on the other hand, to curb, if not stop the use of internet and other communication facilities for sex trafficking, prostitution, child smuggling and related crimes.

8. Support initiatives to collect information related to emerging concerns in reproductive health like occupational health, mental and emotional health, cancer, health and lifestyle issues affecting older women, drug and substance abuse, smoking and non-communicable ailments like cardiovascular diseases.

9. The social protection schemes appropriate for developing countries with large number of women in low paying jobs would include food and crop production subsidies, better and more women-friendly services, credit, training for new skills, and personal empowerment seminars.

10. Strengthen the campaign against all forms of violence against women through continuous reform of the legal and judicial systems. Service care for victims of domestic violence should be expanded to include services (i.e. livelihood, housing, permanent adoption for unwanted and abused girls) that can eventually address the primary causes of the problem.

11. Strengthen programs on greater male involvement in promoting women's reproductive health through shared responsibility over fertility management, child care and home management; male centered interventions are timely and relevant especially with regard the rehabilitation of abusers and development of preventive measures against gender violence through education and training.

12. Encourage countries to ratify international instruments pertaining to the promotion and protection of women's human rights, and develop appropriate enabling mechanisms and implementation guidelines.

13. Strengthen efforts to promote sustainable development through gendered analysis of environmental issues and mainstreaming of gender objectives and strategies in programs on urban renewal/development, coastal/marine resource management and forestry development; increase women's participation in environmental programs

14. Encourage research on the impact on women's health and work of environmental pollution and hazards at home, in the farm and at the workplace. Special emphasis should be given to effects on health of pollutants in food, household cleaning agents, hygiene products and farm inputs. Develop programs that could raise public awareness of the damage to health and body of such pollutants.

15. Support mobilization of consumers against the sale and unregulated marketing of hazardous products including tobacco and drugs.

16. Encourage measures that would increasingly make the private sector, particularly the manufacturing and service sectors, accountable for human rights violations.

17. Encourage the development women's/gender studies in higher education which can lead in the production of gender sensitive curricula and educational materials across all scientific fields.

18. Continue to support current initiatives to enhance the capability of women in leadership and their opportunities for active participation in politics and governance. Emphasis must be given to the increase of women leaders in trade unions, farmers' associations, village organizations and in technical committees of development programs.

19. Support current initiatives for comprehensive programs for the girl-child through development of long-term national plans.

20. Encourage closer cooperation among government, private sector and civil society in pursuing the goals of gender equality and women's empowerment.

Footnotes

1 Report of the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, 4-15 September 1995 (United Nations publications, Sales No. E.96.IV.13).

2 Report of the Ad Hoc Committee of the Whole of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly (General Assembly Official Records, Twenty-third special session, Supplement No.3, A/S-23/10/Rev.1)

3 "Preliminary Analysis of the Beijing+5 Outcome Document , 9/10/00.

4 Report of the Ad Hoc Committee of the Whole of the Twenty-Third Special Session of the General Assembly, ibid., page 19.

5 Summarized from the responses of ESCAP members to the United Nations Secretary General's Questionnaire to Governments on Implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, (26-29 October, Bangkok); the statements given by ESCAP member states at the United Nations General Assembly 23rd Special Session to Review the Implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action (5-9/10 June 2,000, New York); and statements given by the member states of ESCAP at the High Level Intergovernmental Meeting of the Regional Review of the Implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action (26-29 October l999, Bangkok.

6 NGO Alternative Global Report to the United Nations General Assembly Special Session, Asia-Pacific Report.

7 World Health Organization. Women and Health: Mainstreaming the Gender Perspective into the Health Sector, Report of the Expert Group Meeting, 28 September -2 October l998, Tunis (Tunisia), New York: United Nations, l999: 22.

8 Family Care International, l999. Sexual and Reproductive Health, New York.

9 A.O. Tsui, et al. eds. Reproductive Health in Developing Countries. National Academy of Sciences, Washington DC, l997 in Family Care International (l999) Sexual and Reproductive Health.

10 Sharing Responsibility: Women, Society & Abortion Worldwide. Alan Guttmacher Institute New York, l999 in Family Care International.

11 Abortion: A Tabulation of Available Data on the Frequency and Mortality of Unsafe Abortion, 3rd edition. World Health Organization, Geneva, l977. In Family Care International

12 ESCAP, Jakarta Declaration for the Advancement of Women in Asia and the Pacific, Second Asian and Pacific Ministerial Conference on Women in Development, Jakarta, 7-14 June, l994. New York: United Nations, l995, page 4.

13 AIDS Epidemic Update. UNAIDS and WHO, Geneva, December 1999.

14 UNDP, HAIN and the Regional Project HIV & Development Asia and the Pacific. From Words to Action: A Guide to the 4th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific, Manila, Philippines, October 25 to 29, l997 and the 12th World AIDS Conference, Geneva, Switzerland, June 28-July 3, l998. Quezon City: Health Action Information Network.

15 UNAIDS and WHO, Global Summary of the HIV/AIDS Epidemic, December 1997. In Population Reference Bureau (l998) 1998 Women of Our World, Washington, DC.

16 NGO Alternative Global Report to the United Nations General Assembly Special Session, Ibid., 24.

17 Figa-Talamanca (l999). "Reproductive Health and Occupational Hazards among Women Workers," In Women and Occupational Health: Issues and policy paper prepared for the Global Commission of Women's Health. Geneva: World Health Organization:60

18 Valls-Llobet and Borras (l999). "Household Labour and Health," In Women and Occupational Health:Issues and policy paper prepared for the Global Commission on Women's Health. Geneva: World Health Organization:51.

19 World Health Organization: Concept of Mental Health, Beijing +5 flyer.

20 Hughes, Donna (l999). "Use of Internet for Global Sexual Exploitation of Women and Children," in Information Kit on Promoting Women's Rights/Fighting Sexual Exploitation. Manila: Coalition Against Trafficking in Women - Asia Pacific.

21 De-Dios, Aurora Javate (l999). "Utilizing International Instruments to Address Trafficking in Women and Children," in Information Kit on Promoting Women's Rights/Fighting Sexual Exploitation. Manila: Coalition against Trafficking in Women Asia-Pacific.

22 Proceedings of the Meeting of the Asian Regional Initiative Against Trafficking in Person, Especially Women and Children (ARIAT), March 29-31, 2000, Manila.