Margaret Hartley
20 November 1995
The main focus of the agenda for the Round Table Meeting was (i) to provide a debrief for the UN Conference on Women in Beijing, October 1995 and to consider the follow up activity especially in relation to the Commitments to Action; (ii) to discuss the interim report on the feasibility of a peak women's body; (iii) to discuss the National Agenda for Women Grants Program; and (iv) to consider a range of issues raised by the NGOs including CEDAW, women's information technology, the National Women's Health Conference and women and work (paid and unpaid).
There was a pre Round Table Meeting held by CAPOW (Coalition of Australian Participating Organisations of Women) held on 19 November, which provided opportunity to discuss the agenda and the various positions likely to be discussed. This meeting proved extremely productive as it provided an opportunity for NGOs to network and exchange information as well as develop an agreed strategy for the Round Table Meeting. This allowed for a unified voice at the Round Table Meeting on a number of key issues including the women's peak body, post-Beijing commitments and the support for an optional protocol to CEDAW (Convention to Eliminate all forms of Discrimination Against Women). The NGOs agreed that to maximise the use of the Round Table Meeting, a cooperative and unified approach was required and where an organisation did not support any recommendation, their reservations were also to be noted.
The most contentious issue discussed at the CAPOW meeting was the interim report of the consultants on the feasibility of a peak body. There was some discussion on the appropriateness of the methodology used and discussions as to whether we needed a peak body or could use the Round Table Meetings to better advantage. It was agreed that probably both options were required with a Round Table Meeting addressing different needs than a peak body.
The structure of a peak body was contentious and ranged from using CAPOW as a base to establishing a completely different process. My personal view is that CAPOW has been shown to be an effective mechanism to bring NGOs together on common issues (e.g. Beijing Conference) and that this experience should be built on to effect an acceptable peak body structure. The issue of access for small, non-national organisations was also raised and work will be needed to ensure "grass root" access via existing structures (a good example here is WISENET; being a national organisation, it could provide an effective conduit to other women scientists' groups through some form of cooperative association-see article on page 3).
CAPOW also addressed the need to document the history of Beijing and the mechanisms and ways in which Australian women came together to effect such a strong lobby group at the NGOs Conference in Beijing. It was noted that an application to OSW for funding had been unsuccessful and that an equally unhelpful suggestion had been made by OSW of seeking funding through the Australia Council. A number of avenues were suggested to seek some activity on this matter. It was felt that documentation must be made of the experiences and outcomes from Beijing before these were lost.
As a result of the pre-meeting, the Round Table Meeting was able to cover a full agenda and achieve a number of commitments from Minister Lawrence as well as Kathy Townsend, head of the OSW. Significant commitments included an extension of the consultations on the feasibility study to include Queensland, SA and WA; a personal guarantee from the Minister that funding commitments to the feasibility study would not adversely affect the grants program; an undertaking from Kathy Townsend that whilst she was keen to review the Round Table format, this in no way indicated that the Round Table Meetings would not continue; and a personal commitment from Minister Lawrence that if a peak body were to form this would be expected to be independent in its advice and government would not influence the decisions of the peak body.
The NGOs also asked that the government support the optional protocol being proposed for CEDAW. This is an international instrument which allows an individual or a group to make a complaint to an international committee if they consider their country is in breach of a Human Rights Convention. CEDAW currently does not have such an optional protocol. This matter will be raised at the March 1996 session of the Commission on the Status of Women. The OSW indicated support in principle and undertook to circulate further information and documentation related to this issue.
The issue of documentation of the Beijing experience was raised and the NGO sector requested assistance from OSW in seeking appropriate sources of funding.
An issue of significance to WISENET was the matter raised on women and information technology. The OSW indicated that it had a taskforce (director: Lyn Rainforest) on issues of women and information technology, including access and cost. The OSW taskforce has identified that the speed with which information technology was moving made it imperative for women to access technology as quickly as possible. One aspect of the OSW work was collecting data to evidence the gender inequity in information technology. This was raised as a need following meetings with the Council of Officials on Information Technology (COIT) and the National Information Science Council (NISC). The OSW was currently exploring ways of establishing Internet links and will have the taskforce report finalised in July 1996. A key focus for the report will be to provide the Prime Minister policy advice on women and information technology.