Why Was the 1995 Beijing Conference for Women Groundbreaking? Read a Firsthand Account

Posted by Jinxiang Li

http://www.aauw.org/2014/08/20/1995-beijing/

In 1995 Beijing,Hillary Clinton’s speech at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women.This is a hot time of international women’s movement participants from different countries of Beijing World Conference on Women.A lot of people can listen to her famous speech” Women’s rights are human’s rights”

For the first generation chines feminist, it is a memory that”we found our organization”.It is almost common experience .They were deeply shaken in the forum, they get important relationship and know important persons, which is a turning point to there Chines feminist.

This article  describes the process of meeting at that time, and how to put these plans into action.We have to ensure that the victory fruits of Conference.What does it all mean in reality? The platform is not a legally binding document, but rather a guide for the U.N. governments and nongovernmental organizations. It clearly recognizes women’s rights as human rights; the right of women to make their own decisions about childbearing and sexuality without fear of coercion; women’s rights to protection against all forms of violence including rape, genital mutilation, domestic abuse, and sexual harassment; the rights of the child, balanced by the responsibilities of the parents, with the best interest of the child paramount. For those who worked so hard on the Caucus on Girls, there is great satisfaction in seeing the “persistent discrimination against and violation of the rights of the girl child” included as a separate critical area of concern where such issues as child marriage, female infanticide, and prenatal sex selection are addressed.

This conference brought the most profound influence was it brought NGO to China. With increasing enthusiasm from the 1990s. Government and Communist Party departments at various levels have been setting up foundations and other organizations to advance charitable, research, information and policy objectives. These creatures are commonly called “GONGOs” (Government Organized NGOs); Another part is bottom-up NGO.Statistics from the Ministry of Civil Affairs suggest that today, officially registered NGOs including GONGOs in China numbered 244,000 7. The total number of bottom-up and self-governing autonomous NGOs is unknown.These are predominantly concentrated in the areas of social service provision, economic development, women’s rights and environmental protection.