Let us move from aspiration to actionSeptember 5, 1995
Statement by the head
of the Holy See's Delegation to the World Conference on Women
The following is the English text of the Statement made on 5 September by
Mrs. Mary Ann Glendon, head of the Holy See's Delegation to the Fourth World
Conference on Women in Beijing, China.
Madame Chairperson,
The Delegation of the Holy See wishes first of all to express its special
thanks and appreciation to the Government of the People's Republic of China, to
whom it gladly renews the cordial and respectful good wishes of Pope John Paul
II. The warm reception we have received from the authorities and from the people
here in Beijing and the efficient manner in which the arrangements for the
Conference have been managed have further helped to make this World Conference
such a memorable experience.
1. We are celebrating the Fourth World Conference on Women. Our Conference
follows on a series of other International Conferences which will surely mark
the international social climate, as we move to the end of this millennium and
to the beginning of the new one. From Rio de Janeiro to Vienna, from Cairo to
Copenhagen and now here in Beijing, the community of nations and each single
State have been focusing their attention on the significance and the practical
consequences of what was affirmed in the first principle of the Rio Declaration,
namely, that "Human beings are at the centre of the concern for sustainable
development".
Today, more than ever our task is to move from aspiration to action. We must
see that what has been affirmed at the universal level becomes a reality in the
everyday lives of women in all parts of the world. The historical oppression of
women has deprived the human race of untold resources. Recognition of the
equality in dignity and fundamental rights of women and men, and guaranteeing
access by all women to the full exercise of those rights will have far-reaching
consequences and will liberate enormous reserves of intelligence and energy
sorely needed in a world that is groaning for peace and justice.
During the preparations for this Conference, the Holy See has listened
carefully to the hopes, fears and daily concerns of women in various parts of
the world and from different walks of life, as well as to their criticisms. Pope
John Paul II has directly addressed the concerns of the Conference in numerous
talks and encounters, especially in his recent personal Letter to Women.
He has acknowledged the deficiencies of past positions, including those of the
Catholic Church, and has welcomed this initiative of the United Nations as an
important contribution to a global improvement in the situation of women in
today's world.
Holy See's views represent aspirations of many
The Delegation of the Holy See, headed by a woman and composed mainly of
women with varied backgrounds and experiences, applauds the purpose of the draft
Platform of Action to free women at last from the unfair burdens of cultural
conditioning that have so often prevented them even from becoming conscious of
their own dignity.
The views of the Holy See represent the aspirations of many people, believers
of all faiths and non-believers alike, who share the same fundamental vision and
wish it to be known. It is only when different viewpoints are sensitively
listened to and appreciated that one can arrive at a true discernment of
situations and a consensus on how to remedy them.
2. I will draw attention, therefore, to some of the many points where my
Delegation concurs with the Platform of Action, while at the same time I will
also indicate some areas which my Delegation feels ought to have been developed
in a different manner.
At times in the preparatory process, the Holy See has had strenuously to
emphasize that marriage, motherhood and the family, or the adherence to
religious values, should not be presented only in a negative manner. To affirm
the dignity and rights of all women requires respect for the roles of women
whose quest for personal fulfillment and the construction of a stable society is
inseparably linked to their commitments to God, family, neighbour and especially
to their children.
The position of women is linked with the fate of the entire human family.
There can be no real progress for women, or men, at the expense of children or
of their underprivileged brothers and sisters. Genuine advances for women cannot
overlook the inequalities that exist among women themselves. Enduring progress
for women must be rooted in solidarity between young and old, between male and
female, as well as between those who enjoy a comfortable standard of living with
ample access to basic needs and those who are suffering deprivation.
At the same time, it should be clear that promoting women's exercise of all
their talents and rights without undermining their roles within the family will
require calling not only husbands and fathers to their family responsibilities,
but governments to their social duties.
Because so many women face exceptional difficulties as they seek to balance
greater participation in economic and social life with family responsibilities,
this Conference rightly places a high priority on the right of women to
effectively enjoy equal opportunities and conditions with men in the workplace
as well as in the decision-making structures of society, especially as they
affect women themselves.
Justice for women in the workplace requires in the first place the removal of
all forms of the exploitation of women and young girls as cheap labour, all too
often at the service of the lifestyle of the affluent. It requires equal
compensation and equal opportunities for advancement, while addressing also the
added responsibilities they may bear as working mothers, and according special
attention to the problems of women who are the sole providers for their family.
