UNITED NATIONS: As the world marks International Women's Day yesterday, leaders of the fight for women's equality say there is no going back on the revolution that began 30 years ago though the challenges ahead are immense.

Delegates from 130 countries and 6,000 representatives from women's and human rights organizations are in the second week of a two-week meeting to assess progress on implementing the 150-page blueprint to achieve equality of the sexes adopted at the 1995 UN Women's Conference in Beijing.

Yesterday, they observed International Women's Day with a panel discussion on gender equality beyond 2005.

Helvi Sipila, secretary-general of the first UN women's conference in Mexico City in 1975, said in a video message from her home in Finland that women have made "considerable strides towards gender equality," and "every day is an opportunity for actions, not just words."

"In Beijing in 1995, I said we had not done enough to advance peace," recalled Sipila, who is now 89 years old. "Today... we must ask ourselves more seriously and with greater determination than ever what we can do in order to end violence, to enhance national and international understanding, and to secure world peace."

Gertrude Mongella, secretary-general of the Beijing conference and now president of the Pan-African Parliament, recalled that in her final speech in Beijing she said: "A revolution has begun and there's no going back."

Ten years later, she said, women are more visible, gender equality "has become a working concept worldwide," and "women and men are now mobilized to see women's issues as societal issues, whether they like it or not."

"We are here to set a new speed," Mongella told the meeting. "We are here to remove the remaining obstacles. We are exchanging experience and lessons that will recharge our energy... We are on the right track of our revolution. There is no going back."

An increasing number of women live in poverty, women are lagging behind in economic advancement, globalization is hurting many women, the incidence of HIV/AIDS is increasing among young women, and violence against women is increasing in armed conflicts, at home and through trafficking, she said.

(China Daily 03/09/2005 page7)