CSW AND WOMEN'S ECONOMIC ADVANCEMENT: DOMINICAN

UNCLAS SANTO DOMINGO 001060 SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA/CAR, WHA/PPC, IO/UNP, DRL/MLA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KWMN EAID DR SUBJECT: CSW AND WOMEN'S ECONOMIC ADVANCEMENT: DOMINICAN COMMENT, DOMINICAN DELEGATION REF: STATE 030251 ¶1. Embassy delivered reftel demarche and draft resolution to the Dominican Republic's MFA February 24. MFA director for women's and children's issues Luisa "Chiqui" Vicioso offered the following written comments on the U.S. draft CSW resolution on women's economic advancement (informal translation of Spanish text): (Begin text) The emphasis of the draft (resolution) seems excellent to me, since it underscores an aspect of the life of women, their participation in the market, which is fundamental and has not been emphasized enough. Only two observations: I note that nothing is mentioned about women's health, where there have been big advances worldwide; and that nothing is mentioned about political participation of women and the need to strengthen systems of (political) party quotas worldwide, as was done in the United States in the sixties to ensure that minorities could have access to education in the universities. For the rest, I do not believe there will be any problem in our endorsing the document, which we will propose at appropriate levels. (End text.) ¶2. We understand that Dominican First Lady Dra. Margarita Cedeno de Fernandez will head the Dominican delegation of 45 persons to the "Beijing Plus Ten" meeting of CSW. The delegation will include officials of the Secretariat of State for Women, Secretariat of State for Foreign Relations, and other government entities, municipal officials, diplomats of the UN mission in New York, eight members of the Dominican Congress, and NGO, academic, and political party representatives. HERTELL