Newsletter - February 2001

On October 17, 2000, 25 national marches were held across the world as part of the World March of Women. Not only that, from mid-September through mid-November a long succession of demonstrations rippled over the globe. Here is an overview.

From September 4 until October 17, women in New Caledonia organized numerous marches throughout the land so that women's voices raised against poverty and violence against women could be heard. On September 19, in São Tomé and Príncipe, women held their national march and offered workshops on the UN Convention to Eliminate All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

Women in Nepal drew images of the different forms of violence they suffer on pieces of muslin. This exhibition was part of a demonstration held in Katmandu on September 20, attended by 250 people from around the country. On September 23, women marched in Congo-Brazzaville.

On September 24, Lebanese women from every region of the country-south, north, Bekaa and Mount Lebanon-gathered in Beirut where they presented the March demands to the First Lady of the country. Three thousand women participated in this march.

On September 25, in Canada, there was a final gathering at the culmination of the Fraser River Journey for Justice during which 16 Native women rafted down the Fraser River to retrace the struggles against violence led by their female ancestors, grandmothers and great-grandmothers.

On September 28, in Japan, some 300 women from 30 prefectures gathered in central Tokyo and marched to the Diet (Parliament) where they presented their demands.

Five thousand Italian women hit the streets of Rome on September 30. Despite the rain, three generations of women marched, sang and danced. Such a display of unity had not been seen for a long time. On the same day, hundreds of women were in the streets of Ndjamena, in Chad.

In Mozambique, Forum Mulher organized a meeting held from October 2-4, where women discussed both the Beijing Platform and the regional and provincial action plans for the March. At the end of the meeting, women marched to Independence Square to commemorate the 8th anniversary of the peace accords. There, they also presented a bill criminalizing wife assault.

In Benin, hundreds of women marched in Cotonou on October 4. On October 5, multiple anti-poverty actions were simultaneously taking place throughout Romania. Women in Gabon marched on October 7, as did women in Lisbon (Portugal), where they numbered 7000. In Australia, a Festival of Women's Song and Dance included cultural presentations throughout the country. Women choruses were in evidence everywhere!

On October 8, the historical centre of Mexico City was overflowing with people.… Women and men gathered to listen to Oumou Sangare, a woman from Mali who sang in support of the World March of Women. On the same day, Turkish women were also mobilizing for a march in Istanbul. In Hong Kong, women demonstrated in the city centre.

From October 8-13, women's groups marched from the Belgian border to Brussels to take part in the European demonstration. In Québec, women participated in a week of activities and marches in all regions.

In Bolivia, the Plataforma contra la Violencia Hacia la Mujer, a coordinating body composed of 10 institutions and organizations, held popular education workshops on poverty and violence against women during September and October. On October 17, over 1500 people participated in the Pan y Rosas March in Santa Cruz. Many neighbouring countries were represented, and the women obtained good media coverage.

On October 10, in Luxembourg, women informed their elected representatives about their demands at the opening of parliament. In Togo, over 500 women marched in the streets of Lomé for their national march.

Marches were also held on October 6 in Cairo, Egypt, on October 7, in Gabon, on October 10 in Senegal, on October 10 and 12 in India, on October 12, in Puerto Rico, on October 14, in Seoul, Korea and in Peru. In most of these countries women demonstrated symbolically before the buildings housing IMF and World Bank offices.

In Québec (Canada) over 30,000 people marched on October 14 in the streets of Montréal, in response to the appeal of the Fédération des femmes du Québec. The next day, 50,000 people from across Canada marched in Ottawa, the federal capital.

In Belgium, European women gathered in Brussels on October 14, for a large and historic continental rally. Over 35,000 people marched in the streets before arriving at the Cinquanténaire square for a cultural event. Marchers delivered a petition calling for a response to the March demands to the European commissioner responsible for employment. The noisy, vibrant parade welcomed delegations of Filipina, Iraqi, Congolese and Indonesian women. To top things off, in preparation for that day women knitted colourful woolen squares to form a scarf measuring 5½ kilometres!

Against the backdrop of internal conflict, 100 women rallied on the same day in Korhogo, Ivory Coast, in solidarity with women marching around the world. They viewed a film entitled "Peruvian Women", the living conditions of these women being very similar to their own. They then held forums in the local languages and drew up a list of demands concerning social and domestic autonomy.

