With the rallying cry that "a revolution has begun," delegates Monday opened a global conference on women overshadowed before its start by complaints about heavy-handed Chinese policing.
Subjects that might discomfit the Beijing government surfaced almost immediately: At the opening session, Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto condemned female infanticide. She did not single out China, but the practice is widespread here."The cries of the girl child reach out to us," Bhutto told delegates to the Fourth World Women's Conference. "This conference needs to create a climate where a girl child is as welcome and valued as a boy child."
Over the next 12 days, the 3,000 delegates were to debate a proposed 120-page platform - which conference Secretary-General Gertrude Mongella called a crucial social agenda - urging steps to help women overcome poverty and win better health care, job opportunities and education.
China's Chen Muhua, elected conference president at the opening session, told the gathering that improving the lot of women "is not only a cry from the women's population, but a demand from the times."
Earlier Monday, Mongella won cheers and applause when she told delegates and Chinese dignitaries at a welcoming ceremony that women are no longer "guests on this planet."
"This planet belongs to them, too," she said. "A revolution has begun - there's no going back."
The latest confrontation with Chinese security came at that welcoming ceremony, when South Africa's Winnie Mandela was turned away after arriving late.
Chinese security men used coats to try to block cameras' view of their altercation with Winnie Mandela, estranged wife of South African President Nelson Mandela, and her bodyguards.
Chinese authorities have closely watched and occasionally harassed participants at a private forum that began last Wednesday in Huairou, a village outside Beijing. Tibetan exiles seeking independence for the Chinese-ruled Himalayan region have been particular targets.
By Monday, though, there were signs of a change in the Chinese attitude.
"We think there has been some relaxation and perhaps along the way some better understanding by the Chinese authorities about how U.N. conferences work," said Timothy Wirth, the U.S. undersecretary of state for global affairs.
Illustrating that, guards at the Huairou site stood by quietly Monday while peace activists staged the largest demonstration yet at the private forum.
About 1,000 members of the group Women in Black stood for an hour in silence, holding placards protesting war, violence and poverty, then lit candles and marched for about a quarter-mile. They did not attempt to leave the forum site.
The hands-off Chinese approach might be tested, however, by the visit of first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is to address the official conference Tuesday and the unofficial meeting in Huairou on Wednesday.
Some private activists hint they may try to stage protests, capitalizing on the attention generated by the visit.
Hillary Clinton is among the best-known women attending the official forum, but several female heads of state or government were also on hand.
Along with Bhutto, Iceland's President Vigdis Finnbogadottir and Bangladeshi Prime Minister Khaleda Zia addressed Monday's opening session, as did Uganda's vice president, Speciosa Wandira Kazibwe.
All the leaders said talk at the conference will come to nothing without strong follow-up action.
"Much depends on the political will of governments to carry out the implementation (of conference goals)," said Finnbogadottir.
Zia urged the United Nations to create the position of a deputy secretary-general for women's affairs and set up a commission of eminent women to evaluate progress.
But real change happens from the ground up, not at conferences, the speakers said.
"What we need is not just a few women who make history," said Kazibwe, "but a critical mass who make progress at all levels."
On Monday, Hillary Clinton struck back at conservative critics of the women's conference, saying that its primary goal is to improve the lives of women, children and families around the world.
"It is important that America play a leadership role at this conference," the first lady said. "Issues of concern to women are crucial not only to the economic and social progress of our nation, but of every other nation."
Conservatives have portrayed the conference as a radical, anti-family event that will endorse liberal stands on issues such as abortion. Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, R-Kan., seeking the GOP presidential nomination, has deemed it "misguided" and a "genuine waste of the taxpayers' money."
The women's conference has become enmeshed in a political debate over the best approach to promote family values, a particularly popular theme in presidential politics.