Furthermore, effective action on behalf of working mothers requires
recognition of the priority of human over economic values. If efficiency and
productivity are considered the primary goals of society, then the values of
motherhood will be penalized. The fear of reinforcing certain stereotypes
concerning the roles of women, should not prevent this Conference from clearly
addressing the special challenges and the real-life needs and values of those
millions of women who dedicate themselves to motherhood and family
responsibilities, either on a fulltime basis or who reconcile them with other
activities of a social and economic nature. Our societies offer far too little
tangible recognition or concrete assistance to those women who are struggling to
do a decent job of raising children in economically trying circumstances. For
our Conference not to face these issues would be to render true equality for the
majority of the world's women even more elusive.
The Holy See, at this Conference, as it did also on the occasion of the World
Summit on Social Development, stresses the importance of finding new ways of
recognizing the economic and social value of women's unremunerated work, in the
family, in the production and conservation of food and in a wide range of
socially productive work within the community. Women must be guaranteed measures
of economic and social security which reflect their equal dignity, their equal
rights to ownership of property and access to credit and resources. The
effective contribution of women's work to economic security and social
well-being is often greater than that of men.
Everyone has the right to education
3. I wish to return, now, to the fact that so many women today do not have
access to those basic rights which belong to them as human beings, to the
extent, in fact, as I have said, that they are often even unaware of their own
dignity. I return to this theme to indicate some areas of special concern and
commitment of the Holy See for the coming years.
It is well-known that the Catholic Church, in its manifold structures, has
been a pioneer and leader in providing education to girls in both developed and
developing countries, and often in areas and cultures where few groups were
willing to provide equal educational opportunities to both girls and boys.
Every human person has the right to be helped to make the fullest use of the
talents and abilities they possess and thus, as the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights asserts, "everyone has the right to education". Universal access to
basic education is, indeed, an established goal of all nations. Yet in today's
world, of the scandalously high number of persons who are illiterate, over
two-thirds are women. Of the millions of children who are not enrolled in basic
education, about 70 per cent are girls. What is to be said of the situation in
which the simple fact of being a girl reduces the likelihood of even being born,
of survival or of then receiving adequate education, nutrition and health care?
On 29 August last, His Holiness Pope John Paul II committed all of the over
300,000 social, caring and educational institutions of the Catholic Church to
a concerted and priority strategy directed to girls and young women, and
especially to the poorest, to ensure for them equality of status, welfare
and opportunity, especially with regard to literacy and education, health and
nutrition and to ensure that they can, in all circumstances, continue and
complete their education. The Holy See has made a special appeal to the Church's
educational institutions and religious congregations, on their own or as part of
wider national strategies, to make this commitment in favour of the girl child a
reality. This is, in fact, a commitment already assumed at the Copenhagen Summit
for Social Development and the Holy See, as on that occasion, places itself side
by side with all the governments of the world to work in collaboration with them
on such programmes of education. More and more it is recognized that investment
in the education of girls is the fundamental key to the later full advancement
of women.
The question of education is closely linked with the question of poverty and
the fact that the majority of those who today live in abject poverty are women
and children. Efforts must be strengthened to eliminate all those cultural and
legal obstacles which impair the economic security of women. The reasons
specific to each region or economic system which render women more likely to
bear the heavier burden of poverty must be addressed. No part of the world is
without its scandal of poverty which strikes women most. Every society has its
specific pockets of poverty, of groups of persons especially exposed to poverty,
at times within sight of others whose patterns of consumption and lifestyle are
all too often insensitive and unsustainable. The "feminization of poverty" must
be of concern to all women. Its social, political and economic roots must be
addressed. Women themselves must be in the forefront in the fight against the
inequalities among women in today's world, through the concrete caring and
direct solidarity with the poorest among women.
May I draw attention here to the extraordinary work that has been done, and
is being done today, by a category of women whose service is so often taken for
granted: that of religious sisters. In their communities they have developed
innovative forms of female spirituality. From their communities, they have
developed forms of solidarity, caring and leadership for and among women. They
are examples of how religious principles are for so many women today a source of
inspiration in fostering a new identity for women and a source of perseverance
in the service and advancement of women.
Holy See condemns coercion in population policies
4. The Holy See also recognizes the need to address the urgent specific
health care needs of women. It supports the special emphasis of the Conference
documents on expanding and improving women's health care, especially since so
many women in today's world do not even have access to a basic health-care
centre. In such a situation, the Holy See has expressed its concern regarding a
tendency to focus privileged attention and resources on the consideration of
health problems related to sexuality, whereas a comprehensive approach to the
health of all women would have to place greater emphasis on such questions as
poor nutrition, unsafe water and those diseases that afflict millions of women
each year, taking a vast toll on mothers and children.
The Holy See concurs with the Platform of Action in dealing with questions of
sexuality and reproduction, where it affirms that changes in the attitudes of
both men and women are necessary conditions for achieving equality and that
responsibility in sexual matters belongs to both men and women. Women are,
moreover, most often the victims of irresponsible sexual behaviour, in terms of
personal suffering, of disease, poverty and the deterioration of family life.
