Women and the United Nations - Tapa dura

Since its founding in 1945, the United Nations has placed the advancement of women at the forefront of its agenda. The UN Charter, for instance, is the first international document to recognize the equal rights of men and women. Yet how beneficial have UN programs been for women in the developing world? How must the UN change to make future programs more effective? And most importantly, what does the experience of women working within the UN system tell us about the UN's commitment to gender equity?
Women and the United Nations: Reflections and New Horizons addresses these and other questions. Gathered here are papers and statements presented at a seminar organized by the UNIDO Forum of Women Professionals and held in Vienna in May 1995. The seminar marked the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the United Nations and served as a preparatory activity for the Fourth World Conference on Women, to be held in Beijing in September 1995.
The purpose of the seminar was to examine gender issues as they affect international development and especially to evaluate the UN's progress as a role model in the equitable treatment of women. The papers and statements, by well-known scholars and policy makers, address such issues as the gender implications of the UN's agenda for equality, development, and peace; women's role in the field operations and in technological advances, especially information technology; the dangers of technological change for women's health and the environment; improving women's status in the UN system; and increasing women's participation in economic and political decision making.
In addition to a foreword by Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, this book also includes the full text of the seminar's recommendations for action to advance the status of women both within and outside the UN system. An appendix contains three resolutions drafted in March and April 1995 by the Commission on the Status of Women concerning trafficking in women and girls, the taking of women and children as hostages, and the improvement of women's status in the UN secretariat.
This book emphasizes the need for women to take a central role in the design and implementation of policies and programs to promote sustainable development. Scholars, activists, and policy makers will value Women and the United Nations as a reference tool, and will find its analyses and prescriptions for action provocative and stimulating.