Episode Transcript
Welcome back everybody to sort of sophisticated. My name is Pete Sch. Sweaty and, uh, just kidding. Um, can you, I don't even know what's happening. You don't know if Pete sweaty from Saturday Night Live? No. Alec Baldwin. Oh my God. It's like one of the greatest skits of all time. What if we really talked like that, would we even have any listeners? Maybe we'd have more listeners who even knows. Maybe we would have a plethora of listeners. I'm just sure it's like a, A genre or niche. Yeah, it probably is, right? It's probably called like depressive talk. I know. I dunno. I dunno. I don't even know what we're doing. Hi, I'm Pete, your host and with me is always, is Amanda over there already giving me crap? Hi Amanda. How are you doing today? I'm doing well, but it was like a big weekend for you, right? This past weekend? Uh, ooh. That's all relative. By big if you mean, I mean big. If I, if anyone ever asked me to accomplish what you just did, yes. I would be dead. So you're alive and well, right. And here. I'm here. Yes. I'm here. I survived, uh, along with 50,000 other insane people. That's crazy. And ran the, whatever it was, the Disneyland half marathon. And it was, lemme see. Did you bring your medal? Why do I bring my medal? What do I have to bring? Because it's a dizzy metal. Like that's the whole thing. People do. Do these. Yeah. Here's my particip. It was a $270 medal. I know people like do it every year and they like have their whole wall, and I know they do. I know they do. And therein lies the problem. And that's why I never do it again. I hate it. I've it, I've done it a hundred times. I only did this because my friend wanted me to do this. Okay. And it was, it was exactly what I thought it was. It was crowded and it felt like I was in Disneyland, like, well, I was in Disneyland, but like, I mean, crowded in Disneyland, like it's terrible. You can't even run you, you're like, you're like speed walking through Disneyland until you get outside. It's not that bad. You're exactly. Have you done this? Exaggerating? I've done the walk. It's terrible until you get out on the streets of Anaheim. It is. A literal traffic jam. Okay? It sucks. And, as a result, I didn't even pr I didn't hit, I didn't do, I was just lame. Like I, I'm sure you at least hit like your goal. Um, that's relative. So my goal, if you must know, was one hour and 50 minutes. Thank you very much. I got nowhere near that. Why? Um, just because, 'cause there were too many damn people. You can, why didn't you like break through and get to the front of the pack? That's what I tried to do the whole time. Thank you. So what? You just aren't good at it. So what you're supposed to do if you're smart. Was, you need to run another race before that, either a 10 k or a half marathon, and then give them proof of time, but you have to do that like six months in advance. And then you get moved up into like what's called a closer corral. And then I could start earlier. So I actually did that. I did a race earlier, but. I only turned it in like with three months notice and they didn't accept it. So I was at the back of the pack. Oh, okay. Starting this whole stupid race. Um, and finished in sub two hours, but anybody can finish in sub two hours. So the goal really was one 50 and I didn't do it. And I'm pissed and I hope my hold on by the way. So now I'm. Injured. Yes, there's, yes. I injured my myself. Did you stretch beforehand? It's not stretching. It's a stress fracture. Oh, yes. That's fair. It started, honestly, you know, when it started when I was in Greece. Oh, I was running, like, I was training in Greece all the way back then. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then like, I ignored it and ignored it and ignored it, and then the pounding and then it just ran on it. Um, yeah. And now it's terrible. Okay. And I think I'm dying. So, I'm in full rehab mode. But wait, didn't Luke go with you? Luke, did he carry your gimpy ass across? What happened? Luke was waiting at the finish line for me. Oh. Uh, he had already showered and changed. Okay. That's how long it took me. Uh, and he was waiting with a wheelchair. Um, well that was nice. Nice him to roll, roll my gimpy ass. Very nice to the car. Um, but I have to shout out 'cause I, I gotta shout out to Debbie Toomey. 'cause Debbie Toomey is the person that made me do this. And we love Debbie Toomey. She is the ultimate. Bestie that I have. She killed it. She did awesome. Uh, she got me off my ass to run this thing. And I'm not gonna disclose her age, but you would be very proud of Debbie Toomey for. Killing a half marathon with, I mean, I'm proud of anybody who finishes and runs a half marathon. Yeah. 