Third ISA Forum of Sociology (July 10-14, 2016)

371

Twenty Years after Beijing: A Cross-National Approach to Feminist Movements and the Implementation of the Platform for Action

RC32 Women in Society (host committee)

Language: English

The Fourth UN Conference on Women and the Platform for Action (PFA) represented the culmination of a vibrant tide of transnational feminisms, moving beyond the first conferences` differences between the Global South and Global North women’s movements priorities, unifying and broadening women’s rights agenda around twelve critical areas of concern, including demands ranging from women’s human rights to the creation of institutional mechanisms and public policies to promote gender equality – all sanctioned by 189 member states. 
Twenty years later, however, it has been argued that both progress and setbacks in gender equality have been experienced following Beijing. Despite the expansion of legal and institutional frameworks promoting gender equality fostered by the PFA, the lack of full and consistent implementation has been a key area of concern.
This session’s objective is to allow for a cross-country approach to the varied ways the PFA has been promoted and implemented – or not – by women’s movements and governments worldwide as a tool to effect gender equality.
How – and to what extent – has the PFA been implemented? In what political/economic contexts has the PFA been an effective instrument to foster gender equality locally and transnationally? What have been the most effective strategies and alliances for implementation? What is the relationship between the strength of feminist movements and NGOs and the implementation of the PFA? What can we learn from a cross-national approach to the PFA, comparing the different contexts, areas and ways in which it was effectively implemented or not? Posters: