COUNTRIES COVERED:
1. CHINA
2. JAPAN
3. KOREA
4. MONGOLIA
Common Areas of Concern:
A. Poverty
B. Food security
COMMITMENTS
1. Women's full participation in economic development
2. Elimination of illiteracy among young and middle aged women by 2000
3. Launching of literacy campaign
4. Reduction of drop-out rates among school girls and increase in the
proportion of women receiving secondary and higher education
5. Improvement in laws and regulations for the protection of women's rights and interests
6. Support and assistance for health care institutions for women and children
7. Increase in women's participation in politics
8. Improvement of women' s institutions at all levels
9. Establishment of a system for monitoring women's conditions in all spheres
ACTIONS
A. GOVERNMENT
1. As of 1995, working committees on women and children at various
levels were set up in all 30 provinces, autonomous regions,
municipalities and all prefectures and cities under their jurisdiction.
2. As of 1997, establishment of 16 special working groups on women
and children at all levels by the Committee for Internal and Judicial
Affairs under the National People's Congress.
3. As of 1997, 20 provinces have formulated their own development
plan for women, and the conduct of trainings at several levels of
government for popularization of the Programme for the Development of
Chinese Women (1195-2000) and the BPFA.
4. Massive information campaigns on the Programme and BPFA.
5. Government departments formulated their own specific priorities
for development.
NGO INITIATIVES (All-China Women's Federation)
1. Popularization of the results of the Beijing Conference througfh report-back meetings to men and women, and also to Hong Kong and Macau women representatives, media work, counsultations, publication, among others.
2. Compilation of a series of books on the Conference and NGO Forum on Women for publication.
3. Coordination and collaboration between ACWF and government entities in order to assist women in remote, poverty stricken and ethnic minority areas.
4. Coordination with the State Education Commission to fulfill the task of eliminating illiteracy among 3 million young an middle-aged women annually.
5. Collaboration with government to help build capacity of women for participation both in politics, industry and in nation-building.
6. Advocacy on establishment of more democratic family relations.
COMMITMENTS
1. Promotion of women in public services.
2. Support for women entrepreneurs.
3. Promotion of women's participation in decision-making in agricultural communities.
4. Improvement of women's educational standards, health and promotion of social participation of women.
5. Strenthening of the "Asian Women's Fund" to combat violence against women.
6. Strengthening partnerships with NGOs.
7. Review of legal system pertaining to marriage.
ACTIONS TAKEN
A. BY GOVERNMENT
1. National Plan of Action until Year 2000 done based on report of Council for Gender Equality and takes into account recommendations made in PFA.
2. National machinery set up lead by the Council for Gender Equality, the Ofice for Gender Equality in the Prime Minister's Office and the Liaison Conference for the Promotion of Gender Equality.
3. Revision of certain laws like the Eugenic Protection Act, the Equal Employment Opportunity Law and the Labour Standards Law to promote humand rights and gender equality.
4. Contribution to the UNIFEM fund during the 51st session of the UN General Assembly in the amount USD1 million.
B. BY NGOs
1. Popularization of the PFA through meetings, study groups, and holding of post-Beijing conferences to come up with action plans, campaigns, advocacy and lobby work, networking and international solidarity work.
2. Setting up of organizations to monitor progress on the BPFA like the Beijing Japan Accountability Caucus and the Women's Year Liaison Group.
For more details on Japanese women's initiatives and government actions, visit also:
AJWRC
AWORC
Or Contact:
Mitchiko
GOALS
1. To provide the social environmentin which women can be free from
domestic chores.
2. To set in place institutional support for women's employment.
3. To develop women's ability to work outside the home and their
access to information.
4. To strengthen the social milieu that discourages gender
discriminatory practices and perceptions.
ACTIONS
A. GOVERNMENT
1. Expansion of child-care facilities through the mobilization of
private resources like establishment of child-care coops, utilization
of religious facilities for child-care, mobilization of community
resources for after-school care programmes, and provision of school
meals from local government unit budgets.
