VOICES FROM BEIJING: A BRC SEMINAR SERIES

During the early years of the BRC, one of the most exciting international events to take place was the Fourth World Conference on Women: Action for Equality, Development & Peace, which was convened by the United Nations at the Beijing International Conference Center on Sept. 4-15, 1995.

Ms. Gertrude Mongella of Tanzania served as Secretary-General of the World Conference. Under her leadership, government delegates met for two weeks to work on a Platform for Action aimed at achieving greater equality and opportunity for women. The three previous World Conferences on women were in Mexico City (International Women's Year, 1975), Copenhagen (1980) and Nairobi (1985). Of equal importance, at the Beijing event, a special NGO Forum on Women drew 35,000 participants to the town of Hairou. From that vantage point, attendees monitored the proceedings of the governmental conference and lobbied delegates of their own and other countries in an effort to influence the content of the Platform for Action.

The complete text of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action adopted by the Fourth World Conference on Women can be accessed through the University of Minnesota Human Rights Library: http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/instree/bejingmnu.htm.

As a means of sharing experience and connecting global and local concerns, the BRC co-sponsored a two-evening seminar in late September of 1995 along with the United Nations Association of Greater Boston, UNICEF-Boston, and consultant Kay Welch-Mosby. This event is well remembered as one of the BRC’s most popular conference projects. The leaders who participated are listed below:

September 21, 1995

Athena Mutua, Coordinator of the International Women’s Law Group for the Fourth World Conference on Women

Sayre Sheldon, Founding President for Women’s Action for New Directions (WAND)

Susan Weld, Member of the US Delegation for the Fourth World Conference on Women

Dessima Williams, Former Ambassador from Grenada to the Organization of American States

September 27, 1995

Fauzia Ahmed, (then) South Asia Regional Coordinator for Oxfam America and formerly with the UN Development Program in Bangladesh, Thailand, and the US

Judith Borgrad-Gordon, Convenor, Working Group for Education and Research on the Status of Women, NGO Committee at the UN

Phuntsog Dolma Meston, Tibetan Women’s Delegate to the Fourth World Conference on Women

Robin Melavalin, Photographer and (then) Sociology Instructor