Henrietta Hay's Column

As I write this, every feminist in the world has her eyes on Beijing. Unfortunately, I can't predict the future, so I don't know whether, by the time these words appear in print, our guys will still be speaking to the Chinese guys. But whatever the guys do, the women all around the world will be communicating on new levels of understanding.

You really have to feel a little sorry for the Chinese. When they offered to host the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women, they probably didn't realize that it was going to be the biggest U. N. conference in history, and that they were going to have 30,000 activist females from 181 nations running around Beijing, or sloshing in the mud in Huairou, talking a lot and carrying signs. They're not used to that sort of thing, and apparently do not want to become used to it. Geraldine Ferraro commented that, "...they thought it would be like the Olympic Games. We'd go in, run our races, and leave."

Despite Chinese hostility and American protests, the conference went on as scheduled and the delegates started work on the formal document. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the conservatives had done everything they could to keep American women away from Beijing. The main target, as anyone who does not live in a cave knows, was Hillary Rodham Clinton. She was used by the White House advisers as a political tool in international politics, and by the right wing as a focal point for social issues they oppose. But Hillary went to China anyway, and spoke forcefully and emotionally out of her heart for women everywhere.

"The main goal of the United States delegation," she said, "is to promote policies around the world -- including our own country -- that improve the status of women, children and family, and enable all women to fulfill their God-given potential by making the choices that are right for them." The conference will focus world attention on issues "that matter most to women, children and families, specifically education, health care, economic opportunity, and freedom from violence."

Hillary Clinton got very specific. She denounced the crime, prevalent in India, of dousing wives with gasoline and setting them afire because they don't contribute enough wealth to the family. She attacked the practice of mutilating young girls' genitals, which is prevalent in many Asian and African societies. She lamented the thousands of women in Bosnia who are subjected to rape as a tactic or prize of war. She criticized sterilization and forced abortion, which experts say has led to a deficit of 100 million females in Asia.

Call me the "F" word if you will (feminazi, I mean), but that those goals do not sound to me very much like what Focus on the Family called, "the most radical, atheistic and anti-family crusade in the history of the world." Is the desire to eliminate atrocities radical? Is the desire to strengthen the family by strengthening the mother radical? Is the desire to give women control over their own bodies radical? Guess it depends on your point of view! The U. N. declaration that will eventually be signed by all 181 nations will include specific proposals for individual governments, the United Nations and volunteer groups to alleviate women's poverty and improve health care, education and job opportunities for women. It also proposes measures to combat violence against women and to make women's voices heard in government and in peace talks.

It is not surprising that nearly all those who have protested the conference and who have kept the controversy alive have been men in power. The women seem to be doing very well in reaching agreements. After 80 years you'd think I'd learn, but I am still surprised that men get so scared when a large group of intelligent women gets together. When will they ever learn that we're all the same species?

4750 women from 181 countries are not going to achieve worldwide equality for women this week, but they have brought these issues to the attention of the world.

I'm glad Hillary went to Beijing. And I'm glad that she said, "If we join together as a global community, we can lift up the health and dignity of all women. Human rights are women's rights and women's rights are human rights."