'cause my ass can't do that. So. Yeah. Good job, Debbie. She was amazing. We love Debbie, but do we also get to blame her for the fact that you camp? Oh, we're told Oh no. Done and done. I I started blaming her four weeks ago. This whole thing was a nightmare. It was all her fault. Okay. Yeah. Well, she, she owes me big time and she knows it. Good. At least she had got that car to pull at some point. I know. I know, I know, I know, I know. Alright, so we're gonna start the episode. Yeah, I think we can, I think I've done enough whining. I think I'm ready to go. Okay. Okay, let's go. Um, I think you're gonna love this episode today, but I think you know what, as a matter of fact, you're taking over this episode today, so you better have done your homework, sister. That's all I gotta say. Let's go. Today's episode is officially titled Girl Power Global Stage inside the Beijing Declaration. 30 years later, I mean, Women's rights equals human rights. Let's go. Hillary Clinton. Oh, she totally nailed that shit, dude. That made her famous, you know, that made her famous. That was it, right? I mean, good old bill, right? Do you remember? This is 1995, typing around. Yeah, he was screwing Ika Lewinsky, and she is over in Beijing, like half the world away, changing the world. Lover or hater? Dude, I don't know. You gotta give credit to Hillary. Yeah, I know. I'm still on that fence. Right. But Right. But real quick before we start, for any of our listeners that aren't familiar with the Beijing declaration, because you know, it could be a new concept for some Yeah. Um. The Beijing declaration was an agreement established in 1995 by 189 countries that declared women's rights are human rights, and it laid out a 12 point action plan to achieve gender equality worldwide. Thank you. That was a very good, concise explanation. Um. Why don't you just roll into then telling us like why learning about this is gonna make us more cultured than one Please. Because we kind of still use it today. we use it to connect I mean, I know, you know, but it's, well, I did, I, I didn't know I had to do a bunch of research because I'm a dude and I'm not good at this stuff. But at least you researched half the battle. I did. I did. I did. Okay, sorry. Get back to what makes us more cultured? Oh, well, it's pretty relevant. It's still the basis for gender equality today. So think about the whole equal pay movement or like the hashtag me too movement. It all traces back to the Beijing declaration. So this is one of those episodes where we explain a little about where things start from. So we know how it's all connected and how we could feel a little more sophisticated. I love that. Thank you. Um, one more question though. Are you taking questions? Yes. This episode you'll be taking many questions. Let's go because I have one. I'll do my best. I'll do my best. Um, how does this relate to like, feminism and the whole feminist movement in general? Like, gimme the quick version of that before we do the whole Beijing declaration. Okay. I'm gonna pull Pete. Okay, go. We're gonna go. Simple definition first. Go, go. I love it. Okay, fine. Okay. Chad T says that feminism is the belief that women and men should have equal rights and opportunities. That's it, period. End of story. Not women being better than men, men being pushed aside, just equality. And I think that is some of the misunderstanding to begin with. A lot of people think it's pushing this radical agenda, but really it's not. It just kind of fits into the Beijing declaration because it basically put feminism on the world stage with all these countries finally saying, yep, okay, we agree. It's probably time to do something about it. Okay, so I have a whole like weird thing with this. Like, bear with me. Can IPSA right now, please. I mean, I guess it's not a good episode unless you PSA because I means that we're stepping on some sort of toes, right? Yes. And this is kind of dangerous for me to do a uh, PSA during a episode on the Be Declaration. It's your mansplain. Go ahead. Right. Okay. Just kidding. Yeah, I know, right? But this is my point. Exactly. Yes. So I talk to my sister about this all the time. Like the patriarchy, right? The whole idea of gender bias. 'cause we all have it, right? It's just that people either don't know they have it or they don't want to admit they have it. Human nature to have it. We can't literally avoid it. Amanda, this is my whole point. So we All have some unconscious version or implicit biases. Biases. Biases. I don't know. You get the A I by Biasi tm. I like that. Okay. They're automatic. I think we talked about this in our psychology episode. They're shaped by how we're raised our community, what we watch on tv, even our history, the podcast we pick to listen to. Okay, so I'm gonna use me as an example, right? So I totally like emphatically quote unquote believe in equal rights for women, like completely. But yet I still have these tendencies that I don't even know that I'm using every day, without realizing it, like how I act, how I interrupt you all the time. You just said how I mansplain, all these things that men wanna pretend don't exist and it takes such a massive effort to consciously try to overcome or like recognize that it's happening and then. In that moment, be able to shift perspective. Like it's really hard and I'm someone who wants to do it and I struggle doing it and like, I get it. 