3.2. Copenhagen 1980

At this conference, a dialogue about equality between men and women was held on a global scale for the first time. Never before had the member states of the UN met to discuss agreed goals regarding gender equality, identifying obstacles and designing specific strategies to

While, on a domestic scale, initiatives had been taken for the advancement of women, raising their participation in all spheres, the Mexico Conference gave these isolated steps forward a platform for institutional support and for implementation on a worldwide scale. The urgent need to improve women's status and the need to educate and train them to give them access to

In addition to equality, the Plan of Action of Mexico also set the goal of fully integrating women into the entire effort towards development. One of the objectives to be achieved was to increase the contribution of women to securing world peace. It was at this time that women began to be seen not just as passive victims of underdevelopment and conflicts but rather as active agents in the development and peace processes. The goals of equality, development and peace became the motto of the United Nations Decade for Women, declared by the UN at the urging of the conference for the period spanning from 1976 to 1985. The World Plan of Action outlined the fundamental goals of equality, development and peace and urged the governments of the signatory states to implement the necessary measures at national, regional and international levels to reach these goals by the end of the Decade for Women. In an effort to ensure their success, 14 minimum targets were set for the first half of the period. These included participations by women in the debates and in establishing guidelines, promotion of equal education and access thereto at all levels, highlighting the compulsory nature of primary education, reducing female unemployment rates, health, parity in exercising civil rights and the presence of women in decisionmaking bodies at local, national and international levels. The UN member states were to meet in Copenhagen in 1980 to assess the degree of achievement of these intermediate

As a result of the Mexico Conference, the UN created two new bodies: the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW), the purpose of which was to stimulate the advancement of women and their contribution to development through research, training and the spread of information [11], and the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), which would provide financial support and technical assistance to programmes promoting human rights for women and gender equality [12]. The work done by these agencies has been extremely important in improving the status of women

The UN General Assembly approved the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (1979). In its 30 articles, this document outlines the measures to be implemented in order to progressively eradicate all forms of discrimination against women in political and public life, in teaching, employment, health, marriage and the family and based on nationality. It represents a compilation of all the efforts made by the United

Nations to incorporate the principle of gender equality into domestic laws.

the same opportunities as men were seen at this conference.

achieve such goals.

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goals.

around the world.

Five years later, the states met in Copenhagen to assess the degree of achievement of the World Plan of Action of the Mexico Conference, concluding that, while progress had been made in some of the goals, legal equality between men and women had not been implemented as expected due to obstacles such as insufficient political will, lack of acknowledgement of the value of women's contribution to society, a shortage of women in decisionmaking positions, insufficient services to enable women to perform their duties in national life, few credit facilities, a shortage of financial resources in general, limited participation by men in improving the role of women in society and a lack of awareness amongst women themselves as to the available opportunities, to name a few. With the aim of assisting women in exercising the rights entitled to them by law, governments were advised to attempt to eliminate these obstacles. Three areas were established, on which the signatory states and the UN agencies were to focus their efforts for achieving the goals of the World Plan of Action over the following 5 years. These were equitable access to education, equal employment opportunities and adequate healthcare.

In the Copenhagen Programme of Action, the signatory states agreed to increase the number of national measures to guarantee women's right to own property and control assets in general, to inherit, of custody of children and to nationality. In turn, the stereotypical images held of women were to be broken down by governments through campaigns aimed at advertising and the communication media.

The resistance that certain official delegations displayed towards the contents of the recommendations, which were incompatible with national legislation in numerous cases and with certain cultural principles that were deeply rooted in their societies, hindered consensus. The political tensions that had already begun to surface at the Mexico Conference grew stronger. Such is the case that the discussion came to a standstill and the final document was approved without reaching a consensus by all the participating states.

#### 3.3. Nairobi 1985

After the Conference in Copenhagen, the third United Nations World Conference was held in Nairobi (Kenya) in 1985. The strategies set in Nairobi revolve around the three cornerstones: equality, development and peace. This document identifies the obstacles found to hinder the achievement of the goals defined in the principles for the decade and draws up basic strategies for the future and measures to be applied at the national level.

Within the subject of development, the subthemes of nutrition, water and agriculture, industry, trade and sales services, science and technology, communications, housing, settlements, development and transportation, energy, environment and social services were added to the subthemes of employment, health and education defined in Mexico. Special attention was given within the field of health to women and children under apartheid, Palestinian women and children and women in areas under the influence of armed conflicts, foreign intervention and threats to peace.

This conference confirmed that the targets and goals set for the decade had only been partially achieved. While the early years of the decade had featured relatively favourable economic conditions in both developed and developing countries, the subsequent decline in the economic situation had prompted a drop in the pace of efforts aimed at promoting the equitable participation of women in society and had generated issues that forced a downturn in the cause for women.

