[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 34 (Wednesday, March 13, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E336]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

                                 ______


                               speech of

                         HON. NEIL ABERCROMBIE

                               of hawaii

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, March 6, 1996

  Mr. ABERCROMBIE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to share the experiences 
of Pamela Ferguson-Brey. She is the Honolulu League of Women Voters 
Human Resource chair and she atteded the U.N. Fourth World Conference 
on Women in Beijing, China.

       In September, 1995, I joined women from around the world at 
     the United Nations Fourth World Conference in China. The Non-
     Governmental Organization (NGO) conference provided a 
     platform for community organizations from around the world to 
     influence their governments to move more quickly toward equal 
     rights and human rights for women and girls. The NGO forum 
     also provided women from around the world with a forum to 
     highlight issues from their neighborhood, town, city, region, 
     and country and brought participants together to discuss 
     local, national, international solutions to these issues.
       The NGO conference was an overwhelming experience. From the 
     moment that I first boarded the plane to China and during the 
     conference there was an unspoken acknowledgment, a bond and 
     an excitement between the conference participants. Tens of 
     thousands of women from around the world together for one 
     purpose--to accelerate the movement of governments toward 
     equal human rights for women and girls. While we were 
     strangers and did not all speak the same language or have the 
     same customs, we all shared a unique understanding about our 
     status as women. As women, we know what it means to be denied 
     human rights because of our gender status. As women, we know 
     what is means to be afraid of violence because we are not 
     safe in our streets or in our homes. We know what is means to 
     be denied equal access to reproductive and medical care. We 
     know what is means to be denied a seat at the table when 
     policy decisions are being made about our lives and rights. 
     And we know that in over a dozen counties, through 
     infanticide and dowry deaths, women and girls are killed 
     because of their gender.
       The bond between women at the conference was also a 
     reflection of the commitment that these thousands of women 
     had to make to realize the changes that are necessary at the 
     local, national and international level to assure that women 
     have equal human rights.
       At the opening ceremony to the NGO conference NGO 
     participants sang ``I'm going to fight for women's freedom, 
     never turning back, never turning back.'' I think of these 
     words and the conference and I am recommitted and energized 
     to help my own community move forward more quickly toward 
     equal human rights for women and girls.

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