Natalia Fischer
Fair Fashion Enthusiast
wearing her leased dress from unown fashion

The picture on top of the page shows a textile factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Photo by NaZemi, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

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In Canada the plight of the Indigenous Woman to self-actualize is as daunting as ever and must become an area of focus to challenge the current state of affairs.  While other women in Canada are experiencing levels of empowerment, our Indigenous sisters are largely still fighting for their voices to be heard and their rights in the areas of gender based violence, access to transportation, health care and education.

The February 2014 Amnesty International Executive Summary of the 2011 Statistics Canada report states that, “Violence affects Indigenous women and girls in their own families and communities, as well as in predominantly non-Indigenous communities, and threatens Indigenous women and girls from all walks of life. This violence against Indigenous women and girls has deep roots in racism, marginalization and poverty.” Included for your convenience is the link to the document https://www.amnesty.ca/sites/amnesty/files/iwfa_submission_amnesty_international_february_2014_-_final.pdf

In response to calls for action from Indigenous families, communities and organizations, as well as non-governmental and international organizations, the Government of Canada launched a National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in September 2016.  Composed of four Commissioners from across the country, the Commissioners’ mandate is to examine and report on the systemic causes of all forms of violence against Indigenous women and girls and 2SLGBTQ individuals in Canada by looking at patterns and underlying factors.

From the beginning, the Inquiry was fraught with controversy resulting in a rotation of commissioners and accusations that the Inquiry did not provide enough time or access for all Indigenous communities to participate.  However, as of July 25, 2018 the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls website reports 1273 testimonies have been provided by family members and survivors who shared their truths.  340 Artistic Expressions have been received.  1859 families and survivors registered to participate.

On June 5th, 2018, the federal government granted the National Inquiry a short extension of six months, instead of an additional 24 months requested. The National Inquiry is expected to conclude its research and submit its final report by April 30, 2019.  The Commissioners have been given the direction to conduct hearings on the following topics:

1. Colonial Violence – socio-economic, health impacts, wellness
2. The Family: Child Welfare, Supports to family, Domestic Violence
3. Oversight and Accountability in/of the Criminal Justice System
4. Sexual Exploitation/Human Trafficking/Sexual Violence

Testimonials from Indigenous families during the Inquiry being held across Canada indicate that police procedures and practices for responding to missing persons often fail to take into account the pervasiveness and severity of threats faced by Indigenous women and girls, resulting in a failure to take the report seriously.  Bias among law enforcement officers often result in the ignoring of a suspicious death leading to investigations that are under resourced or aborted without further consideration. The resulting impact is the normalization of violence against Indigenous women and girls.

Since the arrival of the colonials on Turtle Island (Canada), Indigenous women and girls have been the target of all forms of violence.  The entire Indigenous culture has suffered racism, cultural rape and genocide. However, for women and girls the impact has been more intense with continued power imbalances within families and communities.

The continued practice of human rights abuses toward Indigenous communities have long been an embarrassment for Canada.  However, calls from private citizens, civil society organizations and Indigenous community leaders have had little impact on influencing government response to address the issues and provide culturally appropriate redress to heal a centuries old wound.

In seeking to understand the issues that affect rural women, Indigenous communities are often rural, it was important to spearhead “The Rural Woman Survey-Community Organizations” which was distributed to organizations across Canada, India, Rwanda and the USA in January 2018 and closed on February 15, 2018. The break down of responses are as follows: New Brunswick (2), Quebec (1), Ontario (3), Sasktachewan (7), Alberta (8), British Columbia (59), California (1), India (1), Rwanda (1) and one Native Band from an unidentified location. In total eighty-four organizations responded to the survey about their experiences in serving women in rural communities in the following categories: Transportation, Health Care, Education, Technology, Gender Based Violence, Equity, Challenges and Opportunities.

Of the 84 respondents 59 were from British Columbia (BC). The organizations included representatives from the Peace River District and as far north as Fort Nelson down to the Kootenay and Selkirk areas, the Okanagan, the Caledonian region, the Skeena Valley and Haida Gwaii, the Central BC Coast, parts of Vancouver Island (central west and east coastal areas) and offshore islands in the Strait of Georgia/Salish Sea, as well as the Howe Sound area. These areas are isolated by geography – immense distances, isolated valley areas separated by mountain ranges, and offshore islands requiring either flights or ferries to reach larger population centres. One organization indicated it took 7 hours to drive to a larger population centre.

