on "Preparations for the Fourth World Conference on Women: Action for Equality, Development and Peace"

(Agenda Item 3)

Commission of the Status of Women
United Nations

16 March 1995
New York

Madame Chairperson,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the Government of Israel. Allow me to take this opportunity to congratulate on your election as Chairperson, and wish you success in the discharge of your duties.

At the outset, I wish to express our appreciation to Ms. Mongella for her dedication and for the important contribution she has already made, even before the Beijing Conference on the Advancement of Women.

The Fourth UN World Conference on Women will be convening in Beijing to secure "Equality, Development and Peace Looking at the World Through Women's Eyes." This World Conference must bring about a real breakthrough in advancing the status of women, both on the national and international levels.

One of the central lessons of the Nairobi Conference has to be that we can no longer make do with "platforms for action" alone. We must also ensure the creation of tools to follow-up their realization. For too many years, governments and international economic institutions have paid little more than lip service to their commitment to advance the status of women. At the Beijing Conference, we must not only seek government declarations, but we must also safeguard specific commitments for their implementation, including budgetary allocations.

As Advisor to the Prime Minister on the Status of Women, it is my duty to coordinate and direct my Government's treatment of all issues connected with the status of women in Israel, in the spheres of legislation, policy and administration.

Towards the Beijing Conference, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin expressed his Government's commitment to the advancement of women, by announcing that a government bill would be submitted to the Knesset, Israel's parliament, to guarantee the establishment of a statutory authority for the advancement of women. Its task will be to implement, nurture and follow up all aspects of this important sphere of activity within the Prime Minister's office. The authority will be independent, will operate under its own budget, and will serve as an ombudsman to address public concerns.

Towards the Beijing Conference, we have decided to convene tens of thousands of Jewish and Arab women, in order to determine the agenda for women in Israel for the decade following Beijing.

In November 1994, we convened the International Jewish Leaders' Conference towards Beijing. In the Jerusalem Declaration, adopted at the Conference's close, we welcomed the advancement of the peace process in the Middle East, the signing of the peace treaty with the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, and the Declaration of Principles with the PLO. We hope that these will be followed by a comprehensive peace in the region.

We recognized the pioneering efforts of women in creating the positive atmosphere for peace in the Middle East, and urged the inclusion of women in all levels of the peace negotiations.

We condemned all forms of terrorism, racism, anti-semitism, fundamentalism and xenophobia.

Recognizing that women's rights are human rights, we condemned all forms of violence against women, and demanded that governments implement and fund policies to combat and eliminate all forms of discrimination against women.

We recommended the extension of the partnership between men and women to safeguard equal participation of women in decision-making at all levels of society in order to secure women's empowerment.

We called upon governments to combat the feminization of poverty, and to facilitate the access of all women to the labor market. This will enable them to secure equal pay for work of equal value and to be remunerated for unpaid work.

We demanded that affirmative action policies to secure equality for women be initiated and implemented in the governmental, public and private sectors. We stated that the family in all its forms is the basic unit of society and, as such, should be a model of equality. All forms of inequality, both within the family and before the courts, must be addressed. The family is entitled to receive comprehensive protection and support.

Everyone has the right to enjoy the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. States should take all appropriate measures to ensure women's universal access to health care services, including those related to reproductive rights, which include family planning and sexual health.

We recognized that education and training are important keys to achieving gender equality and women's economic independence, and must be a priority concern when distributing resources.

We urged the encouragement and development of younger leadership within women's organizations and firmly suggested that their delegations to the Beijing Conference consist of at least 20% young women.

We recognized the role of women in safeguarding the environment, in reducing consumption and in the achievement of sustainable development.

We emphasized our appreciation for the contribution made by NGO's, and their partnership with governments in impacting legislation on behalf of women. We urged that the NGO's participate in monitoring and implementing the Beijing platform of action.

On February 26, 1995, for the first time in Israel, we organized a conference towards Beijing under the auspices of the Prime Minister's office. Representatives of 70 women's NGO's took part in the gathering, which was called, "To Look at the World Through Women's Eyes."

On the conference's steering committee, we had representative from nine organizations representing over one million Israeli women. There were also representatives from smaller organizations, Jewish and Arab alike.

Every day, these groups work with women in crisis, battered women, victims of rape and sexual harassment, women in economically depressed areas, new female immigrants, war widows, agunot, lesbians, and women suffering from breast cancer, ovarian cancer and other diseases.

Ten working groups at the conference addressed issues such as violence against women, rights of specific demographic groups (like one-parent families), women in poverty, education for gender equality, religion and women's rights, women's health, political and economic empowerment, and women in war and peace.

Madame Chairperson,

At Beijing, we plan to present Israel's experience in the sphere of advancing the status of women, emphasizing not only our achievements, but also, mistakes which have been made. We hope that our experience can help other nations learn not only how to score successes, but also, how to avoid pitfalls.

I am happy to bring to your attention that the Department for Development Support and Management Services signed an agreement with the Government of Israel to conduct a seminar on strategies for enhancing the participation of women in the development process. Approximately 25 women from northern African countries will come to the Golda Meir International Center on Mount Carmel in Haifa, for training on issues related to community development and programme design.

On March 6, 1995, we brought together 3,000 women, representing 32,000 female government employees in Israel, for a conference with the Prime Minister looking towards Beijing. Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin called for a reevaluation of the way the state addresses the status of women. He called on us to look towards the future.

I quote: "Half of the population in Israel are women. And surely there is no people certainly not the people of Israel that won't want to work for the good of each individual and the whole society by fostering the enormous potential contained in one half of its nation.

"The struggle to improve the status of women is a long one. It goes on in many countries including our own.... In this struggle, we have to overcome cultural norms, sometimes also religious. It is appropriate every so often to reflect and consider what has been achieved, and what obstacles still lie before us so that we may overcome them.

"There is no doubt in my mind, that we must do more to fulfill the potential of every human being. Especially for women, to develop their talents fully in all fields of their activity. There is certainly a place in this for affirmative action. I see no shame in affirmative action.

"We must not fear to expose the grave conditions that result from the current status of women. First and foremost, violence against women. We must fight this with all legal means, in cooperation with women, voluntary organizations and government ministries....

"There are two sides to the struggle to improve the status of women: The first is affirmative action, to give women the ability to express fully their abilities and potentials. The second is to fight violence against women in all its manifestations, as a part of a broader campaign against violence in general, in an effort to eliminate all these phenomena. Battering of women, and violence against women both in the home and outside of it are phenomena that have to be uprooted from Israeli society. If we can accomplish this, we will be able to say that we have made significant progress in closing the gaps in the status of women."

In Israel, we believe that achieving equality and development for women are intimately bound up in peace. In the words of one our great poets of peace, Shaul Kenaz,

"Just to remind you every day
That if there is no peace here,
There won't be anything.
Just to remind you that now there is a chance.
Just to remind you that you are a human being.
Just to say that for peace that is enough."

Thank you, Madame Chairperson.