The Conference documents, in the view of my Delegation, are not bold enough in
acknowledging the threat to women's health arising from widespread attitudes of
sexual permissiveness. The document likewise refrains from challenging societies
which have abdicated their responsibility to attempt to change, at their very
roots, irresponsible attitudes and behaviour.
The international community has consistently stressed that the decision of
parents concerning the number of their children and the spacing of births must
be made freely and responsibly. In this context, the Catholic Church's teaching
on procreation is often misunderstood. To say that it supports procreation at
all costs is indeed a travesty of its teaching on responsible parenthood. Its
teaching on the means of family planning is often regarded as too demanding on
persons. But no way of ensuring deep respect for human life and its transmission
can dispense with self-discipline and self-restraint, particularly in cultures
which foster self-indulgence and immediate gratification. Responsible
procreation also requires especially the equal participation and sharing of
responsibility by husbands, something which will only be achieved through a
process of changing of attitudes and behaviour.
The Holy See joins with all participants in the Conference in the
condemnation of coercion in population policies. It is to be hoped that the
recommendations of this Conference to this effect will be adhered to by all
nations. It is also to be hoped that, in order to arrive at informed consent,
couples will be provided with clear information about all possible health risks
associated with family planning methods, especially where these are at an
experimental stage or in cases where their use in certain nations has been
restricted.
There is clear consensus within the international community that abortion
should not be promoted as a means of family planning and that all efforts must
be made to eliminate those factors which lead women to seek abortions. Pope John
Paul II has emphasized, in speaking of the responsibility for a woman's tragic
and painful decision to have an abortion, "before being something to blame on
the woman", there are occasions when "guilt needs to be attributed to men and to
the complicity of the general social environment". All who are genuinely
committed to the advancement of women can and must offer a woman or a girl who
is pregnant, frightened and alone a better alternative than the destruction of
her own unborn child. Once again, concerned women must take the lead in the
fight against societal practices which facilitate the irresponsibility of men
while stigmatizing women, and against a vast industry that extracts its profits
from the very bodies of women, while at the same time purporting to be their
liberators.
All violence against women must be stopped
The Conference has, however, rendered a great service by casting a spotlight
on violence towards women and girls, violence which may be physical, sexual,
psychological or moral. Much more needs to be done in all our societies to
identify the range and the causes of violence against women. The extent of
sexual violence in the industrialized nations, as it becomes more evident, comes
often as a shock to their populations. The fact of the use, in this 20th
century, of sexual violence as an instrument of armed conflict has stunned the
conscience of humanity.
All such forms of violence against women should be condemned and social
policies to eliminate the causes of such violence should be given priority
consideration. More must be done to eliminate the practice of female genital
mutilation and other deplorable practices such as child prostitution,
trafficking in children and their organs and child marriages. Society must also
reach out to all those who have been the victims of such violence, ensuring that
justice be applied to the perpetrators of such violence, as well as offering the
victims holistic healing and rehabilitation into society.
The question of violence experienced by women is also linked to those factors
which underlie the widespread hedonistic and commercial culture which encourages
the systematic exploitation of sexuality and especially reduces women to the
role of sex objects. Should the Conference not condemn such attitudes, it could
well be accused of condoning the very root causes of much violence against women
and girls.
Finally, I feel that greater attention could have been drawn to the needs of
specific categories of women, especially within changing social and economic
environments. I will simply mention here elderly women, who are among those who
experience special problems in all our societies.
Madame Chairperson,
The title of our Conference is "equality, development and peace". We must
move from a vision of human persons looked on as mere instruments or objects to
one in which every person can fully realize her or his dignity and full
potential. Our century has been a century of unprecedented scientific progress,
but one also which has seen horrific conflicts and wars. In the midst of a
culture of death, it has been very often women who have safeguarded and promoted
a civilization of love, preserving the vestiges of human dignity throughout the
darkest days and years. Ignored, underestimated and taken for granted, the
beneficent influence of women has radiated throughout history, enriching the
lives of successive generations.
It is to the future that we must now look. The freer women are to share their
gifts with society, and to assume leadership in society, the better are the
prospects for the entire human community to progress in wisdom, justice and
dignified living.
The Delegation of the Holy See hopes that this Conference and the name of the
great city of Beijing will be remembered by history as an important moment in
which, by advancing women's freedom and dignity, we will have contributed to
building a civilization of love, where every woman, man and child can live in
peace, liberty and mutual esteem, with full respect for their rights and
responsibilities; a civilization where life and love can flourish; a
civilization where the culture of death shall have no dominion. May Almighty God
accompany us and sustain us in our task.
Teachings of the
Magisterium on Abortion
