CONFERENCE ON WOMEN LIVING ON

Leaders from around the world learned that women's rights are human rights at the 1995 World Conference on Women, said Susan Frain.

Last summer, Frain attended the two-week conference for non-governmental organizations in Beijing, China. She spoke about her experiences there at a discussion Sunday at the Wesley House on the Southeast Missouri State University campus.

Frain, who has been involved in both the peace and women's rights movements in the past, is a substance abuse prevention and education coordinator at the university's Center for Health and Counseling.

Frain said women will live in a better world now with more equality, peace and development -- the central themes of the United Nations-sponsored conference.

"The world is better off," she said. "I saw Palestinian and Israeli women on the same stage talking about peace in their country. You can't do that and have it not change you. You bring that moment back to your life when you return."

Frain said just seeing 40,000 women gather for the conference was breathtaking. "A lot of eyes were opened," she said.

During the conference, many women protested actions against other women in their homeland. Banners demanding that Japan apologize to the Korean "comfort women" of World War II and signs asking for an end to sexual slavery were common, she said.

But some of the seminars Frain attended were not so common. She learned about how agricultural development affects women in underdeveloped countries and how violence against women is common worldwide. However diverse, the topic always came back to the issue of violence, Frain said.

"Every one was on women and violence and how to give them safety and security," she said.

Some countries offered suggestions to the problems through education and literacy while others wanted to lobby governments.

"I signed letters to Saddam Hussein and Fidel Castro," Frain said of the protests and demonstrations.

Although first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke out about women's issues, she focused more on problems in other countries and didn't speak of America's shortcomings, Frain said.

But American women are much better off than most women in other countries around the world, she added. "I think the event gives a forum in the world arena," Frain said. "Governments have to look at what's being said."

Frain did not attend the conference as a delegate for any non-profit organization. It was a learning experience, she said.

The next U.N. women's conference is tentatively planned for 2000 in Australia. The conference first began in 1975 and was held in Mexico City, Mexico.