Reflections on the International Women's Movement: 10 Years After Beijing

May 10, 2005: Four leading international women's rights activists presented an intercultural dialogue on the status of women in a fast changing world, and discussed the challenges presented by the new technological, economic, cultural, and political realities. Panelist Joanna Kerr finds hope in the situation, "Going forward at this time of intense turmoil...we need a surfeit of hope and inspiration. That, and the knowledge that feminists a hundred years ago could never have dreamed of the successes so many of us enjoy today." Panelists discussed the current status of women globally and the international women's movement in light of the tenth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women and the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action adopted at the conference.

May 10, 2005

Presented by

WLP IN COLLABORATION WITH
Middle East Program of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

PRESENTERS
Haleh Esfandiari (Moderator), Director, Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
Mahnaz Afkhami, Founder and President, Women's Learning Partnership and former Minister of State for Women's Affairs in Iran (USA/Iran)
Joanna Kerr, Executive Director, Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID) and editor of the newly published book, The Future of Women's Rights: Global Visions and Strategies (Canada)
Jacqueline Pitanguy, Founder and Director, Cidadania, Estudo, Pesquisa, Informação e Ação (CEPIA) (Brazil)
Zenebeworke Tadesse, Founding Member, Association of African Women for Research and Development (Ethiopia)

WATCH the video archive of the panel discussion.

PHOTOS of the event.

WHEN
May 10, 2005

WHERE
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
1300 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington, DC

Four leading international women's rights activists presented an intercultural dialogue on the status of women in a fast changing world, and discussed the challenges presented by the new technological, economic, cultural, and political realities. Panelist Joanna Kerr finds hope in the situation, "Going forward at this time of intense turmoil...we need a surfeit of hope and inspiration. That, and the knowledge that feminists a hundred years ago could never have dreamed of the successes so many of us enjoy today." Panelists discussed the current status of women globally and the international women's movement in light of the tenth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women and the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action adopted at the conference.

Despite some gains, women around the world continue to face many threats to their rights and livelihoods including the resurgence of many kinds of fundamentalisms, the escalation of armed conflict, the persistence of violence against women, and the growing backlash against women's rights. Panelists talked about how these challenges have impacted the status of women and how women's movements across the globe are working to find solutions at grassroots and international levels. Mahnaz Afkhami proposes one such solution, "We must insist that the rights of women are rooted in history rather than culture. At the moment this is the most crucial strategic option women must take if they are to maintain a theoretically sustainable position as they deal with the plight of women across cultures."

EVENT PHOTOS

Photos by David Hawxhurst, courtesy of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars