The United Nations World Conferences on Women : a new South-North dialogue?

• Main Author: Schittecatte, Catherine
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/3928

The purpose of international conferences sponsored by the United Nations is to provide the international community with the opportunity to debate issues of global concern and reach consensus on objectives and solutions that address these concerns. Since 1975, women have been the focus of a series of such conferences. Among the topics of concern was the marginalization of women which was attributed in part to inadequate international development implementation. This thesis queries whether twenty years of specific focus on women have improved the lives of women in developing countries. A comparative historical analysis of the United Nations World Conferences on Women traces the evolution of the idea of women as a specific constituency of development. The analysis centres around two main questions: (i) whether the conferences addressed relevant issues in a manner that would be conducive to satisfactory solutions, and (ii) whether changes in development implementation occurred as a result and, if so, whether such implementation brought results. In order to answer these questions, the thesis examines the dynamics among the various actors involved in these conferences and in international development implementation. A case study of population policies follows in order to illustrate some empirical assessment of the outcome of twenty years of focus on women in development. The analysis divides actors in two groups, exposing their impact on development and the world conferences on women and vice versa. The first group consists of the nation states and the UN system involved in the South-North debate. The second group consists of the advocates of women as a constituency of development and the development community. The dynamics amongst these actors is linked to the objectives of the world conferences in an interactive manner. The historical evolution of the idea of women as a constituency of development reveals that some beneficial headway for women has been made. Whereas the overall picture of living standards for the majority of the populations in the South, including women, have not improved significantly, the world conferences on women have gained considerable clout in the international community thus influencing development perspectives and implementation. Empirical evidence supports the notion, that tangible progress has been made in sectoral areas of development focusing on women. These results are mainly attributable to a convergence of objectives among the actors considered.