'cause some people wanna say oh, that's just like men being men. Like that's God stuff. Be careful, right? Like sexes are there for a reason. But here's my argument to that. Think about what was acceptable 2000 years ago, like how we treated women or, or slaves or anything. Right? Then think about it, how we treated people a thousand years ago or 500 years ago. Like we have to be really careful if our job is to make each generation better than the one before. I'm all for men being men and women being women, and the beautiful difference between the sexes. But that like has zero to do with, for me with equal rights or an equal playing field. And that's the real work. And that's the real hard stuff. And that's where like people want to go, stick their head in the stands sometimes. Right. And that's why I'm saying out loud, some men are like, oh my god, feminism, it's this scary word. It's bullshit. It's just, it's about equal rights, but like they can't see it that way. And it's all has to do with that implicit bias. Okay. I'm off. I'm done. Off the soapbox. Well, I applaud you for recognizing that and putting it out there in the universe, and I'm not gonna mansplain this whole episode. Okay. And if I do, just go ahead and punch me in. Okay. We'll try. Okay, let's go. Sorry. Can we do word of the day now? Absolutely. All right. Are you ready for this? I am. Our word of the day today is ineffable. Ineffable. Mm-hmm. Like can't be effed with ineffable. I dunno. Like can't like, that is hysterical. Like can't be effed with like, can we TM that shit right now? I love that. Only if it's actually the thing new def. No, I think that should be the definition. Excuse me. That's ineffable. Oh my god, Amanda. That was classic. Okay. Um, are you ready? It comes from the Latin root. I can't get over what you just said. I find that remarkable ineff. Okay. Um, in bil is the Latin root inus in meaning not uhhuh and eff, ais meaning describe with words, so not able to describe in words. It's like mostly for compliments. Like people use it when they're trying to describe something positive, but it doesn't need to be I literally could say like, oh, your face is ineffable. You. Oh my God. That's hysterical. You wouldn't know if it's, if it's, if it's nice or mean like you, but technically it's, people are supposed to use it nice. Right? Like you can't describe, okay, so it's supposed to be like a sunset, a positive, right? But in theory, it technically isn't. It just means definition better. You cannot describe it with words. Yeah. My definition better, better. Your definition was a hundred times better. All right. Like, I love this, but now I am not gonna use this, right? Because. I will not remember the actual definition now. So you walked up. Just describe, you just can't describe something. We could do it. So we're just not fable. All right. Anyways, um, alright, well you wanna go ahead and give us a little history 'cause that is like your thing. I love this word. Okay. I'll do history, but that's it. Beijing declaration and then you have to take over from there. Sure. Like you have to do all the explaining. Okay. Okay. All right, here we go. Before we do the whole Beijing declaration, I gotta go backwards to go forwards. 'cause that's how I roll. You always do. I know, but, but I gotta set the stage. I'm a stage setter. Absolutely. Well, and it's, again, I think what people don't understand is that it's storytelling is that in order to, yes, it's that, but in order to truly appreciate whatever a topic is, you do have to understand the history and the context of what was happening during that time. So thank you very much for supporting me. I do appreciate it. And the stage is yours. Here we go. So actually they had three other events all leading up to 1995 when they finally did Beijing. Sort of like prequels, like the Lord of the Rings trilogy like but for women's rights. Okay. Right. Are you only throwing in Lord of the Rings? 'cause you know I'm gonna New Zealand soon. Absolutely. Let's go. You know, I need to watch it though before go. Okay, you do. Totally sidebar. Not important. Sorry, by the way. Watch it all on the airplane. I guess so. All nine hours. Oh my god. It's glorious. Okay, so some quick history leading up to Beijing. It all starts in 1975 in Mexico City. The UN hosts what they call the First World Conference on Women. They roll out something called the World Plan of Action, which was basically, let's agree, women deserve equality, but like with no real meat behind anything, like, no step-by-step plan to fix anything if we're comparing this to the Lord of the Rings, 'cause I'm gonna keep that thread going then this is like their first movie, the Fellowship of the Rings. So if I remember correctly. So lots of people talking, right? People meeting each other. Not a lot of action. Not a lot of action. Okay. Not a lot happening. Right Stage setting. That's it. Absolutely. Okay. Then they try again. This time, five years later. In five years. Five years. 