REPORT GLOBAL CONFERENCE

Women 2000-lV
ECONOMIC CRISIS;
THE TURNING POINT FOR WOMEN

8th & 9th of July 2010
Amsterdam,
The Netherlands

REPORT ON THE GLOBAL CONFERENCE WOMEN 2000 IV; ECONOMIC CRISIS , THE TURNING POINT FOR WOMEN

1. INTRODUCTION
2. KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
3. WORKSHOPS
4. NETWORKING
5. CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS
6. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE GLOBAL WOMEN´S NETWORK
7. ANNEXES & EVALUATIONS

INTRODUCTION
First of all we want to thank all the participants of the GLOBAL CONFERENCE WOMEN 2000 IV , held in Amsterdam on the 8th & 9th of july 2010 for sharing their ideas on the main issue : the ´Economic Crisis ´the Turining point for Women. All the keynote speakers as well as the welcome speech by Ms. Mr M.E. Cuartas y de Marchena from the Cabinet of the Mayor of the Municipality of Amsterdam & all the workshop presentations dealt on a very highstanding way in tackling the different approaches women brought forward in seeking solutions for the economic crisis through a gender approach.
Later in this report we will go into all the topics the keynote speakers dealt with and we will elaborate all the different views and the discussions we had.Under the excellent guidance of Ms. Janet Smith from the United Kingdom, all the discussions turned out in a very valuable list of recommendations and food for thought and further development. This conference report is explicitly open to all suggestions from the readers. Also for all the pictures taken and information we refer, please contact us through the network we created women_and_the_global_crisis@yahoogroups.com and for the the pictures we took you can find them on the website created by Yvonne Wen from Taiwan http://www.flickr.com/photos/yvonnewen/sets/72157624336871475/
In the heat of the summer in Amsterdam we fully used the 2 days for the heat of our discussions : the outcome of the list of recommendations we also present in our annexes and we keep in touch by the creation of the ´women and the global crisis network´, where gender views are easily to be presented and discussed. Ms.Mariana Hudrea from Romania helped us in establishing the yahoo group of the network and had the generosity to host our next Conference in BAIA MARE , ROMANIA. She will keep us updated about the dates and timing.
MNO-ITW has had the privilege of hosting gender experts from all over the world and from different continents .Thank you so much for being with us and we really look forward to meet you all again in Romania.
Elsje Dijkgraaff

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

The Keynote speakers were all introduced by Ms. Janet SMITH and Ms. Elsje DIJKGRAAFF from the Foundation MNO-ITW read the information on the GLOBAL GENDER GAP report as Ms. Yasmina BEKHOUCHE from the WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM was at the last moment not able to attend the Global Conference Women 2000 IV due to the fact that she was invited by a Government to discuss their Gender imbalance-
Also Ms.Elsje Dijkgraaff informed the audience about the very supporting letter from Royal Heighness Princess Maxima from the Netherlands who wished the WOMEN 20000 IV GLOBAL CONFERENCE tremendous success.
The outcomes and recommendations will be disseminated according to the wish of all the participants to the WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM to the GLOBAL GENDER GAP reporters as to national and local Governments and women´s networks.

Ms. Maria Cuartas y de Marchena Deputy of the Cabinet of the Mayor of Amsterdam opened the Global Conference Women 2000 IV, ECONOMIC CRISIS , THE TURNING POINT FOR WOMEN by stressing the importance of women in leading positions Also she offered statistics on the participation of women in the municipal organisation as in the political arena- She made a very interesting contribution in explaining the relevance of measures to get more women into boards in the Municipality of Amsterdam and into decision making positions. 89 % are men and only 11 % women . The Municipality of Amsterdam has a moral argument to get more women into the staff, and ´inclusion of people and diversity ´is very important in the multicultural environment of the city ,also the city offers higher service levels because there are over 170 nationalities and role models are important, investment in staff, recruitment of diversity and the preferential policy to get women on board, Amsterdam has an equal opportunity approach in getting more women into higher positions but still the real balance is lacking behind and still more has to be done to make use of the ´untapped resources´
The second speaker Ms. Elsje Dijkgraaff informed about the contributions the World Economic Forum made through the GLOBAL GENDER GAP report ( see also the annexes with the comparisons to Cameroon, Japan where the Gender Gap sub indexes consist of economic participation and labour participation ) and the very relevant work they make in reducing the Gender Gap by following each year the results in narrowing the Global Gender Gap; we went into the discussion of the parameters used in the Report and into the contribution of remarks to refine the indicators of measuring the Global Gender Gap report ( remark made by Ms.Arthie Scimmel from E´Quality) because often countries and national Governements refer to progress by employment but it would be better to take ´economic autonomy ´as a reference than ´ employment ´
Before we went into the content of the speeches of the keynote speakers Ms.Janet Smith had made an very useful question and statement list along the lines the Global Women 2000 IV Conference could work and focus on a real outcome of recommendations ( for the list we refer to the annexes )

