MOST International Conferences are greeted with a certain amount of skepUsism. While this is also true of the forthcoming Fourth World Conference on Women IFWCW) scheduled for September 1995. in Bangladesh the interest and enthusiasm, especially among a section of women certainly outweighs the skeptism. There Is a feeling that sdtnething substantial and concrete will after all come out of this conference and have a positive Impact on the lives of women both globally and locally. The challenge now is to hold on to this -enthusiasm, translate It into action and take it to Beijing,and beyond. The challenge also is to spread the enthusiasm from a section of the community to the majority of the women in Bangladesh.
The government as we know has set up a National Coordination Preparatory Committee (NCPC) to coordinate their preparatory activities. Among othdr things the NCPC is responsible for preparing the Country Report which is now in the process of being finalized. The government has also prepared a Draft National Plan of Action based on the Jakarta Declaration. The Jakarta Declaration is-tf set of excellent recommendations which if implemented will certainly help to remove some of the existing gender disparities. While drafting an Action Plan Is a very positive step, let its hope that it will not just remain as a mere plan but will be Implemented at the policy level.
The non-governmental community as we also know has .organized under a broad-based coalition called The National Preparatory Committee towards Beijing. NGO'Forum '95. It brings together women's groups, activists. NGO's. academics. cultural groups and a cross section of the civil socl ety from all over Bangladesh to coordinate arid consolidate the perspective of Bangladeshi women for the conference and beyond. There are 2000 merit -Iters who represent scores of organizations and institutions. Most of the important NGO's. and women’s organizations working for the emancipation and empowerment of women
in Bangladesh are represented.
The NGO Forums Status Report has been complied with the input of its 200 members and countless men and women who have coji-tributed to its being a truly representative document The NGO Fo^um has now organized itself Into a number of workbased groups to coordinate its activities in an effective and efficient manner. These work based sub-group will continue their activities till the conference and some will continue to work beyond it. These subgroups are working in areas such a s producing newsletters. information dissemination. status report writing. South Asian Perspective. CE-DAW. Preparatory Workshops, drafting the Platform for Action etc.
The South Asian Perspective sub-group recently organised a highly successful regional workshop where 55 South Asian participants from India. Pakistan. Nepal. Shri Lanka and Bangladesh joined together to discuss, analyse and strategies on the key problems faced by women of this region. This forum will be called the "South Asian Women’s Caucus" and has named the Bangladesh National Preparatory Committee as its first secretariat.
The meeting looked at five major Issues affecting women in South 4sia.
Economic and Environment Political Empowerment' of Women
Violence Against Women Traflcking of Women Religious Fundamentalism and Ethfilc Chauvinism.
. The Preparatory Workshop sub-group has been organizing workshops at grassroot level In various regions of Bangladesh These workshops have for the first time taken the Beijing Conference to those women whose lives should be affected positively by the conference. Out of 6 planned workshops, five have airAdy taken place generating a lot of issues, con cerns and recommendations These recommendations will be integrated in the status re port being prepared by the Forum
The feedbacks received
from the workshops have been very positive. Women participants were encouraged and were able to articulate their needs and constraints in a forceful and effective manner. Most women said they needed credit., family support, education. training, access to market etc. Among the constraints they identified were social customs. stereptyped roles Jpr women, lack of power and control, exclusion from most important decision making role. Their responses totally refute statement^ such as "poor women do not know what they want". In fact on the contrary, working with women constantly reinforces the belief that women are capable of taking control of their lives, they just need a little support, a helping hand.
The Beijing Conference is still a few months away and there are many hurdles to cross before the preparatory activities can truly be called the participatory process that we all intended it to be. The important- point to remember is that Beijing is not an end by itself. It should be seen as a vehicle that can. be used to bring attention to issues that ■effect the lives of women, internationally. regionally and locally. The conference is also an arena where national, governments make commitments . and can be held liable to' honpur those commitments.
• The success of the conference will depend on how well governments and the non-government community prepare . for it so that at the end of-the conference, women from all over the world will l>e able to say "yes/at last our voices have been heard". At the moment, we still have a long way to go before women can truly say that. There is work, to be done In terms of disseminating in Ibrmation about the conference at the grassroot level at a much wider scale. The preparatory activities *%ill have no meaning If the concerns of the majority of women are not reflected In-the status report to l>e presented and the activities being planned for the conference There is also the mat ter- of getting commitment from government political parties and civic society to work unitedly both mtn and women, so that the recom mendations that come out of I he conference are somehow implemented and impact post lively on the lives ot women In Bangladesh.