The week before the Second Preparatory Meeting (PrepCom II) of the World Summit for Social Development (New York, August 22 – September 2, 1994), some 20 women from 15 countries gathered in New York to make an input to the DAWN platform. They ranged from a teacher working with women in prisons and a former ambassador, to university professor, researchers, social workers, communicators, and activists. Their shared regional perspectives on the theme issues of the Summit, Poverty, Employment and Social Integration, gave shape to DAWN’s presentation at the PrepCom II plenary discussion on An Enabling Environment. The paper, Challenging the Given: DAWN’s Perspectives on Social Development, contains their experiences and vision. It also reflects the voices of hundreds of other women in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the
Caribbean and the Pacific who Peggy Antrobus, DAWN General
Coordinator, presented the paper to the plenary session on behalf of the network. Following is an edited summary:
The themes of the Summit – Poverty, Employment and Social Integration – are not separable. Social and economic security are mutually reinforcing. Poverty cannot be alleviated merely by the provision of economic opportunities to the poor in the absence of a minimum base of social security.
On the other hand, social security must entail social peace which includes the absence of conditions that foster violence. The existence and removal of poverty is more than an economic and social concern. Poverty is a political issue, reflecting as it docs imbalances in the allocation of power and resources to different social groups. Poverty alleviation therefore requires a
strong moral and political commitment to justice and equity.
The most important issue before this PrepCom is the recognition that the eradication of poverty and unemployment, or the achievement of social integration, cannot be addressed without a fundamental shift in the thinking and direction of the global political economy and its management.
There is a basic contradiction between the aims of the Social Summit and the current growth model which must be recognized in the analysis of what constitutes an enabling environment.
The Summit must actively rrnmute a new development paradigm, grounded in ethical principles and focussed on the primacy of people. It must recognise that women have the strongest, take in human-centered development, and that it is imperative they be involved in decision-making process at every level.
The current global model of economic growth does not create an enabling environment for the elimination of poverty, the creation of productive employment or the promotion of social integration. It places the interests of international capital before that of people. This vision of ‘progress’ has aggravated inequalities, particularly between capital and labour. ft has concentrated political and economic power. In a uni-polar world, international power has promoted the interests of transnational and military establishments. Its control over the media has made it increasingly
difficult to halt the trends toward rapid deterioration in the security or people and the planet. The plight of Cuba and Haiti today illustrates the difficulties faced by any country which determines to stand against these trends and to prioritise social development.
The current economic environment is one in which terms of trade are unfavourable to the commodities and production processes of South countries. The conditionalities attached to structural adjustment programmes specifically victimize the poor in the developing societies with the greatest burden falling on women. The system of governance in each country protects the privileges of the few, and in collusion with international financial interests has served to promote the interests of financial capital over social capital Lo the detriment of services required by the poor. Economic hegemony requires a military establishment which further diverts resources that should be directed to development.
In this climate of economic instability, drug trafficking and crime thrive unabated. This instability is underpinned by an environment of increasing intolerance, fragmentation of communities and ethnic violence. And as growing poverty destroys the capacity of individuals to survive, large number of women, men and children are being forced to sustain the economic interests of a profit-motivated elite at the cost of their individual and family security. At the national level, we see the consequences
of the extreme brutalisation and breakdown of society and the
families:
• Unrestrained violence in the private arena which appears to be condoned by the slate and society under the guise of cultural practice.
• Increasing numbers of homeless children who are alienated from their families.
• The growing wch of drugs and crime that engulfs the youth.
• The degrading use of women, girls and boys as commodities: including the increasing trafficking of women and children.