World Conference to Review and Appraise the Achievements of the United Nations Decade for Women (1985 : Nairobi, Kenya) (1985 : Nairobi, Kenya)

The World Conference on Women, 1985 or the Third World Conference on Women took place between 15 and 26 July 1985 in Nairobi, Kenya, as the end-of-decade assessment of progress and failure in implementing the goals established by the World Plan of Action from the 1975 inaugural conference on women as modified by the World Programme of Action of the second conference. Of significance during the conference was the end result of the Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women being adopted by consensus, unlike the previous two conferences. The conference marked the first time that lesbian rights were introduced in a UN official meeting and the turning-point for violence against women to emerge from being a hidden topic into one which needed to be addressed. Recognizing that the goals of the Decade for Women had not been met, the conference recommended and the General Assembly approved on-going evaluation of women's achievements and failures through the year 2000. The 1985 Conference held from 15 and 26 July in Nairobi, Kenya was the final review of the decade[2] and was led by conference president Margaret Kenyatta.[6] Leticia Shahani, widowed mother of three children and a Philippine diplomat served as the Secretary-General and made the crucial suggestion that off-the-record discussion by delegates would decrease the polarity which had plagued the previous conferences and would allow a more open discussion and lead to compromise.[7] There were 157 countries represented with around 1,400 official delegates