The main points were to focus :
• why some countries make progress and some don´t; how can we accelerate the process?
• why do we have to concentrate on women in leadership positions?
• why is progress not quicker and having an impact on gender equality?
• labour participation is not immediately the same as economic independency

The main issues of the remarks & points to elaborate further discussion was ´why the turning point for women takes so long to influence the global economy´ and more important ´how can we influence the process of change quicker and what instruments do we have?´ To dispose of economic resources and political empowerment was discussed in alignment with the remarks of Romania, Ms.Mariana Hudrea, that full employment and the so called equal opportunity in the socialist time also had been compulsory and not a guarantee for equality as the ´ double day ´was existing for women in the era . As for all the participants during all the discussions we refer to the annexes and the list of participants involved. For the complete programme we present in the annexes how the topics were distributed over the two Conference days.
Especially we want to thank the keynote speakers and the presentations they shared with us like Ms. Catherine Kanabahita from Uganda, Ms Anusorn Inkhampaeng from Thailand, Ms. Tassanee Sushevagul from Thailand and Ms. Matana Kester, migration expert and above all Ms. Janet Smith, from the UK the excellent facilitator.
For the elaborated content of all the speeches we will attach them in the annexes
Ms.Catherine Kanabahita had delivered her speech about the position of women in Uganda and where we stand now in reference of the economic crisis . Her main points for women were that there is ¨A global outcry calling for reforms in the role of the central bank from focusing on controlling inflation but to engage actively in government policy making. Inflation targeting has inhibited job creation and thus poverty reduction and suggestion are fronted to broaden and re-embrace the role of the Central bank through:
• Pragmatically utilize expansionary monetary policy: increase money supply and lower interest rates
• Engage in long term development banking
• Offer credit subsidies such as agriculture women’s enterprises and cooperatives, given women strong track record of loan repayment.
• Lower interest rates to encourage borrowers, investments, stimulate job creation and raise productivity.¨

Also she mentioned the huge impact of the global economic crisis for developing countries like the reduction of income from overseas exports, falling rate of tourism, reduction in expenses and the reduction of direct investments . The growth rate fell from 5 % to 2 %: budget cuts influence directly the life of women and their families: the MDG-S Millenium Development Goals are still to be met.

The economic crisis can also generate opportunities to face new challenges such as to create new jobs, gender budgeting, control spending and new challenges for integrating women´s participation.

During the Conference she also made a magnificent relation between theoretical approach for change and development for women and the practical way of – selling products from Uganda to reinforce the empowerment and sustainibilty of women entrepreneurs in Uganda- the income from the handmade products give scholarships to 10 girls per year to education because women give a part of the income of their selling products to funding the education of girls.
Please also visit our website to see all her products

http://www.flickr.com/photos/yvonnewen/sets/72157624336871475/

Ms Anusorn Inkampaeng in her speech discussed the position of the women in Thailand and its different regions in relation to the economic development and how the Government of Thailand is very hardworking in making the gender impact on development by supporting the participation of women in the Thai society .She focussed on the Issues of women’s priorities: e.g. an increased number of women in politics and administration, ending VAW Violence against Women and trafficking in women and children, reproductive health rights of women etc.
How political agenda setting are prioritized by policymakers:
1. National political leaders express sustained concern and attention for the issue.
2. The government enacts policies to address the problem and allocated sufficient budgets to address the problem.

