Emphasis should be placed on the role of both men and women in overcoming harmful attitudes and practices that perpetrate the unjust allocation of resources and entitlements to women in the family, community and nation. Moreover, the development of appropriate public information materials and formal and informal education programmes is essential. For the World Conference on Human Rights to be a success, we need to firmly address the denial of human rights to half of the human race. Research has shown that we need to redefine the emancipation of women, safeguard their education, increase their participation in policy making, and affirm their vital role in sustainable social and economic development so as to open as yet unexplored possibilities for improvements in the promotion of human rights and in the material and spiritual progress of all peoples. It must be stressed, however, that the responsibility to bring change belongs not only to women.
Men have a unique role to play in changing the status of women.
When men lend their full cooperation to this process, welcoming women into all fields of human endeavour, valuing their contributions, and encouraging their participation, men and women together will form a partnership that will help create the moral and psychological climate in which human rights for all can become a reality.