And it was here that specific studies and actions were defined by the governments to eliminate stereotypes in the media and to incorporate women into society. This document also suggests applying research, creating programmes and allocating resources to support domestic campaigns aimed at informing the public about the need for equality between women and men [13].

The Progress of the United Nations in Empowerment and Equality for Women

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In 1995, the fourth United Nations World Conference was held in the capital of China, Beijing. At the same time, coinciding with the conference, the NGO Forum was held simultaneously, attended by more than 10,000 people from civil society. Preparations for this conference dated back to 1990, with preliminary regional summits held over the years to draw up proposals, which were recorded in regional documents and plans. These preparatory meetings helped to define the draft version of the Platform of Action, which would later be discussed in Beijing. However, despite all the work done, the Draft version of the Platform of Action lacked

The Beijing Conference had an unprecedented impact in the media, thus fully achieving the goal of any United Nations Conference of raising awareness amongst the public about the topics to be addressed. The fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing and the NGO Forum in Huairou generated an enormous mobilisation of the media. The events attracted more than 3200 journalists and people related to the media, compared to some 1400 at the 1985 conference in Nairobi and 800 at the conference in 1980. The Beijing Conference received more

As a result of the conference, two documents were issued—the Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action—which focused on 12 critical areas of concern for women, namely, poverty, education, health, violence against women, armed conflicts, the economy, women in power and decision-making, institutional mechanisms for advancement, human rights, the

In Beijing, the term "gender" was introduced, defined as "socially constructed roles assigned to men and women, and the possibilities, opportunities and discriminations deriving from this" [9]. This new approach entails no longer dealing with women's status in an isolated manner but rather, in order for it to improve, changing the very structures of society, recreating more equal relationships between men and women. Thus, it is noted that the differences between women and men are not just biological but that there are also certain social structures

The United Nations conferences held during the first half of the 1990s had insisted on fostering equitable participation by men and women in order to achieve equitable, sustainable, human development. The fact that equality between men and women had found its way onto the United Nations' agenda, not just in the field of issues specific to women but integrated into other sector policies, shows that the mainstreaming of the issue had been evolving in the UN's agencies and organisations as well as in the governments of its member states. In Beijing, the

consensus, and more than 50% of the text was submitted without consensus [14].

coverage than the preceding three conferences all together [15].

media, the environment and the girl child.

that must be eradicated if full equality is to be achieved.

4. Fourth world conference in Beijing (1995)

The Nairobi Strategies represent such a change in the UN's focus on the issue of women's status that the organisation itself refers to this conference as the "birth of feminism on a global scale". For the first time, a document passed with full consensus by all the participating states takes an in-depth look at the cultural reasons behind the perpetuation of gender-based inequality and recommends that these obstacles be eliminated not only through legislation but also by educating the population in general, men as well as women.

In this document, the approach to equality is no longer exclusive in terms of nondiscrimination of women; instead, the signatory states make a commitment to implement legal and institutional mechanisms that encourage full participation by women in all occupations, particularly in realms that were once considered strictly masculine domain, in order to break down occupational barriers and taboos [10]. Special emphasis is placed on passing measures focused on ensuring equitable representation of men and women in decision-making bodies at all local, national and intergovernmental levels of politics. The fact that equality was no longer approached in terms of "non-discrimination" at this conference but rather as participation by women in all social spheres represents an important qualitative shift because it suggests a change in the very structures of society, in which women are active agents of this transformation. Another issue to be highlighted is the fact that this conference looks more closely at the cultural reasons behind the perpetuation of gender-based inequality and concludes that there are no physiological reasons to consider women as inferior to men nor are there any jobs or tasks specifically for women, and social structures are determined to be the essential element that perpetuates inequality.

In Nairobi, the need to intensify research on the status of women and the causes of discrimination of women became evident, and without actually giving it a name, the approach referred to as "empowerment" also began to take shape here, meaning the need to foster self-esteem, autonomy and greater access to power by women. Although the concept of "empowerment" pervades the Nairobi Strategies, the word itself does not appear for the first time until 7 years later at the International Conference on Population and Development held in Cairo, and it is also included in the Beijing Declaration in 1995.

Another topic that was stressed was the insistence upon taking measures at all levels to counteract gender violence. Violence against women was defined for the first time as "a major obstacle to the achievement of peace and the other objectives of the Decade" and was categorised as a critical area of concern.

In the non-governmental field, the International Women's Rights Action Watch, IWRAW, was created in Nairobi to track the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

And it was here that specific studies and actions were defined by the governments to eliminate stereotypes in the media and to incorporate women into society. This document also suggests applying research, creating programmes and allocating resources to support domestic campaigns aimed at informing the public about the need for equality between women and men [13].
