What respect is there for women’s dignity? Some observations on the IV International Conference on Women

Abstract

Now the IV International Conference on Women is over it is time for the evaluations and plans for the future. The IV International Conference on Women can be seen as two different vision of women and the respect of their dignity. The first reduces women to a series of social roles to be achieved with the risk of losing their femininity. The second considers women and men as human persons with equal dignity and as co-protagonists in the important task of improving humanity: however, in asserting their equality women do not lose or give up their femininity or their “genius” The diversity of the anthropological horizon pervaded the whole of the discussion which took place before the drafting of the Final document. That is what emerges from this article, which analyses some of the most debated passages of the Draft of the Platform for Action. The weakness, which even went as far as a denial of the assertion of equality in dignity and equal rights for men and women; the lack of a clear definition of family; the ambiguity in the terms regarding sexuality, fertility, and so-called “reproductive and sexual health”; the propaganda of family planning to be carried out through contraception, sterilisation and abortion; the identification of programmes of prevention of the HIV infection with the use of condoms; the lack of a standpoint against abortion and of a clear commitment in favour of maternity; sexual education reduced to information alone with no reference to the totality and complexity of the person: these and others were the point f disagreement, which were only partly resolved in the Final Document.

The conclusion is that the IV International Conference on Women was disappointing and that it betrayed the trust of those who hoped for a clear and strong assertion of the respect for women’s dignity and rights. The future may be even more disappointing if countries do not take serious initiatives in favour of women, particularly those in a situation of hardship.