By Renee Schoof

Associated Press Writer

BEIJING, September 4, 1995 (AP) -- With the rallying cry that "a revolution has begun," delegates today opened a global conference on women overshadowed even 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."

Mongella, meanwhile, won cheers and applause when she told delegates and Chinese dignitaries at a welcoming ceremony earlier today 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 only hours before the formal opening of the conference, when Winnie Mandela was turned away from a Chinese welcoming ceremony after arriving late.

Chinese security men used coats to try to block cameras' view of their altercation with Mrs. Mandela, estranged wife of South African President Nelson Mandela, and her bodyguards.

At the Chinese welcoming gala and later at the conference opening, organizers sought to turn the spotlight to the U.N. gathering's goals and away from complaints from private activists about scrambled logistics and too-tight Chinese security.

Envoy Ismat Kittani, speaking on behalf of U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, made a point of thanking the Chinese for their hospitality, without mentioning the difficulties encountered by private groups whose gathering outside Beijing began six days ago.

Chinese authorities have closely watched and occasionally harassed participants at the private forum, especially Tibetan exiles seeking independence for the Chinese-ruled Himalayan region.

The Chinese wish to keep a tight lid on the gathering was likely to be reinforced by the visit of first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, who will serve as honorary head of the U.S. delegation.

Mrs. Clinton is to address the official conference on Tuesday and an unofficial meeting 30 miles away in Huairou on Wednesday. Some private activists hint they may try to stage protests, capitalizing on the attention generated by the visit to stage protests.

Mrs. Clinton is among the best-known woman 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 today'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 like this one, 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."