Showing papers in "Feminist Studies in 1996"

Theorizing Difference from Multiracial Feminism

Abstract: Gwaltney, John Langston. 1980. Drylongso: A Selfportrait of black America. New York: Vintage.Harding, Sandra. 1986. The science question in feminism. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Jordan, June. 1985. On call: Political essays. Boston: South End Press.

Women as Sherpas: Are Global Summits Useful for Women?

Abstract: Since 1990 the United Nations has organized seven major global forums on a variety of issues: the World Summit for Children held in New York in 1990; the Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992; the Second World Conference on Human Rights held in Vienna in 1993; the International Conference on Population and Development held in Cairo in 1994; the World Summit on Social Development held in Copenhagen in 1995; the Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing in 1995; and Habitat II, held in Istanbul in June 1996. These summits have demanded extensive work and resources at every level. Even in its parlous financial state, the United Nations established secretariats to run the conferences and the arduous preparatory meetings (PrepComs) that precede them. Almost all the United Nations' 185 member nations, and a number of nonmembers, have sent delegations to the PrepComs and the final conferences and some, such as Australia, have formed national committees to advise their governments on policy approaches to the issues. Much nongovernmental activity has also been devoted to the seven summits. NGOs have monitored and analyzed the work on the PrepComs and official conferences. Since the Rio conference in 1992, the official United Nations conferences, at which only nation states have a voice and a vote, have been accompanied by a separate NGO forum. These forums have provided numerous activities from lobbying the delegates to the official conference, to issuing alternative final declarations, to offering seminars and workshops, to allowing people with similar or parallel concerns from all over the world to make contact with

In Search of a New Economic Order: Women’s Agenda for the Next Millennium

Abstract: Economic issues have become an important part of the agenda of women's organizations and feminist study worldwide. At the Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) Forum of the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Huairou, China, many workshops focused on such issues as globalization, structural adjustment, economic transition from planned economies, the feminization of poverty, women's employment and unemployment, property rights, and women's access to credit. Economic issues were also discussed in connection with other panels, such as trafficking in women, environmental degradation, access to adequate healthcare and education, and political participation. Although women in Huairou disagreed about many issues, there appeared to be nearly universal agreement that women are harmed by the laissez-faire economic policies that are sweeping the world. The purpose of the official UN conference was to agree on the Platform for Action, which would set guidelines for improving the status of women and girls and promoting equality. Most of the wording, however, had been agreed upon at preliminary meetings, and only language that had been placed in brackets was open for discussion. Thus, it was too late for many women not familiar with the process to add issues they considered important. The organization of NGOs attending the official UN conference, on the other hand, was relatively informal and decentralized. A coordinating body was set up to provide information, and caucuses were set up to address particular issues. The Economic Justice Caucus was unanimous in its condemnation