Launch of GWL Voices at Beijing 1995 Honoring the Legacy, Inspiring the Future
Share
GWL Voices is proud to launch GWL Voices at Beijing 1995. Stories of Leadership, Legacy and Change, a publication marking thirty years since the landmark Fourth World Conference on Women. The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action remain the most comprehensive global blueprint for gender equality, and this publication reflects on their enduring impact through the voices of the GWL Voices members who were there.
The publication features nine GWL Voices members and how their paths were impacted by Beijing. Their speeches, careers, and testimonies highlight both the challenges and the transformative potential of the Beijing moment, linking past achievements with today’s urgent struggles for equality and representation.
Download and read the publication to revisit the commitments of Beijing, learn from the women who helped shape them, and draw inspiration for advancing gender equality in today’s world.
Featured GWL Voices members in-depth Interviews
Jan Beagle: Director-General of the International Development Law Organization (IDLO), was responsible for coordinating preparations for the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995 within the Executive Office of the Secretary-General. Read the full interview here.
Carol Bellamy: Nonprofit executive and former politician. During the Fourth World Conference on Women she was serving as Executive Director of UNICEF, from 1995 to 2005. Read the full interview here.
María Fernanda Espinosa: GWL Voices Executive Director, and first woman from Latin America and the Caribbean to be President of the United Nations General Assembly (2018-2019). During the Fourth World Conference on Women she was working in Ecuador to amplify the voices of indigenous women and ensure their perspectives shaped the Beijing agenda. Read the full interview here.
Tarja Halonen: former President of Finland. During the Fourth World Conference on Women she was serving as Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland. Read the full interview here.
GWL Voices members’ speeches at the Fourth World Conference on Women
The publication brings together historic speeches delivered at the Beijing Conference by GWL Voices members. Read their speeches in full here:
Picture from the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, 1995. GWL Voices member and Executive Director at UNICEF, Ms. Carol Bellamy; SG Dr. Gertrude Mongella; GWL Voices member and Executive Director at WFP, Ms. Catherine Bertini; and Ms. Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Source: UN.
Ms. Noeleen Heyzer, GWL Voices member and UNIFEM Director during the Conference. Source: UN.