On October 15, the virtual bus tour organized by the Queensland Domestic Violence Services Network that traversed Australia via Internet, arrived in Brisbane.

October 17 was the grand finale in numerous countries.

For example, in Rodrigues (Mauritius), a march was held in the capital, punctuated by a number of strategic stops and preceded on October 15 by a bus tour around the island. In Saint-Denis, Réunion, the cortege halted at the plaque in front of the Champ Fleuri Theatre commemorating victims of extreme poverty. Personal stories and cultural presentations were numerous over the day. In Cuba women read the "March Appeal" in their workplaces. Violence against women and children was the subject of numerous workshops and publications. Swedish women marched in the streets of Gothenburg. A number of actions were organized in the Philippines. In Colombia, where trees named the "World March of Women 2000" have been growing since May near the city of Medellín, and where women have been very active in the peace process, women formed a human chain surrounding the building housing the UN. In the state of Gujarat, in India, actions centred around on the topic of violence. A survey has revealed that in this state, the problems of poverty and alcoholism are responsible for the murders of 17 women each day. In New Zealand, women presented demands focussing on equal pay, the negative effects of economic restructuring and the situation of Maori women. The coordinating body became involved in a development project on the Pacific coast called Water to Learn, that will provide a rural school with running water.

In Brazil, demonstrations were held in all the states, mainly in front of buildings symbolizing capitalist power (Stock Exchange, buildings of the IMF and World Bank). Some 5000 women and men of diverse geographic and social backgrounds marched in São Paulo. They were joined by 500 in Belo Horizonte, 400 in Campinas, 2000 in Mossoró, etc.

This does not include the thousands of smaller actions in support of the March that took place on October 17, from the school children who were invited to "make noise" in Québec, to the postal workers in Martinique who wore the March colours as they delivered mail, to the Australian women who organized meetings in workplaces, schools, and community centres, etc.

And the actions continue. Signatures are being collected: until March 2001 (see the article "Support by the Million"). Many groups have selected different moments to highlight the question of violence against women and poverty and to continue popular education activities and signature gathering. For example, the Jordanian coordinating body took the opportunity of the Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, on November 29, 2000, to intensify their signature campaign. And on October 24, women marched under the banner of the World March of Women to mark the 25th anniversary of the Women's Strike in Iceland.

Taking on Political and Economic Decision-makers:
Mission Accomplished. . . But What Next?

One of the goals of the World March of Women was to force political and economic decision-makers to pay attention to the situation of women. We can safely say that this goal was met with the meetings in Washington (October 16, 2000) and New York (October 17, 2000). From now on it will be impossible to act as if the women's movement does not exist, and as if women's historical demands concerning poverty and violence could simply be put on the shelf and trotted out of the mothballs every five or ten years for the big UN conferences on women! March spokeswomen met with the political and economic leaders in face-to-face encounters; our representatives stood firm, much to the discomfort of some of them!

Leaders of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund: On the Hot Seat

Beginning with a call for "constructive dialogue," the meeting with the World Bank (WB) concluded with the observation of fundamental differences between the delegates of the World March of Women and WB President Wolfensohn, the latter clearly "disappointed" and "disturbed" that we would not consider the World Bank as our "principal ally" in the struggle against women's poverty! He insisted on his and his wife's commitment to the cause of the poor, repeated that our letter did not adequately recognize what the Bank has done to help the planet's poorest populations, and reminded everyone of the Bank's transparent practices and openness to women's participation.

As for the meeting with the International Monetary Fund, it started with a long, fiery monologue by Mr. Köhler, the managing director of barely six months, who nevertheless defended neoliberalism with all the fervor of a new convert! Instead of paternalism, we were treated to a heated political diatribe affirming the end of ideologies (dead, according to him, with the fall of the Berlin Wall and communism), and the necessity of opening borders to free trade. He fumed against the corruption of leaders in countries of the South: principal cause of underdevelopment, according to him. Acknowledging the IMF's past mistakes, he affirmed that his institution is not responsible in any way for the impoverishment of broad sectors of humanity! His very words! The IMF carefully follows the directions of its member States, who decide on all matters. He concluded by saying he did not share our political analysis, remarking on the depth of our differences and regretting that we came with preconceived notions about the IMF!

