Thank you for inviting me to speak here today. My compliments are in the first place directed at Mrs Lin Lean Lim who has done so much hard work to complete the ILO manual 'More and better jobs for women'. And secondly, I would like to express my appreciation to the ILO for having included this item into the international agenda at all.

'More and better jobs for women'. A slogan from which the economic angle becomes immediately clear. A predominantly economic approach to the battle for equal rights between men and women. I think this is an appropriate choice.

Obviously, the inequality between men and women manifests itself in many different ways, varying considerably from country to country. But almost everywhere it is economic inequality that forms the basis of the inequality between men and women.

Democracy and legal equality, these are prerequisite to the rights of women. However, they are not sufficient in themselves to abolish the inequality between men and women.

Hence the strong emphasis that has been put on combatting economic inequality by the Fourth World Women's Conference of Beijing. And hence the emphasis on economic inequality in Social Watch, the annual publication in which the state of affairs regarding the position of women around the world is being monitored. Social Watch phrases this as follows: 'because economic inequality affects social, political and legal equality it is the most objectionable of all inequalities'.

So, the struggle for social equality is to a large extent a universal battle. A battle that must be fought in modern industrial countries as well as in developing countries. At the same time, it is an effort that offers the prospect on a potentially significant growth of prosperity and welfare in the world.

To developing countries, strengthening the economic position of women and better education implies a very effective strategy away from poverty and dependence. Strengthening the economic position of women is directly rendered into lower infant mortality rates, better family planning, an increased chance that children will attend school and a smaller chance that children will have to be put to work. Investing in the economic position of women therefore directly implies investing in future generations.

To a large extent, this goes for countries in the OECD area as well. The ILO manual corroborates the fact that, between 1980 and 1990, employment among women has grown twice as fast as among men. In the European Union women even accounted for 7 out of each 8 new jobs.

Even so, in many countries, including my own country, the participation of women to employment is still lagging far behind that of men. Increasing the participation of women to the labour force -and I mean to the entire width of the economy, including the better paid jobs- is a key factor to further growth of prosperity and the timely anticipation on the costs of the ageing populations in the OECD area.

But how can we actually bring about enhanced labour participation of women? It becomes clear from the manual that this requires more than just letting the free market work for itself. For better education and better child care do not come by as a matter of course. Glass ceilings do not fall in by themselves. The free market does not offer a solution to discrimination and sexual violence.

This implies that working on 'more and better jobs' requires an integrated, multidisciplinary approach. An approach that addresses the demand side of the labour market as well as the supply side; an approach that addresses national legislation as well as the public opinion; and an approach that addresses the business community, the social partners and the authorities; but mostly an approach that addresses the responsibilities of men. Raising the children, giving priority to social quality, investing in every talent: the men occupy the positions that enable them to put their economic weight in the scales in favour of a better social balance.

The importance of 'More and better jobs for women' is more far-reaching than the interests of women alone. It offers a perspective to a better quality of our society and of our economy. And it is in line with a modern concept of international competitive force. A concept that is not solely focused on the international competition for the lowest labour costs and the lowest levels of social investments, but a strategy aimed at utilizing the qualities of people to the full.