341. Action Memorandum From the Assistant Secretary of State for
International Organization Affairs (McCall) to Secretary of State Muskie1
Washington, June 30, 1980
SUBJECT
- Personal Message from the Secretary of State to all Chiefs of Mission
Reaffirming Policy on Worldwide Status and Rights of Women
Issues for Decision
In May 1979 Secretary Vance announced
a new foreign policy directive on worldwide status and rights of women
(Attachment 1)2 to make this issue a part
of our total diplomatic effort.
As a contribution to the World Conference of the UN Decade for Women to be held in Copenhagen from July 14–30,
1980, and as an added stimulus to our efforts at home and abroad, we believe
it is important for you to reaffirm this policy as one of your first acts
after taking office. Given the short lead time before the Copenhagen
conference, this request is urgent.
Essential Factors
This directive has received both national and international acclaim at
regional preparatory conferences around the world and also at U.S. regional
outreach meetings involving American women in preparations for the
Copenhagen conference.
Already responses from worldwide U.S. diplomatic posts indicate strong
support and approval for the policy on women and tell of helpful initiatives
developed to carry it out.
Recommendations
1. that you send this message to all our Chiefs of Mission (Attachment);
2. that this message be made available to participants at the Copenhagen
conference along with the full texts of the May 1979 policy statement and
the Percy Amendment;3
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3. that a Department Notice on this subject be distributed to all employees
in the foreign affairs agencies.4
Attachment
Draft Telegram5
Washington, June 27, 1980
All Chiefs of Mission
The events of the past year have made us all more conscious of the risks
of war, and therefore more committed to the tasks of peace.
The traditional threats to peace—violation of national borders, seizure
of hostages, civil strife, terrorism—are easy to recognize. But there
are other threats to the health and well-being of people and nations
which can erode and ultimately destroy the chances for a peaceful and
prosperous world. The condition of hungry, frustrated people, many of
them torn from home, family, or country; inflation; energy shortages;
drought; lack of economic opportunity—all are problems which demand our
urgent attention. Discrimination against women must, I believe, be
placed among these threats. It is clearer today than ever before that
the advancement of women’s status is an indispensable aspect of the
overall development and social and economic well-being of nations.
The United States has given prominent attention to the role of women in
developing nations. The 1973 “Percy Amendment” to the US Foreign Assistance Act requires that US foreign aid programs encourage and
promote the integration of women into the national economies in the
developing countries. The United States was the first country with such
legislation governing its overseas aid and encouraged OECD–DAC
donor countries to take similar positions. Some of them now have adopted
similar language governing their foreign aid programs. But the issue
extends far beyond that of the developing nations. In May 1979, the
US Department of State announced and
issued as a joint directive to its missions in every country that “a key
objective of US foreign policy is the
advancement worldwide of the status and
conditions of women.”
At this midpoint in the UN Decade for
Women, marked by the Copenhagen conference, it is extremely important to
reaffirm our strong
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commitment to this objective as an integral part of our worldwide
diplomatic efforts. Responses from our missions abroad have already
shown strong support for the policy. More than 150 specific proposals
have been offered on ways to carry it out.6
Certainly, the people of each nation, women and men alike, must establish
their own laws and regulations on women’s status consistent with their
culture, traditions, international obligations, and the principles of
human rights. The role of our representatives overseas is one of
sympathetic cooperation and support in encouraging all efforts to
advance the status of women. Such a role, and our renewed commitment on
the occasion of this World Conference of the UN Decade for Women are consistent with the essential
values and sustaining ideals we hold as a nation. They are consistent,
too, with the hopes we cherish for a peaceful comity of nations which
enhances and draws equally upon the strength and resources of its men
and women.
