 |
Never
doubt that a small group of thoughtful,
committed citizens can change the
world.
Indeed, it's the only thing that
ever has!
Margaret
Mead
|
Theme
for Triennium:
Women in Transition - Strategies
for Success
| Preparation
and Progress |
......................1984 |
| Action |
......................1985 |
Rosmarie
Michel of Switzerland was elected the thirteenth
President of the International Federation
at the Sixteenth International Congress
(1983) in Washington, D.C. She was the second
International President from Switzerland.
Elisabeth Feller was president from 1959
to 1962.
 Rosmarie
Michel waited forty years to gain the right
to vote. Switzerland was the last independent
Western democracy to grant women the right
to vote in national elections and to run
for national office. When the historic referendum
took place on February 7, 1971, the men
of Switzerland voted by a two to one margin
to accord women the right to vote. Rosmarie
Michel was President of BPW Switzerland
at the time. After years of working toward
this objective, the decision was a major
milestone for members of the BPW Switzerland
and all Swiss women. When American women
gained the right to vote in 1920, Carrie
Chapman Catt, President of the National
American Women Suffrage Association, stated
that "women were no longer petitioners
or wards of the nation, but free and equal
citizens." Now the same could be said
about Swiss women.
In
addition to achieving the right to vote,
Swiss women also became eligible to run
for Parliament for the first time. Twelve
women were elected as Members of Parliament
on October 31, 1971, three of whom were
members of the Swiss Federation. Rosmarie
Michel proclaimed, "The die is cast!
The results of the elections encourage Swiss
women in their efforts to achieve equality
of status; it fills our hearts with pleasure,
gives us confidence not to relax in our
endeavors. The election of those twelve
women is a gratifying event - but just a
beginning (Widening Horizons, 1972,41:2
p.2)."
Rosmarie
Michel's career in business combined with
living in a country with four official languages
prepared her for the challenges she would
face as leader of the International Federation.
A BPW member since 1964, she had years of
experience at the local, national, and international
level in the organization.
As
a result of a Constitutional amendment in
1983, the International President's term
had been reduced from three to two years.
Rosmarie Michel was the first president
to be affected by this change and began
setting goals immediately upon taking office.
Her expertise in clearly outlining both
short-term and long-term objectives and
expectations in collaboration with her officers
and committee chairpersons resulted in many
accomplishments during the 1983-1985 term.
IFBPW
HONORARY MEMBER AWARD
At
Congress in 1985 International President
Rosmarie Michel awarded Esther Hymer (USA)
Honorary Membership in IFBPW in recognition
of the fact that "IFBPW was one of
the organizations to have profited considerably
from her years of work as the International
Federation's Representative to the United
Nations in New York."
INTERNATIONAL
WEEK MESSAGE from the INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT
1984
Theme: Women in Transition - Strategies
for Success: Preparation and Progress
Success
is not fixed on one point nor on one action.
Many small lights mark the way which is
full of obstacles.
Step by step, progress is made toward the
goal.
MEMBERSHIP
COMMITTEE
There
were affiliates in 62 countries in 1985,
5 fewer countries than in 1983. During the
biennium 5 affiliates had moved from Associate
Club to Federation status and many new Associate
Clubs had formed.
Joan
Bielby (New Zealand), Membership Committee
Chairperson, and members of her committee
recommended the formation of a third category
of membership - Individual Associate Member.
The category was approved at Congress in
1985 and included "any business or
professional woman residing in a country
where there is no National Federation or
Associate Club." The Chairperson said
that "this new membership category
would allow women in countries where they
could not take up membership as a group,
perhaps for political reasons, to become
individual members."
HONORARY
TREASURER/FINANCE COMMITTEE
Norma
Young (Australia), Honorary Treasurer, reported
that three of the International's Funds
had provided financial assistance to members
to enable them to attend Congress in 1985.
The Young BPW Fund '85 was used to assist
young BPW members (age of thirty or less).
The Marjory Lacey-Baker Trust/Madesin Phillips
Fund had covered the travel expenses of
two young career women from the Middle East,
one from Iran and the other from Jordan.
The International Aid Fund paid for approximately
eighty per cent of the travel expenses incurred
by delegates from affiliates with financial
hardship and/or currency restrictions.
