[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 126 (Tuesday, August 1, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S11067]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



[[Page S11067]]


              FOREIGN RELATIONS REVITALIZATION ACT OF 1995

  The Senate continued with the consideration of the bill.


                           amendment no. 2033

  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, yesterday I proposed an amendment to 
instruct the United States delegation as to the sense of the Congress 
regarding the representative American perspective the United States 
delegation should promote at the United Nations Fourth World Conference 
on Women which will be held in Beijing, China from September 4 to 15, 
1995. I am pleased that the amendment was adopted today by voice vote.
  My amendment instructs the U.S. delegates to recognize the importance 
of motherhood, to uphold the traditional family as the fundamental unit 
of society upon which healthy cultures are built, and to define or 
agree with definitions of gender only as the biological classification 
of male and female.
  Most Americans would be surprised to learn that an amendment of this 
nature was even necessary. Most Americans would respond that of course 
a U.S. delegation to an international conference would be eager to 
uphold the family as the fundamental unit of society and of course, 
that there are only two genders, male and female.
  However, the delegates to the Fourth World Conference on Women have 
made these simple concepts an issue, and therefore, we need to be clear 
that our U.S. delegation represents the views of most Americans.
  At the last preconference meeting, held in New York City in March 
1995, one nation suggested that the word ``mother'' be removed from the 
platform document and replaced with ``caretaker.''
  What about the traditional family? We have heard a great deal of 
discussion lately about families and the important role they play in 
the well-being of children and society. Conservatives and liberals 
alike are lamenting the breakdown of the American family and the dire 
consequences--such as increased crime, high teen pregnancy rates, drug 
use and lower educational performance which result from a breakdown in 
the family and family values.
  On all sides of the political spectrum there is a growing 
understanding that the family is the single most important factor in 
combating these problems.
  Finally, on the issue of gender Mr. President, this issue on its face 
seems ridiculous. At the March 15, 1995 Preparatory Committee meeting 
for the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, delegates prepared 
a draft platform. The word gender appears 184 times in that document. 
The use of gender had never been an issue as a majority of delegates 
assumed that the term did not need definition.
  In response to the various questions about the definition of gender, 
the conference leadership floated the definition:

       Gender refers to the relationship between women and men 
     based on socially defined roles that are assigned to one sex 
     or the other.

  Delegates pressed for bracketing the word gender until a definition 
could be agreed upon. Bella Abzug of the U.S. delegation in an angry 
speech contested the bracketing saying:

       We will not be forced back in the ``biology is destiny'' 
     concept . . . the meaning of the word ``gender'' has evolved 
     as differentiated from the word sex to express the reality 
     that women's and men's roles and status are socially 
     constructed and subject to change.

  Many delegates became convinced that this move to refine gender was 
designed to forward an entirely different agenda, and not to further 
the interests of ordinary women, the primary purpose of the Conference.
  When many of these delegations sought to define gender as ``male and 
female, the two sexes of human being'' that definition proved 
unacceptable to many Western nations and even the U.S. delegation did 
not want to be bound by a two-gender definition. The United Nations 
responded to these concerns by issuing a statement that said ``gender 
is a relative concept'' and its ``roles can vary with time and 
circumstance.''
  It is for that reason that my amendment sought to ensure that the 
U.S. delegation agree with the definition of gender as the biological 
classification of male and female, which are the two sexes of the human 
being.
  Mr. President, the purpose of my amendment was to ensure that those 
who represent the women of the United States at a world conference on 
women must indeed be representative of the majority of the women in 
America. The amendment which the Senate adopted today sends a strong 
message in support of motherhood and the family, and traditional values 
which have made America a great nation.


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