Mr. Wolfensohn and Mr. Köhler were forced to respond to the well-aimed and clearly formulated interventions of our spokeswomen:

- Françoise David on the capitalist, neoliberal and sexist foundations of their policies that the World March of Women rejects;
- Leonor Concha of Mexico and Marie-Frantz Joachim of Haiti on the weakness of these institutions' macro- and micro-economic policy in terms of gender analysis and their failure to free women from poverty;
- Suzy Rojtman of France on violence against women that, although present before the current globalization, has been aggravated by the globalization so firmly defended by WB leaders;
- Sylvia Estrada Claudio on the effects of structural adjustment programs on women, based on the situation in the Philippines; Myriam Nobre of Brazil made a similar intervention at the IMF using the situation in her country; and Young-Hee Shim spoke to the situation in Korea;
- Awa Ouedraogo of Burkina Faso and Judith Odunga of Tanzania, who illustrated the disastrous impact of the foreign debt on African women.

At these two meetings, our spokeswomen presented the five March demands more specifically concerning the WB and the IMF: transparency and accountability of these institutions; integration of gender analysis in their policy and programs; increasing financial resources for women; debt cancellation for developing countries; end of structural adjustment programs and their clones.

The UN: 4.7 Million Signatures Supporting the Demands of the March Flood In

The meeting at the UN was heavy with symbolism and emotion. In the only meeting attended by the entire International Liaison Committee and representatives of national coordinating bodies, the 120 March delegates officially presented political authorities with the 4.7 million signatures from every corner of the globe.

On the invitation of the Canadian government, diplomats from over 50 countries and representatives of several UN agencies participated in the close to two-hour meeting presided over by Françoise David. Kofi Annan, UN Secretary-General, unable to be present due to the crisis in the Middle East, delegated Louise Fréchette, Deputy Secretary-General to stand in for him.

Terri Brown of Canada, Touriya Lahrech of Morocco, Shashi Sail of India, Latifa Ibraimo of Mozambique and Rosa Guillén of Peru presented all the demands and called for an umbrella anti-poverty law, debt cancellation for the planet's poorest countries, and the end of structural adjustment programs. They denounced patriarchal attitudes and institutions and the ensuing violence against women. They demanded that States respect and ratify the major international conventions.

Ms. Fréchette made a short intervention to congratulate the organizers for their organizational capabilities, but to the great disappointment of the women, was categorical in her affirmation that globalization is here to stay.

Women from countries experiencing severe conflict then took the floor, eliciting great emotion across the room with their evocation of intolerable conditions and the immense courage of women. When, in a powerful symbolic gesture, the representative of Afghan women removed her veil, the whole room rose in a long burst of applause.

Angela King, special advisor to the Secretary-General on women's issues, recognized that "Poverty has a sex, and it is female." She was pleased to see the emergence of a "new generation of feminists, even more vigilant than the preceding one." She then reminded everyone that the UN "is only the sum of its member States," referring implicitly to the impotence of the UN and directing delegates back to their own governments.

Much Work Before Us

We forced political and economic leaders to listen to us, but we failed to obtain even one satisfactory response to our demands. The demands stand unchanged. It is up to us to continue acting with all anti-neoliberal globalization and anti-sexist movements to force international financial institutions (WB and IMF) to radically change course and to make the UN assume veritable political leadership in the people's-particularly women's-interests. We must also find the means and the platform from which to continue our action to eliminate violence against women. In short, we have a lot on our plates!

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Newsletter, February 2001, Vol. 4, no 1

Building a Culture of Peace

"We, the women who have come from the four corners of the Earth, are here as living witnesses of thousands of women who suffer acts of violence and injustice caused by armed conflict. "
Mathilde Kayitesi, Rwanda

"Only the attainment of a just peace will allow the two people, Palestinian and Israeli, as well as all the people of the Middle East Region to live and to prosper."
Mayada Abassi, Palestine

"I am a Kurdistani woman bringing the message of millions of women deprived of their basic human rights and status in all parts of Kurdistan who resist and struggle for a better world."
Nazand Begikhani, Kurdistan

