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OUR LIFE Monthly у published by Ukrainian National Women’s League of America Vol. LXI MARCH 2004 Editor: TAMARA STADNYCHENKO FROM THE DESK OF THE PRESIDENT The forty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women will be held March 1 through March 15, 2004. One of the topics to be addressed during this session is “The Role of Men and Boys in Achieving Gender Equality,” a very important topic indeed when we consider that in most societies, men still exercise preponderant power in every sphere of life. More than fifty-five years after the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, women throughout the world are still struggling to attain the equal rights and dignity for all human beings enshrined in the declaration's Article 1. Thus, in addressing the role of men in gender equality, one question participants in the session will con front is whether men are ready to be partners in sharing the responsibilities and removing all the obstacles to women’s active participation in all spheres of public and private life. One obvious response to this question is that change may be accomplished in some cultures faster and more easily than in others. Another is that needed changes will come only if education about gender roles and gender inequality come first. One must start teaching this process at the earliest age in children's lives, and it must start at home. Boys and girls should share equally in family responsibilities. Young men need to be educated to respect women’s self- determination and to share responsibility with women in matters of parenthood. Leaders at all levels, as well as parents and educators, should support positive male role models who can teach boys to become gender-sensitive adults. Men in powermaking positions should take the lead in changing the gender-based division of labor in new economic structures where women and men enjoy equal treatment, pay, and power. It is anticipated that this topic, as it will be addressed at the forty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women, will generate insights and practical advice for men and women alike. Implementing change will require input from members of both genders. Since government has the primary responsibility of protecting women’s rights as human rights and of promoting promote gender equality, all governments worldwide might be gin by removing gender hierarchies and promoting gender balance in policymaking. At issue here as well is the seamy side of gender differences, which governments of all civilized nations need to address more quickly and more diligently. The human rights catastrophe presented by sexual exploitation of women and girls (including sex trafficking, the Internet bride industry, pornography, and sex tourism), must be urgently addressed by men, for it is men who are creating the demands for this global industry. Thus it is men who must take action in opposing the organized crime related to this heinous exploitation of women. If there is a de mand, there will be supply. If demand is eliminated, supply will cease to be an issue of concern. Today, however, this exploitation is big money in every language and in every country and money is power that very few men want to relinquish. Here, individual governments can do far more than they are doing. The absence of well-defined rules of labor relations concerning teenagers and women and the inefficient assistance rendered by state bodies to help teenagers and women to find employment often result in illegal exploitation, including sexual exploitation. At the global level, governments need to improve compliance with commitments to gender equality that were made in the Beijing Platform for Action, adopted by the Fourth Wold Conference on Women in September 1995. Since the Beijing Conference it has been increasingly underlined that attention to gender perspectives must be achieved at all levels. The report that will be issued by the Commission will contribute to furthering international understanding of this topic and will influence the work of the United Nation on the promotion of gender equality. Maybe just maybe with gender equality awareness at all levels of our lives, women may finally reach a long-awaited destina tion and a long-awaited destiny. “НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, БЕРЕЗЕНЬ 2004 15
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