Transportation

Overwhelmingly, transportation is the greatest problem for rural dwellers in Canada. While not a huge problem in heavily populated India, certainly public transportation is inaccessible in Rwanda, two other countries included in the survey. In fact, public transportation was rated “very accessible” by none of the total number of respondents. The vast majority (91.21%) of all organizations rated it either “accessible with challenges”49.9 % or “inaccessible”42.21%. Only 6 Canadian organizations and the one from India rated public transportation as “accessible” (8.4%)

Another question that further breaks down these statistics dealt with the kinds of transportation available: buses, trains, taxis and other. Of those who responded to how many buses per hour were available, 6 reported none, 7 reported 1 or more, 2 replied 1 a day, one each of 2 a day, 3 a day, 4 a day and 3 buses 3 times a week. Those who did have bus service hourly frequently volunteered the buses did not run in the evenings, weekends or holidays.

The availability of taxi companies was much more varied, with several further comments. Thirteen reported no taxi service at all while 14 listed 1 and another 2 were part time. Thirteen reported 2 or more taxi companies. Comments included the fact that the company had only one car, or there was one “sometimes” and another “with one driver who works when he feels like it.” Another listed two taxis but “who rarely ever answer”. Others were Not enough with long waits, limited, one taxi for a very large area and one reported 4 but only certain hours and are very expensive.

The availability of service organization rides received 34 answers of none, 18 reported one organization with a comment but “with specific days for specific destinations”, and one of those who mentioned the dial a ride program claimed it was “very hard to get a ride”, another “only for seniors home and disabilities,” 2 qualified rides as “not available for out of town” and one long answer “This may be accessible but requires women to feel comfortable to access ride sharing and the impact of people knowing about what they are doing and where they are going.”

“Other means of transportation” had the lowest response rate, with only 72% responding while the first three were all in the 92-93% range. The answers, however were the most varied, with 6 listing hitchhiking, 5 their own vehicle, 5 family or friends, 3 walking, hiking, bicycling, 3 volunteer drivers but costly, or only if registered and qualified, 3 ferries but with limited schedules, 1 neighbours, 1 boat or plane. One person summed up the area as “You are on your own or reliant on family or the community.” India reported public transportation and Rwanda three wheelers, rickkshaw, autos and scooters but mostly walking.

In answer to the question” What are the barriers (If any) to achieving gender equality faced by women and girls in your rural communities?” lack of transportation received the highest number of responses at 91.4%. Only India, and 4 organizations in Canada did not list lack of transportation out of the 75 respondents. Yet one of those did list lack of transportation in answer to the question concerning the two highest challenges to life in rural communities.

Clearly, the lack of transportation is a glaring problem to be addressed in improving the quality of life to those who live in rural communities.

Health Care

This section of the survey investigated how participants would rate access to health services using 4 categories of an ordinal scale: very accessible, accessible, with several challenges in accessibility and inaccessible. After categorizing data under themes associated with health dimensions set by the survey questions, we have crosschecked for co-occurrences and performed a qualitative analysis by ordinal categories and by themes.

There were rather polarized opinions expressed by the 84 respondents, with a large proportion (64/84) considering health services accessible with several challenges and 13/84 claiming these services were accessible while an insignificant proportion reported health services that were either very accessible (3/84) or inaccessible (3/84).

Inaccessible health services were associated with several determinants mainly:

• Poor transportation infrastructure resulting in long distance traveling in order to access specialist and non-specialist care (paediatrician, psychiatrist, obstetrician/gynecologist, orthopedist).
• Difficulty finding a family doctor.
• Difficulty making medical appointments.
• Long waiting list for consultations and interventions.
• Inadequacy between available clinical hours (evenings) and bus schedule (days).

Very accessible health services were routine care delivered in medical clinics, community health centres, schools and band office, by family doctors, general practitioners, and to a lesser extent by nurses, midwifes and douhlas. However, regardless of the domain of health studied, these services were hindered by a lack of health professionals available (doctors, social, workers, counsellors, specialists).

Accessible health services were those offered mainly by general practitioners, family physicians and other health professionals. These services were limited to routine care and small interventions; they were offered in community clinics or regional health hubs and usually required travel- ling «in surrounding communities with no medical clinic or hospital there is significant barriers regarding transportation and access».

Challenges in accessibility encompassed several factors related to lack of resources, care delivery, and transportation infrastructures.