1980, Copenhagen, Denmark, here we go. And basically by then everybody had already like admitted to themselves that the shit didn't go really well, in Mexico City. So, um. They weren't making good enough progress, right? So this time they try a little harder. They buckled down, Amanda, they buckled down. There was buckling, okay? They got organized. They focused on education, employment, and health advances for all women. So if we're staying again with your Lord of the Rings vibe, would this be the next one? The two towers? This is the two towers, absolutely right. Somebody's getting off their butts and starting to do something. Okay, perfect. Okay. All right. I only guess 'cause that was number two, but here we go. No, you got it. Piss. I can do. You're following. You're following along. This is great. Okay, so then another five years goes by and the UN tries one more time. This time in 1985 in Nairobi, Kenya. they introduced something called the Nairobi Forward-Looking Strategy. And this was apparently like their big plan to achieve toto world domination for women. By the year 2000, it was very Arnold Schwarzenegger of me. Um, not really domination, but like equality. You get the idea. This was 15 years targeting for Equality King. This was it, right? This was Return of the King. This was the last of the Lord. They solved the problem. Good guys win. They thought that. Absolutely. But guess what? It didn't actually happen. It didn't actually happen. No. Yeah, no. Right. Okay. Give them credit though, right? Because that was the first time the UN really said like, Hey, women's rights aren't really this side quest anymore. This is serious shit. Like they're tied to human rights. We really need to do something about this once and for all, or women are gonna hate us forever. So that's what's going on, so wait, were there like all these countries just sitting around waiting for these conferences every five years to happen? Or did they actually start doing stuff? In between, like you mean in each country? Yeah. Like did they get motivated to Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, like apply what was happening at these conferences? Some were doing stuff, yes. Okay. Like they were, they were doing stuff. Yeah. Like the US had something called Title IX in the 1970s. Um, I dunno if you remember which stated like any school receiving federal funds could no longer discriminate based on sex. Okay. Which seems small, but started paving the way for equal access for women in sports scholarships, education opportunities. So slow. But they were starting something and in France, um, they had changed family laws, so women didn't need their husband's permission to work anymore. That was still a thing. I didn't even know that was a thing. That's crazy. When I looked that up, I'm like, okay. And then in Switzerland, uh, in the seventies, they were working on giving women the right to vote. Apparently they didn't have the right to vote yet, so, so like. Each country was doing things. Yeah, it just blows my mind. 1970. Like 50 years ago, not even that long. I know that. Wow. That yeah, it's brutal. It's definitely ineffable. What do you want me to say? Oh my God. It is, it's totally ineffable, lack of words, right? Absolutely. That's, but I know, but I meant in so many ways it's ineffable, it's right. I meant it more in a bad way, but yeah. Okay. I don't know, again, wrong definition, but it works. That worked. Perfect. And, and for that, because you tmd it with our new definition, I'm putting $10 in the jar. Okay. What do you want me to say? Here we go. Let's go. Okay. Um. So that brings us to Beijing 1995. Right. So those were the three conferences beforehand. So now nineteen ninety five, a hundred eighty nine governments just like you said, show up plus 30,000 activists at this massive, so it's getting traction. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's huge. International conference. So from September 4th to September 15th, they talk and lecture and writes it down, and finally after 11 days, they produced something called the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. It was a comprehensive plan that laid out the 12 critical areas, like you said earlier, for women's equality, bucketized into these three main areas. Okay. Basic needs, which was poverty, health, education, and environment, safety and rights. Violence conflict, human rights, and what's called girl child. This is young and female discrimination, right? You had to be young and female, like under the age of 18. Uh, and then power and visibility, decision making, economics, institutions, and the media. So basically, where does trans rights fall into this? Okay. So that was a huge thing, right? So they actually, they had a lot of LGB. TQ in there and, pulled it because it was too controversial for the time. And that was the one big mess