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The World March of Women at the Global Forum on Financing the Right to Sustainable and Equitable Development

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What kind of financing for what kind of development?

Monterrey, Mexico, March 14-17, 2002
 logo Forum

World March of Women

This document was written for the NGO Global Forum called Financing the Right to Sustainable and Equitable Development, which took place a few days prior to the United Nations' official Conference on Financing for Development.

The World March of Women considers the Global Forum represents an important arena for:

1. popular education and strengthening and consolidating alliances between NGOs and networks participating in the Global Forum;

2. denouncing the world in which we live, built on a purely economic and military model of development;

3. pressuring participants at the official conference to influence decisions regarding the financing of economic policies;

4. proposing alternatives to the development model from our perspective as feminists in solidarity who promote ecological practices-in other words, proposals about the world we want to live in, as expressed in the March demands.

1) Brief Overview of the World March of Women

The World March of Women was the initiative of the Fédération des femmes du Québec (Québec Federation of Women) and was quickly joined by some 6000 women's groups in 161 countries across the planet.

In the year 2000, we staged many national actions and world demonstrations. The crowning point came on October 17, 2000, with big marches held in different countries, a march outside the international financial institutions in Washington and a march in New York at the United Nations.

March representatives met with the president of the World Bank, J. Wolfensohn, and the managing director of the IMF, H. Köhler. At those meetings, the spokeswomen clearly and forcefully denounced the capitalist, neoliberal and patriarchal tenets of those institutions' policies; the effects of structural adjustment programs (SAPs) and foreign debt servicing imposed on countries of the South and East; and the resulting catastrophic increase in poverty and violence against women. They also presented the World March of Women demands and called for radical shifts in the development model dictated by the current reality of economic globalization.

Representatives of the March national coordinating bodies met with UN Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette (at the last minute she filled in for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who was delayed in the Middle East) and a number of other UN officials.

The March representatives delivered 5,084,568 signatures collected all over the world in support of concrete measures to "eliminate poverty and ensure the fair distribution of the planet's wealth among rich and poor, and men and women; and to eliminate violence against women and ensure gender equality." As they did in the previous meetings, the delegates denounced the worldwide increase in poverty and violence against women, and they presented the World March of Women's political demands.

A wealth of materials on the World March of Women, including the 17 world demands, can be found on the March Web site at: www.marchemondiale.org/en/cahier/liste.html

Considering the almost total lack of response to the March demands on the part of our governments, the United Nations and the international financial institutions, and considering the unprecedented increase in levels of poverty and violence against women, on October 6, 2001, at the 3rd International Meeting held in Montreal, we reaffirmed the need to continue the World March of Women.

2) Current Development Model Conceived Exclusively in Economic and Military Terms

In the official preparatory documents for the International Conference on Financing for Development there is never any critical analysis of the present development model. Quite the contrary, it is clear the Conference has no intention of changing the basic model but rather of continuing on in the same direction. The aim of the UN International Conference is to focus exclusively on the financial aspects of development, because they are pivotal to the model: development is conceived in economic terms alone (and after the attacks on September 11, 2001, the military factor in the development model has increased alarmingly).

Let us remember for a moment that, at the Bretton Woods International Conference (July 1 to 22, 1944), the victors of World War II founded the multilateral institutions-the World Bank, the IMF, the GATT (now the WTO)-which had a crucial international role: they imposed on the world a global financial system, the basis of which was economic development as synonymous with peace and prosperity.

Now, almost 60 years later, the same model is still being applied.

The implementation of this model of economic development has led to the following global result: 80% of the world's population possesses less than 20% of the resources on the planet, and 70% of the people living in poverty are women.

We can also safely assert that the essentials of this model have been applied for the past 500 years, with the well-known disastrous consequences for the world's Native populations and for the ecological balance.

Meeting at the UN from September 6 to 8, 2000 for the Millennium Assembly, 191 heads of State of all member countries adopted a document of capital importance. They decided, among other things:

  • to halve, by the year 2015, the proportion of the world's people whose income is less than one dollar a day and the proportion of people who suffer from hunger;
  • by the same date, to halve the proportion of people who are unable to reach, or to afford, safe drinking water;
  • to ensure that, by the same date, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling;
  • by the same date, to have reduced maternal mortality by three quarters, and under-five child mortality by two thirds, of their current rates;
  • to have, by then, halted, and begun to reverse, the spread of HIV/AIDS; to provide special assistance to children orphaned by HIV/AIDS; and to have halted the scourge of malaria;
  • by 2020, to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers who shall live with dignity.