First, due to lack of health resources available, it was difficult to get a family doctor, thus, routine care or referral to a specialist. This scarcity of resources has affected the health care system and the community by:

Creating a bottle neck in city hospital emergency rooms: in the absence of health professionals, people tend to travel to the next emergency room to get health care and services.

Increasing the waiting time to see a health professional « go to walk in clinic, you show up first thing in the morning get a number and hope that at some point in the day they will look at your child, if you are lucky».

Exacerbating mental health crisis in an environment with high incidence of mental illness and abuse : «There is no child and youth counsellor skilled to work with children who have been sexually abused or assaulted».

Influencing negatively preventive health: « there is limited access to planned parenthood, or re-productive choice services»

Second, although routine health care was delivered locally it required travelling: «you have to travel extensively to access specialized hospital care. Some women and kids cannot get into the nearest mental health services due to lack of transportation». The closest local clinic was 16 km away; pregnant women must drive 2-3 hours to get to a maternity ward, parents traveled more than 65 km to see a paediatrician; older adults must travel up to 4 hours to see a specialist. Travelling is done through a medical bus twice a week, other wise one needs to drive or get a ride from friends or parents. The volunteer drivers charged money to cover cost of gas, thus “many seniors cannot afford it due to poverty”. Older adults sometimes have to wait up to a week for air ambulance.

Third, geriatric services were limited with insufficient nursing homes and assisted living quarters. Older adults living with families were at risk of abuse «From the elders they state, that they need better care where people come into the home to decrease elder abuse».

Child health was provided mainly by family doctors, general practitioners at medical clinic, walk in clinics, health clinics, at school, at Band office or via tele-health. Travelling was necessary to see specialist or to deal with acute cases in emergency rooms: « Must travel into town or wait at ER if no family Dr. and long waitlist to see any specialist».

Maternal health was reported mainly as the pregnancy period, where future mothers drive to access health services provided by family physicians, public health nurses, nurse practitioners, midwife and douhlas. There were limited female doctors and almost no specialists. Complications were dealt with at Regional hospitals «services exist for basic needs, but must leave town for anything beyond basic as most rural communities do not have access to maternal health therefore requiring women to travel».

Mental health services were very limited, there were no local shelters to take care of women or girls with mental health issues. Mental health services were delivered on psychiatry wards or through regional health authority services with a strong focus on pharmacotherapy. Patients needed to travel in city or nearby community to get consultation or treatments. There were insufficient qualified resources available to manage mental health crisis « most communities do not have access to mental health support, or if they do there are long waitlists and not enough access ».

Chronic and geriatric health services delivery was similar to previous health domains in terms of delivery of health services. Population with chronic diseases having to travel to see specialists were facing the same transportation challenges. In addition, support to pain management was non-existent «there is only a pain group run once a year through Mental Health and Addictions». Home care was not very popular and there was no emphasis on social support.

In summary, rating access to health services seems to be an outcome of poor a transportation infrastructure along with a lack of adequate resources and a deficit in the health services.

Education and the Internet

This section of the survey had 5 questions related to access to child care (which is early years education), cost of child care, opportunities for child care, access to secondary education and access to post secondary education.

In response to whether or not there was access to subsidized child care the answer remains, “not enough”. In Gujarat, India there is an “Aanganwadi” which means a kind of childcare for children ages 9 months to 5 years old. The cost per month for child care in that area of India is $200 Canadian dollars per month. The Canadian organizations report that childcare can cost between $601- $1,300 per month, at an average cost of $65 per day.

On the question of access to higher education, organizations reported that in most cases students had access to online courses, community college for a few programs, otherwise they had to leave their communities to attend university in the urban centres.

It must be noted that access to the internet to participate in online courses is unreliable in rural areas and would seriously compromise a student’s access to education.

Gender Based Violence

Five questions (#17-21) on the survey sought information about gender based violence and the availability of support for those experiencing such violence. 94.5% of the respondents in this survey answered yes to the question “Are there incidents of gender based violence in the community?” 75% of the organizations agreed that there were women’s shelters in their area. Only 26.5% of the organizations answered yes to the question “Is there sufficient support and information in the community for women experiencing violence? Based on these stats, gender-based violence is occurring in rural communities and more support needs to be provided for women who are experiencing it.

Gender Equity

Question #22 on the survey asked about barriers to the achievement of gender equity in rural communities.

