[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 135 (Friday, August 11, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12361-S12362]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                    FOURTH WORLD CONFERENCE ON WOMEN

  Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, next month the Fourth World Conference on 
Women will take place in Beijing. During Senate consideration of S. 
908, the foreign Relations Revitalization Act, last month, there was 
some discussion about this conference. At that time, an amendment 
offered by Senator Hutchison was adopted on a voice vote by Senator 
Helms and me, as the managers of the bill. That amendment expressed the 
sense of the Congress on the goals that the United States delegation 
should promote at Beijing including ensuring that the traditional 
family is upheld as a fundamental unit of society and defining gender 
as the biological classification of male and female.
  I would like to point out that I agreed to accept this amendment in 
the interest of moving the legislation process forward. I would also 
add that the underlying legislation, S. 908, was returned to the 
calendar because cloture was not invoked.
  As Senator Boxer noted accurately in her comments on the Senate floor 
on the amendment, some of the language seems to raise questions or at 
least be unnecessary. We all know that there are only two genders, male 
and female. Why we need to insturct our delegation in that basic fact 
of biology is unclear to me. Also, the language about promoting the 
family as the fundamental unit of society raises questions in my mind 
as to whether a single woman constitutes a family with the right of 
protection by society. Are we saying that every woman must be married 
and have children to be protected? I would hope not because no woman 
should be denied rights simply because she chooses not to marry or if 
she is divorced. Unfortunately, Senator Hutchison was not on the Senate 
floor to address these questions at the time they were raised by 
Senator Boxer. Therefore, the real intent of her amendment, which to 
the best of my recollection only two Members of the Senate--the 
managers--agreed to, remains unclear.
  Mr. President, on August 2, Ambassador Albright spoke to the Center 
for National Policy about the Women's Conference. In that address, she 
dicussed the U.S. goals at that conference. I ask that her remarks be 
printed in the Record. 

[[Page S 12362]]

  The remarks follow:
  Ambassador Madeleine Albright, U.S. Permanent Representative to the 
United Nations, Concerning the Fourth World Conference on Women Center 
             for National Policy Breakfast--Washington, DC

