The Beijing Platform For Action
The United Nations Platform for Action (PfA) aims to remove obstacles for women’s active participation in all areas of public & private life, sharing power, decision making & responsibility with men at home, in the workplace and in the wider national and international communities.
Equality is about social justice; a fundamental prerequisite for development and peace; and so women and men can work together for themselves, their children and for society to meet the challenges of the 21st century.
- Taken from the UN PfA Mission Statement
Working Together for Equality – B+15 Review
In 2009 it will be the 15 year review of the Beijing Platform for Action by governments. This review is a chance for women to come together to discuss and debate the issues raised in the Beijing Platform for Action and to gain a measure of the reality of women’s human rights in Australia. It is an opportunity for women to have their say and have their input analysed in light of the Sex Discrimination Act 1984, the BPFA documents and the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
About The Beijing World Conference on Women.
The United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women was held in Beijing, China in September, 1995. This conference was a formal meeting where Government members of the United Nations discussed steps to be taken to improve the status of women around the world. Their final task at the Beijing conference was to agree on a document describing those measures – this document is called the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA).
The BPFA is not a list of laws, but a set of principles and strategies for action. It explains 12 critical areas of concern that are considered as the main obstacles to women’s advancement. The BPFA not only provides guidelines for actions on the part of Governments, Non-Government Organisations and members of civil society, aiming towards eliminating these barriers to achieving gender equality worldwide, but is a powerful statement of the recognition of women’s unequal status globally.
In 1995 the Australian government, along with all other governments, agreed to promote women’s rights by implementing the actions identified in the Beijing Platform for Action.
Download: BPFA Document
On-line B+15 Questionniare
Your opinion is vital to bring about change so please join the voices of Australian women that will go forward to the Australian government, Asia Pacific women and to the United Nations. Please take a few minutes to consider the on-line B+15 questionnaire and make comment in the area/s that is/are important to you. On-line B+15 questionnaire
JERA International would like to acknowledge the generous funding for the ‘Working Together for Equality: A review of the Beijing Platform for Action 15 years on’ project by the Australian Government through the Gender Equality for Women Program
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CEDAW Sex Discrimination Act UN ESCAP Experts B+15 Meeting |