Respondents to this question identified lack of economic empowerment as a very significant barrier to the achievement of gender equity with an impressive 90% agreement rate! One might ask “which came first, the chicken or the egg?” because in reality, all the other barriers noted in Question #22 contribute to our knowledge of why so many rural women have not achieved economic power. As an example, lack of transportation (91%) and lack of care services for children and the elderly (84%) are seen as very significant barriers to the achievement of gender equity. If a person is unable to travel to a job/educational institution or leave the house, it is rather difficult to gain economic empowerment.

Reinforcement of traditional gender roles (75.5%), the lack of training/educational services (74%), and the lack of access to health/mental health services (72%), are seen as substantial barriers to the achievement of gender equity in rural areas.

Of less significance, but still seen as important barriers to gender equality are: the culture of self-reliance (64%); lack of access to community services such as employment offices, social services, etc. (60%); lack of access to technology (53.5); and lack of access to information (52.5%).

Opportunities

Overwhelmingly in first place (31) were comments related to community support networks and strong local relationships evidenced by a sense of belonging, closeness to family roots and closer-knit families. This might have a negative connotation however, as some respondents said everybody knows everybody and that can be good and bad! But generally the emphasis was on people helping people, and being able to make a difference in the community because of participation in the networks.

The runner up (16 comments) had to do with the physical environment and its effects – sense of space, fresh air, outdoor recreation opportunities, quieter, slower lifestyle, closeness to nature, greater sense of interdependence, growing one’s own food, hunting and farming.  A corollary perhaps was that some respondents saw rural areas as being safer places to raise children.

Several people (8 comments) mentioned developing self-reliance and opportunities for creative problem-solving. This also included developing “patience” because of time spent waiting! Perhaps also related here was the mention of multi-agency coordination and co-operation in the provision of wraparound services. “Every door is the right door”, was one quote used.

In terms of economic issues, several saw the cost of living and especially housing as being lower than in urban areas but with the caveat that it was still not always affordable. The growth of small family businesses and opportunities for self-employment was counterbalanced by the small size of the community and the predominance of the minimum wage. The geographic locale often determined the kind of work opportunities mentioned – e.g. tourism, arts and crafts, mining, logging, oil and gas from some smaller resource towns in different parts of BC.

Challenges

The overwhelming challenge was that of transportation – mentioned in some form or other by 33 respondents. The huge distances, the lack of public transportation or its inadequacy, the expense of private travel (flights and or ferries), inaccessibility to services without a car were frequently mentioned. Closely related was the isolation factor mentioned by nine respondents.

Lack of services of various kinds was mentioned over and over – 13 times in general; 12 respondents mentioned the lack of adequate employment services; 13 mentioned the lack of affordable housing – safe, healthy affordable rentals were in short supply and some residents became homeless in the summer in one locality when there was a demand for rentals by visitors who could pay more; six people mentioned lack of health care services and access to medical and other health care specialists; lack of access to educational programs especially post-secondary education opportunities was also mentioned by five respondents.

Poverty was mentioned as a challenge by eight respondents – the cost of living in rural areas especially for food was seen as being more expensive than in the city and lower wages (often the minimum) were a problem. One mentioned the failure of small businesses due to small market size.

Psychological challenges were mentioned several times: outdated attitudes, stigmas, ingrained gender biases, community pressure to not call police when they should be called, stereotyping and gossip were all mentioned as were conditions of colonization and trauma related to residential schools that faced indigenous people. A couple mentioned the difficulty of disclosures of domestic abuse based on gender and racial discrimination.

Conclusion

In 2018 the International Alliance of Women framed areas of concern for women across the globe.  A focus has been put on the challenges of Indigenous women in Canada and their struggle with violence directed toward them.  IAW President, Joanna Manganara states that “because of the weaknesses of the Sustainable Development Goals’ accountability architecture, it is crucial to seek other complementary pathways and tools of accountability. These offer opportunities for women rights’ organizations to influence and inform policy-making and implementation in the long term and to identify systemic failures as well as good practices”.

After careful analysis of the information collected, while it is difficult to rate one challenge higher than the other, the intersectionality of all the issues is quite obvious. Transportation has meaningful impact on the lives of women in rural areas. Access to health services is impacted by poor transport infrastructure along with a deficit in health service organization. Economic empowerment is dependent on a woman’s level of education and her access to technology. Transportation doubles back to affect access to education and gender-based services. Gender based violence often goes unnoticed due to isolation created by geographic location, lack of access to shelters and addiction treatment centres and a justice system that fails women.

