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At its meeting, the Women’s Committee reviewed participation by women at the last meeting of the Central Committee in Cape Town in December 2003. Women made up 18% of delegates, so while the 20% target set by the Executive Committee was not achieved, participation by women was double that of the 9% women that attended the Central Committee meeting held in Birmingham in 2000. The Committee undertook to urge their own unions to maximise the number of women in their delegations to the Congress, for which the Executive has also set a target of 20% participation by women.
Some improvement was noted in the attendance of women at sub-regional meetings, notably in Southern Africa and Latin America, however attendance by women at meetings in the Asian region is still disappointingly low. There has been little change to the exceptionally low rate of participation by women in IMF industrial meetings and this was identified as a priority to be addressed by the Women’s Committee in 2005.
Participants made reports on women’s activities in each of the six regions. Almost all reports stressed the importance of the proposed women Executive Committee members having strong support within their regions and participating in regional women’s meetings.
Following a lively discussion about the theme for the Women’s Conference to be held in Vienna, the Committee determined that it should be on aspects of the impact of globalisation on women. The Conference should also provide an opportunity for women delegates to be briefed on what they can expect at the IMF Congress and how they can maximise their participation, as well as to discuss resolutions to be put forward to the Congress from the Women’s Conference
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