Women’s rights then and now: Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action served as a cornerstone and roadmap for implementing our efforts to empower women worldwide.

Interview with Ambassador Mervat Tallawy[1] from Egypt on attending the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995 and how the Beijing Platform for Action remains relevant today

“For All Women and Girls” is a rallying call for action on the 30^th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. Ambassador Mervat Tallawy from Egypt shares some interesting moments from Beijing conference in 1995 and explains how the agenda of women’s empowerment has remarkably advanced since then.

Preparations for Beijing 1995

What helped me with Beijing conference and made me prepared for it was the International Conference on Population and Development that took place in Cairo in 1994. It was an important conference that I benefited a lot from as it tackled several important topics such as abortion, overpopulation, amongst other topics that are related to women’s health and development. During this conference, the programme on “reproductive health” was established, noting that this was a new terminology back then that only after this conference “reproductive health” became known.

Given Egypt’s experience in that area, the Egyptian delegation was asked to lead the health Committee [during Beijing Conference], although it was originally the turn of another country. However, Egypt’s expertise and capable leadership led delegations to agree that Egypt would be in a better position to lead the health committee.

I still remember the remarkable moment when I announced the outcomes of the committee, and I saw the 700 participants in the hall standing up and applauding the results. This was the moment when we felt that the conference succeeded despite of the challenges.

Challenges during Beijing 1995 Conference

Back then in 1995, the international environment was not conducive. There was an opposing movement worldwide against women’s empowerment. Therefore, we had to be alert and well prepared to ensure that this conference does not fail.

One of the main challenges was the inclusion of civil society. I remember that back then the plan of the conference did not include the participation of the civil society. I approached the Ambassador of China and kindly explained to him the importance of making room for civil society’s participation. I shared my piece of advice, noting that if civil society is not included, China may lose the opportunity of hosting the conference, explaining that they can engage in a separate area apart from the official delegations. Fortunately, the participation of civil society was approved, and they took part in the conference.

There were different approaches that aimed at failing the conference. For example, a country included among its official delegates a representative from NGO, only because this representative is aware of the rules and regulations and knows how to run the sessions, noting that official delegations should not include NGOs. I was surprised from this incident, and I believe that it was probably intended to disrupt and fail the conference. Fortunately, this situation was well handled, sand we made sure that representatives from NGOs are not part from the official delegations in the conference.

The impact of Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action

Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action served as a cornerstone and roadmap for implementing our efforts to empower women worldwide.

Taking a closer look at how the agenda of women’s empowerment in Egypt progressed after Beijing 1995, the national women’s machineries, including the National Council for Women, became stronger. The perception around the agenda of women’s empowerment started to change positively and be perceived as an important agenda that is related to the country’s economy and development.

Additionally, Beijing served as an international framework that supported translating laws into remarkable actions on-ground in different countries. For example, among the main milestones that Egypt witnessed was how the Ministry of Interior changed its structure and established human rights department, through which the police stations assigned a specialized police officer to deal with women’s complaints or cases such harassment.

Now we see a huge progress in the women’s empowerment agenda worldwide and in Egypt. I strongly believe that Egyptian women are currently living their golden era with the very strong political will to truly empower women across various fields. When I was appointed as a minister in the 1990s, I was the only woman minister in the cabinet. But the percentage of women ministers, parliamentarians and leaders have increased since then.

Message to Young Women Advocates

My message to young women advocates is to keep on advocating for women’s rights and do not feel that the work is done with the rights achieved so far. These rights need guards to protect them, so the young women advocates need to protect these rights and stand against anyone who may put these gains at risk.

^{1. Ambassador Mervat Tallawy was appointed as the Ambassador of Egypt to Austria and Japan, and the first woman to occupy such position in Egypt. In 2017, she received the Order of the Rising Sun Gold and Silver Star by the Japanese government in appreciation of her fight for women’s empowerment in Egypt, as well as her position as Egypt’s Ambassador in Japan from 1993 to 1997. Ambassador Tallawy was appointed as the Minister of Insurance and Social affairs in 1997 till 1999. In 2000, Ambassador Tallawy was the first Arab woman to be appointed Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA). Ambassador Tallawy was the President of the National Council for Women in Egypt between 2012 and 2016.}