SIXTH MEETING FOR COMMONWEALTH MINISTERS RESPONSIBLE FOR WOMEN'S AFFAIRS

SIXTH MEETING FOR COMMONWEALTH MINISTERS RESPONSIBLE FOR WOMEN'S AFFAIRS

 Commonwealth Ministers responsible for Women's Affairs (WAMM), met in New Dehli from the 17-19April 2000 to chart the course of further work in response to the 1995 Commonwealth Plan of Action on Gender and Development. For this Conference the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Social Policy was represented by the Hon. Helen D'Amato, Chairperson of the Parliamentary Social Affairs Committee and Ms. Simone Vella, Chairperson of the Commission for the Advancement of Women. WAMM represents the largest grouping of Ministers responsible for women's affairs within the international arena who form a constituency that meets regularly, builds consensus on critical issues and approached, shares experiences and best practices, and provides leadership and expertise to advance gender equality throughout the Commonwealth.

The theme of the meeting was "Advancing the Commonwealth Agenda into the New Millennium" and ministers held wide ranging discussions on poverty and women's economic empowerment, employment, human rights and violence against women and women in leadership and decision-making positions, particularly in politics and HIV/AIDS.

The Commonwealth Secretariat presented an Update to the 1995 Commonwealth Plan of Action on Gender and Development. This Update is a strategy to focus Commonwealth government and Secretariat action with a view to achieve greater impact in key areas of Commonwealth comparative advantage. It recognises new and emerging social, economic and political changes that are occurring worldwide and have major gender implications, for example, the macro-economic impact of globalisation, competitive international markets, changing employment patterns, and technological advances.

During her address to the Conference, Ms. D'Amato highlighted the critical issues, which are facing women today. In particular, she stressed on the concept of pay gaps and the impact which such pay inequalities leave on working and living conditions of women. Such critical issues, re-iterated Ms. D'Amato need to be tackled by both governments and social partners should progress and equality be registered in this field. Ms. D'Amato also spoke about sexual exploitation of women and children and called for studies in order to understand this phenomenon better especially its incidence in media such as the Internet. This was later carried on and endorsed by the Ministers present and presented in the Communique' of Recommendations which the WAAM issued at the end of the Conference.