The opportunities for rural women on the other hand all relate to quality of life, fresh air, a heightened sense of community and a sense of peace attributed to the connection to nature. It is our hope that the positive benefits of rural life can be enhanced by government policies that prioritize transportation needs, access to education, technology and healthcare in a community sensitive model where human rights are respected.

It is important to highlight that not only government is responsible for ensuring the human rights of Indigenous women but everyday Canadians equally have the burden of correcting the objectification of this demographic of Canadian society.  The Indigenous community is often racialized, therefore removed from mainstream consciousness.  Calling on government to fix the problem and then never engaging an Indigenous woman in meaningful friendship or to give her equal opportunity in civil society organizations is hypocritical.

If we are to achieve sustainable development goal #5, gender equity, we must not only influence policy makers but we are obliged to be personally committed as women’s rights defenders to cross the tracks, bridge or road to meet our sisters where they are.

Finally, I would like to thank the service organizations that responded to the survey and the team that helped to analyze the data; Valerie Hume, Audrey Thomas, Nancy Mayberry Ph.D., Gillian Brown and Dr. Saode Savary. This is the beginning of a long awaited dialogue on the issues rural women and girls face globally and ensuring that we stay focused on achieving the sustainable development goals to ensure the absence of violence against women and girls in our society.

The post Contributors to Violence in Indigenous Communities in Canada. appeared first on International Alliance of Women.

• Shrinking civil society space should be seen as when space is closing for civil society to organize and foster civic engagement and when external support for democracy and human rights is shrinking.
• According to many studies, governments are seen to be the main offenders behind this oppression of civil society space, followed by business actors and extremists groups.

What are the reasons for this recent development?

• An international environment that is not conducive to the realization of human rights in particular concerning women’s human rights.
• The post-1990’s consolidation of hybrid regimes, the post 9/11 era and the spillover effect of counterterrorism agendas, as well as a global society with highly developed information and communication technologies, have also been contributing factors.
• We should work for the recognition of the critical and unequivocal role of women’s and feminist organizations and women’s human rights Without those, there would have been neither Beijing Declaration nor a program of action or progress in its implementation.
• We should advocate for a campaign to make governments understand that working with the civil society is the best way to rule a country. 

What is the situation globally regarding progress on gender equality and women’s human rights?

• The most recent UN Women Progress of the World’s Women publication reported many advances in the status of women around the world. However, the results are very unevenly spread across countries. The political panorama is one of great turmoil. A variety of forms of backlash is threatening the progress made including increasing fundamentalism, violent extremism, increased number of refugees and displaced persons, increased inequalities within and between countries, climate change, etc…
• We have to work to ensure a real accountability for governments to address the structural causes of gender inequality as well as the emerging challenges that are setting back the fight for gender equality.

Why is shrinking space for civil society an important obstacle for the participation of CSOs and feminist organisations in accountability processes?

• Accountability means duty bearers (governments and others) are answerable to the people whose rights and lives are affected by their decisions.
• The independence of CSOs is a prerequisite for effective accountability of governments in the implementation of SDGs and women’s human rights.
• Truly inclusive and democratic participation is a prerequisite for the operation of any meaningful accountability.

Through which mechanisms can women and feminist organizations participate in holding governments accountable for women’s human rights?

• The most important mechanism is the one of the 2030 Development Agenda, the High-Level Political Forum, which was designated as the global apex of the follow-up and review process of the SDGs.
• The mandate of HLPF to review and hold states accountable is weak and limited especially because of its reliance on voluntary self-reporting. This mechanism needs strengthening.
• We should work to make the HLPF provide a counter-balance, an opportunity for engagement, and a place where government action can be subjected to scrutiny.
• Because of the weaknesses of the SDG’s accountability architecture, it is crucial to seek other complementary pathways and tools of accountability. These offer opportunities for women rights’ organizations to influence and inform policy-making and implementation in the long term and to identify systemic failures as well as good practices.
• UN mechanisms such as the Treaty Monitoring bodies, Special Procedures and the Universal Periodic Review could prove to be effective fora for monitoring progress on how far SDGs’ implementation plans by states align with human rights in particular women’s human rights.
• We should work to have the findings generated by human rights’ mechanisms in particular the findings concerning women’s human rights fed into the SDG specific review process.
• We should ask states to explain how their SDG’s implementation plans are in line with their human rights obligations concerning women.

