From March 5th to April 6th in official documents reading room 207 is open a subject book exhibition “Women in the modern world” dedicated to the International Women’s Day.
The decision on annual celebration of this day was made by the United Nations General Assembly (resolution A/RES/32/142) in 1977. Since then the International Women’s Day has been observed annually on March 8th as the day of international solidarity of women and their fight for economic, social and political equality. It is celebrated all over the world, both at local and national level. In some countries, this day is the national holiday.
Equality between men and women and expansion of women’s rights and opportunities is an indispensable condition for creation of strong, educated, peaceful and prospering societies. When women have all rights and actively participate in social life, the whole society wins. Only this way it is possible to solve successfully the huge problems which challenge the world, – from settlement of conflicts and peacemaking to fight against AIDS and achievement of all other purposes in the field of the development, formulated in the Millennium Declaration. Therefore today and in the future any serious social, economic and political problem can’t be solved correctly without an all-round participation of women of the world and without granting to them all rights and opportunities.
This year there is the15th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and the Platform of Action adopted at the IV World Conference on Women in Beijing, 1995.
Fifteen years ago at the IV World Conference on Women governments engaged themselves to promote equality, development and peace for the sake of all women in the world. The epochal Beijing Declaration has exerted a profound multilateral influence and become the basis for a new policy and new national laws.
Today women of the world have more confidence in the future. Their stubborn struggle for equality, justice and development wasn’t vain. At the present stage there are a lot of examples of the progress which has been achieved substantially owing to joint efforts of international organizations and civil society. Today most young girls receive education, especially primary education; women have more opportunities to participate in business management, public administration, and also in the processes of social development. More and more countries adopt laws of protection of women’s and reproductive health and promotion of gender equality.
Nevertheless, there is still a lot to do. Maternal mortality rate is still unreasonably high, not many women in the world have access to family planning services, the problem of violence against women and gender discrimination is still unsolved.
Women have always played an important role in Belarus. They make 53,3 % of the total number of population in the country. The state policy of the Republic of Belarus concerning women is aimed at implementation of their political, social, economic and cultural rights. The government works on legislation reform in the interests of women, develops social and economic measures for the advancement of women and strengthening and support of the family, and controls the observance of the guaranteed women’s rights. The development of the women’s movement, extension of social partnership of women organizations with state structures and activating of gender researches exert a positive influence on improvement of the social status of women as well.
The exhibition includes the following subject sections:
- Women of the world in history;
- The role of women in society (women in policy, economy, family and culture);
- International legal documents for the advancement of women;
- Women’s health and education;
- Elimination of violence against women;
- Gender issues of the equality of sexes;
- The state of women in the Republic of Belarus.
The exposition presents more than 100 publications of the UNO, the UNESCO, the council of Europe, the European Union and the World Bank in the Russian, English, French and German languages: books, periodicals, brochures, booklets, and mimeographed materials for the UNO.
The exhibition is designed for professors of social and political disciplines, students, lawyers, historians, sociologists, managers, representatives of state structures and non-governmental organizations, as well as those who are interested in the issues of gender ideology and sociology.
Useful links
Documents
- The Beijing Declaration adopted at the IV World Conference on Women, Beijing, September 4th–15th,1995
- Review of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration
- The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
- Equality between women and men (excerpts from the Outcome document of the World Summit 2005)
- Declarations and conventions
The UNO activities
- The UN Secretary-General campaign “Unite to end violence against women”
- The activities of the UNO for the advancement of women
- Human trafficking
- Women struggle for the equality, family and peace
- Equality between men and women and the advancement of women
- The United Nations for the Advancement of Women
- Women, peace and security
- The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
- The Committee on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women
- United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW)
Conferences and events
- The International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (November 25th)
- Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (Beijing+10) (February 28th – March 11th 2005)
- XXIII Special session of the General Assembly (Beijing+5) (June 5th–9th 2000 )
- IV World Conference on Women (September 4th–15th 1995)
