It equips women with the tools, skills and resources they need to build their country's economy and strengthen political systems. And we know that around the world, women will only be able to contribute to our full potential if we have equal access, equal rights, equal protection and a fair chance at the levers of economic and political power. Women are powerful in Northern Ireland - you have been there for the last 30 years holding Northern Ireland society together during some of its bleakest moments. Economic progress depends on women's progress. Democratic progress depends on women's progress.
Human rights are women's rights and women's rights are human rights.
And this Conference is part of an ongoing, global initiative that is making these points over and over again and in the process transforming women's lives and societies. Vital Voices Democracy Initiative - Conferences 1. Vienna, Austria - July 1997, Vital Voices of Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union 2. Belfast, Northern Ireland - September 1998, Vital Voices of Northern Ireland 3. Montevideo, Uruguay - October 1998, Vital Voices of the Americas 4.