Ursula
Schulthess (Switzerland), Finance Committee
Chairperson, stressed to Congress in 1985
that "the Accumulated Fund was the
most important pillar in IFBPW's ongoing
financial security and should be maintained
at a level that would cover at least one
year's expenditure in order to have an emergency
reserve from which to meet current expenses."
She was pleased to report that the Accumulated
Fund was close to its target. The Finance
Committee recommended that dues, be held
at the current rate of $2.20 per person
because that rate had just gone into effect
on April 1, 1985, six months prior to Congress.
Congress delegates concurred.
Ursula
Schulthess concluded her Finance Committee
report to Congress in 1985 with the announcement
of the founding of a new BPW group to be
called "Friends of IFBPW." The
purpose of the new group was to gain financial
support other than through membership dues
and to offer each "Friend" frequent
updates on IFBPW activities and Friend's
Newsletter. To become a "Friend"
a member had to contribute at least one
hundred dollars per year for two years or
more.
PUBLICATIONS
COMMITTEE
Gloria
Tilbury Jacques (Zambia), Publications Committee
Chairperson, reported the results of a major
study undertaken during the biennium regarding
the feasibility of securing advertising
to cover publication costs of International's
magazine, Widening Horizons. The idea had
been abandoned because of two reasons: advertising
would have to be priced at a very high rate
per page and soliciting advertising three
or four times a year would be difficult.
The Chairperson announced that Wendy Peters
had retired as editor of Widening Horizons
in 1984 after four years in the position.
The new editor was Heather Davidson.
Twelve
issues of Internews were published during
the biennium and provided information about
the activities and projects of affiliates
around the world. New publicity leaflets
and posters, produced by a professional
agency, had been developed for use by affiliates
in publicizing projects, fund raising campaigns
and meetings.
AGRICULTURE
COMMITTEE
The
report of the newly formed Agriculture Committee
was prepared by Denise Cotton (France),
Committee Coordinator. She reported that
"agriculture was the occupation of
sixty-five per cent of the people in developing
countries and a far lower percentage in
developed countries." The Agriculture
Committee decided that the task in developed
countries was to make known the BPW organization
to women engaged in agriculture who lived
in isolated areas and to assist them in
learning about modern agricultural practices
and how to gain access to credit. BPW France
organized a three-day tour to the rural
province of Gascogne for these purposes.
'Women engaged in agriculture in developing
countries were often not recognized for
their economic role and were grossly undertrained,
but often compensated for these disadvantages
with a great capacity for innovation,"
said the Chairperson. The Committee identified
education projects and the support of environmental
programs to prevent further habitat degradation
caused by deforestation and all forms of
pollution as the most important ways of
assisting women in agriculture from developing
countries.
At
the Agriculture Committee Workshop at Congress
in 1985, Alix Haywood (New Zealand), summarized
an important objective of the Agriculture
Committee - to liaise closely with international,
national and regional organizations, and,
in particular, with the Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO), a United Nations agency.'
Members were encouraged to support practical
projects which would provide rural women
with tools, equipment and small machinery.
EDUCATIONAL
AND CULTURAL COMMITTEE/UNESCO
The
Educational and Cultural Committee, under
the leadership of Jess Sanders (Zimbabwe),
researched the following six topics during
the biennium: training of teachers; educational
resources; girls/women enrolled or working
in the fields of science and technology;
use of technology to help handicapped people;
violence in movies, videos and television;
and promotion of the arts in educational
institutions. According to the Chairperson,
"in many countries, girls continued
to be denied entry into courses and jobs
requiring technological and scientific qualifications,
but the perception that women generally
don't understand quantitative areas of study
was changing. Entry of girls and women into
the field of engineering was reportedly
surging."
The
UNESCO Representative, Jeanne Chaton (France),
told Congress that IFBPW had collaborated
with eleven other non-governmental organizations
in sending a letter to UNESCO's Secretary-General
asking that action be taken for the protection
of children who were victims of conflicts.
These twelve NGOs followed up their request
for action by presenting a program to UNESCO's
Twenty-Second General Conference in 1983
in which children participated by reading
poetry inspired by their contact with war.
