UNESCO

Resolutions:
Women

General Conference
Twenty-sixth Session

Paris 1991 Conference generale Conferencia General

The General Conference

Reaffirming the Recommendation and the Convention against Discrimination in Education, adopted at its eleventh session, on 14 December 1960, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly at its thirty-fourth session (1979),

Recalling the Nairobi Forward-Looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women (A/40/109) and the System-wide mediumterm plan for women and development 1990-1995 (E/1987/86),

Taking account of the recommendations and conclusions arising from the first review and appraisal of the implementation of the Nairobi Forward-Looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women to the Year 2000 (E/1990/15),Referring to 25 C/Resolution 18, 25 C/4Resolutions 108 and 109 and the special target group women in the Draft Programme and Budget for 1992-1993 (26 C/5),

Bearing in mind that UNESCO's Constitution determines its task to be without distinction of race, sex, language or religion, in keeping with the Charter of the United Nations,

1. Invites the Director-General to initiate and encourage in

the 1992-1993 biennium international reflection on the main lines of UNESCO's policy concerning the transverse theme 'Women', with particular emphasis on examining the advisability of transforming it into a transverse theme 'equality between men and women' in the context of the fourth Medium Term Plan;

2. Further invites the Director-General:

(i) to develop further the 'dual strategy' concerning the transverse theme 'Women' as confirmed in the third Medium-Term Plan (25 C/4 Resolution 109);

(ii) to strengthen the CO-Ordinating Unit for Activities relating to Women (FEM) and to involve it in the conceptual preparation of the Draft Programme and Budget in all sectors, particularly in view of the preparation of the Fourth World Conference on Women: Action for Equality, Development and Peace in 1995; and

(iii) to reinforce the intersectoral committee of the activities related to women with a view to increasing its influence in programme planning and implementation;

3. Further invites the Director-General. to ensure that the Organization will be able to make a significant contribution, in its fields of competence, to the Fourth World Conference on Women, particularly through further improving inter-agency co-operation within the United Nations system, including the common and co-ordinated preparation of the World Report on the follow-up activities to the Nairobi Forward-Looking Strategies to be presented at the 1995 World Conference, a report which should be based on the interpretation and processing of all relevant information available in the United Nations system and on the principle of improving the quality of questionnaires sent out to Member States and National Commissions while reducing their number;

4. Draws the Director-Generalls attention to the fact that the activities relating to women as set out in the Draft Programme and Budget 26 C/5 DR differ widely in terms of policy, and therefore recommends to the Director-General that in the finalization of the Programme and Budget 26 C/5 (Approved) the relevant objectives, outputs and policies relating to women as outlined in the programme resolutions and under each subprogramme be summarized under the relevant chapter (26 C/5 - II.B - Transverse Themes and Programmes, Chapter 1 - Women) instead of the present list contained in paragraph 11104, so that UNESCO's policy in this field becomes more visible;

5. Further recommends that the Director-General evaluate alle Programme activities relating to women, in particular with respect to policy, and report on the result to the General Conference at its twenty-seventh session, in the context of his report on the subject according to 25 C/4 Resolution 109, Paragraph 3a;

6. Invites Member States and their National Commissions to communicate to the Director-General the name of the Person in their National Commission or other institution dealing with UNESCO's transverse theme 'Women' with a view to facilitating contacts between Member States and UNESCO/FEM.

Explanatory Note

This draft resolution aims at giving more weight and visibiliLy to the main lines of UNESCO's policy concerning the transverse theme. 'Women', rather than to quantitative aspects of Programme activities which are marked as 'activities especially for girls and women'. Within this context, the authors of this draft resolution wish to share their appreciation of the tangible efforts which, according to document 26 C/5 DR, have been made to improve these activities.

Programme I.1, notably in the field of basic education and literacy, where the special needs of women are duly considered.

Major Programme Area II, where special endeavours have been made to enhance the training of women specialists and to further their partiction in research activities.

Major Programme Area IV, wherne due account has been taken of the special needs of women in the field of communication, information and informatics.

Subprogramme VII.2.2, where the problem of the discrimination of women now plays a much more important role than in the previous C/5.

On the other hand, further improvement seems necessary, particularly in:

Programme I.2, where the programme activities, especially in the field of technical and vocational education, do not sufficiently reflect the promotion of women.

Programme I.3, where educational planning and management do not duly consider aspects of equality between men and women.

