International Women's Day Australian National Webspace

IWD '99 Around the Globe
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PARIS, March 8 (AFP) Around the world Monday, women received flowers, met with politicians, went to the polls, clashed with policemen and women were oppressed and slammed oppression on International Women's Day.

In France, Prime Minister Lionel Jospin lunched with his nine female ministers, while France's secretary for women's rights, Nicole Pery, gave her colleagues roses. Environment Minister Dominique Voynet received a show of support after she was insulted by French farmers Thursday at the national agricultural show fair and had her office trashed by others last month. Voynet's Greens party also handed out "housewives' kits" containing aprons and a wooden spoon to members of the male-dominated parliament. Jospin was giving a reception for several hundred prominent women, including Oscar-winning actress Juliette Binoche and Nobel laureate and anti-landmine activist Jody Williams.

United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan called for an end to violence against women, saying it "is perhaps the most shameful human rights violation," during a ceremony in New York. In Geneva, the UN's high commissioner for refugees, Sadako Ogata, echoed Annan's words, and urged governments to grant asylum to women fleeing violence. "The nature of persecution women suffer from is not the same as for men," she said.

In Jerusalem, a dispute erupted after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu briefly addressed female politicians to mark International Women's Day before leaving to attend election campaign functions. Netanyahu told some 100 politicians and feminists he hoped "one day it will not be necessary to celebrate Women's Day because we will have achieved equality of the sexes." His appearance was slammed by opposition Labour Party deputy Yael Dayan, who charged he had not held a serious discussion with the assembled women.

Turkish police detained 16 people in Istanbul for holding "illegal" celebration meetings, including a group which tried to stage a play in a train station.

In Qatar, women celebrated the right to vote, going to the polls for the first time in the Gulf to choose a local council from among 227 candidates, including six women. The landmark event took place in a country where few women drive or uncover their face in public. "We live in a society which is misogynistic to the bone," said woman candidate Muza al-Malki, as veiled women in black voted at separate polling stations from men. Moroccan Premier Abderrahmane Youssoufi announced an "action plan" to protect women there from violence and raise their literacy levels beyond the current 68 percent.

In Rwanda, where women represent about 60 percent of the population, the day was proclaimed a national holiday and marked by celebrations. President Pasteur Bizimungu declared that women should be freed from a "submissive culture" which has oppressed all Rwandans since colonial days.

Eritrean women were celebrated for their courage in clashes with neighboring Ethiopia, as women make up 25 percent of the combat troops, according to a high-ranking officer. "We are on the front line to defend our independence," feminist leader Luul Gebreab told AFP.

In Afghanistan, the day went unmarked as the Taliban militia ignored a call by US First Lady Hillary Clinton for restoration of women's rights in the country. Several Pakistani women supporters of former premier Benazir Bhutto were hurt in a scuffle with police during a rally in Karachi. "Women were wrestling with policemen and women constables," a witness said.

Women in Asia continue to face discrimination and inequality in politics, education and the workplace, activists said as the day was marked across the region with calls for equal opportunities.

In Manila, a women's group demanded a public apology from President Joseph Estrada for remarks deemed derogatory to women. "He owes half the population an apology," a statement by the women's advocacy group Gabriela said, referring to comments by Estrada on the Monica Lewinsky affair and his refusal to acknowledge a teenage beauty queen who says she is his daughter.

The Australian government was accused of doing little or nothing to advance the cause of equality, in an attack by leading feminists. Moira Rayner, Jocelyn Scutt and Eva Cox said the government's record was unsatisfactory, that it favored women who chose to stay at home, and focused only on "safe" issues.