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Actions taken by public authorities for the equality of women: the first years of the United Nations

This article will analyze some of the legal and institutional measures taken by the UN to improve women’s conditions from the time it was founded until 1985. The work done by the UN is divided into two periods. The first period includes the period when women’s rights were legally defended. Over those years, the United Nation’s activities in favor of women consisted of promulgating declarations and conventions that sanctioned gender inequality, considering it one of the manifestations of discrimination that went against the principles of equality and dignity on which the organization based its activities. The second period began with the turn seen in 1970 with the Program of Concerted International Action for the Advancement of Women and continued with the proclamation of the United Nations International Women’s Year in 1975 and the United Nations Decade for Women (1975–1985). In this decade three Conferences followed one another, the one that took place in Mexico (1975), Copenhagen (1980) and, finally, the one of Nairobi (1985). Although the pro-equality work of the United Nations in those years was very fruitful and of undeniable value, those efforts were not accompanied by marketing work that would provide for greater influence on international public opinion.