Women’s Conference goals examined for local application
■ CONFERENCE: Students
and community members
look for ways to improve the
status of women locally using
the UN Platform for Action
By Jennifer Carter
Managing Editor
Eugene joined hundreds of
communities across the country
Saturday to develop recommen
dations for improving the status
of women and girls in the United
States and internationally.
More than 100 women and
men, both from the community
and from the University, gathered
in the Erb Memorial Union Fir
Room to assess the goals of the
1995 Fourth United Nations Con
ference on Women in Beijing.
These goals are outlined in the
United Nations’ Platform for Ac
tion, a document that deals with
improving the status of women
and girls in 12 main areas, such as
poverty, education, health, vio
lence and human rights.
Saturday’s participants used
the Beijing goals to develop rec
ommendations about how confer
ence ideals can be played out lo
cally. These local goals will be
sent to the President’s Interagency
Council on Women in mid-Octo
ber as part of a national action
agenda aimed at fulfilling the
Platform for Action. This council
is composed of members of every
government agency, from the De
fense Department to the Environ
mental Protection Agency.
Local recommendations com
ing out of Saturday’s conference
detailed steps to improve ongoing
problems in economic, security
health and other arenas. Partici
pants said they want to see more
self-sustaining economic systems
developed in Oregon and want to
see women maintaining more
control of their health, instead of
giving control over to health care
professionals.
Recommendations focusing on
education were also made. In ad
dition to goals specific to higher
education, participants said they
want to see more resources going
to education and decreases in
classroom size.
Student participants said the
goals of the Beijing and Saturday
conferences should be applied to
the University.
Jessica Frahs, the student
events coordinator for the ASUO
Women’s Center, said the Univer
sity should take steps to meet Sat
urday’s recommendations in rela
tion to women’s employment and
role modeling.
“I would say specifically to the
UO, increasing women faculty
and mentor programs is impor
tant,” she said. “That was a big
thing we talked about today.
“We need to see role models on
campus and right now that isn’t
happening.,”
Sarah Gilman, a graduate stu
dent in international studies, said
she wants people to be aware of
Saturday’s recommendations.
“Every department or group on
campus involved in women’s is
sues or development should be
aware of what’s gone on here to
day.”
She said she would like to see
continuous events occur on cam
pus because the recommenda
tions from Saturday and from Bei
jing are part of an ongoing
process.
Aside making local recommen
dations, conference participants
also watched a live teleconference
from Washington, D.C., which
was broadcast to churches, col
lege campuses and other public
institutions across the country.
The teleconference featured
Hillary Rodham Clinton as
keynote speaker and included on
its 10-person panel Geraldine Fer
raro, the U.S. ambassador to the
United Nations Human Rights
Commission, and Donna Shalala,
the secretary of Health and Hu
man Services.
Clinton said work has already
started throughout the country to
implement pieces of the Platform
for Action. One example she gave
is a national domestic violence
hotline that has received more
than 44,000 calls in the last six
months.
“Today we see that the message
of Beijing is being heard around
the world in classrooms, in of
fices, in seats of power,” she said.
But Clinton stressed that more
needs to be done to create equali
ty between men and women.
“There is more we can do to
protect women from violence at
home and on the streets. There is
more we can do to ensure that
women receive equal wages for
ANDREW BRACKENSICK/Emerald
Hillary Rodham Clinton was the speaker for Saturday’s teleconference.
equal work. There is more we can
do to provide retirement security
for women who spend their wak
ing hours on assembly lines, be
hind cash registers and working at
computers.
“[But] because we are talking
about issues that matter in the
lives of women and girls, that
does not mean we are ignoring is
sues of concern to men and boys.
... Where women flourish, fami
lies flourish.”
To request a copy of the final
report, call 346-0641.
RECOMMENDATIONS
These higher education recommen
dations will be included in the report
that will be sent to the President's
Interagency Council on Women:
■ 50 percent of university faculty
(specifically full professors) should
be women.
■ Universities should follow an
equal pay for equal work rule.
■ The spiral of increasing tuition
should be stopped, and education
should be accessible to all people.
Source: United Nations Conference on
Women: One Year Later Closing Comments
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