       Good Morning. I am pleased to be here. I may be prejudiced, 
     but I think the Center for National Policy is a great 
     organization, and I appreciate its willingness to sponsor 
     this timely event.
       The Fourth World Conference on Women will convene in China 
     in 33 days and, let there be no doubt, the United States will 
     be there.
       We will be there because this conference is a rare 
     opportunity to chart further gains in the status and rights 
     of more than half the people on earth.
       As leader of the American delegation, I am confident that 
     U.S. goals will have strong support. These include--
       promoting and protecting the human rights of women and 
     ending violence against women;
       expanding the participation of women in political and 
     economic decisionmaking;
       assuring equal access for women to education and health 
     care throughout their lives;
       strengthening families through efforts to balance the work 
     and family responsibilities of both women and men; and
       recognizing the increased role of nongovernmental 
     organizations (NGO's) in building strong communities--at the 
     local, national and international levels.
       The conference in Beijing will be the fourth in a series 
     begun 20 years ago in Mexico City. These gatherings have 
     spurred legal, social and political reforms that have 
     enhanced the lives of women and girls around the globe. Our 
     goal now is to build on past gains and to hasten the removal 
     of continuing obstacles to the full and equal participation 
     of women in society.
       As someone whose family was driven from its home twice when 
     I was a child, first by Hitler, then by Stalin, I believe it 
     is the responsibility of every free person to do what he or 
     she can to advance the freedom of others. And I intend to see 
     that the U.S. delegation to the Women's Conference serves as 
     an unabashed advocate for freedom and human rights.
       Unfortunately, today, in countries around the world, 
     appalling abuses are being committed against women. These 
     include coerced abortions and sterilizations, children sold 
     into prostitution, ritual mutilations, dowry murders and 
     official indifference to violence.
       The Clinton Administration will use the conference in 
     Beijing to underline the truth that violence against women is 
     no one's prerogative; it is not a cultural choice; it is not 
     an inevitable consequence of biology--it is a crime that we 
     all have a responsibility to condemn, prevent, punish and 
     stop.
       Now, there are those who say that we should withdraw from 
     the Women's Conference because of human rights policies of 
     the host country. Those suggestions are well-motivated, but 
     they miss the main point. American withdrawal would not stop 
     the conference or cause it to be moved; it would lead, 
     instead, to a conference in which 130 million American women 
     would be unrepresented and in which American influence and 
     leadership would not be felt.
       It just does not make sense, in the name of human rights, 
     to boycott a conference that has, as a primary purpose, the 
     promotion of human rights.
       The way to help women, in China and elsewhere, is not to 
     abandon the field to others, but rather to attend this 
     conference, to debate head-on the differences of philosophy 
     and ideology that exist, to lay out before the world the 
     abuses we want to halt and the obstacles to progress we want 
     to remove, and to gain commitments to change from the 
     societies most in need of change. That is what leadership and 
     a commitment to free and open discussion are all about.
       With respect to Harry Wu, our position is clear. He should 
     be released immediately and unharmed. His case is a top 
     priority for the United States. I can understand why some 
     would want to tie conference participation to Mr. Wu's 
     release, but that assumes falsely that our attendance would 
     be some sort of favor to Beijing. We have no cause to believe 
     that our approach to the conference will have any impact on 
     China's decisions concerning Mr. Wu.
       We do have reason, however, to hope that the conference 
     will have a positive effect on the status of women in China.
       Conference preparations already have contributed to a 
     heightened awareness within China of women's issues. There is 
     public discussion of previously taboo subjects, including 
     violence against women. Chinese returning from the 
     preparatory meetings have described their heightened 
     sensitivity to the treatment of women in the media and to the 
     economic exploitation of women. It matters a great deal that 
     more than 5,000 Chinese women will participate in the NGO 
     forum and will take their impressions back to their 
     communities.
       Given the nature of China's human rights record, I do not 
     mean to exaggerate the impact of this one conference. But as 
     a former board member of the National Endowment for 
     Democracy, I know that one of the best ways to promote 
     democratic thinking is to expose people to new ideas on 
     matters that relate directly to their own lives.
       Exposure to such thinking matters to us not only in China, 
     but around the world, because countries in which women have a 
     fair share of power tend to be more stable, democratic, 
     prosperous and just than those in which women are 
     marginalized and repressed.
       The Women's Conference will contribute to a freer and more 
     equitable world. As its recommendations are implemented, it 
     will also strengthen families around the world. We know from 
     our own experience that when families are strong, children 
     are cared for, socially constructive values are taught and an 
     environment is created in which civility and law may thrive.
       So we want momentum to build around the idea that women and 
     men should share fairly in the responsibilities of family 
     life; we want to see girls valued to the same degree as boys; 
     we want parents and prospective parents to be able to make 
     informed judgments as they plan their families; and we want 
     to see domestic violence curtailed and condemned.
       Each of these is a central element of the Conference draft 
     Platform for Action. And effective action on each will help 
     families and communities everywhere.
       Despite recent gains, women remain an undervalued and 
     underdeveloped human resource. This is not to say that women 
     have trouble finding work; in many societies--especially in 
     rural, agriculturally-based areas--they do the vast majority 
     of the work; but they don't own the land, they are not taught 
     to read, they can't obtain personal or business loans and 
     they are denied equal access to the levers of political 
     decisionmaking.
       It is no accident that most of those in the world who are 
     abjectly poor are women, often caring for children without 
     the help of the children's father; many trapped from an early 
     age in a web of abuse, discrimination, ignorance and 
     powerlessness from which only a few are able to escape.
       We cannot be indifferent. It is reported that, in Angola, 
     one-third of all homicides are perpetrated against women, 
     usually by their spouse.
       In Thailand, child prostitution is growing because clients 
     believe older prostitutes are more likely to be infected by 
     HIV.
       In Senegal, females receive less than one-third the 
     schooling received by males.
       In Sierra Leone, women perform much of the subsistence 
     farming and all of the child rearing and have little 
     opportunity for education.
       And almost everywhere, women are restricted by 
     discriminatory attitudes and social and economic structures 
     that are unjust.
       The Women's Conference will not solve these problems 
     overnight, but it will call attention to them and promote 
     remedial action. Women the world over are prepared to be full 
     partners in sustainable development, but they need access to 
     education and health care; they need access to credit; and 
     they need equality under the law. Releasing the productive 
     capacity of women is one key to breaking the cycle of 
     poverty; and that will contribute, in turn, to higher 
     standards of living for all nations.
       Since the first Women's Conference 20 years ago, 
     opportunities for women have expanded throughout the world. 
     It is no longer a question of whether women from all 
     countries will have a strong voice in controlling their 
     destinies, but only when and how that goal will be achieved.
       But building inclusive societies is still a work in 
     progress. The United States has been working on it for two 
     centuries. For more than half our nation's history, until 75 
     years ago this month, American women could not even vote. 
     Many traditional or authoritarian societies still have a very 
     long way to go. The Fourth Women's Conference will offer 
     guidelines and promote commitments for every state to move 
     forward, whatever current practices and policies may be.
       In preparing for this conference, I was reminded of an old 
     Chinese poem in which a father says to his young daughter:
       We keep a dog to watch the house;
       A pig is useful, too;
       We keep a cat to catch a mouse;
       But what can we do
       With a girl like you?
       For me, the Women's Conference will be a success if it 
     brings us even a little closer to the day when girls all over 
     the world will be able to look ahead with confidence that 
     their lives will be valued, their individuality respected, 
     their rights protected and their futures determined by their 
     own abilities and character.
       In such a world, the lives of all of us--men and women, 
     boys and girls--will be enriched.
       And it is to make progress towards such a world that the 
     United States will be participating actively, forcefully and 
     proudly in Beijing.
       Thank you very much. Now, I would be happy to respond to 
     any questions you might have.
     

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