"Anyone claiming to be a defender of justice, peace, equality and development must support around the world the women's struggle against extremists of all stripes or religions."
Fahima Vorgatts, Afghanistan

"I speak on behalf of all those women in the world who oppose repression and with undefeatable hope and commitment work on combating poverty."
Erika Papp, Republic of Yugoslavia

"We will fight so that our sons and daughters do not wish for guns to play with; so that they wish for a flute, a hoe or a telescope to give free rein to their creativity and imagination; so they can dream of a free world."
Marta Buritica, Columbia

These are some of the words of the joint appeal1 made by a group of six women living in conflict areas at the session of the World March of Women in the United Nations in New York on October 17. They were from the Great Lakes in Africa, Palestine, Kurdistan, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia and Colombia. Each made demands specific to her country or region, but through that specificity a clear universal statement on the connections between poverty, violence, economic globalisation and the industry of war was made2. These connections were also made at the concluding public assembly at Union Square in New York. In both fora they struck a deep chord among the listeners and elicited warm applause.

Women working for peace. Women asking to be involved in all matters that relate to human security. Women demanding a place at the table. Women taking a place at the table. This is what the women of the world are asking. This is the sole way for the total world population to change from the cult of militarism and violence to a culture of peace and equality.

Throughout history "enemy" women have crossed geographical, cultural and ideological borders in search of peace. An Israeli group called "New Profile" sent out this message recently: "Let the women talk! We know that two peoples CAN live in this land....It was women who led the way to end the terrible and pointless war in Lebanon. We the women can find an end to this terrible cycle of violence too. Let the women talk....We want each and every person to have rights, to have the right to be heard, to choose how to live in peace and dignity."

The beginning of a recognition for such a need was expressed by the UN Security Council (SC) last October when it unanimously passed resolution 1325 (2000) in response to the demand of women. A coalition3 of five organisations, WILPF (Women's International League for Peace and Freedom), International Alert, Amnesty International, Women's Commission for Women Refugees and Girls, the Hague Appeal for Peace and UNIFEM drafted a resolution calling for gender sensitivity at all levels in all UN missions. In this resolution the SC called on all actors involved in negotiating and implementing peace agreements to adopt a gender perspective that included the special needs of women and girls during repatriation and resettlement, rehabilitation, reintegration and post-conflict reconstruction including through consultation with local and international women's groups. For women around the world, this is an historic victory. We now need to ensure that our governments respect and fulfil these commitments since the United Nations and the Security Council are only as strong and as progressive as the Nations that constitute them.

1. The complete text of this joint presentation is available on the World March web site:
   http://www.marchemondiale.org/en/special-onu-02.html

2. These women worked together for several days in a collective process to create the joint statement. Bruna Nota, the full time volunteer International President of WILPF (Women's International League for Peace and Freedom) generously agreed to help co-ordinate the work of this group.

3. For more information on the UN Security Council open debate on women and security and the NGO's statement and coalition visit:
   http://www.unifem.undp.org/unseccouncil/
   or http://www.wilpf.org/

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Newsletter, February 2001, Vol. 4, no 1

Washington and New York: We Pulled it Off

If Rebecca's grandmother had been able to go to New York, on seeing the rain she would have said that God must surely be a man, punishing women for rallying together. But the rain didn't last long and we made good on our bet that we would make our voices heard inside and outside the UN.

On her hat, Maria from Abitibi (Québec, Canada) wrote: "I am marching for humanity." There were over 10,000 of us from 100 countries in the streets of New York on October 17. Four thousand of us were from countries outside the United States and Canada. Among the delegations were a large contingent of Europeans, galvanized by the success of the European Women's March held on October 14 in Brussels; 250 women from Mexico who had travelled in a caravan from Chiapas; 50 Japanese women affirming their campaign for peace and destruction of nuclear arms; dozens of women from India and Bangladesh; many Indigenous women; the vibrant presence of African women wearing clothes emblazoned with the March logo, etc. "Our colleagues supported us; we organized bingo games...." Women who participated as individuals relied on their imaginations to come up with a way to get there.

There was also a strong presence of women from every corner of the world at the rally in Washington. This march, organized by a coalition of national organisations coordinated by the U.S. women's organization N.O.W. (National Organisation for Women), was attended by 20,000 people. N.O.W. mobilized many of its young women activists.