The Chairperson thanked Jeanne Chaton for
making information generated by UNESCO readily
available to the membership on such topics
as education and the role of women in society,
access to equal education, science education,
research, training, and international cooperation
relating to the status of women.
EMPLOYMENT
CONDITIONS COMMITTEE/ILO
Tuulikki
Juusela (Finland), Employment Conditions
Committee Chairperson, reported that equal
rights in the labor market could only be
realized when there were equal responsibilities
in the family; the care and upbringing of
children should be considered and treated
as a parental duty, not only as a maternal
one. More attention should also be paid
to part-time employment and the flexible
organization of working time which would
enable many more workers to combine family
responsibilities with gainful employment.
A resolution on the subject was developed
by the Employment Conditions Committee and
approved at Congress in 1985 titled "Flexible
Use of the Labor Force." The importance
of providing girls with career counseling
that took into account the full range of
employment possibilities could not be overstated,
according to the Chairperson.
Tuulikki
Juusela introduced the Employment Conditions
Committee Workshop at Congress by quoting
information received from the International
Labor Organization (ILO) that said, "Although
progress had been made by women in the political,
social and cultural fields and in attaining
equality under the law, comparable improvement
had not been made by women in economic life."
The
International Labor Organization (ILO) Representatives,
Angela Butler and Madeleine Jaccard, both
from Switzerland, attended the ILO's Ninth
Session of the Advisory Committee on Salaried
Employees and Professional Workers in April
1985. The Advisory Committee published the
following conclusions in relation to women
nonmanual workers:
- Since
women continue to be concentrated in a narrow
band of low-skilled occupations in commerce
and offices with limited prospects of promotion,
they are often more affected by unemployment
than men. Technological and structural changes
may often threaten these jobs; the lack
of adaptable skills and training opportunities
makes the redeployment of women workers
and their allocation to other branches or
jobs extremely difficult. National education
policies and vocational training systems
should therefore provide broad-based training
programmes for women who are about to enter
the commerce and offices sectors and retrain
those women already employed in those sectors.
- Governments
and employers should take steps to ensure:
the equal right of women to employment and
advancement in their profession, the elimination
of all forms of wage discrimination, and
equal access to vocational training including
technical training for all professions.
- Governments
should create conditions that enable women
to be economically active and hold responsible
posts in all professions as well as considering
the ratification and implementation of the
1981 Worker with Family Responsibilities
Convention (No.156).
IFBPW
was represented at the Seventy-First Session
(1985) of the ILO Conference by the International
President and the ILO Representatives. As
suggested by President Michel, the Representatives
submitted a statement on "Equal Opportunities
and Equal Treatment of Men and Women in
Employment" to the Conference Committee
on Equality in Employment.
HEALTH
COMMITTEE
Chairperson
Helen Smith (UK) and the members of the
newly formed Health Committee established
the following objectives for the biennium:
formation of a data base of women's health
issues and evaluation of responses by affiliates
to the primary health care concept developed
jointly by UNESCO and the World Health Organization
(WHO) in 1978, establishment of links with
international organizations and other non-governmental
agencies interested in health-related issues.
The
recognition that eighty per cent of the
world's population had virtually no access
to basic health services prompted the founding
of the concept of Primary Health Care. The
concept was jointly supported by UNESCO
and WHO and the program of action which
applied to both developed and developing
nations was called "Health for All
by the Year 2000." Government commitment
to the primary health care concept was strong,
but effective implementation was not so
obvious. "The lack of involvement of
women as village health workers in developing
countries or as counselors in the developed
nations was disturbing since involvement
of women was considered essential to the
establishment of 'Health for All by the
Year 2000,' "said Chairperson Smith.
As a practicing doctor, Helen Smith traveled
to India to evaluate fourteen Primary Health
Care projects and reported excellent results
when women village health workers were involved,
but she also observed that lack of expertise
in management and administration techniques
by professionals had a negative impact on
the effectiveness of the projects.
BPW
UK assisted in making primary health care
a reality for people in rural parts of India
by raising funds for the purchase of a jeep
to transport health care workers to outlying
areas and the digging of a well to supply
clean water to a newly constructed health
center. Affiliates in Africa and South America
had assisted in improving health conditions
by employing local village teachers who
provided rural women with classes in health
education, hygiene, and family planning.