Conclusions 

• Women’s human rights’ standards must be those on which public decisions are assessed.
• We should work for women to be full participants in any accountability processes.
• In conclusion, one crucial way of strengthening CSOs including women’s organisations is through their participation in accountability processes.

The post Accountability of Governments on Women’s Human Rights and Gender Equality. A new form of feminist activism to strengthen CSOs and feminist organisations appeared first on International Alliance of Women.

Trump has objectified women, has glorified sexual assault, and more generally the mistreatment of women, calling them ‘fat pig’ and ‘sheet’. He has been boasting about grabbing women between their legs and kissing them without their consent.

Reasons for Trump’s election

In order to be able to understand what should be done to meet the challenges of the coming era, one has to try to answer why has Trump been elected, what are the reasons behind his triumph, why women have voted for a misogynist?

Neo-liberalism is the ideology behind Trump’s triumphal election. His election was enabled by the policies that overlooked the plight of the most vulnerable citizens in the US. It was a desperate and xenophobic cry for a way out of a devastating neo-liberal order.

White working and middle-class citizens out of anger rejected the economic neglect of neo-liberal policies. Yet these same citizens supported a candidate who appeared to blame their social misery on minorities, Mexican immigrants, Muslims, black people, gay people, and women.

They have lost jobs, pensions, and much of the safety nets that used to make these losses less frightening. They see the future for their children being even worse than their precarious present.

Donald Trump has spoken directly to the hearts of these people. So do all the rising far right parties in Europe. They answer it with anger at remote bureaucracies, Washington, the EU, the World Trade Organization etc. They answer it as well by degrading immigrants, people of colour, Muslims and women.

What are the characteristics of neo-liberalism?

Neo-liberalism sees competition as the defining characteristic of human relations. It maintains that the market delivers benefits that could never be achieved by planning.

Attempts to limit competition are considered as attempts to limit liberty. Tax and regulation should be minimized, public services should be privatized. The organization of labour and collective bargaining by trade unions are portrayed as market distortions that impede the formation of a natural hierarchy of winners and losers. Inequality is considered the highest value. Efforts to create a more equal society are considered as counter productive. The market ensures that everybody gets what they deserve.

Neo-liberalism means massive tax cuts for the rich, the crushing of trade unions, deregulation, privatization, outsourcing, and competition in public services.

Freedom from trade unions and collective bargaining means the freedom to suppress wages. Freedom from tax means freedom from the distribution of wealth that lifts people out of poverty. When neo-liberal policies cannot be imposed domestically, they are imposed internationally through trade treaties.

Impact of neo-liberalism in the political field

Perhaps the most dangerous impact of neo-liberalism is not the economic crisis it has caused but the political crisis. As the domain of the State is reduced, the citizens’ power of voting also contracts and with it their ability to change the course of their lives.

When governments lose the authority that arises from the delivery of public services, the only thing they can do is to threaten and coerce people to obey. If the dominant ideology stops governments from responding to the needs of the electorate, then the electorate turns instead to anti-politics in which facts and arguments are replaced by slogans, symbols, and sensation.

The backlash against neo-liberalism’s crushing of political choice has elevated Donald Trump.

Why have women voted for Trump?

What has happened with women votes? How could women vote for him?

A quite plausible explanation is the one that says that in a culture in which one’s self worth is measured primarily by one’s desirability to men then women’s energy is consumed into this horizontal competition with other women that can never be totally won. One way to be desirable to men may be to align oneself with their interests in the hope they might protect you.

The majority of black women and a large number of Hispanic women voted for Clinton. The problem has been with white women.

What is positive about the misogyny of Trump is that he has injected new life, new awareness into the demands for equal treatment for women everywhere. His attitude towards women has shed light on the everyday, pervasive sexism. The good news is that young women have realized that there is a long way to go. Trump has reinvigorated feminism by reminding everyone, but especially women, of the serious violations of their human rights that they experience all over the world.

What should be done?

We should work for a development model that prioritizes people over profits. We have to demand at the international level a global economic development system that protects, respects and fulfills human rights, particularly women’s human rights.

We have to demand changes at the national and international level that promote accountability mechanisms for governments, in particular for the corporate and private sector that is focused on profits at the cost of people’s welfare.

We have finally to do away with the pursuit of gendered global economic strategies using the neo-liberal economic model that are deepening poverty and inequality within and between countries, between women and men and marginalizing women even more.