    Today we note, with great sorrow, that without radical changes to the worldwide social, cultural, political and economic architecture, this declaration will be confined to good intentions alone.

    European non-governmental organizations have stated that it will be impossible to eradicate poverty among half of the people living on less than one dollar a day (about 650 million) between now and the year 2015, because not a single measure has been taken in that direction. (1)

    The World March of Women denounces the current model of development, built around a single system of economic domination imposed on the entire planet, that of neoliberal capitalism.

    It also denounces the perpetuation of a system of cultural, social and political domination of women. Patriarchy, which has been exercised for thousands of years, conditions relations between men and women, enshrines male power and causes violence and exclusion. (2)

    The two systems subscribe to different rules and a different rationale, but they feed and reinforce one another.

    3) Indispensable Elements in Sustainable and Equitable Development

    We the women of the World March are mobilizing because we want to be able to live in a world where:

  • human beings are the focus of concern;
  • women's fundamental rights are recognized as inseparable from universal human rights;
  • the economic development model aims to create wealth and improvement of material living conditions for all human beings;
  • the social aspect of the model takes into account an adequate level of education, health, work, basic diet, housing and security in old age for all human beings on earth; and pays particular attention to correcting the lopsided power relations between men and women so that they are in keeping with the human rights recognized in the 1948 UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights;
  • in addition to respect for the basic rights of all human beings, the political aspect takes into account some form of representative democracy and equal participation by women and men; peoples' right to self-determination, especially Native peoples; and respect for the environment;
  • the cultural aspect includes the plurality of cultures and recognition of culture as a basic value that gives communities their identity and dignity;
  • the spriritual aspect, which refers to peoples' symbols and beliefs, is respected but not imposed on others.

    4) Alternative Proposals for the Financing of Sustainable and Equitable Development

    Clearly no prefabricated model to reconfigure the world exists, nor is there a finished development model. We know that at present thousands of popular organizations, particularly women's groups, all over the world are working to develop feasible alternatives; for example:

  • Fair trade: Who said that the proponents of another kind of globalization are against trade? Since time immemorial human beings have exchanged goods and services. The forms of trade, however, can be different from those imposed by the G-8 countries or the WTO. We want to trade according to the principles of fair trade. Some practices do exist and point the way for further initiatives-fair trade in coffee, for example. The idea of financing a Marshall Plan for Africa, which will be discussed at the upcoming G-8 meeting in Canada, may turn out to be an excellent initiative. But we are adamant that this can only be of interest if the commercial and financial rules governing trade today are changed radically so that everyone benefits, and provided the ecological balance is respected. This is the only way to finance the development of Third World countries.
  • Socially productive and ecologically responsible investment:

    We do not deny the need to have capital and investments, but they should be used to finance equitable human development. We have a different conception of wealth, production, consumption and work. We believe the economy must be based on solidarity.

    Why are so many investments and so much capital concentrated in so few hands of individuals and multinational corporations? Why can't capital flow freely in all directions? Why is so much of it invested in speculative ventures?

    Many economists, both men and women, assert that productive, non-speculative investments are possible-investments that are aimed at local, national and regional development; that focus on the needs of populations; that fully conform to ILO labour standards and various conventions and protocols designed to protect human rights and the environment. It is possible moreover for citizens to democratically discuss the guidelines of such investments and thus decide on what kind of development they wish to have that will be more respectful environmentally.

    5) Urgent, Short-term Measures that the World's Political and Economic Leaders Must Take to Finance Equitable Development and to Address the Structural Causes of Poverty and Violence against Women

    Below are some of the urgent, short-term measures recommended by the World March of Women. These measures are contained in the March's political platform, made up of the 17 world demands we are carrying forward and for which we are willing to march until they are fulfilled:

  • Cancellation of the debt of Third World countries, taking into account the principles of responsibility, transparency of information and accountability. The Third World's debt is the new face of colonialism. The countries of the South have paid their "debt", having given back to the North a lot more than what they received. The debt is illegal, illegitimate and immoral. The only thing the rich countries have put forth to solve the problem is the paltry Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPCs) Initiative. Under this initiative, the world economic system's game rules are unchanged. Therefore, this same system and the international financial institutions' conditional loans keep poor countries locked in a an endless relationship of dependency and spiral of impoverishment.