Information
and ideas had been exchanged between the
Health Committee and the following organizations:
UNICEF, ILO, International Planned Parenthood
Federation, Voluntary Health Associations
(India), and WHO. The Chairperson reported
the pending application for consultative
status with the World Health Organization
included a mandatory two-year information
exchange period between the International
Federation and WHO.
The
Health Committee issued four bulletins during
the biennium on various health topics. Four
resolutions on health were approved by the
membership at Congress in 1985 on the subjects
of primary health care, treatment with approved
drugs, occupational safety, and vaccinations.
LEGISLATION
COMMITTEE
Yvette
Swan (Bermuda), Legislation Committee Chairperson,
reported to Congress that her committee
had encouraged affiliates to review and
study the laws of their countries as they
relate to women. Questionnaires had been
sent to affiliates on the subjects of political
rights and public life, laws as they relate
to a woman's life, and legislation in regard
to education. Responses indicated that women
comprised only ten to twenty per cent of
those engaged in politics and on boards
and commissions appointed by governments.
Affiliates reported that, in some countries,
women were not permitted to vote on the
national level and could not serve as jurors
or in the military forces. The general consensus
among affiliates was that although the legal
statutes against rape and assault within
a marriage had been strengthened, they were
improperly enforced. Also, pornography and
obscenity laws were described as inadequate.
The
Legislation Committee presented a resolution
to Congress in 1985 based on Article X of
the United Nations Convention on the Elimination
of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women
(CEDAW) declaring that appropriate steps
should be taken to reduce female student
drop-out rates and organize programs for
girls and women who have left school prematurely.
The Legislation Committee's resolution relating
to this issue asked affiliates to encourage
their governments to "make specific
educational information, including information
on family planning, available to girls and
women so as to ensure their health and well-being
and that of their families."
The
Chairperson concluded her report by urging
members to make known their concerns to
officials at all levels of government in
order to reach a stage illustrated by a
note she had received from the Senior Adviser
in the Office of the Status of Women in
Australia saying, "The [Australian]
Government is determined to continue to
ensure that women are equitably represented
on all Government Authorities and instrumentalities."
PROJECTS
COMMITTEE
UNESCO CO-ACTION PROGRAMME
Esther
Ocloo (Ghana), Projects Committee Chairperson,
reported that affiliates had supported the
UNESCO Co-Action Programme which had been
adopted as an official project of the International
Federation at Congress in 1983. A bulletin
explaining the Programme and including a
simple format for writing a project proposal,
a preliminary step to acceptance as a UNESCO
Co-Action Programme, was published by the
UN Committee during the biennium. The Chairperson
listed projects that affiliates had adopted
(some through the Co-Action Programme and
others independently): tree planting, literacy
programs, education projects for rural and
urban women, day care centers for children
of working mothers, agricultural projects,
health care centers, establishment of libraries,
career guidance through courses/seminars,
"Water for All" project and Project
Five-O.
PROJECT
FIVE-O MEXICO
 The
pilot project of Project Five-O, a cooperative
venture between five international women's
organizations including IFBPW, was located
in Calcutta, India, and began operation
in 1983. It was quickly followed by the
establishment of Project Five-O centers
in the Philippines, Thailand and Zimbabwe,
all designed to help women in poor economic
circumstances in developing countries. The
International Federation of Business and
Professional Women assumed leadership of
a project in 1985 called Project Five-O
Mexico. International President Rosmarie
Michel, asked the Mexican Federation of
Business and Professional Women to act as
coordinators of the project. Silvia Salazar
Salazar, as President of the Mexican Federation,
developed the project proposal and presented
it to Congress in 1985. The city of La Paz,
the capital of the Baja California Sur region
of Mexico, was chosen as the site for Project
Five-O Mexico. It was a city with dense
population, no underground water supply,
limited agricultural resources and little
industry. Communities in the region were
very poor. Average family size was large.
There were few health care facilities and
limited financial resources in the region.
The main objective of Project Five-O Mexico
was to build a nursing school that would
provide primary health care training so
that nursing school graduates would be qualified
to provide health care to people living
in the surrounding one hundred and twenty
rural communities. It would be the first
nursing school in the whole Baja California
Sur region and plans were made to accommodate
the training of one hundred nurses at a
time.