2. Setting a target percentage for women's participation in the public
service sector by setting flexible recruitment and screening criteria.
3. Provision of incentives for the recruitment of women in public
enterprise through a reward system.
4. Social sharing of maternity protection costs, and child care leave
allowance as an incentive for employers to hire women.
5. Expansion of education and training for women's employment through
diversification and strengthening of vocational traianing in the
regular secondary curricula.
6. Promotion of the re-employment of women who had stopped work due to
childbirth and child care through job training programmes and subsidies.
B. NGO INITIATIVES (KOREAN NATIONAL WOMEN'S COUNCIL)
1. Lobbying and advocacy work by:
- holding an annual convention with top government officials as
guests and thus provide an opportunity for more than 3,000
representatives of women's organizations to lobby.
- campaign against discrimination of girls in entry to co-educational
schools, and for non-discrimination entry into courses and employment
- expansion of women's participation in political party processes.
- monitoring media content
- holding regular meetings with policy-makers for feedbacking and
review of policies and conduct of discussion groups to evaluate
government actions on women's issues and come up with recommendations
- lobby for amendment to the Equal Employment Law to redress
weaknesses in the law that works against women.
2. Education and training for women through:
- conduct of a yearly training program for over 100 women leaders
from all over the country.
- conduct of seminars and discussion on media content and viewership
- it also undertakes gender-sensitivity trainings and workshops
3. Provision of networking opportunities for women's organizations nationally in order to strengthen their lobbying powers.
4. On employment and labor issues, since 1996, the Council has operated a relief office and a Women Workers Petition Centre that address both gender-based and labor violations of working women's rights.
5. To support its work, the Council undertakes research studies and seminars on topics like: changing perceptions on wedding customs, safety awareness, energy comsumption, among others.
For more information, contacts and activities, visit or contact the following:
COMMITMENTS:
1. Improvement and expansion of health and social services for women.
2. Reduction of MMR by 50% and IMR by 33% by 2000 as measured against the 1990 rates.
3. Reforms in the educational system.
4. Convening the national assembly on women's development by 1996 to formulate national strategies for the BPFA implementation.
ACTIONS
A. GOVERNMENT
1. Adoption of a National Programme for Action for the Advancement of Women including 10 critical areas of concern from the BPFA.
2. Setting up of the national machinery for the advancement of women.
3. Special attention to alleviation of women's poverty through establishment of a programme, provision of resources and collaboration with NGOs.
4. Support for more women in decision-making through awareness campaigns, trainings, political commitment.
5. All programs before Beijing are still on-going but with the recognition that not all women have benefited from the health system and improvements therein, and thus identified factors that must be considereed in the formulation of a health policy and programmes, to wit: lifestyle,
environmental health situation, reproductive health situation, STDs.
B. NGO INITIATIVES
B1.Mongolian Women's Federation
1. Popularization of the BPFA through translation and dissemination of the document.
2. Participation in the formulation of the National Programme for Action for the Advancement of Women.
3. Fielding of candidates in electoral politics.
4. Holding of seminars on issues of women in collaboration with UN bodies and the government.
5. Awareness campaigns on gender issues among women and men.
B2. Women's Information and Research Centre
Inline with its area of focus which is advocacy and publicity, WIRC has done the following:
1. Conducted first survey on identification of priority issues of women.
2. Conducted first nationwide survey on the economic position of women in the transition period from a centrally-panned economy to an open-market economy.
3. Conduct of gender studies.
4. Publication of the results of researches/studies and other gender information towards public awareness of women's issues, and empowerment of women.
4. Women activist trainings on gender analysis to improve monitoring of policies.
B3. WOMEN FOR SOCIAL PROGRESS
1. Conduct of regional workshop on the role of NGOs in Mongolia and Central Asia for initial dialogue and identification of women's issues in the countries and in the region.
For more information, contacts and activities, visit or see: