Speech by President of the Republic Tarja Halonen to the 29th session of the General Assembly of the International Council of Women on 2 July 2000

(check against delivery)

It gives me great pleasure to address this opening session of your General Assembly. Meetings like this are a valuable opportunity for all of us to exchange views and compare notes. We can also look to the future and try harder to ensure that women and men have the same rights and opportunities, not forgetting that they should share same responsibilities as well.

There is a close link between equality and promoting human rights for all. The rights-based approach to equality was, I would say, a major achievement of the World Conference in Beijing. Now, five years later, the review session has made this even more evident. A great deal has happened since Beijing, but efforts in this field must continue. We who were there in Beijing five years ago remember the wonderful feeling of solidarity. Beijing gave hope to millions of women all over the world, but in real life they do not yet enjoy the rights they have been promised. Let’s keep the momentum going so that we can make a real difference.

We Finnish women have achieved a high level of gender equality and empowerment. We were the first in the world to gain full political rights, and we have been exercising them and making our voices heard ever since. Through our active involvement in political life, we have made a difference by setting an example and using our power to change legislation.

The strong social policy is also a consequence of the enviable position of Finnish women in political life. We have a public health care system to which all have access. In general, we have a good social security, free education for all, a right to parental leave and day care for children. These and many other social measures have made it possible for women to be active in the labour market and enjoy financial independence.

All of this is fine, but even here in Finland a lot remains to be done. Women find it very difficult to reconcile working and family life. The principle of equal pay for the same or similar work is yet to be fully implemented. Benchmarking and gender impact analysis are needed not only in developing countries, but here in Finland, too. Women are needed to wield power and make decisions in all spheres of life.

A point that I especially want to stress is that women and men must have a real possibility to stay at home with their small children. Competition at work should not lead to a situation where mothers and fathers do not avail themselves of their statutory parental rights. Thus women and men must share family responsibilities and bring about true equality, also in everyday ways. The kinds of examples that we adults give little girls and boys is extremely important. People form their image of self through their practical experiences in real life and in interaction with their surroundings.

The human rights of women and girls are an inalienable, integral and indivisible aspect of universal human rights. These should always include sexual and reproductive rights. Another concern of mine is how to end all violence against women and girls. I was happy to hear that good recommendations in this respect were adopted at the meeting to review progress since Beijing. At last, marital rape has been recognised as a crime.

But what about women who live in poverty? What kind of hope do they have? The majority of people who live below the poverty line are women and children. Those in poor countries are, naturally, the most disadvantaged of all, but let’s not forget that there are poor people in wealthy countries, too.

The feminisation of poverty begins already from the childhood and the way little girls are being treated. Poverty and gender-based economic inequities as well as lack of education and inadequate access to health care have sad results. Rapid globalisation poses its own challenges. AIDS is a grave health risk, but it is also a threat to development. All of this has created a completely new linkage between health, access to care and implementation of the human rights of women. In relation to all of these matters, education for girls is something that nobody can emphasise too much. Education has enormous potential to advance gender equality, but so many children in the world are deprived of it.

After pointing to all of these problems, let me conclude on a more upbeat note. Equal rights and opportunities for members of both sexes enable women to make the most of their potential and resources, and it is society as a whole that gains. Both men and women have a role to play in achieving equality between the sexes and changing traditional gender patterns.

I wish you a very successful meeting.