Enabling factors and suggested actions taken to bring up an issue on the national political agenda.

International movement
- Putting the issue on the global agenda to influence national political systems to take on the issue e.g. international meetings to promote global norms e.g. increased women in politics is one of MDG Plus commitment for Thailand.
- Resources provided by international donors.

The total content can be found in the annexes.

Ms. Tassanee Sushevagul went into the relevance of offering statistical data on the differences of the pace of development in the regions from Thailand and the reasons were discussed why the differences occur and how we can influence them. She made an excellent contribution on the analysis of all the regions and the indicators used to measure gender differences in economic development.
The Thai dissegrated statistics she offered for 76 provinces. Data found on the economic participation of women and Bangkok that is more developed than the regions
Her full presentation can be find in the annexes.

Ms. Matana Kester referred to the status of migrant women and explained in a very interesting way what the bottlenecks are for migrant women in Europe coming for example from Thailand. Moreover how difficult it is to be accepted as a professional In Thailand there is no part time work existing so all the women work fully. In comparison with the Netherlands a difference where there exists on a large scale part time work. She made a very interesting contribution on the – Queing theory of Suzanne see the scale between ,native --- migrant´, affirmative action ´can be a very important instrument for integrating migrant women
We discussed on the double disadvantages of migrant women . See also the Annexes for her full contribution.

As for all the Workshop presentations we want toespecially mention Ms Mariana Hudrea from Romania with her paper on the role of entrepreneurship in Women´s lifes
Entrepreneurship is one of the 8 Key Competences meant to assure the building of the European Knowledge Based Society.
To what extent are the European citizens aware of the opportunities open to them by acquiring entrepreneurship competences? What is to be done in order to make them willing to acquire new skills and competences when they reach a certain age? Which are the most affected categories by lack of key competences?
Romania´s partnership made up of institutions from France, Hungary and Romania, was meant to answer some of these questions by studying the actual situation of women aged 45-55 who are either not satisfied with their actual job or who are unemployed.
Thus a survey was elaborated related to the complexity of the situation in France, Hungary and Romania aiming at getting a panoramic view of the causes that had led these women to the position of not fully successful persons( 90 people/country interviewed).
For her full speech see the anneces.
Ms.Noriko Tani from Japan made a very interesting contribution on the Exploitation of female labour in Japan and she explained what the economic crisis means for the position of Japanese women

The economic crisis and deteriorated economic situation in Japan added to the rise of part-time work. Especially the percentage of female part-time workers has rapidly increased.
In Japan part-time workers are not eligible for social insurance and pension through their employers. Furthermore, a financial incentive for companies to hire part-time personnel is that their salary does not increase with age. And, contrary to full-time workers who usually have permanent contracts, part-time workers are mostly employees with temporary contracts.
Women are often expected to combine work and care. 67% of female workers leave the company after the birth of their first child or after getting married because of the custom of working late. After their children have entered elementary school, most of the mothers reenter the labour market as part-time workers. According to my interviews to part-time workers, female part-time workers feel helpless to change the situation.
Part of the explanation of this economic exploitation of part-time workers may be found in the fact that in Japan female workers are still considered supplementary household workers. And thus the situation of female part-time nurses has become an underestimated social problem.
For more information we refer to her presentation in the annexes.

Ms. Godana Obradovic- Dragisic from Croatia contributed with her speech on the theme: Overcoming Inequalities – Crisis and Employment
The paper will first present some introduction on situation in Croatia regarding gender inequalities in the labour market, and policies, strategies and plans that are aimed to tackle it. In spite of various efforts to improve the situation of women's human rights, women are faced with adverse conditions in the labour market. Several researches has shown that women are engaged in less paid jobs more often then men, they are using sick leave more then men, they are not represented in the managerial positions. At the same time unemployed women are faced with different problems such as lack of skills , lack of opportunities to gain new skills and are also faced with prejudices and stereotypes. Although jobs are uncertain for both genders, and crisis has stroked male dominated occupations first, still we can expect the effects on crisis on women more visible in the future. This is particularly evident for some categories of unemployed women.

