# ‘We had all this energy’: the landmark gathering of women that unnerved the Chinese government

In 1995, tens of thousands of women from around the world gathered in a sleepy town nearly 40 miles (60km) north of Beijing. The original plan had been to meet in the capital but was unnerved by such a large number of women, leading to a landmark document that remains a pivotal blueprint for gender equality.

In September 1995, tens of thousands of women from around the world gathered in a sleepy town nearly 40 miles (60km) north of Beijing. The original plan had been to meet in the capital but was unnerved by such a large number of women, leading to a landmark document that remains a pivotal blueprint for gender equality. “Beijing was the culmination . As  bell hooks put it, we had been trying to move from the margins to the centre – and that’s what was so exciting,” says Charlotte Bunch, founding director of the Center for Women’s Global Leadership at Rutgers University in the US.

Participants tramped through mud in the half-built town to attend networking and strategy events in tents; they got soaked riding open-top tourist buses to the official UN conference in Beijing. But it all heightened the sense of camaraderie.



A volunteer hands out posters for the UN Women’s Conference in Beijing, August 1995.

But neither the weather nor the slights could dampen spirits at what proved to be an extraordinary event: the NGO Forum on . Running parallel to  at the Beijing International Convention Centre, the forum welcomed 30,000 feminist leaders, rights advocates, Indigenous activists, NGO representatives, and academics from 180 countries. It was the largest international gathering of women the world had ever seen, and a seminal moment in the women’s rights movement. “Beijing was the culmination . As  bell hooks put it, we had been trying to move from the margins to the centre – and that’s what was so exciting,” says Ana Cristina González, who was a 27-year-old newly qualified doctor specialising in reproductive health when she went to China as part of the Latin American delegation.

“It made me feel  what I dreamed was possible. That meeting marked my entire career and my feminism,” she adds.



“People were screaming at me: ‘Do you know what you have done to our lives? You and the IMF are destroying us.’ I think he was genuinely shocked, but he went back and tried to soften some of the  policies.”



A plainclothes policeman ushers a woman with a megaphone to prevent her disrupting traffic.

When  made her speech in Beijing declaring “women’s rights as human rights, once and for all”, the world listened – but the credit goes to the thousands of women who had worked tirelessly in the years before in their own countries and at key UN conferences, including  in 1993 and  in 1994.

“Up until 1980 women’s events were on the sidelines – they were not viewed at the core of anything the UN was doing. And today we are in the backlash against all those things that we were moving forward,” says Bunch.

Bunch was one of a group of women who came up with the . Also among them was Everjoice Win, a Zimbabwean who had been working in women’s rights since 1989. Both women went to Beijing.

“I have often described the early 1990s as the golden era of transnational organising: there were these spaces – Mexico, Cairo, Vienna, Beijing – some of us went to all four . But it wasn’t just going, but having an agenda collectively to influence the advancement of women’s rights. Everyone had purpose and objectives,” says Win.



“People were screaming at me: ‘Do you know what you have done to our lives? You and the IMF are destroying us.’ I think he was genuinely shocked, but he went back and tried to soften some of the  policies.”



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## Insights from the 1995 Women’s Conference

The 1995 Women’s Conference in Beijing was a significant moment in women’s history, marking a turning point in the women’s rights movement. The event gathered over 30,000 participants from various countries to discuss and debate issues such as affirming women’s rights as human rights, violence against women, reproductive rights, and the welfare of the girl child. The conference resulted in the landmark , which 30 years later remains a pivotal blueprint for gender equality.

### Impact of the Conference

The sense of camaraderie due to the gathering was reflected in the experience of Ana Cristina González, a founding director of the Center for Women’s Global Leadership at Rutgers University in the US. “It was amazing – women of every colour and age and disability and race all fighting for equality and doing things in a very organised and coordinated way. We had an advocacy strategy and all this energy that felt powerful – and we really managed to influence the agenda,” says González.

Ana Cristina González, who was a 27-year-old newly qualified doctor specialising in reproductive health when she went to China as part of the Latin American delegation, says: “It was amazing – women of every colour, age, and disability came together to fight for equality and do things in a very organised and coordinated way. We had an advocacy strategy and all this energy that felt powerful. We really managed to influence the agenda.”

