World Conference of the United Nations Decade for Women: Equality, Development, and Peace (1980 : Copenhagen, Denmark)

The World Conference on Women, 1980, or the Second World Conference on Women, took place between July 14 and July 30, 1980 in Copenhagen, Denmark, as the mid-decade assessment of progress and failure in implementing the goals established by the World Plan of Action at the 1975 inaugural conference on women. The most significant event to come out of the conference was the formal signing of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, which took place during the opening ceremony of the conference. Marred by conflict and the politicization of international and national events that had little to do with women's issues, the conference was viewed by some participants as a failure. They were able to secure passage of a modified World Programme of Action to expand on previous targets to improve women's status and establish a follow-up conference for the end of the decade. As with the previous conference, the Copenhagen conference was beset by the geopolitical divides of the Cold War and whether economics, racism, or sexism was the more important factor in the subordination of women.[5] Initially planned to occur in Tehran, the Iranian Revolution of 1979 and the Iran hostage crisis, escalated the political backdrop as did the continuing tensions of conflict in the Middle East. Palestinian women, refugees, and Apartheid became topics that were added to the agenda and ensured that the event would be politicized by the various participants, rather than remaining focused on women's issues.[2][6] To that end, the United States Congress issued instructions to its delegates that they would not approve any resolution which attempted to make what should be an apolitical conference into an indictment of government policy or any resolution which mentioned the word "Zionism".[7] Saudi Arabia and South Africa boycotted the convention altogether. One hundred forty-five states with around 1500 delegates participated in the official session,[ The most significant outcome of the conference was the official signing of CEDAW by the delegates at the opening ceremony.[48] The conference adopted the official World Programme of Action with a vote of ninety-four favorable votes, twenty-two abstentions, and four opposed—Australia, Canada, Israel and the United States.[7] It included sections to create women's bureaus or agencies, defined the roles of NGO and grassroots organizations, and established target issues countries were to monitor. Those issues included child care, households headed by women, migrants, rural women, unemployment, and youth.[11] The Programme also included a section regarding water insecurity,[8] but the most significant changes to the previous Plan of Action were sections devoted to ensuring equal access to education, employment opportunities, and adequate health care.[1] The Conference established the Third World Conference on Women for the end of the decade to be hosted in Nairobi, Kenya in 1985 with a backup location in Tokyo.[53]