Chairperson, distinguished delegates, colleagues and friends, It is an honor and a privilege for me to be invited to take part in this panel. This concept, at the same time, is an ideological one based on the assumption that achieving gender equality is right and correct both as a goal and as a process of development. It is also an analytical concept. Empowering women in relation to men means not only that women gain more power but that the power relationship between women and men changes fundamentally, thus creating a new social system which inevitably challenges the existing social structure and cultural values. Even when a gender equality law is enacted, however, its enforcement is often another story.
Equal participation tends to be more nominal than substantial.
Less institutional, and less visible areas of sexuality such as violence against women and women's human rights emerged to the surface as serious problems which would remain to be coped with in the coming century. There are still many dimensions of women's life which we do not know about due to the lack of gender-dissagregated data. Such a situation hinders their access to resources for empowerment. When we try to build strategies, it is essential that we identify the baseline facts around the problem we intend to address as assumptions. Aging is an undeniable global trend.