> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Date: Thu, 14 Sep 1995 06:34:53 -0700 > From: Jagdish Parikh <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: SAPs, Globalisation - Major Threats > > PRESS RELEASE > > FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Contact: Barbara Hopkins > 12 September 1995 > Dzodzi Tsikata > 202-4433, Laodong Hotel > > > GOVERNMENTS REFUSE TO ADDRESS ROOT CAUSES OF POVERTY > AT BEIJING CONFERENCE > > > Governments have refused to address the structural causes of > women's poverty and maginalization, members of the NGO Economic Justice > Caucus of the Fourth World Conference on Women said today. > > The Caucus noted that every regional NGO meeting leading to > Beijing, as well as cores of panels and worshops hel in Huairou in the > past tend days, identified globalization and structural adjustment > policies (SAPs) as major threat to women's well-being and economic > rights. NGOs presented evidence on the failure of the current economic > model which underlies international policy and which assumes that the > market is the best means of distributing resources, including social > services. > > According to Helen Hill of Australia "by empowering > multinational capital vis-a-vis the state and the worker, globalization > not only weakens the ability of governments to provide health, > education, and other public services to their citizens, but it also > weakens citizens' voices in economic decision-making." > > "Governments gathered in Beijing have refused to address a major > cause of women's weakening economic status, while claiming to support > women's economic empowerment. The United States and the European Union > are leading the pack by refusing to allow language and analysis in the > Platform for Action that links their eocnomic policies to poverty," said > Lisa McGowan of The Development GAP, a public-policy organization in > Washington D.C. that tracks economic issues. > > According to the caucus, the sections of the Platform dealing > with poverty, women's economic empowerment, and women and eocnomic > decision-making fail to provide long-term solutions to poverty and > economic inequalities. This is very serious, given that the Platform is > contradictory, lacks a coherent economic analysis, and therefore runs > the danger of being reduced to nothing more than rhetoric. > > Women attending the NGO Forum and the FCWC reported similar > impacts of SAPs and other economic liberalization policies. In Africa, > contrary to World Bank claims that SAPs would generate economic growth, > promote investment, create jobs, and alleviate poverty, women's > experience tells a different story. Economic policies such a high > interest rates, trade liberalization, devaluation, and the full removal > of subsidies on inputs have undermined food production and local > industries. For example, in Senegal, women were encouraged to invest in > tomato production for sale to local processing plant. Massive > devaluation of the CFA, coupled with increased input prices and the > sudden importation of cheap tomato paste from Italy wiped out the market > for locally produced tomatoes, leaving women worse off than they were > before. > > According to Dzodzi Tsikata of Third Word Network Africa > Secretariat in Ghana, economic growth, even where it has been achieved, > has depended on women's unpaid and low-paid labor, including that of > migrant workers, such that women are actually providing a subsidy to > their economies. Moreover, the modest economic growth in a few > countries does not justify the extreme and long-term hardship SAPs > impose." Women from both the North and South express similar views. > In Asia, Rukmini Rao from India reported that massive coversion of prime > agricultural lands into export-processing zones has decreased women's > food production, displaced women farmers, and destroyed the environment. > Rural women have been forced to undertake multiple piece-rate jobs, > domestic services, and other informal sector activities. This means > longer hours for women, very poor working conditions with no worker > rights and extremely low pay, without even the security of being able to > produce food for household consumption. > > In Latin America, widespread retrenchments, coupled with a > decrease of both men's and women's wages and increase in women's > unemployment, has forced women into the informal sector, also making > their work status more precarious. > > Women from East and West Europe said that reductions in social > services, increasing unemployment, and decreased worker benefits have > increased women's responsibilities in their homes and communities, while > decreasing their access to resources. In the U.S. and Canada, women > reported similar experiences arising from trade agreements such as > NAFTA, decreasing real wages, and a labor market increasingly dominated > by temporary work. > > Women in all countries reported a widening gap between the rich and > the poor. > > The Economic Justice Caucus rejects the claim by governments > that there is no alternative to current economic policies. Women are > calling for alternative trade practices based on fair exchange, social > and economic investment policies that increases women's control over and > access to resources, tax and investment policies that bring about an > equitable distribution of resources, gender analysis as a basis of > ecnomic policy, and national accounting systems that count women's paid > and unpaid work. > > The Caucus also rejects the claim that resources are too scarce > to increase social investment and bring about a transformation to a more > equitable ecnomic system. It is a question of redirecting national > priorities. The Caucus is call for multilateral debt relief for the > poorest countries to free up funds for social investment, and a shift > from milittary to a scoial spending. > > One thing is clear from the NGO Forum and the FWCW: women around > the world are mobilizing to influence economic structures, invited or > not, and will hold their governments and the international financial and > trade institutions accountable to the needs and priorities of women. > Ten years ago in Nairobi, violence against women was barely mentioned in > the Forward Looking Strategies, despite the fact that women had > identified it as a key issue. > > Ten years later, there is a U.N. Declaration condemning violence against > women. Women are leading the way to an equitable and sustainable > economic order, and will not rest until their calls for profound change > in the economic system are met. >
