January 6, 2004
Towards a Fifth UN International Women's Conference
by Jean Shinoda Bolen
Premise
An international women's conference would bring over a hundred thousand women from all over the world together in a hospitable country where diversity is a way of life. Each of the four previous conferences has drawn increasing numbers of women from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) together who inspire and learn from each other and form alliances. With the internet and email now able to link women world-wide, the effect of such a conference on the women who attend and on those they can inform and influence is enormous. It would foster and support women's concerns and solutions for peace and security. The Millionth Circle is moving the idea forward, supported by circumstances and synchronicities; we are finding that there is only from one to three degrees of separation between us and a woman who has the information or connection we need to further this. An international women's conference in Brazil feels like an idea whose time has come and if so, it will be taken up by others who can make it possible.
Background:
A delegation of women from the Millionth Circle Initiative went to meetings of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UN-CSW) in March 2002. There we learned that there were no plans to hold a 5th UN International Women's Conference in 2005 as expected. Since it requires a three year lead time to organize, this would have been the time to be making plans, if there were to be one. UN International Women's Conferences have been held every ten years beginning in Mexico City, followed by Copenhagen, Nairobi and then Beijing in 1995. (We heard speculations and explanations why there would no Beijing + 10, among which was that no country had offered to be the host country for the conference, fear that the Beijing Platform for Action would be repudiated, burnout, and the overriding involvement of the UN in worldwide conflicts of which Iraq is the latest). We also learned about UN Resolution 1325 on "Women, Peace and Security" passed on October 31, 2000 which states that women should be involved whenever there are issues of peace and security to be decided: in prevention, resolution, and the aftermath of conflict.
Brazil as Host Country?
The idea that Brazil could be the host country entered Jean Shinoda Bolen's (author of The Millionth Circle) thoughts on learning that the newly elected populist Brazilian president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had announced at the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre in January 2003, that one of his first actions was to create a cablnet level position on women and his appointment of Emilia Fernandes to head this ministry. Brazil is a multi-cultural country that has hosted many large international conferences, has a tradition of hospitality and diversity, and isn't engaged in war. It is also about time for the International Women's confererence to be held in South America, since Asia, Africa, Europe and North America (Mexico City) have been previous sites.
In March 2003, the idea was brought to a gathering of the Millionth Circle. Two women in Brazil would take the idea further: May East, a Millionth Circle convener lives in Brazil and is a Findhorn trustee, and Angela Weber who had worked with Ann Smith in organizing an international Anglican conference in Salvador, Brazil. Angela subsequently obtained the support of the mayor of Salvador and the governor of Bahia. Visits to Brazilia gained further support from Emilia Fernandes, and encouragement from the president of Brazil.
Angela Weber then came to the Gather the Women Congress in San Francisco, October 17-19, http://gatherthewomen.org. where further support for Beijing + 12 in Brazil was generated and a petition signed by women from 29 countries which was sent to the UN Secretary-General. Meanwhile, the idea has been circulating through conversations and emails and efforts are being made to move it through UN channels.
Next Steps: The UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) and the UN Non-Governmental Organizations Commmission on the Status of Women (NGO-CSW) meet annually at the United Nations every March. For there to be an official UN sponsored International Women's Conference, a proposal needs to be introduced and supported by delegates to the UN CSW (and then passed to it's parent council) Brazil is a current member and Emilia Fernandes is the Brazilian delegate. Members of the Millionth Circle-Canada led by Clare Peterson (bcpeter@shaw.ca) and Anne Caldwell (acaldwell@shaw.ca) have accepted the task of enlisting the support of the Canadian delegation to work with Brazil on this. The next step if Brazil and Canada's delegations do this, is to find out whether lobbying efforts by individual women and women's organizations from countries with delegates could help. There are 45 countries with delegates on the CSW, each serving four-year terms.(membership list http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/members). If the UN CSW recommends that there be a 5th UN International Women's Conference, it goes to ECOSOC (Economic and Social Council of the United Nations) which meets in Geneva three months later. We will need to learn how we might help further the idea of the conference at ECOSOC before then.The Women's World Summit Foundation in Geneva http://www.woman.ch headed by Elly Pradervand, a MC Convener, has consultative status with ECOSOC, and is one of the sponsors of The Millionth Circle.
The Millionth Circle Initiative (http://www.millionthcircle.org) taps into the strong desire that women have for an international conference and the urgency of the need for women to implement UN Resolution 1325 on "Women, Peace and Security" by their involvement wherever women, peace and security are concerns: from domestic violence to trafficking in women and children, to conflicts within communities to civil wars, to wars between countries and terrorism. The world needs women and the feminine principle to be represented -- not just in token numbers but as half of the population.
Jungian analyst Jean Shinoda Bolen has written many
books beginning with Goddesses in Everywoman. Her
current book, Crones Don't Whine, is now on the best
seller list! Crones was reviewed in Awakened Woman
last September. The Millionth Circle Initiative sprung up in
manifestation of a paradigm shift described in Bolen's
earlier book, The Millionth Circle. All are available from
Powell's.