Women reinventing globalization. (AWID Forum).

Some 1,200 women from around the world met in Guadalajara, Mexico, October 3-6, 2002 at the 9th Forum of the Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID) under the slogan "Re-inventing Globalization."

This forum brought together women leaders, activists and academics to share their efforts to promote women's human rights in the context of globalization and to reflect on the economic, political, social, cultural and technological implications of globalization.

AWID's Board of Directors and the meeting's International Planning Committee made a tremendous effort in facilitating the seminar's academic activities and providing an extensive cultural and recreational agenda which encouraged the different attending groups to interact.

Central Themes:

Reinventing Globalization

The meeting showcased new and different strategies being used by the women's movement to achieve social and economic justice within globalization in light of the contradictions inherent in the world's new economic order.

Fundamentalism was perhaps one of the most important themes of the seminar. The intensification of conflicts, increases in military spending, racism, censorship, religious fundamentalism and the international policies of the U.S. constitute some of the most serious threats to women's rights.

These reflections emphasized the need to search for new perspectives and to strengthen women's leadership to better confront the different varieties of fundamentalism that threaten to produce powerful setbacks for women's rights.

The New Leadership

The meeting also recognized that young women striving to turn their dreams of a better world into reality play an important role in posing essential questions about the role of the women's movement and its efforts to develop new leadership.

Globalize This!

The Campaign for Women's Rights in Development was also launched during the seminar. The document introducing the campaign presented a strategic framework to introduce feminist alternatives into the existing processes of globalization and to generate practical strategies with the aim of ensuring that women's rights become a central goal in development.

Eight demands were proposed as the starting point for this international campaign, under the slogan "Together we will globalize the rights of women in development":

1. Basic economic and social rights for everyone, everywhere;

2. Action on international commitments;

3. Accountability;

4. Peace;

5. Universality of human rights;

6. Responsible use of technology;

7. Equality is Justice;

8. Diversity.

Sandra Castaneda Martinez Latin American and Caribbean Women's Health Network November, 2002

RELATED ARTICLE: Will There Be a Beijing+10?

Women from many sectors are once again discussing the importance of the involvement of the women's movement in the global debates proposed by the United Nations. Specifically, the AWID Forum fostered a critical debate about whether the international feminist movement should concentrate its energies on a new global conference, Beijing +10. Joanna Kerr, Executive Director of AWID, argues that she does not support a global conference of women in 2005, in light of the efforts and resources required to defend the goals achieved in previous UN conferences. A similar opinion was offered by Maria Suarez, of Costa Rica's Feminist International Radio Endeavour, FIRE.

In light of this debate, an electronic discussion list was started in the hope of stimulating dialogue among different women regarding the advantages and disadvantages of a new World Conference of Women. To participate, send a message to: [e-mail] with the phrase: subscribe 5worldconferencewomen" in the text of the message.