Ongoing Commitment

Maureen McTeer, wife of former Canadian Prime Minister Joe Clark, is an advocate for women and children's rights and a lawyer who lectures on health law and medical law. [Women of China English Monthly/Ye Shan]

Maureen McTeer, wife of former Canadian Prime Minister Joe Clark, is an advocate for women and children's rights and a lawyer who lectures on health law and medical law. McTeer visited Beijing in late May to participate in a series of events, hosted by the Canadian Embassy, to mark the 20th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action approved at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women (held in 1995). "Are Women any Safer from Violence?" was the title of a speech given by McTeer. "As in all injustices, we must work together to end all forms of violence against women and girls in our countries," McTeer said.

In a global pledge to achieve equality, development and peace for women, dozens of women and men of influence met in Beijing, in 1995, at which time they outlined an international platform of action to achieve equality, rights, fairness and opportunities for women and girls. Twenty years have passed since that meeting, the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women, and yet there has not been an end to the global struggle by women and girls to obtain the same rights as men. 

During her visit to Beijing, McTeer reviewed the commitments made during the 1995 UN conference, and she offered her thoughts on why the violence against women and girls has remained a global problem. Women of China (WOC) interviewed McTeer before she delivered her speech. 

WOC: You have worked with the Canada-China Child Health Foundation, which builds connections between children's hospitals in Canada and China. While you were working with that foundation, what efforts did you make to advance friendly exchanges between children's hospitals in the two countries?

McTeer: I'm not a doctor. I'm a lawyer. I teach medical law and health law. I've always been advocating for (improving) women and children's health. So, it was obviously important for me to be a part of that (foundation). We encouraged the adoption of some important Canadian practices. For instance, we suggested that the requirement to give a child and his/her mother antibiotics every time they were admitted to a hospital was excessive and so that practice was changed in many of the children's hospitals. 

We also encouraged the development of nursing as a profession. In Canada, nurses are licensed at the provincial level, and they attend universities … We had opportunities to link women here (in China), who were interested in creating curriculums and (developing) faculties of nursing, to our academics in universities in Canada.

WOC: This year marks the 20th anniversary of the UN Fourth World Conference on Women. Do you think we have fulfilled the commitments we made 20 years ago? In your opinion, what has been the major progress made by women, worldwide, in protecting their rights? 

McTeer: That's an ongoing question for all of us, (especially) those of us who are concerned about women's equality, and who continue to work for women's equality in our communities and countries … I suppose one of the major accomplishments has been raising people's awareness (to the fact) there's problem. The conference made people aware that women's issues had to be taken seriously, and that … the world would be without peace or prosperity if half of its population (women) were subjugated to violence, were uneducated and were not given opportunities to do businesses or get involved in political fields. There's no doubt that (we still have) a huge amount of work to do.

Take the area of maternal health, for example. I was the Canadian representative of the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood until this year. We worked to achieve Millennium Development Goal No. 5, which committed States to reduce by three quarters the number of women in the world who die from preventable causes of pregnancy and birth, and to ensure they have professional care before, during and after a birth. There has been some progress, but women still die giving birth, and discrimination is still common, for instance in child care and family responsibilities, in access to education, health and medical care. Girls in so many parts of the world still cannot go to school. You cannot have a healthy society without educated women. You can't have educated women unless they are healthy. A healthy mother will deliver a healthy child, an educated mother will be able to educate her own children, and make sure they know how to take care of themselves.

WOC: In the speech you are going to deliver, you will include your thoughts on why violence against women and girls remains a global issue. Does the Canadian Government have some effective measures that can benefit governments in other countries?

McTeer: One of the ongoing and increasingly difficult challenges we face with respect to women is violence in all of its manifestations. In my remarks, I will speak of the many types of violence against women and girls, and some thoughts I have on China's law being proposed with respect to domestic violence.  

Marital rape and violence take place within the confines of the home and often only the persons involved and their families see those crimes.

As your legislation suggests, we have insisted there has to be a whole list of approaches; it's not just one question of one agency or one group helping women victims of violence. When a woman is a victim of marital rape or physical abuse, we have to have tools available for doctors and nurses, who see that victim first, to ensure evidence is collected to show there (has been) violence or rape. Otherwise, we can't bring the case to court. 

Canada has been very insistent about the collection of evidence. For instance, our national police force provides testing kits to emergency rooms of our hospitals, so nurses and doctors who see the women at the very beginning have the tools to collect evidence (for instance, DNA samples) to show there has been a sexual assault.  

(Source: Women of China English Monthly July 2015 Issue)