WOMEN LEADERS CONVENE AUGUST 31 IN BELFAST IN SUPPORT OF PEACE
USIA
31 August 1998
WOMEN LEADERS CONVENE AUGUST 31 IN BELFAST IN SUPPORT OF PEACE
(Second "Vital Voices" conference draws 400 delegates) (770)
By Berta Gomez
USIA Staff Writer
Belfast, Northern Ireland -- More than 400 women leaders from Northern
Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, the Republic of Ireland and the
United States have gathered in Belfast for a three-day conference
devoted to expanding and strengthening the role of women in democratic
societies.
As U.S. State Department Counselor Wendy Sherman told delegates
attending the opening plenary session on August 31, "There is no true
democracy unless all citizens have an opportunity to be heard."
The conference is co-sponsored by the U.S. government, the Secretary
of State for Northern Ireland Marjorie Mowlam, First Minister of the
New Northern Ireland Assembly David Trimble and Deputy First Minister
of the New Northern Ireland Assembly Seamus Mallon. One goal of the
conference is to promote peace in Northern Ireland by channeling the
energy and efforts of women from all walks of life.
"The women of Northern Ireland have borne an enormous share of the
trauma of the Troubles. Now, their participation will be essential to
build a future of peace and reconciliation," President Clinton said in
May when he announced plans for the "Vital Voices: Women in Democracy"
Belfast conference.
In remarks to the plenary session, U.S. Ambassador to the United
Kingdom Philip Lader said that the conference should remind those
pushing for peace in Northern Ireland "that America continues to walk
with you."
Other U.S. dignitaries scheduled to attend include First Lady Hillary
Rodham Clinton, who will deliver the closing keynote address on
September 2. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright could not
participate in person, but sent a written message praising the women
of Northern Ireland for promoting "politics that look to the future
rather than live in the past."
Albright said, "It takes great courage to stand for change, and no one
has shown more courage than the women of Northern Ireland. I hope that
your work at this conference extends and expands the success you have
already had, deepens your sense of solidarity and hope for the future,
and shares your ideas and strategies with your counterparts from
around the world."
To that end, most of the conference will be taken up with workshops
focusing on three broad themes: participation in public life; legal
and social progress in civil society; and economic development and
opportunity in a time of change.
In her remarks at the plenary, State Department Counselor Sherman also
pointed out that women often take the initiative on issues that are
close to their lives -- such as clean water, safe streets, and
workplace discrimination -- only to "back away" when those issues
attract attention and funding from government and private sources.
"Women in leadership roles should seize opportunities and maintain
ownership of their efforts," she said. Maintaining ownership does not
preclude partnerships with men, Sherman stressed, but requires women
to "stay in the game."
She pointed to the 14 women who were recently elected to the Northern
Ireland Assembly -- 10 percent of the seats -- as evidence that more
women are indeed seizing opportunities for high-profile activism and
participation in public life.
U.S. support for those and other signs of progress "is becoming -- and
must become -- one of the hallmarks of American foreign policy,"
Sherman said. "In the United States, we have put efforts to advance
the status of women right where they belong -- in the mainstream of
American foreign policy."
Other speakers at the opening session included Secretary of State for
Northern Ireland, the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister of
the New Northern Ireland Assembly, and Irish Minister of State for
Justice, Equality and Law Reform Mary Wallace.
All acknowledged the progress made by women in recent decades, but
also made forceful statements in support of greater and speedier
change.
"The gender deficit has been a persistent feature of public life in
Northern Ireland," Trimble said. He described the fact that women hold
only 10 percent of the seats in the new Assembly as "not acceptable,"
and added that he hoped "the new era of politics in Northern Ireland
maximizes the contribution of women."
The Belfast conference is the second event to be held under the
ongoing Vital Voices initiative. The first was held in Vienna in July
1997 and brought together 300 women leaders from Central and Eastern
Europe, the European Union and the United States. A third Vital Voices
conference is scheduled for October 1998 in Montevideo, Uruguay, and
will be co-sponsored by the United States and the Inter-American
Development Bank (IDB).