that's like the criticism of this. So. Oddly enough, there was a whole nother conference going on, a little sort of popup, off to the side, like not with diplomats in Beijing. It was like an hour out of the city, in another place, where they started doing a lot of that grassroots effort to try to do the trans rights and the, um, gay lesbian rights. and started gaining traction, but not. In a formal setting, we'll say. Okay. So kind of if there's, if there's a dig on this whole thing, it was like a sub thing. Yes. If there's a dig on this, it's that. It's that they pulled it out because a lot of these conservative countries just weren't happening. Ready for it. Yeah. Kind of sucked. I mean, so basically then this whole kind of movement was to survive, be safe and to actually be seen. Absolutely. Okay. Finally. Right. And then if I remember it right, I mean I may not, but this is also like this conference was when Hillary Klan kind of dropped the mic, right? This was it. Yep. It's like where she was quoted saying her famous, you know, human rights are women's rights and women's rights are human rights. And then I think that became like the rally cry for the whole Beijing conference and declaration that year. Yes, absolutely. that was it. Totally. Okay, so I think I got us basically through all the history up to this point. Um, I think I'm gonna stop talking so I don't turn into a mansplaining jerk, uh, and let you explain why Beijing was such a big deal. 'cause somehow it's gonna be credible coming from you. Well, I think you did a good job. Thank you. I know we, we jokingly say mansplaining, but I do think that, you know, there's always a space to have conversations, so I think you did a fabulous job. Thank you very much. Thanks for giving. I do appreciate. Take it from here. Tell me why Beijing was so different than the other ones. Oh, you wanna know why it was such a big deal? I wanna know all of it. Why it started working. I wanna know all the things. I mean, I do find it kind of ironic that it was Beijing, that this all kind of happened in, right? But Beijing was historic because it was the very first conference, out of the four of them that shifted the focus from quote unquote helping women to, we need to change the entire system. So it's a huge difference between the two. It wasn't just like a charity handout, it was like this idea of justice and it was finally putting gender equality at the heart. Of human rights. Yeah. But like I said earlier, like not everybody loved it. Right? No, of course not. I mean, some governments, like the Vatican, especially in some other hardcore Catholic and Muslim countries, they really pushed back on the reproductive rights and kinda like you said, the LGBTQ plus stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah. When I was reading that part, that part sucked. Like I was like, I, I mean I do get it But also like it's time for another conference. But like it all still passed and stuff, right? Like it worked. Uh, I mean sort of, sort of. What do you mean? Sort of like, it's not like they passed or not passed. They just sort of keep rewording it until they have a consensus that everyone can live with. Wait a second. Hold on. So like the, okay, so it's not like a law like in the United States that you need No, it's more a certain number of countries. Okay. So the UN doesn't work that way? No, the UN does. What? Explain it again. It's like a consensus you said. Yeah, it's like a consensus that everyone can live with then like in the end, right? Some countries just say, it's fine, we can live with this, but maybe not that. And that's basically I think what the Vatican did and some other heavily religious countries, right? They just. They all get together, they all, put all the minds together. They, so they generally support X, Y, Z. Yeah. Okay. And then if there's like a little piece, they're like, Ugh, don't love it, then they're just sort of, don't do that. I get it. Right. So it get, I, I get it. It's, it gets sticky, but maybe not sticky enough for some people. Um, okay. So another question, fast forward, right? Did this whole thing work? Like here we are 30 years later, like with all the other ones I talked about, they didn't have enough horsepower. Each one of 'em sort of died, but like, didn't really stick. Did this one, couldn't you say it worked? Sort of. Oh, I hate it. Evidently. I love the word sort of up here. It just, it just works for everything. It really does, right? It's sort of ineffable. Okay, here we go. Give it to me. Lay it on me. Tell me why. Sorta. Um, so I mean, on the one hand, yes, like we said at the beginning of the episode, it's still used as the foundation for women's equality and women's rights. It's still referenced in UN Reports that they're writing today, so that's like a good sign. Um, they didn't have another conference five years later, like all the other times of four, so I guess that's another good sign, like we're moving forward. Yep. Um, and like we said, it influenced movements like the hashtag me too, the founding of the UN Women in 2010 and Violence Against Women campaigns that happened all over the world. But in general, and this is kind of just my take, is that progress overall is still pretty slow and we still have a really long way to go. Um, so I guess it's like that to-do list is still on the fridge for lots of countries. Oh shit. Do you have a to-do list on the fridge for Trent? Maybe Uhoh. I'm just kidding. And is it really long? No. Is it really do list? Is it 30 years old? Oh my God, that would be terrible. Okay. Um, yeah. I mean, I guess when I think about it, you're right. Progress too slow, right? 