Ms. Floor Dijkstra and Ms Mumina Aden Abdi presented a very interesting workshop on empowerment Stand on your ground, a training programme for women and girls in mental and physical self defense
In the 1980s, girls and women were given large scale trainings in order to teach them how to defend themselves from street violence. During the years that followed, this process of teaching self defence has developed and has resulted in an increase in both physical and mental resistance.

The training is made up of physical arts which enable the participants to learn in an experimental way. Women learn how to experience their own power
Floor Dijkstra gave a training to empower us by physical strength and learn how we can stand up for ourselves and she gave the example of how she trained Somalian women. At the end we were all impressed by the strength we found
Then we had the very interesting workshop from Ms.Angela O’Hagan, Ms. Anne Meikle, and Ms Emma Ritch from Scotland with the title Economics for Gender Equality: Policy and Practice Interventions through Gender Budget Analysis and Equal Pay Practice For the Global Conference Women 2000 IV they made a very challenging contribution on how they got gender budgeting introduced.
The global recession has been described as ‘man-made’, with women absent from the institutions and decision-making processes that led to the global economic and financial collapse. The recovery, however, and efforts to stimulate the economy and reduce the deficit by drastically limiting public sector spending will have particularly negative consequences for women as users and providers of public services. Initiatives in Scotland scope out alternative approaches to public policy and engagement by women in the policy process. 1. The Scottish Women’s Budget Group has worked over more than ten years to embed gender analysis in the Scottish Government budget-setting process, with mixed results and multiple strategic and tactical lessons to be shared. 2. Economics for Equality is an innovative approach
Ms Pauline Murphy from Ireland made a very interesting contribution on Personal Professional and Political Development (pppd); A new model for learning in the 21st Century .
A Postgraduate Diploma for unemployed female graduates was introduced in 1998 in the context of a European Funded New Opportunities for Women Transnational Programme. Research informing the development of design and delivery of this course includes researching employers’ needs and their perception of graduate skills required, use of ICT including world wide web design and delivery as a tool for managers and sensitising employers to the potential added value of women in management.
The aims of the course include:
1. To provide vocational education in the acquisition of knowledge and skills in Information Communication Technology, Management Theory and Practice, Business Entrepreneurial Skills, Business French, European Awareness, Women & Social & Political Issues and Work Placements.
2. To facilitate personal, professional and political development of women, to enable them to realise their full potential in civil society, in local and community involvement in formal and informal politics.
3. To enable women to continue their education to a higher level or to gain employment in sectors where women are underrepresented at supervisory or middle management levels, or to generate self-employment or small business creation.


As a conclusion to all our discussions and contributions, we think the outcomes of the GLOBAL CONFERENCE WOMEN 2000 IV are to be found in the good practices we learnt from each other concerning the position of women in the globals scene and how they cope personal and professionally to encounter the economic crisis. We found also that new chances for development can be generated and new ideas developed .

Recommendations

• the Sufficiency Economy where moderation and self-dependency are valued is a new concept
• quality growth of the global economy and not only volume growth
• gender budgeting as a prerequisite for development
• training of officials , politicians in gender budgeting
• collective bargaining skills development a must
• engendering economics
• ´´liste de parité´´ in politics , equal representation in political party lists 50- 50 in political decision making positions
• Indicator for economic autonomy not only valued in per capita income but in real self sustainability.
• Employment measured in real economic autonomy; interlinking economic independency

Please put your extra recommendations to the list-

The economic recommendations to be made to:

• national governments ,
• regional governments
• to the World Economic Forum, Global Gender Gap reporters
• political parties

all suggestions to disseminate our results are welcome

We are looking forward seeing you all again!

Our special thanks go to :
Yvonne Wen who always was standing by and helped with ideas and her photo pictures
Anneke van der Heide who helped in organising all the logistics and the planning
Rosalie Diepenbrock, who made the beautiful book about the history of the 20 years existence of MNO-ITW
Elja Diepenbrock who contributed to the lay out of the Conference , the printing and all the scanning and contacting organisations
Femke van der Heide for all her support in the logistics and intake of our guests

We would also like to thank all the people involved and helping us to make it a successful Conference
Warmest regards! From Amsterdam!