The Importance of Being There

It was important to be there, "to assert our solidarity with the women of the world"; "to make known to the world how women live in poverty in our country"; "to denounce the war we are living through"; "to speak about Afghan women-it is a question of life and death for Afghan women, and we are dying!"

It was equally important for March representatives to meet with the heads of the IMF and the World Bank on October 16, even though what they had to say was very disappointing (see the article titled "Taking on Political and Economic Decision-makers"), and for the political delegates of the 100 countries represented to be at the UN on October 17 to "speak on behalf of civil society." Since Kofi Annan was detained in the Middle East, the World March of Women was received by UN Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette and by Angela King, special advisor to the Secretary-General on women's issues. An especially moving moment was the presentation by women living in armed conflict zones (see the article "Building a Culture of Peace"). This was preceded by the equally moving delivery of the signed cards and petitions in support of the March demands, brought to the UN building from the Bronx by bicycle.

Meanwhile, in Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza, marchers filed out to the streets. It was a wash of colours-clothing and banners-to the tune of militant feminist slogans, punctuated by long silences in support of women the world over who are muzzled, secluded, who have no voice.… In Union Square, where the show to close the March was held, delegates reported back on the UN meeting. They all expressed their determination to continue the struggle. Everyone left with a trophy in their pocket-that of solidarity! "That's why this is a starting point for me, we have to keep going."

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Newsletter, February 2001, Vol. 4, no 1

Support by the Million

"We came here mostly to deliver the signatures we collected throughout the world. In Nepal we gathered over 65,000 signatures." For this Nepalese social worker, the trip had a specific purpose: giving the cards supporting the two major March demands to the UN Secretary-General meant making the demands known the world over.

The cards were the subject of popular education. In the words of a Congolese woman, "First we did popular education; then we gathered signatures; after that, we organized our national March, and finally we came to New York."

In making the support cards for the world demands, women showed limitless creativity. We have already mentioned signatures on saris and corrugated cardboard, but before arriving in New York, no one had seen the variety of cards, petitions, books and coloured banners women had made in their respective countries. What a thrill it was to see them, to touch them.

As October 17 dawned, the women in charge of transporting a sampling of the signatures by bicycle assembled in the Bronx, to the north of New York, to decorate their bicycles (both regular and delivery bikes) with pennants representing each participating country and indicating the number of signatures gathered in each world region. The cyclists wore bibs, some of which were covered in words of encouragement, for example, "Women with heart, women with courage, I march beside you." They set off on the 20-kilometre route to Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza, the meeting point for the world rally. When they arrived around 11:30 a.m., the Plaza was packed with a crowd that greeted them eagerly. The solidarity chain began when the packages of cards were passed from hand to hand above people's heads until they were placed in 14 baskets representing each of the 14 world regions. Those baskets were taken into the UN building by the members of the political delegation. The remaining millions of signatures collected by participating groups followed. That was when we were able to announce the definitive figure: 4,736,089 signatures!

Region	Number of signatures
Caribbean	48,415
Central Africa	270 403
Central America and Mexico	689,851
East Africa	1,384
East Asia	301,835
Europe	834,123
Middle East	55,741
North America	406,140
Oceania	20,425
South America	266,552
South Asia	1,717,706
South-East Asia	24,658
Southern Africa	32,157
West Africa	66,699
Grand total	4 736 089

The remainder of the signatures that were not delivered on the 17th were packed into a truck and deposited two days later at the UN post office. In an intense moment, several women placed the millions of expressions of support by women, men and children into large containers. But the campaign didn't stop there; it continues until March 8, 2001, a year after its official launch. World March representatives will take the opportunity of the UN Commission on the Status of Women meeting to present the signatures and announce the total number collected. We will remind the United Nations and its member states of our demands: to end poverty and violence against women and insist on the sharing of wealth and equality between women and men.

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Newsletter, February 2001, Vol. 4, no 1

The World March in Numbers

We have worked hard, really hard, since 1996 to carry forward this ambitious project of building bridges between the women of the world. In so doing, we were fully convinced that we would give more fuel to feminist analysis and action to bring about change. We still don't have all the data to make a qualitative evaluation of the goals we reached, but here are some of the figures on what we did achieve!