'cause we still have the pay gap. We talked about that in like just a recent episode. Sociology episode, women in Leadership is still messy. And the whole violence prevention and human trafficking that my sister deals with, like all the time, still super prevalent in a lot of countries, even here in the United States. So, um, yeah, a lot of unfinished business, right? That's true. Uh. You got anything else you wanna do or you wanna soapbox this thing or you wanna give us fun facts? Uh, since you probably came up with better fun facts on this than I did this time around. Oh, I did get fun facts because it's my favorite part of the episode, so I got you. I love that you're gonna rip out some fun facts for us. I. Okay. Ready? Totally. Let's go. Okay. Number one. So remember that like sub conference that you were talking about, or you mentioned previously where all these activists got together outside of Yes, yes, yes, yes. The Beijing conference. Okay. So the NGO Forum in Chu outside of Beijing brought 30,000 of its own activists from all over the world, and was held at the same time as the Beijing conference. So if Beijing was considered like the official script chiro true. Was considered the uncensored, kinda like open mic sesh. Oh, that's where I would've gone then. I would've totally been you. Yeah. I mean it had like all this energy. Like a music festival, right. I think tents, art, porta-potties, I mean everything except for like the headliners that weren't actually musicians, but they were actually women's rights leaders. So super cool. Maybe think of it like the Woodstock, of women's rights. Oh my God. Be there or be square. That is where I would've wanted to have been. You absolutely would've. In 1995, it was definitely your scene. Dammit. Okay, we ready? Super fun fact. Super fun. Fact, what I know. Give it to me. I think most people don't really know this, heavy rain turned the NGO forum grounds into like a virtual mud pit, and activists joked about how they were swimming for equality. So I think it added to the festival vibe and you know, just gave this more, I don't know, like it is. There was just something in the air, I guess, right? No, I could understand women mud wrestling. How could you not love that? Oh my god. I don't know if that actually happened, but wow. Okay. Sorry. So that, that was the worst thing I could secret, possibly have said for this episode. My bad. Can you just skip to number two really fast? Thank you very much. Okay. Fast forward, so number two, Hillary Clinton almost didn't even speak at the conference, right? So like her whole women's rights or human rights speech nearly got pulled because the US administration feared that she might offend China. Yes. You had said earlier about like how weird it was that it was in Beijing in the first place. That is wild. So when, you said that, I was like, yeah, you're right. China's I mean, I don't wanna say backwards, but certainly. As progressive. Well, the opposite of what we think. Right. You know, the Beijing conferences be doing. Absolutely. That's wild. Yeah. I mean, they have the whole one shot policy at the time and the way in general. God, that's right. Repress women. Yes. But so, so she just put, she just like what she do, she just, she did. She just insisted and it all worked out because it became the most famous line of her whole career. Go Hillary. Yeah. She stood up for what she believed in. Man. Love her. Hater. Let's go. Yep. Wait. Meanwhile, do you know what Bill Clinton's most famous line is? Stop it. Nope. I did not have sexual relations with that woman. Okay. Sorry. Go. It's very, it's very ironic. It really is. Okay. Go ahead. Okay. Number three. The Philippines sent the largest delegation to the conference. Bad asses? Yeah, absolutely. Let's go over 1000 people for 1000. Yeah. Wow. From their whole government. So it was by far the biggest of any country. And super fun fact, the smallest. You're just, you're full of super fun facts that Well, it's just so interesting. Well, if you did the biggest, you're doing the smallest. I get it. Okay. Go. Yeah, yeah. The smallest for somebody. Wait, lemme guess. Lemme guess. Vatican, no. Um, smaller. Smaller than the Vatican? I think so. I don't, there's nothing smaller than the Vatican. Yeah. There are, I have no idea. Little tiny islands. Yeah. Okay. I