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While the document begins by advocating gender equality, the report soon becomes filled with a litany of claims about the mistreatment of women. While the specific examples are certainly true, there is no attempt to provide any kind of hard data, or to place the issues in the appropriate context. The report often uses emotion-laden language.
More troubling is that many of the statements in the Beijing Declaration are demonstrably false. Paragraph 47 alleges: “More than 1 billion people in the world today, the great majority of whom are women, live in unacceptable conditions of poverty.” Of course, the report does not offer a shred of evidence to support this claim about the preponderance of women in poverty.
The most egregious lies, however, are found in the section on Violence. Repeatedly, the report indicates that women are victims of domestic violence – but never acknowledges the hidden side of domestic violence.
Five years ago, psychologist John Archer reviewed hundreds of studies from around the world. Most of those studies had already been published before the 1995 Beijing Declaration was written. His research, published in the "Psychological Bulletin", concluded, “Women were slightly more likely than men to use one or more act of physical aggression and to use such acts more frequently.”
Beginning this coming Monday, we expect the UN Commission on the Status of Women will pick up where it left off. The Commission will continue its pattern of churning out exaggerations, half-truths, and lies.
But this time, we’ll be ready.
RADAR – which stands for Respecting Accuracy in Domestic Abuse Reporting – was established earlier this year to respond to media bias in the coverage of domestic violence.
RADAR has established a national network of men and women who monitor newspapers, radio, and TV stations. During the next two weeks, these Monitors will be watching closely to assure media accuracy and balance. When they spot biased reporting, they will contact the reporter, editor, or producer, and request that future coverage of this issue be balanced and fair.
In addition, RADAR will release a report that summarizes the scientific research about domestic violence. The report, “The Emperor’s Clothes: How the U.N. Hides the Truth of Domestic Violence,” will be released on Friday, February 25. The report will be posted at the RADAR website: http://www.mediaradar.org/.
Finally, RADAR will release a number of press releases and OpEd columns on this important topic.
We encourage other persons to keep on eye on how their local media outlets cover the Commission on the Status of Women conference, and to respond to any bias they observe, as appropriate. Persons who wish to join the network of Media Monitors should contact info-at-mediaradar.org.
As they say, stay tuned.
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This coming Monday, the United Nations will convene a controversial meeting sponsored by the UN Commission on the Status of Women. The meeting, to be held in New York City, will review the 10-year progress in implementing the recommendations of the Beijing Women’s Conference, which was held in 1995.