INTERNATIONAL
AID FUND
The
International Gift Shop, run by the Projects
Committee at Congress in 1985, raised $9,000
for the International Aid Fund to be used
to help those affiliates with financial
need send representatives to the next Congress.
TRADE
AND COMMERCE COMMITTEE (AD HOC)
 The
newly formed Ad Hoc Trade and Commerce Committee
had the goals of furthering women's participation
in trade, commerce, and financial institutions;
encouraging seminars and the development
of training methods on the subjects of trade
and commerce; urging schools to introduce
curricula related to trade and commerce;
developing a coalition of handicraft and
trade associations; and providing guidance
on the subject of marketing products in
local, national and international markets.
The
top priority of the Trade and Commerce Committee
and its Chairperson, Daisy de Wende (Bolivia),
during the biennium had been to compile
a trade directory listing members' businesses
for the purpose of stimulating economic
activity among affiliates around the world.
The first edition of the IFBPW Trade Directory,
published in 1985, was underwritten by the
van der Ent Economic Project Fund. This
Fund was established in 1983 to be used
"towards economic activity for women"
by sisters, Marie and Anna van der Ent,
both longtime members of BPW Netherlands.
A new logo had been designed with the official
IFBPW emblem superimposed on the hemispheres
of the world and was used on the cover of
the Trade Directory.
Chairperson
Daisy de Wende extended sincerest thanks
to her committee members for their dedicated
work with special appreciation to Lucile
Dunham (USA). President Michel said, "choosing
the right person for the job was an important
component in the success of any undertaking
and the selection of Daisy de Wende had
assured the success of this new committee."
UNITED
NATIONS COMMITTEE
Thirteen
bulletins were published by the United Nations
Committee during the biennium. A UN Committee
resolution that was approved at Congress
in 1985 was on the subject of the United
Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).
The resolution encouraged affiliates to
apply for funds from UNIFEM when establishing
projects. The Fund had provided financial
aid for four hundred projects in seventy-eight
countries since its establishment in 1976.
President
Michel thanked Paulette Hutchinson for establishing
an excellent network of contacts in her
three years (1981-1984) as the first UN
Administrator at International Headquarters.
Tamara Martinez joined the International
Headquarters Staff as Executive Assistant/UN
Administrator in 1984.
Affiliates
observed the United Nations International
Youth Year in 1985 with varied projects.
One example was the Belgian Federation's
national project - a fund raising exhibition
in Belgium of one hundred appliqued tapestry
wall hangings which had been made by girls
at the Social Welfare Center in Madras,
India; seventy were sold and all proceeds
were returned to the Social Welfare Center
in Madras for use by the girls in further
developing their artistic talents and their
careers.
WORLD
CONFERENCE TO REVIEW AND APPRAISE THE ACHIEVEMENTS
OF THE UNITED NATIONS DECADE FOR WOMEN:
EQUALITY, DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE
July 15-26, 1985 Nairobi, Kenya
Wendy
Hogg (UK), Chairperson of the United Nations
Committee, reported to Congress in 1985
that her committee's major task during the
biennium had been preparation and planning
for the participation of the International
Federation in the World Conference to Review
and Appraise the Achievements of the United
Nations Decade for Women. This was the third
major world conference devoted exclusively
to women and their particular interests
and concerns: the first was in 1975 in Mexico
City and the second in 1980 in Copenhagen.
The purpose of the World Conference in 1985
was to take stock of the ten year effort
on the part of the United Nations and its
Member States to improve the status of women
and also to devise strategies for the advancement
of women from 1986 to the year 2000.
As
an interested non-governmental organization
in consultative status with the Economic
and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United
Nations, IFBPW was invited by the United
Nations Secretary-General to participate
in preparation for the World Conference
and to send official observers. The United
Nations Commission on the Status of Women
was chosen as the Preparatory Body for the
1985 World Conference and the International
Federation's UN Representatives attended
all of the Commission's Sessions. Affiliates
throughout the world participated in preparation
for the World Conference through attendance
at regional planning meetings.
Ten
official observers represented the International
Federation at the 1985 World Conference:
International President Rosmarie Michel,
official leader of the delegation; Wendy
Hogg, UN Committee Chairperson and First
Vice President; two of the IFBPW Representatives
to the United Nations and six members of
IFBPW. Many other members attended as official
delegates for their governments. A total
of 695 official observers from 160 non-governmental
organizations and 2,020 governmental delegates
representing 158 Member States of the United
Nations attended the World Conference.