Between March 8 and October 17, 2000: Number of women who took part in local, national and regional education and mobilization activities aimed at women, communities and governments in each participating country:	millions of women and communities reached
Number of signatures in support of the World March of Women demands (up to October 20, 2000, after a seven-month campaign):	4 736 089 signatures
Number of women and men who took part in the world rally in New York on October 17: :	over 10,000 people, including some 4000 women from outside North America, thereby giving the event its truly worldwide character
Number of countries and territories represented at the activities and events in Washington and New York (October 2000):	close to 100 countries
Number of groups showing their solidarity on October 17, 2000 with the women of the world and those in New York who took to the streets to make noise, to march, etc.:	thousands of groups
Number of countries that organized their national march between September 15 and October 17, 2000:	over 40 countries
Number of participating groups in the World March:	close to 6000 participating groups
Number of participating countries and territories:	161 countries
Number of countries and territories that set up a coordinating body or coalition to work on the March at the national level:	110 countries

The international women's community is certainly alive and well-and so is feminism!

"Capire Mosamam Capire," a Beautiful Song to Bring Us Together

A year ago, an audio tape of the World March musical theme and the lyrics for a common chorus was sent all over the world to unite women everywhere with a single voice. We invited women to set lyrics to the music, telling of their struggles and hopes. From then on, "Capire mosamam capire" resounded in hearts and souls at marches, rallies and shows. The chorus rallied women around the common watchwords of understanding, determination and inspiration.

Women from 30 countries sent in their lyrics, their songs based on the March theme and at times on other melodies. In their songs, women said "no" to armed conflict, to corruption, to impunity, to sex trafficking and to wife assault. They also denounced injustice, current economic models, hunger, discrimination and exploitation. They asked for their rights to be respected; for equity; for equality; and for the power to choose, to express themselves and to make decisions. All the songs speak of international solidarity and the strength of this great women's movement.

The words were put together in July 2000 into an international song, using 26 languages from 23 countries. It is beautiful, it is grand, and it brings us together. Thank you for contributing to it.

Press from the Four Corners of the Earth

"Grito de mujer" (the cry of women). This title in big red letters appeared below the photo of an Indigenous woman on October 18, on the front page of the New York Spanish-language paper El Diario.

Many journalists were in New York on October 17: correspondents from news agencies (AFP, AP, UPI, Reuters), from radio and television in many parts of the world (BBC World Service, CNN, UN Radio) and local outlets (Workers World, WBAI, Dyke TV0); newspapers and magazines (The New York Times, O Jornal, Earth Times…). Some 50 foreign journalists were also present. From the Journal de Montréal, whose Monelle Saindon had been doing a column on the March since early October, to La Voix des Antilopes, from Cameroon; Voix du Sahel, from Niger; Voix du Nord and l'Humanité, from France; El Watan, from Algeria; El Diario de los Andes, from Venezuela; Daily Graphic, from Ghana; La Chronique, from Amnesty International's office in Belgium; People's Voice, from Canada; plus the Latin American news agencies Pulsar and Cimac-all of them were there, and these are only a few examples.

Many delegates gave interviews to their national newspapers (Belgium, Luxembourg, Haiti, Japan and others).

Looking through the articles and interviews you gave in your own countries, it is clear that the media did a good job on the World March of Women. The official launch on March 8 was widely covered, as seen by the articles sent to us from Yemen, Lebanon, Morocco, Mozambique, Senegal, Ghana, El Salvador, Mexico, Brazil, India, Belgium, Switzerland, France….

During the Beijing+5 special session at the UN in June 2000, Diane Matte and Françoise David gave some 15 interviews. We established contacts with journalists at that time and they subsequently followed our activities. Our database of media outlets, whom we informed regularly of March actions, contains over 400 contacts.

Mission accomplished? Not quite. Breaking through the media barrier is not easy, especially in countries where competition and sensationalism prevail. Nonetheless, thanks to your vital work, the World March of Women is starting to be known. We predict that, from now on, the March will be a factor that all civil society players, including the media, will have to take into account.

From World to National Demands-Acting Together

Throughout the year women all over the world demonstrated to make known the World March demands and the demands they put together in their respective countries. Clustered around the central demands of eliminating poverty and violence against women was a set of other proposals.

