Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Director, UNIFEM
Your Royal Highness Princess Basma bint Talal,
Excellency Mr. Abdul Hadi
Al Majali, Chairman of the Arab Inter-parliamentary Union,
Distinguished
guests,
It is a pleasure to be here today. I first would like to express my thanks to Her Royal Highness Princess Basma bint Talal and to the Arab Inter-parliamentary Union for hosting the second Regional Arab Women Parliamentarians Forum organized by UNIFEM's Arab States Regional office in cooperation with the Jordanian National Commission for Women and the Jordanian Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation.
This is a great opportunity for women parliamentarians and women leaders to discuss collectively a subject now being debated in countries throughout the region, namely, the Personal Status Law.
Family and personal status laws, covering such areas as marriage and divorce, inheritance and property ownership, citizenship and nationality, are still mostly governed by traditional or customary legal systems rather than state codes. Some human rights activists regard this as problematic for women's human rights, arguing that it subjects women's rights to other political, social and economic gains. Others have pointed that in terms of the Shari'a there is basic compatibility of Islamic law with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), as both include broad gender equality principles.
This forum is an opportunity to show how women's leadership can move this debate forward, encouraging dialogue and finding specific solutions in each country so that all women in the region will be able to enjoy equal human rights. It is part of a UNIFEM programme to support women parliamentarians in the Arab region, designed to use the power of women's leadership to bring about greater social equality and more inclusive governance.
This is a critical moment for this initiative. Women's representation in public office is increasing in all regions, albeit slowly. Worldwide, the share of women in legislative bodies is now 16.6 per cent, up from 10 per cent in 1995. While this is far below the 30 per cent target set in the Beijing Platform for Action, 19 countries have reached this target, half of them in developing countries. In Rwanda, women make up 49 per cent of seats in both houses of parliament — the highest of any country in the world.
Women in high-level leadership positions today include 11 elected heads of state or government, 23 foreign ministers and 12 defence ministers. In Sweden women represent 52 per cent of cabinet ministers followed by Spain and Chile, with 50 per cent. In addition, the pace of change is also increasing, albeit slowly: While in the 44 years between 1945 and 1989 there were only 20 women heads of state or government, there have been 50, or more than twice as many, in the 16 years between 1990 and 2006.
And at the United Nations, Ms. Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa, a Legal Adviser to the Royal Court in the Kingdom of Bahrain presided over the 61st session of the UN General Assembly to become the third woman to hold this post and the first one elected since 1969.
Women's increased visibility in high-level public office is important. Not only are these leaders important role models, they also can be powerful agents of change. With the renewed commitment to achieving the Millennium Development Goals, they can be the building blocks of a power coalition to reshape political and economic priorities — building a world freer of violence, inequality and discrimination.
The challenges for national leaders, in both political and economic decision-making, are serious. Today's world is one of unprecedented wealth, with deepening poverty and inequality; a world that boasts of enormous advances in knowledge, but little increase in wisdom, that has witnessed so much innovation and technology with little increase in health and well-being in many parts of the world; and that is seeing increasing importance of religion, with a parallel increase in fear of "the other." All these factors have intensified the danger that groups competing for increasingly scarce resources along national, ethnic or religious lines will escalate into violence and armed conflict.
Women in leadership positions face additional challenges. Most of them are still lone individuals in male political hierarchies. Many gained entry by replacing their male relatives or advanced on male terms. And most are elected or appointed to implement a party or national agenda — rarely, until recently, to promote women's interests.
To address these obstacles, following the first Women Parliamentarians Forum last year, UNIFEM supported the establishment of the Arab Women Parliamentary Network, which links women legislators in the region together to share experiences on how to overcome the obstacles they face — both in their role as female members of parliament and in trying to support legislation that advances a gender equality agenda.
We have seen that given a leadership role, and with strong constituency support, women can not only make needed changes — in laws, policies and institutions — but also institutionalize these changes through strong partnerships that are able to bring together the ideas, leadership and resources needed to make them sustainable.
An example is the work to amend the Family Law in Morocco, where UNIFEM supported women parliamentarians, and invested in their leadership, linking women at the grassroots with those in the mainstream, and also providing support from the international community. This helped to build public and institutional awareness and work with local communities to gain reforms in the Family Law, such as raising the age of marriage for women from 15 to 18 years, allowing women to contract marriage without male approval, equalizing the right to divorce for both men and women, and giving women the right to obtain custody of their children. Both religious and secular supporters of the reform use the language of religion and Islamic jurisprudence to advocate for gender equality. Despite conservative opposition, Parliament approved all changes.
In Iraq, UNIFEM provided training on women's rights in the lead up to the elections to ensure strong participation. In the January 2005 elections, women candidates received 31 per cent of the popular vote and secured 83 seats for female parliamentarians — a significantly higher share than the 25 per cent quota provided for in the Transitional Administrative Law (TAL).
In Africa, UNIFEM nurtured two years of concerted lobbying by women's activists in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that resulted in a Constitution guaranteeing women's full participation in peace-building. In Southern African countries holding elections, the Regional Women's Parliamentary Caucus is partnering with UNIFEM to advocate for the fulfilment of a 30 per cent quota for women in politics agreed by the Southern African Development Community. UNIFEM support in Burundi helped women assume 30 per cent of decision-making positions in the legislature, while several years of training and advocacy helped Rwanda top the world in its percentage of women parliamentarians to reach 49 per cent in the lower house.
Today, a decade after the Fourth World Conference on Women, significant progress has been made in building a positive environment for gender equality and women's empowerment worldwide. To date, 185 countries have ratified CEDAW; over 120, including 19 Arab countries, have adopted national plans of action for gender equality. Countries emerging from conflict are incorporating provisions for gender equality within their constitutions, while others are adopting laws and policies to strengthen women's access to health, education and employment opportunities and to end impunity for gender-based violence.
UNIFEM is proud of its role in achieving these results. But we know that we have a long way to go to achieve gender equality and women's empowerment in countries worldwide. Women's leadership in high-level political decision-making continues to be limited to a small number of success stories here and there. Much needs to be done to protect these gains and enable them to reach more and more women.
Today, women who have broken through gender, class and ethnic barriers must take up this challenge and show their leadership and commitment in implementing measures and decisions to transform their countries and consolidate justice for women and all citizens.
At the same time, we can join today in an ambitious call for the global community to support efforts to achieve gender equality, not just as an end in itself, but in recognition of the reality that the serious issues facing us today will not be resolved until women are fully engaged in their analysis and in efforts to find solutions. This is why we believe in your leadership in the Arab region. You can make a difference.
Thank you.