The
consensus document of the World Conference
had the lengthy title "Forward-looking
Strategies of Implementation for the Advancement
of Women and Concrete Measures to Overcome
Obstacles to the Achievement of the Goals
and Objectives of the United Nations Decade
for Women for the Period 1986 to the Year
2000: Equality, Development and Peace,"
but was more commonly referred to as the
"Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies
for the Advancement of Women" or simply
as the "Forward-looking Strategies."
This document, a blueprint for action for
the next fifteen years (1986-2000), included
recommendations to integrate women's concerns
in all areas and sectors of development,
to reflect in national economic statistics
women's unremunerated contribution to development,
to ensure women access to finance and credit,
to encourage shared parental responsibilities,
and to eliminate illiteracy. The culmination
of determined work over a ten-year period
from the World Conference in 1975 to the
World Conference in 1985, the document was
addressed not only to the Member States
of the United Nations, international and
regional organizations but to non-governmental
organizations as well.
As
a non-governmental organization (NGO) in
consultative status with the United Nations
Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), IFBPW
participated directly in the World Conference
by presenting the following written statement:
These
"Forward-looking Strategies" are
imperative until discrimination at all levels
between men and women is eliminated. In
a society in which equal opportunities for
men and women are secured, there is a chance
for the development of full partnership
in full responsibility for a peaceful world.
In
addition to the written statement, an oral
statement was presented, the result of IFBPW's
collaboration with nine other international
women's organizations. It stressed the urgent
need to make greater efforts in education
and training in managerial, technical and
nontraditional areas.
Immediate
Past International President Maxine Hays
summarized the importance of the World Conference
with these words:
The
overwhelming reality of the Nairobi meeting
[World Conference, 1985] was women reaching
across cultural barriers to build bridges
of understanding. 'The Spirit of Nairobi'
signified a decade of change in the women's
movement, a shift from sisterhood - support
of women for gender's sake - to women's
support of issues of gender.
Three
United Nations organizations which had assisted
women's advancement a great deal during
the Decade for Women were the Committee
on the Elimination of Discrimination Against
Women, the Voluntary Fund for the United
Nations Decade for Women, renamed the United
Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM)
in 1984, and the International Research
and Training Institute for the Advancement
of Women (INSTRAW). IFBPW members had given
generous support and leadership to all of
these organizations.
NGO
FORUM
IFBPW
was represented on the NGO Planning and
Program Committee for the NGO Forum held
in Nairobi from July 10-19, 1985. Hundreds
of seminars and workshops provided an opportunity
for the exchange of information on the themes
of equality, development, peace, health,
education, employment, youth, aging, migrants
and refugees, women in emergency situations,
and women and the media. The NGO Forum attracted
14,000 participants.
Leticia
Shahani, Secretary-General of the World
Conference, spoke at the NGO Forum and described
the International Women's Decade as a valuable
period in which the tremendous increase
in world-wide networking had led to the
creation of an international force for the
advancement of women. She spoke of three
major obstacles to progress: traditional
attitudes, governmental policies, and the
absence of peace. She said that these three
factors had been considered in the Forward-looking
Strategies and that women would present
these Strategies to their governments with
the unified intention of influencing future
policies. She concluded by saying that the
assistance of non-governmental organizations
was invaluable.
17th
INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS
AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND, October 13-18, 1985
"Haere
Mai, Haere Mai, Haere Mai" (Maori for
"you are thrice welcome") was
the traditional greeting in song delivered
by the Maori Welcome Group to members as
they registered for the Seventeenth International
Congress in Auckland, New Zealand. The Welcome
Group was accompanied by the Maori Queen,
Dame Te-Ata-i Rangi Kaahu.
International
President Rosmarie Michel introduced Beverly
Sturgeon, President of the hosting New Zealand
Federation, who welcomed the 1,065 registrants
and their guests representing 50 countries
and noted that this was the first International
Congress ever to be held in the Australasian
region of the world.
