Oleh/By : DATO' SERI DR.
MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue : PALACE OF THE GOLDEN HORSES,
SG. BESI, KUALA LUMPUR
Tarikh/Date : 22/10/98
Tajuk/Title : THE OPENING OF THE 3RD INTERNATIONAL
STEERING COMMITTEE ON
THE ECONOMIC ADVANCEMENT OF
RURAL WOMEN
May I take this opportunity to bid a warm welcome to
all the delegates to Malaysia, and to extend my heartiest
congratulations to the International Steering Committee
(ISC) for convening its third meeting in Kuala Lumpur. It
is gratifying to know that the objective of this Meeting
is not only to review the activities for economic
advancement of rural women and their families in line with
the Geneva Declaration but also to discuss the functions
and roles of the members as advocates on behalf of rural
women. Commitment to the mandate is reflected in the
expanding membership. Ever since your first meeting in
Belgium in 1994, I understand that the original membership
of 15 has been enlarged to include five members from each
of the five regions of the world - Africa, the Americas,
Asia and the Pacific, Europe, the Near East and North
Africa.
2. The ISC has an important mandate. Promoting the
implementation of the Geneva Declaration for Rural Women
through the mobilisation of political will and public
opinions is not only appropriate but highly strategic for
women who hold positions as First Ladies. Your access to
high level decision-makers facilitate the moulding and
promotion of appropriate national policies and programmes
for the economic advancement of women, rural and non-rural
who are vital forces as change agents in development and
poverty eradication. At no other time would this
influence be more critical than now, when we are facing a
severe economic contraction in all continents of the
world, triggered by currency trading and irrational global
capital flows. The creation and enjoyment of global
wealth are very uneven and as developing countries
continue to struggle with deteriorating terms of trade,
debts and structural adjustments, the basic needs of the
people are greatly compromised. In these circumstances
more women are thrown into the pits of poverty and they
remain the poorest of the poor. Poverty is particularly
acute for rural women, female headed households,
indigenous women, the urban poor and migratory workers.
The recession may well be a catalyst for a social and
political re-think of domestic and global economic
strategy.
3. In every region of the world, a substantial
proportion of the population in developing countries live
in the rural areas and suburban slums at the margins of
megacities. More than 60 percent are women who form the
backbone of the agricultural labour force as farmers,
petty traders, artisans, industrial home workers, micro
producers and domestic servants. They produce 35-45
percent of the Gross Domestic Product as well as 50
percent of the developing world's food. Most still live
in abject poverty, lacking access to resources and
markets. Despite the deplorable conditions, these women,
especially those from the poorest households, are still
the prime movers of development, producing food and
maintaining the well being of their families. If their
contribution to the reproductive sector is taken into
consideration, rural women with this burden, contribute an
estimated USD11 trillion to rural and national economies.
4. Recognising their contribution, effective and
appropriate policies and programmes are being developed to
harness the vast untapped potential of talents, skills and
knowledge of rural women into the development process in a
sustainable manner. The aim is to improve the living
standards, to increase productivity and ensure more
equitable sharing of the national wealth. Several
institutions such as the Grameen Bank, the Association for
Social Advancement (ASA), Bangladesh Rural Advancement
Committee, the Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia and Departments of
Rural Development have successfully reached out to
thousands of poor rural women. Micro-financing,
cooperatives, extensive social and health services as well
as training, have been effective tools in poverty
eradication and generating self reliance amongst thousands
of poor women in the rural areas. In Malaysia we
succeeded in reducing the poverty level from 49.3 percent
in 1970 to 16.5 percent in 1990 and 8.9 percent in 1995.
Much more can be done, especially by the private sector,
the R&D institutions, international development agencies
and national governments to invest in this important
segment of human resource by incorporating them as target
groups in the transfer of technology, in developing labour
and time saving technology that will increase productivity
and in the application of information and communication
technology. Most important of all are the programmes that
target humanitarian and gender sensitive values towards
the development of harmonious families which tap the
potentials of both male and female family members to
become proactive, creative, knowledgeable and productive
members of society.
5. The theme "Poverty Amongst Rural women, Their
Families and Communities" rings a warning bell in this
trying times. It seems timely that a meeting on poverty
is held at a time when Asia and possibly the world are in
the throes of economic turmoil. A financial crisis
brought about by currency speculation and manipulation,
which had its beginnings in Thailand in 1997, has now
spread to other countries in Asia, resulting in a rapid
increase in poverty. In one Asian country with a very big
population the reduction in the number below poverty line
has now been reversed. Where before only 20 percent were
below the poverty line, now almost 50 percent have fallen
below the poverty line. The currency devaluation and the
subsequent economic recession has hit the rural poor most,
in particular the women.