was just gonna say a little tiny. Okay, got it. Yeah. So like San Marino and Val sending only one each. But at least they were represented. I guess that's a plus side, right? They totally represented. Let's go. Quite frankly, you would argue they're bad asses for sh like, right? Like they, they're just going in and they're saying, Hey, like, we're here. We're supporting. But that is a beautiful thing about the un, right? Good work, San Marino and tab. Let's go. Okay, number four, I, by the way, I love these fun facts. Now I understand why. You like to sit back and just listen to this stuff. This is excellent. This is like the best part for me. It's so great. Okay. Go. You get, do you feel like you're infinitely smarter? You do. Okay. Go. Uh, okay. Number four, did you know that it was only 10 years ago that Saudi Arabia first finally let women vote? Wait, no. 10 years, like 2015, only 10 years ago. No bullshit. Yep. Was that the last one? Yeah. They were the last major country to grant women's voting rights, as of today, every country allows it except for only one who. Vatican City. Wait, seriously? Yeah. They are the only, what is Vatican's problem? What? What's going on? Well, it's because they only vote for the Pope and only men can vote for the Pope. Oh my God. Fine. I get it. That's a little tricky, but like it is, whatever. I mean, it's kind of like an asterisk, like a, that's still bs, dude. Okay, whatever. Keep going. Then, right. I'm going to hell. I'm gonna be smed. It's fine. Yeah. You know what this is, this whole thing is ineffable. Everything that's going on with a Vatican ineffable. I have no words. No words. Yeah. Alright, number five, and realistically. There is no effing going on in the Vatican anyway. Who are we kidding? Right? I think, yeah, that's sacrilegious, right? Yeah, totally would be. Okay. Okay. Sorry. Get back on track. My bad. Number five, Beijing 95 was basically the first woman's rights conference to go viral. Viral. Viral. They mean viral. Well, no, they didn't have internet. It was viral. It was on dial up. It was on dial up internet. Yeah. So the activists were posting daily updates online in real time, which meant for the first time ever you could actually follow a live conference online. Whoa. Big deal. Yes. But I guess you kind of had to wait like five minutes for the page to load. And a lot of listeners probably don't even know what dial up is, but it was when it was like in the day was like, yeah. Oh my God. But that's so cool. So that was the first one they tried to like do like live online. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So it could reach out. Go Beijing 95 technology. Man, I love it how far we've come. Amen. And finally, number six, they totally sold souvenir merch. Of course they did. I, I can't, right? I mean, you had to, they had t-shirts, pins, tote bags, and like the tote bags even has slogans. I said, see the world through women's eyes or like action for equality, development and peace. Um, yeah. And you can still, I think to this day, find them on eBay. No. Yeah, I think they're kind of collector's items. Please tell me you have one. I don't. They go for a lot of money. I'm looking this up online right now. You should. I'm totally doing this right now. It's a lot. Holy crap. But you know what? I wonder if it's gonna be like one of those retro things where like somebody else starts to remake, right? The merch that was then, oh, maybe. Oh my god, I just found one. It's 95 is what vintage now, dude. $79. They want for a shirt right now. Yeah. Crazy. It literally says action for equality. Yes. It says Beijing 95. Oh my God. It's really here. That's what I'm saying. You're not kidding. It might be like one of those vintage things that comes back around. Okay. I love that. Um, anymore are you done? That's it. I love it. Great mix. I like the mud pits. I like Hillary Clinton. Almost getting censored and then dial up feminism. Right. Who wouldn't like that? Well done. All right. But now you gotta give us call to action. Can you do call to action? Can you finish this for us? Can we flip this? I can. Okay, good. Because if we like, wanna learn more of what word? Like go do something to help. Like what do we do? Like summarize this thing for me please. So I Can look like I know something when, somebody asked me if I remember the Beijing conference in 1995. Alright, well if this episode sparked your curiosity, don't stop here. Is this your little? I like it. The little plug. I like that. I'm just kidding. Right. Um, but the full Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action is available for free on the UN Women website if you feel so compelled. Um, it's not really, I love that a dry policy manual, but it's basically a global to-do list for gender equality. Makes it easy to understand and follow then. Yeah, I like it. And you can also check out C-E-D-A-W. It stands for the Convention of the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. It's kind of a