    Debt cancellation is necessary to free up development and stop the hemorrhage of wealth to the North. With the resulting money, the South could have sources to finance sustainable and equitable development.

  • Immediate implementation of measures such as taxing international financial transactions (particularly applying the Tobin Tax). We believe that if the Tobin Tax is implemented only here and there, it will not provide a definitive solution to the problem of financial speculation and disparities between countries. However, it together with other proposals on taxing capital-that even liberal economists endorse-could mean a major influx of financial resources that could be used for social development, whose first beneficiaries should be women since they are the most impoverished people in the system.

    Other measures must be added to this one in order to eliminate ALL criminal financial practices such as tax havens, banking secrecy and money laundering.

  • Investment of 0.7% of the rich countries' gross national product (GNP) in aid for developing countries and implementation of the 20/20 formula between donor countries and recipients of international aid.

    These old, so-called "aid" measures-which have never been implemented in the proportions decided by the rich countries themselves- cannot represent a long-term alternative either, but they can provide extra resources for urgent, short-term financing. They could be seen more as reparations than as aid.

  • An end to structural adjustment programs and to cutbacks in social budgets and public services. We demand real structural change for populations in both the South and the North, so as to break the lethal spiral of indebtedness and impoverishment of 80% of the world's inhabitants.
  • We demand immediate measures to ensure gender equality and to put an end to violence against women. Any solutions for the women of the World March presuppose a transformation of social, economic and political structures. But they also, and at the same time, require changes in power relations between men and women. Shifting power relations lead to changes in social roles in private life (personal relationships between men and women) and in men's and women's respective and shared responsibilities regarding child rearing, a task that has reduced women to the traditional role of homemakers.

    This is why, in the most recent world meetings, women have demonstrated and demanded that a gender-based perspective be included in all agreements and all trade policies; that the unpaid work women do-within the home, for example-be recognized as wealth and be computed as part of the GNP; that women's fundamental economic, social and cultural role in development be recognized; that legislative measures and national and world programs be implemented to eliminate all forms of violence committed against women and girls; that measures be introduced to facilitate women's priority access to education, day care services, technical training, credit and land; and that other measures be implemented to ensure access by individual women and women's groups to the structures of political and economic power.

    Innumerable feasible and successful alternatives are contained in each one of these themes. All that is needed is the political will to implement them systematically.

  • In the longer term, the World March of Women is fighting for the establishment of "a non-monolithic world political organization, with authority over the economy and egalitarian and democratic representation of all countries on earth and equal representation of women and men." (3)

    We believe it is essential for the international financial institutions and the World Trade Organization to be linked and subordinated to a radically changed United Nations Organization. International economic, trade and financial institutions should be under the political control of the transformed UN to ensure that these institutions respect human rights, which, in the hierarchy of international norms, are above economic and trade interests. (4)

    We will continue to fight to have women's voices heard for they have been kept silent for too long, and we will continue to fight for women to gain equal representation in all international decision-making bodies.

    6) In Conclusion

    We consider that the Global Forum has given us an important and even invaluable opportunity to continue building bridges between the peoples of the world; to draw on the pluralism of our diverse cultures; to move ahead with different yet complementary strategies of exerting pressure, mobilizing, educating and lobbying; to strengthen one another in the exercise of representative and participatory democracy; and to experience equality between men and women.

    All this is what we want for every inhabitant of our planet, for we do indeed have a right to equitable human development!

    (1) ) "Impossible to Eradicate Poverty by 2015: European NGOs." January 31, 2002, www.cimacnoticias.com

    (2) Advocacy Guide to Women's World Demands. July 1999, p.9

    for the elimination of poverty.

    (4) Visit the portal of the World Social Forum of Porto Alegre II to read about the proposed alternatives: www.forumsocialmundial.org.br

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    Last modified 2006-04-06 08:14 PM
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