The journey began in 1995: how Beijing shaped 25 years of feminist activism

ABSTRACT

This is a personal history of a feminist journey which began in the period leading up to the United Nations Fourth Conference on Women at Beijing in 1995. It offers a first-hand account that might also reflect the experiences of many other feminists globally. This experience of participation in the preparations for Beijing, and attendance at the Conference itself as well as the parallel Huairou civil society event, provided a high point and a catalyst for a lifetime of activism in the Middle East and North Africa regions. I reflect on the opportunities created, the challenges encountered, and the learning gained.

Ceci est l’histoire personnelle d’un voyage féministe qui a débuté durant la période menant à la quatrième Conférence des Nations Unies sur les femmes, qui a eu lieu à Beijing en 1995. Elle propose un récit de première main qui reflète peut-être aussi les expériences de beaucoup d’autres féministes à l’échelle mondiale. Cette expérience de la participation aux préparatifs en vue de Beijing, et de la présence à la Conférence elle-même, ainsi qu’à l’événement parallèle de la société civile à Huairou, a constitué un point culminant et un catalyseur pour toute une vie d’activisme dans les régions du Moyen-Orient et de l’Afrique du Nord. Je propose une réflexion sur les occasions créées, les défis rencontrés et les enseignements tirés.

Esta es la historia personal de un viaje feminista que comenzó en el periodo previo a la Cuarta Conferencia de las Naciones Unidas sobre la Mujer, realizada en 1995 en Beijing. Se trata de un relato de primera mano que también podría reflejar las experiencias vividas por muchas otras feministas a nivel mundial. La vivencia de participación en los preparativos para Beijing y la asistencia a la propia Conferencia, así como al evento paralelo de la sociedad civil de Huairou, constituyeron un punto culminante, volviéndose catalizadores para toda una vida de activismo en las regiones de Medio Oriente y África del Norte. Reflexiono sobre las oportunidades creadas, los retos encontrados y el aprendizaje obtenido.

KEYWORDS:

• United Nations
• Beijing Conference
• women’s rights
• Middle East and North Africa
• feminist activism
• civil society

Acknowledgements

This article has been shaped by – and is dedicated to – individuals who have influenced my life, career, and major decisions. I mean here Omar Traboulsi, my ex-partner and former MENA regional representative at Oxfam GB (1993–1999), Yara Traboulsi, my daughter, Maitrayee Mukhopadhyay, my feminist mentor and sister and my direct manager at the Oxfam GB Gender Team (1993–1996), and my lifetime friends and ex-colleagues in Oxfam GB, Tina Wallace, Caroline Sweetman, and Bridget Walker. These past 25 years have also been enriched and inspired by my friendship with Rabea Naciri, feminist activist and former President of the Association Democratique des Femmes du Maroc. Rabea and I met because of Beijing, and have been soulmates since then. I cite all these wonderful people because, in more ways than one, this was our common journey. We have intersected at different junctions and in ways which have been made possible, both directly and indirectly, by the Beijing convening of 1995.

Notes on contributor

Lina Abou-Habib is a Senior Policy Fellow at the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University in Beirut. She is the co-founder and Chair of the Collective for Research and Training for Development – Action and serves as a Strategic MENA Advisor for the Global Fund for Women. Postal address: c/o POB 16 7090, Ashrafyeh Post Office, Beirut 1100 2030, Lebanon. Email: [email protected]

Notes

1 This refers to a manual produced by Collectif Maghreb Egalite in draft form before Beijing 1995 and then as a public document in 1996. The original manual was produced in French and entitled: ‘Cent mesures et dispositions – Pour une codification maghrebine egalitaire du Statut personnel et du Droit de la Famille’ (1995). The English translation of the manual and part of its publication was funded by the MENA regional office of Oxfam GB.

2 The Regional Representative at the time was Omar Traboulsi. He mobilised resources to ensure that a large group of feminist organisations from the MENA region were present in Beijing. They had also been enabled to prepare via meetings and regional networking before and after the Beijing Conference.

3 ‘Comfort women’ refers to women enslaved for sexual purposes by the Imperial Japanese Army in occupied territories during the Second World War.

4 Women in Black is a world-wide network of women committed to peace with justice and actively opposed to injustice, war, militarism, and other forms of violence. For more information, see http://womeninblack.org/ (last checked 14 April 2020).

5 For more information on CRTD-A, see www.crtda.org.lb (last checked 14 April 2020).

6 Gender mainstreaming refers to a process of assessment, and a strategy, to ensure that all planned actions – legislation, policies, or programmes – take into account women's concerns and experiences ‘so that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated’ (UN 1997, 1).

7 The terms gender and women were used interchangeably in the wake of Beijing, and this practice has continued to the time of writing. This has in practice meant that the more conservative understanding of women's issues has been perpetuated – gender, once a contentious term that frightened conservatives and fundamentalists, is seen by many to have lost its radicalism.

8 These two factors were alluded to by the current Vice President for Programmes at the Global Fund for Women, Leila Hessini, in her participation on the opening panel at the Tunis Forum for Gender Equality (Tunis, April 2019).

9 For more information on Resolution 1325, see www.un.org/womenwatch/osagi/wps/ (last checked 14 April 2020).

10 The ICPD Platform for Action was – though strongly contested – overall a victory for the world's women, recognising the sexual and reproductive rights of women. For more information, see www.unfpa.org/publications/international-conference-population-and-development-programme-action (last checked 14 April 2020). For more information on the Kenyan commemoration of ICPD, see www.nairobisummiticpd.org/ (last checked 14 April 2020).

11 The NGO CSW/NY ensures that the voices and leadership of feminist and women's rights organisations all over the world are included in UN deliberations such as the annual Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). It facilitates the largest gathering of civil society at the UN in support of women by hosting 10,000 women from around the world, co-ordinating and scheduling their 400 parallel events. For more information, see ngocsw.org (last checked 14 April 2020).