2015 Marks Forty Years of United Nations Work
toward Women's Equality
Forty years ago, the United Nations proclaimed the year 1975 International Women's Year. What followed was the world's first conference exclusively on women's issues, held in Mexico City in June and July 1975. The conference included a Declaration on the Equality of Women that began with the following principle:
"[The]problems of women, who constitute half of the world's population, are the problems of society as a whole, and that changes in the present economic, political, and social situation of women must become an integral part of efforts to transform the structures and attitudes that hinder the genuine satisfaction of their needs."
The convention sought to create an international community that would take pride in equality among people of both sexes. In its introduction, the UN predicted tremendous growth and progress, saying, "History has attested to the active role which women played, together with men, in accelerating the material and spiritual progress and in the process of the progressive renewal of society; in our times, women's role will increasingly emerge as a powerful revolutionary social force."
Two subsequent conferences were held in 1980 and 1985, in Copenhagen and Nairobi, and a fourth in Beijing in 1995. The fourth conference, now 20 years ago, drew a crowd of 17,000 participants and 30,000 activists, and introduced the Declaration and the Platform for Action, an agenda adopted by 189 countries. The twelve point agenda included points for the improvement of women's lives, from poverty, to portrayal in media, to economic empowerment.
The Declaration has undergone review sessions every five years since its introduction. This year, it will once again undergo review at Beijing+20, the session held for the twenty-year anniversary of its inception. Though women's rights have come a long way in the 40 years since International Women's Year, the UN proposes to renew and strengthen interest in the Declaration and women's issues worldwide. With some hard work, 2015 may be another year worthy of the name "women's year."
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