6. The situation is not helped much by self aggrandising
pronouncements from speculators with sanctimonious
attitudes who appear on international media networks
making unjustifiable attacks on the strickened countries
and urging investors to pull out their money to invest in
more lucrative markets. Their callous call betrays a
cruel blindness to the plight of millions of people who
have been impoverished by the economic downturn and
dehumanises the social costs borne by the countries. When
businesses slow down or fold up, millions lose their jobs.
People have less money for their food, shelter, health and
education. Under-consumption worsens the business
situation. People are reduced to a state where they are
unable to participate actively in mainstream community
life. Thus people are not only poor but are also socially
deprived. Joblessness, inflation, food shortages, mental
and physical anguish contribute to the social unrest with
devastating riots, strikes, protests and political
instability are increasingly being reported in many
countries.
7. The 1998 Human Development Report concludes that the
financial crisis in East Asia in the past year has caused
the biggest set-back to the huge economic and social
strides in human development that have occurred over the
last three decades. Impressive improvements in longevity,
attainment of knowledge and a decent standard of living
gained through the hard work of governments to provide
better rural health services, safe water and sanitation,
nutrition and rapid growth of primary schools, are being
thwarted or even wiped away by the loss of Government
revenue due to the collapse of the economy and the
recession which has set in.
8. No one has been spared. From large corporations to
the ordinary men and women in the street, the impact of
the credit crunch and high interest rates has been
paralysing. Rural women who are already poorer than
others in their countries become acutely impoverished.
Enhanced economic activities which is acknowledged as the
way out of poverty for rural women becomes extremely
difficult as such activities require credit to continue
functioning.
9. Credit is to business like blood is to the human
body. Flight of capital, like haemorrhage, bleeds the
business to death. The first thing we should do is to
stop the massive bleeding. In a situation where the
credit dries up, or analogously when the patient becomes
anaemic, we should provide the right supplements such as
iron pills or even blood of the right group. If we deny
these supplements by raising interests and prices to
unaffordable levels we will surely kill the patient. If
your business can only make 10 percent profit, a 15
percent interest rate would kill the business. Further if
your business depends on imported products, you will want
a stable currency so that you are not held hostage to an
uncertain and deteriorating exchange rate. I understand
that many of those who sell foodstuff such as curry puff
depend on imported ingredients such as flour, potatoes,
beef and so on. You cannot fix your price if the cost
fluctuates with volatile exchange rates. As a small
trader hedging against exchange rate changes is beyond
you. Your business will fail and you will join the ranks
of the poor and the hopeless.
10. The flow of capital from the rich countries to the
poor countries should help enrich the poor through job
creation and opportunities for businesses, including small
businesses in the rural areas. In Malaysia we experienced
this beneficial effect when we opened up our country to
foreign capital. Our people were paid low wages and
working conditions were not as good as in the developed
countries. But it was better than being unemployed.
11. But then the capital was suddenly pulled out of the
country to be invested elsewhere. The workers lost their
jobs; the small traders lost their business. Rapidly
poverty came back. The rural poor cannot understand what
happened. Worse still they do not know how it happened
and how they could prevent it from happening. All that
they can do is to accept their sufferings.
12. Governments cannot abandon their responsibilities to
the people who elected them. We see for ourselves the
immense misery inflicted on people -- men, women and
children -- all over the developing world. International
response must be strengthened beyond mobilising financial
support. Focus must be on preventing such a crisis from
ever happening again and to protect people from the
consequences of economic collapse. The assistance of
multilateral and bilateral lenders should aim at
immediately overcoming the poverty of the already poor
directly. Endless discussions on the so-called "new
architecture" of the world financial system will not do
much good for those who may die in the meantime.
13. At the same time the private sector and the people
must also demonstrate their confidence and help the
economy grow. At difficult times like this we need
everybody to direct all their energies toward getting the
economy going. No one is exempted. Each and every
individual, men and women, must contribute to the
country's recovery based on national interest, which is
synonymous with our individual social and economic well
being. We are the ones who hold the best chance of saving
ourselves from this crisis. Showing desperation and
losing confidence will not help anybody but will only make
matters worse. We must put our heads together to come up
with ways and means to ward off economic threats and
instantaneous changes.
14. I have no doubts at all that in your deliberation on
poverty amongst women you will give due thought on ways to
overcome the additional problems women face that have been
caused by the current financial crisis. I would also urge
you to look at ways to prevent future ones.
15. With those words and in the name of Allah, the most
Benevolent and Merciful, I declare the Third International
Steering Committee for the Economic Advancement of Rural
Women officially open.
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