Chapter IV PRIORITY THEMES 1. The Commission considered item 5 of its agenda at its 6th to 11th and 13th to 15th meetings, on 19 and from 22 to 26 March 1993. It had before it the following documents: (a) Report of the Secretary-General on increased awareness by women of their rights, including legal literacy (E/CN.6/1993/2); (b) Report of the Secretary-General on women in extreme poverty: integration of women’s concerns in national development planning (E/CN.6/1993/3); (c) Report of the Secretary-General on women and the peace process (E/CN.6/1993/4). 2. In addition, the Commission had before it, for information, the following reports: (a) Recommendations of the Expert Group Meeting on Population and Women (E/CONF.84/PC/6); (b) Report of the Expert Group Meeting on Family Planning, Health and Family Well-being (E/CONF.84/PC/7). 3. The Director of the Division for the Advancement of Women introduced the item. Under the priority theme of "Equality: increased awareness by women of their rights, including legal literacy", the Director stated that, while most countries had enacted legal measures to ensure that women had equal opportunities before the law, de facto as well as de jure discrimination continued. She stated that legal literacy was necessary for both women and men, as a part of their roles as citizens of their country. Regarding the priority theme of "development: women in extreme poverty: integration of women’s concerns in national development", the Director emphasized that an analysis of poverty in a broad context had shown that women and men experienced poverty differently and unequally, and that women constituted the majority of the poor. Failure to take gender into account in micro- and macro-policies continued to sustain poverty and hinder the achievement of the goals of sustainable development and equality. With reference to the priority theme of "Peace: women and the peace process", the Director said that women had been absent from the official peace process at the national level, but had been involved in the military, especially during periods of mass mobilization, such as wars of national liberation and responses to invasion, and included in all jobs performed by men. Women had been extremely active in the non-governmental peace movement. A. Equality: increasing awareness by women of their rights, including legal literacy 4. Many representatives agreed that it was not enough to have constitutional provisions and laws guaranteeing women equal rights with men. Women also had to be aware of those provisions and laws and exercise them. One representative defined the three factors in legal literacy as being the substance, the structure and the culture of law. Legal literacy was defined as the process of -69-