### Impact on International Women’s Movements

The 12-point plan galvanised governments and civil society and, in 2015, informed the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs). “Governments took to the  agenda like ducks to water – with limitations. Gender mainstreaming became the approach of choice for governments,” adds Win, who went on to become the first head of women’s rights at Action Aid in 2002.

Win was involved in the 16 days of activism campaign in 1991. Also among them was Everjoice Win, a Zimbabwean who had been working in women’s rights since 1989. Both women went to Beijing.

“I have often described the early 1990s as the golden era of transnational organising: there were these spaces – Mexico, Cairo, Vienna, Beijing – some of us went to all four . But it wasn’t just going, but having an agenda collectively to influence the advancement of women’s rights. Everyone had purpose and objectives,” says Win.

### Political Context

The political landscape of the 1990s was different from the current era, marked by rising authoritarianism, anti-women sentiment, and increased climate and economic crises. “Growing backlash has been reinforced by the hollowing out of policy mechanisms, institutions, and processes that the  Platform for Action tasked with advancing gender equality,” the report says.

### Future Outlook

Despite recent crises, the vision of the Beijing declaration is still relevant, especially in an unstable political environment. “We can’t forget we were the people who pushed back an unequal world – we were pushing back and transforming,” says Alexandra Corrêa, co-chair of Sexuality Policy Watch. “There are no easy solutions. The state of the world is a very difficult problem, the conditions are being determined by neo-fascist forces in power in what is still one of the empires of the world.”

### Impact of the Anti-Women Movement

In the face of increasing anti-women sentiment and action, it’s clear that anti-feminist organizations have co-opted the language of women’s development, using terms like “empowering women” while welcoming the rise of neo-fascist forces like Donald Trump.

“‘We put women’s rights centre of Action Aid’s agenda using some of the tools we’d got from the  process. Once they understood what gender mainstreaming was we were able to influence the leadership of the organisation, making sure women were in senior roles,’” says Ana Cristina González, who now heads Causa Justa, the group that spearheaded the campaign to decriminalize abortion in Colombia – a 

“Unpause and Join with us on our journey to justice and happiness,” says the US Women’s National Alliance (USWNA), which has been at the forefront of the anti-feminist movement in the US.

### The Future of Gender Equality

“It’s a worrying moment,” agrees Win. “The question is: are others going to mimic the orange tyrant – I refuse to use his name – by doing what he does or  counter him?”

But if the contemporary political landscape is very different from the 1990s, the lessons learned from Beijing are still relevant, say the women who were there.



Rigoberta Menchú (centre), a K’iche’ Guatemalan human rights activist and Nobel laureate, speaking in Huairou in 1995.

“Like other anti-feminist organizations, the Chinese government has co-opted the language of women’s development with its assertions that it is ‘empowering women’ – while welcoming President Donald Trump’s shutdown of USAid which will have  on women and girls,” says Sonia Corrêa, co-chair of Sexuality Policy Watch. “There are no easy solutions. The state of the world is a very difficult problem, the conditions are being determined by neo-fascist forces in power in what is still one of the empires of the world.”

### Conclusion

It is clear that the lessons learned from the 1995 Women’s Conference are still relevant despite the current political landscape. “We can’t forget we were the people who pushed back an unequal world – we were pushing back and transforming. We spent years explaining and showing the world there were inequalities and that we wanted to be better. We are fighting for democracies, so we can not think only ‘_how_ are we going to react?’ but ‘what are we going to _continue_ doing?’” says González, who now heads Causa Justa, the group that spearheaded the campaign to decriminalize abortion in Colombia – a .

“We can’t forget we were the people who pushed back an unequal world – we were pushing back and transforming. We spent years explaining and showing the world there were inequalities and that we wanted to be better. We are fighting for democracies, so we can not think only ‘_how_ are we going to react?’ but ‘what are we going to _continue_ doing?’” says González, who now heads Causa Justa, the group that spearheaded the campaign to decriminalize abortion in Colombia – a .

“Like other anti-feminist organizations, the Chinese government has co-opted the language of women’s development with its assertions that it is ‘empowering women’ – while welcoming President Donald Trump’s shutdown of USAid which will have  on women and girls,” says Sonia Corrêa, co-chair of Sexuality Policy Watch. “There are no easy solutions. The state of the world is a very difficult problem, the conditions are being determined by neo-fascist forces in power in what is still one of the empires of the world.”

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