Major Programme Area III, where the elaboration of a concept for the improvement of the status of women in the field of culture seems to be imperative.

Major Programme Areas V and VI, where the approach underlying the programme activities relating to women does not respect geocultural particularities.

This draft resolution is also intended to draw the attention of the General Conference to the fact that, in a growing number of Member States, institutions and organizations relevant for the implementation of the transverse theme 'Women' are transforming themselves into bodies advocating 'equality between men and women', and are changing their names and programme titles accordingly.

Within this context, and in the spirit Of UNESCO's Constitution as well as the Fourth World Conference on Women: 'Action for Equality, Development and Peace', it is proposed that UNESCO's terminology be reconsidered, with a view to updating it with the fourth Medium-Term Plan.

Two of the options to be discussed could be:

To rename the transverse theme 'Women' into theTransverse Theme Equality (TTE), andto rename the 'Co-ordinating Unit for Activities Relating to the Improvement of the Status of Women' into a 'Co-ordinating Unit for Activities Relating to the Improvement of Equality between Men and Women'.

Note by the Director-General

1. As stated in the 'Explanatory Note' to 26 C/DR.29 Rev., the proposed modifications to the earlier amendment submitted by Germany (published as 26 C/DR.29) aim at 'giving more weight and visibility to the main lines of UNESCO's policy concerning the transverse theme "Women", rather than to quantitative aspects of programme activities which are marked as "activities especially for girls and women"'. 'It is also intended to 'draw the attention of the General Conference to the fact that, in a growing number of Member States,institutions and organizations relevant for the implementation of the transverse theme "Women" are transforming themselves into bodies advocating " equality between men and women" and are changing their names and programme titles accordingly'.

Modification of title

2. With respect to the first operative paragraph of the modification, which concerns the advisability of transforming the transverse theme 'Women' into a transverse theme 'Equality between men and women' within the context of the fourth Medium-Term Plan, the Director-General would like to reiterate the view expressed in his 'Note' on 26 C/DR.29 that the title of the transverse theme 'Women' is in keeping with the UNESCO Constitution, which advocates equality between men and women. However, should the General Conference decide to change the title of this transverse theme, he suggests that it could be modified to read 'Actions relating to the improvement of the status of women'.

Development of 'dual strategy'

3. Regarding the further development of the dual action strategy, paragraph 11102 of document 26 C/5 makes provision for the formulation of specific guidelines 'to take better account of women's needs and interests in UNESCO's programmes'.

Role of Co-ordinating Unit; Preparation of Fourth World Conference on Women (1995)

4. The participation of the Co-ordinating Unit in the conceptual preparation of the draft programme and budget in all sectors has been gradually strengthened by the approach adopted for the preparation of document 26 C/5 and previous C/5 documents. Moreover, the Unit and the Intersectoral Committee for the Co-ordination of Activities concerning Women will be strengthened with a view to the preparation of the Fourth World Conference on Women scheduled for 1995.

Inclusion in 26 C/5 Approved of a summary of relevant objectives, outputs and policies relatina to women instead of the present summary under paragraph 11104 of document 26 C/5

5. The 'Summary of activities relating to the improvement of the status of women' has been included under paragraph 11104 of document 26 C/5 further to 135 EX/Decision 4.1, paragraph 29(e), which invites the Director-General 'to include activities relating to the improvement of the status of women in the main document and not in a separate Appendix II as at present'. If the General Conference at its twenty-sixth session decides to accept the present proposal to replace the summary under paragraph 11104 by one along the lines proposed, this could be done in document 26 C/5 Approved. However, it should be pointed out that such amendments, which affect the work plan only and are fully compatible and consistent with the work plan, may be declared inadmissible by the General Conference at its twenty-sixth session, if it adopts the recommendation of the Executive Board to this effect (135 EX/Decision 3.1.2).

Evaluation of programme activities relating to women

6. Programme activities relating to women are evaluated on a regular basis: the most recent evaluation, which concerns communication activities for the benefit of women during the past decade, will be submitted to the Executive Board at its next session.

Designation of a Focal Point in National commissions to Facilitate Contacts
between Member States and UNESCO/FEM

7. Lastly, the proposal that Member States be requested to designate a focal point in their National Commission to facilitate contacts with UNESCO on women matches the concerns of the Organization, which took steps in this direction during the Seventh Regional Conference of the African National Commissions. Should the General Conference approve this proposal, the request would be sent to all Member States.