Nairobi: Forward Looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women (FLS)

The third world conference on women was held in Nairobi in 1985. The Nairobi conference set out areas by which progress in women’s equality could be measured: constitutional and legal measures; equality in social participation; equality in political participation; and decision-making. The conference also acknowledged that women need to participate in all areas of human activity, not just those areas that relate to gender.

Nairobi Declaration is an important achievement for women of the world. The strategies provide a blueprint for action to advance the status of women in national and international economic, social, cultural and legal development. Within this framework, governments are encouraged to move beyond the traditional view that the advancement of women simply means completing the checklist of ‘women’s issues,’ and towards the view that the full participation and integration of women in all areas of society is crucial.

Forward-Looking Strategies call on national governments:

  • To identify the impact that unemployment has on women
  • To provide employment equity programs
  • To provide equal access to all jobs and training for women
  • To improve the conditions and structure of the formal and informal labour markets
  • To recognize and encourage the small business initiatives of women
  • To provide and encourage the establishment of child-care facilities
  • To encourage, through education and public information, the sharing of responsibilities for child and domestic care between women and men

Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BDPfA)

The Fourth World Conference on Women held in 1995 resulted in the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BDPfA) by 189-member States of the United Nations that had 12 Critical Areas of Concern to guide the mainstreaming of gender in policies, strategies and programmes. The Declaration called upon member States to commit to the advancement of the goals of equality, development and peace for all women while reaffirming the fundamental principal that the rights of women and girls are an inalienable, integral and indivisible part of universal human rights.

The 20th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action took place at United Nations Headquarters in New York from 9 to 20 March 2015.

Asian and Pacific Ministerial Declaration

The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) held the conference at Bangkok from November 19-20, 2014 as a prelude to the 20-year review of the achievements of the Platform for Action established in 1995 at Beijing (Beijing + 20). The Conference also reviewed the progress and remaining challenges, and identified priority actions, for achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment in Asia and the Pacific. At the summit, Asia-Pacific countries adopted a ministerial declaration committing to accelerate action on achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment across the region. Through the adoption of the “Asian and Pacific Ministerial Declaration on Advancing Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment”, Governments from across the region have pledged to strengthen institutions, enhance accountability, increase resources, forge stronger partnerships and support regional cooperation in order to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Three Specific Dimensions of Gender Equality

  • Agency: Agency relate to women’s ability to make decisions on reproduction, spending on themselves, spending on their households, and their own mobility and health.
  • Attitudes: Attitudes relate to attitudes about violence against women/wives, and the ideal number of daughters preferred relative to the ideal number of sons.
  • Outcomes: Outcomes relate to son preference (measured by sex ratio of last child), female employment, choice of contraception, education levels, age at marriage, age at first childbirth, and physical or sexual violence experienced by women.

ICPD Program of Action

Reproductive Health was given an international consensus definition at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in 1994.At its core is promotion of reproductive health, voluntary and safe sexual and reproductive choices for individuals and couples, including decisions on family size and timing of marriage.Sexuality and reproduction are vital aspects of personal identity and are fundamental to human well-being fulfillingrelationship within diverse cultural contexts.

As chair of Partners in Population and Development, India recently reaffirmed the commitment to the 1994 ICPD Programme of Action in the Delhi Declaration following the ‘International Inter-ministerial Conference on Investing in Demographic Dividend’ on November 26, 2014.

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