The problem of violence against women was raised everywhere: in every interview done with women from the four corners of the planet and in every platform of national demands that we received. It was referred to systematically.

Access to basic services was a very strong demand among poor countries. It also appeared in many national platforms. Poverty among women is not some kind of inevitable fate. There are deeply rooted, structural reasons for it, be they lack of access to land or property rights. In many countries, women cannot inherit land and therefore do not own their means of work. El Salvador, Jordan, Chad and Togo are some of the countries that included this demand in their national platform.

Another important demand is the right for girls to attend school. There are extreme situations in which access is completely barred for them. "In Afghanistan, we are not allowed to go out alone, without a man; we have no right to education, to go to school, to work." (Account by an Afghan woman) Access to education is also a crucial issue for the women of Morocco, Guinea-Bissau, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Cameroon and many others.

Access to work is more difficult for women with no formal education. Their salary is lower, and often this is so even if they do the same job as men. Many countries included demands on employment. Whether in France, Luxembourg, Ecuador, Mexico or Turkey, pay equity has yet to be achieved, not to mention access to administrative, economic and political decision making. The struggle continues on this front also. We all know, moreover, that even when women have the same initial opportunities as men, fewer of them enter political life and, when they do, they are seldom given positions or portfolios (if ministers) other than those concerned with women's and children's rights, social affairs, education or health.

Please Note

An Active Web Site

The Web site, in the three languages of the March (English, French and Spanish), contains all basic information about the March: background, world and national demands, action sheets in connection with the demands, lists of the countries and groups participating as well as the members of the International Liaison Committee, newsletters, a rundown of actions in the world, news releases, photos, video clips, the March song, etc.

In the past few months the site has grown with the introduction of a large section covering the actions staged in October around the world and, more particularly, in Washington and New York. In "The March Hour by Hour" we tried to convey as immediately as possible what was happening there. You will find summaries and complete addresses given at the IMF, the World Bank and the United Nations, along with the speeches made by the spokeswomen. Interviews conducted with women who came from all over the planet to the United States to accompany the delegates are invaluable testimonials to the commitment of women participating in the March.

We have posted numerous photos of all these events and have put a series of pictures into a slide show. Many links will connect you with national March sites (Australia, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Senegal, Brazil, Canada, etc.) as well as sites carrying their own news of the March (many feminist sites). Also, a search engine will allow you to find information about a given country quickly.

In coming months, the Web site will put up the latest news on the movement. It will continue to be the preferred means of communication with women throughout the world who have access to the Internet.

Films about the March

Filmmaker Sophie Bissonnette is finishing up editing A Score for Women's Voices, a film on the World March of Women; it should be done by May 2001. The work contains images from over 23 countries on the themes of violence against women and poverty as well as marches held there. It is co-produced by Québec's Productions Virage and the National Film Board of Canada.

The Groupe d'intervention Vidéo (GIV) is making a video on the marches held in Québec, elsewhere in Canada and New York. We have also heard that films are being made in France, Switzerland and most likely in other parts of the world, although unfortunately we do not have a list of them.

Nomination

The World March of Women in the Year 2000 has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize! We will keep you informed of developments in this respect.

Photos

Over the months, we have received many photos of marches held in different countries. Often they are anonymous, splendid pictures, and we have put them on our Web site whenever possible. Professional photographers have also kindly given us permission to use their work for the March. We extend our thanks to all of them and hope they will accept our apologies for not using their photos more extensively. The slide show exhibited automatically on our Web site is the creation of Web mistress Monique Fréchette, who used photos taken in Washington and New York by Joane McDermott.

Newsletter Contributors

We wish to thank the following people for their contribution to this issue of the World March of Women newsletter:
Writers: Nancy Burrows, Françoise David, Martine David, Elsa Galerand, Lorraine Guay, Diane Matte, Bruna Nota, Charlotte Thibault and Brigitte Verdière.
Graphic design: Tutti Frutti
Printing: Publications 9417 inc.
Translation: Elise Boyer and Nicole Kennedy (into English), Antía Culebra and Magaly Sala (into Spanish) and Louise Lamontagne (the article "Building a Culture of Peace" into French)

We also wish to thank UNICEF and the Canadian Commission for UNESCO for their financial support for the printing and mailing of this newsletter.