The United Nations Commission on the Status of Women developed the so-called “Beijing Action Plan” in 1995 to promote the interests of women world wide. The plan was reviewed in 2005, and next year’s Annual Session of the Commission has the Fifteen Year review of the plan on its agenda.
It therefore provides a good opportunity for individuals and community groups to examine the progress made in women’s affairs under the plan, and consider how and where progress can be made. There remains a litany of issues in which women remain oppressed by numerous inequalities, even in advanced western democracies, so no society can afford to be complacent on the issue of equality and women’s rights.