Manila Proposal on Gender and Population

13th February 1996, Manila, Philippines

Proposal by the Asian Parliamentarians Meeting on Population and Development

Secretariat's Draft

Preamble

With the 20th century just around the corner, we parliamentarians concerned with population and development gathered in Manila, the Philippines, to work out a strategy for creating a bright future for humankind and our mother earth. Keeping in our mind the international trends emerging from the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in 1994, the World Summit for Social Development (WSSD) in March l 995 and the Fourth World Conference on Women (FWCW) in September 1995 , we have promoted our in-depth discussions under the main theme of " Women in the 2lst Century --- a Strategy for Peace and Prosperity" for the past three years through our meeting in Beijing, China, in Tokyo, Japan, and here in Manila.

Based on our conviction that women are the key to the solution of the population issues threatening the coexistence between humankind and Earth, we make the following set of recommendations to our parliamentary colleagues and our respective governments on empowerment of women in this Asian region in all spheres of health, economic, social and political life --- so that they may realize their still unfulfilled needs. Our proposal is as follows;

Introduction

Affirm that, without equal and equitable social participation of women, it will be impossible to solve population issues and attain social development or sustainable development harmonious with the global environment. This necessitates the empowerment of women in all spheres of health, economic, social and political life, especially through the improvement of educational standards. Through such empowerment, women's status should be improved and through such enrichment of their voluntary options in their life, solution of population issues and attainment of the goal of sustainable development should be sought.

Recognize that, population, sustainable economic growth, social development and security and peace are interdependent and mutually reinforcing, as are our efforts to slow down the rapid population growth, eradicate poverty, protect the environment, create job opportunities and reduce unemployment, and that through the promotion of social integration, efforts should be redoubled to enable women and disabled person to participate ---fully and equally--- society, culture, economy and politics. And we emphasize that since it is women and children who suffer first and foremost under the conditions of