 The
theme of the Congress was "Youth Today
- Leaders Tomorrow" in recognition
of the United Nations International Youth
Year (IYY) 1985. To implement this theme
during Congress, all affiliates had been
encouraged to bring a young member to Congress
as part of their delegation. The International
Federation had established a Young BPW Fund
'85 which was used to assist twelve Young
Career Women from ten different countries
to attend Congress. Young Career Woman,
Amanda Vosper (New Zealand), led a panel
discussion on the subject of "Youth
Today - Leaders Tomorrow" at Congress.
A recommendation to Congress in 1985 titled
"Youth Today - Leaders Tomorrow"
asked that the Young BPW Fund be continued
to ensure the attendance of Young Career
Women at future Congresses. This recommendation
was enthusiastically endorsed. President
Michel stated that the idea of inviting
Young Career Women to Congress "had
proved to be far more successful than anybody
could ever have imagined."
Frances
Hallett, a Young Career Women from BPW UK,
wrote these words after attending Congress
in 1985:
I was
very proud to belong to an organization
whose aims can surmount all national barriers.
I had not realized how many projects IFBPW
was involved in, not just in using its voice
to influence legislation but also in giving
practical help in the field. I had not realized
how dedicated IFBPW was to improving conditions
for women both in the workplace and in their
general living conditions
Noting
that the United Nations had established
Regional Economic Commissions in Africa
(ECA), Europe (ECE), Latin America and the
Caribbean (ECLAC), and Asia and the Pacific
(ECSCAP), delegates to Congress in 1985
voted to divide IFBPW into regional units
approximating those of the United Nations.
The five IFBPW Regions were Africa; Asia
and the Pacific; Europe; Latin America and
the Spanish-speaking countries of the West
Indies; and North America and the non Spanish-speaking
countries in the West Indies. Five Regional
Coordinators were elected with the job of
liaising between the International Federation
and its affiliates as well as promoting
the aims and policies of the International
Federation within their regions.
WOMEN'S
WORLD BANKING (WWB)
 President
Michel* made brief introductory remarks
in relation to Women's World Banking to
Congress. She said, "When discussing
forward-looking strategies at the last Congress,
it was stated that the economy is the key
to establishing equal opportunities for
women. It is my firm belief that the structure
of our organization is ideal for establishing
a network for Women's World Banking."
The International President then introduced
Michaela Walsh, the President and one of
the founders of Women's World Banking. She
began her presentation by first paying tribute
to Esther Hymer (USA), IFBPW Representative
at the UN in New York, and thanked her "for
sharing wisdom and counsel in a sophisticated
way with those who had been involved in
the evolution and founding of the idea of
Women's World Banking."
*Note: Rosmarie Michel began her association
with Women's World Banking as Regional Coordinator
for Europe in 1988 and has served in leadership
positions continuously since that time.
Currently (1995), she is Vice Chairperson
of the Board of Trustees.
Michaela
Walsh reported that the capital fund of
Women's World Banking now stood at 3 million
dollars. $175,000 in guarantees placed in
three countries had generated 850 jobs within
two years. A $10,000 letter of credit had
generated a total of $350,000 in a community
that had previously had no access to the
banking system. President Michel thanked
Michaela Walsh for her presentation that
proved that Women's World Banking had become,
in just six years, an institutional force
for women's self-sufficiency. She hoped
that reports of cooperation between Women's
World Banking and affiliates would be presented
at future Congresses.
PRESIDENT'S
ADDRESS
President
Michel shared with Congress participants
a compliment she had received about IFBPW.
At the World Conference in Nairobi, a high-ranking
official of the United Nations had said
to her, "The International Federation
of Business and Professional Women is the
most efficient women's organization worldwide
and its potential is unlimited because it
is open to every woman in the world's work
force." Rosmarie Michel concluded her
Address as International President with
these words:
 The
challenge of the office of International
President, the opportunity given to meet
so many women with different cultural backgrounds
and to assist in solving problems has made
the world smaller and broadened my understanding.
Your understanding, support and friendship
was, and is, the International President's
walking stick. I extend my heartfelt gratitude
to Business and Professional Women who gave
me the opportunity to serve the International
Federation. We all have a vision for a better
world.
It
is not IFBPW that can change the world,
but it is through its members that we can
hope for a better world.
I
believe in IFBPW!
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