Mainstreaming gender on the road to Johannesburg.

Publication: Our Rights

Publication Date: 01-JUL-02

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COPYRIGHT 2002 African Women's Development and Communication Network (FEMNET)

During PrepCom II for the World Summit on Sustainable I Development (WSSD) in New York in February 2001, women from every region of the world gathered each morning at the women's caucus to network and strategise.

The idea of a women's caucus was born at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro and emerged as an avenue for all civil society actors to participate in the proceedings. Women's advocacy at Rio resulted in 172 references to women and the recognition of women as one of the Major Groups in Agenda 21, the official outcomes document of the conference.

Ten years later, women are using the women's caucus to challenge the effects of heightened globalisation and a system of economic imbalances that perpetuate poverty and environmental degradation in both developing and developed countries.

During the WSSD in Johannesburg, women asked why the Rio commitments had not been implemented, and what could be done to ensure progress on all aspects of sustainable development. Responding to the Secretary General's report, the women's caucus called on the Summit to "renognise that the full range of human rights--civil, political, social,...

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