mouthful, but it's often called the International Bill of Rights for Women. So another good thing to look at, okay? And if you want something closer to home, um, probably look up what your own country's commitments were in Beijing and see if they're actually being delivered. Oh, what a good idea. Yes. Didn't even think like duh. Right, but that's like, that's a good way to start, right? Being cultured isn't just about knowing history. It's about knowing where the work still needs to be happening. I like that. So go check it out. But. If you're still curious, here are maybe just a few ways that you can dig a little deeper. What do you got? Okay. So there's books obviously all the time. Yep. Uh, so Half The Sky by Nicholas Christophe and she wun the real life stories of Women around the world. And we should all be feminist By shi Amanda Ngozi Adii. I maybe butchered that a little bit, but it's like a short, powerful and very readable book. Um, both of them are like heartbreaking but also inspiring. Um, there's documentaries as always, so misrepresentation that came out in like, what, 2011 I found? We did. We did, yeah. We talked about that one in sociology episode. So you have to watch it for two reasons now. It's like a cheaper for, for feminism. Okay. I like this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it also shows like how the media shapes how we actually view women. So that's a good one. Yep, yep, yep. Okay. Uh, then, uh, she's beautiful when she's angry. It's a 20 14 1. It's a fun and fiery look at the women's liberation movement. So another, I have not seen that. I will watch that one. Yeah. Um, I think that's all probably on the. Watching side. Okay. But then there's podcasts. So the guilty feminist, um, is a good one. It's like witty, relatable, modern. There's also, or call your Girlfriend, um, which I think is kind of fun 'cause it's like a smart and pop culture savvy feminist talk. I love that. All right. I can do podcasts, two little things because I'm always checking out. Well, first of all, I gotta check out podcast you just to see how we like stack you're competition. Right? Of course. Um, but no, I totally get into that. Yeah. I love it. Okay. Okay. Well then, and I guess lastly would just be to remember these takeaways to sound sort of sophisticated. This is what I gotta memorize. Yes. All right, I'm ready. Here's your hit list. Hit it. I'm writing down. Hit list. Ready go. Okay. Number one, women's rights equals human rights. The Beijing declaration in 1995 cemented the phrase, women's rights are human rights on the global stage. It wasn't just rhetoric, it reframed women's issues as fundamental to democracy, peace and development. Number two, it took 20 years to get there. Beijing was the fourth UN world conference on women after Mexico City, which was in 1975, Copenhagen, 1980, and Nairobi in 1985, each one laid the groundwork, but Beijing pulled it all together into the most ambitious plane yet, and it's still being used today. Number three, Beijing produced a 12 part action plan covering everything from poverty, health, and education to violence, human rights media, and the girl child. It's basically the ultimate checklist for gender equality. Number four, not everyone agreed. The declaration passed by consensus, but some governments entered reservations, especially on reproductive rights. This was led by the Vatican and some Muslim majority and conservative states and LGBTQ plus rights were cut out altogether due to pushback And finally, the work isn't finished yet. 30 years later, beijing is still the reference point for progress reports pay gaps, representation in leadership and gender-based violence remain unfinished. Business, meaning the declaration is in history, it's still homework. I love that I can get behind all that. Uh, there you have it, your listeners. Hopefully not so intimidating. Dive into the Beijing declaration and feminism from the first attempt in Mexico City in 75 to Hillary Clinton's career defining mic drop. Beijing wasn't just another UN meeting, it was a turning point that still shapes the way we talk about equality today. So if we did our job right, you're leaving a little more curious, a little more confident, and maybe ready to feel more comfortable in a conversation about equality Whether you're reading headlines about equal pay, or just realizing. That the global to-do list for gender equality is still unfinished. The big takeaway is this Beijing 95 isn't history to memorize. It's work that's still going on and it belongs to all of us. We are all responsible to see this through. As always, if you like this episode, subscribe, leave a review and share it with five of your best friends. Or at some point we're just gonna have to stop making these forever. I swear to God. 'cause this is tough work. People help us. Five best friends. Until next time, stay curious, stay thoughtful, and remember, being sophisticated isn't about knowing everything. It's about knowing what still matters.