We should build a radical movement that is based on a genuine re-distributive agenda. This agenda should also include policies that fight institutionalized racism, economic inequality, climate change and gender inequality and violations of women’s human rights.

We should work for an answer to the hate and fear represented by extreme right, xenophobic, and anti-feminist forces.

The post Meeting the challenges of Donald Trump’s new era appeared first on International Alliance of Women.

According to Torild, gender does make a difference. 1/3 of the women leaders she studied challenged the prevailing male domination. But, Torild claims, this is not enough. To be able to implement women friendly policies, women leaders must have the support of an active women’s movement.

Moreover, the political system must work in a democratic way and top leaders must obtain support in central political institutions.

Torild Skard explains the small percentage of increase of women in top leadership positions from 1990 to 2010 by the fact that political parties, which are the gateways to power in practice, undermine democratic governance preventing women from making progress in politics.

There are many measures that can be taken to help women access decision-making positions in politics: the quota system, access to the media and political networks, measures for reconciling work with family life etc. The problem is whether these measures have any effect and if not, why?

The answer is negative because these measures do not challenge patriarchy i.e.  gender stereotypes, gender culture, and traditional roles.

Experience in Scandinavia, which has high percentages of women in top leadership positions, has proved that this is not enough to challenge and transform patriarchal codes and practices.

So what can be done?

In my view, the answer is the lack of an enabling environment at all levels for the empowerment of women and the realization of their human rights. This lack of an enabling environment is produced by development models that support market led growth only. These models contribute to the persistence of unequal power relations between women and men and reproduce gender inequalities, exploiting women’s labour and unpaid care work.

These patterns are based on a new form of capitalism disorganized, globalized, neo-liberal. This form of capitalism has replaced state managed capitalism of the post-war era. It relies heavily on women’s wage labour, especially low wage work in service and manufacturing. The reality that underlies this new model is depressed wage levels, decreased job security, declining living standards, a steep rise in the number of hours worked for wages, exacerbation of the double shift, and rising poverty increasingly concentrated in female headed households.

Neo-liberalism is driving poor people, in particular women, poor classes and poor countries deeper into poverty. Feminist organizations should work to ensure that human rights are the ethical framework for macroeconomic policies. They should participate in reforming dominant economic policies, that is neoliberal policies, including the development, implementation and evaluation of these policies. We all know that the women’s movement is the most critical factor in the implementation of gender equality policies. The women’s movement should strive for the full promotion of the human rights of women through the full implementation of all human rights instruments especially CEDAW.

We should demand a new development model that is not based solely on economic growth but prioritizes people over profits as well as social solidarity. A new development model that regulates the role of the private sector through binding frameworks that align their actions with human rights and sustainable development objectives.

We should also work for human rights accountability for all actors, international financial institutions, multinational corporations and national governments. This is a new field of activism that the women’s movement should follow in order to see progress in its struggle for gender equality and the realization of women human’s rights.

The post Women of Power appeared first on International Alliance of Women.

The outcome document Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development agreed to by Member states in the Post-2015 Development Summit,
which took place in New York in September 2015 also acknowledges throughout the preamble and the Declaration that achieving women’s empowerment, gender equality and women’s human rights are a prerequisite for sustainable development.

The Sustainable Development Goals are a vast improvement on the Millennium Development Goals, which were essentially a pact between donor and developing countries. The new goals are universally applicable, tackling poverty and deprivation everywhere, leaving nobody behind and holding all countries responsible for taking action. The Sustainable Development Goals are more equality sensible with more cross-cutting commitments to gender equality and a stand-alone goal dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. However, the 2030 Agenda fails to lay out a comprehensive human rights based approach for sustainable development. It also fails to recognize the need for a women’s rights based analysis incorporated in the Sustainable Development Goals.

On the one hand women’s empowerment needs the building of an enabling environment for the implementation of women’s human rights. On the other hand it needs the enhancement of women’s skills and capacities as active agents of change for sustainable development. However, in the 2030 Agenda, sustainable development goals, targets and means of implementation do not address systemic imbalances, systemic discrimination and structural inequalities that deny the basic human rights of women and girls. Therefore, the 2030 Agenda does not contribute sufficiently to the creation of such an enabling environment.

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This development takes place in a context of increasing attacks on human rights in particular the human rights of women and girls.

This is what we experienced during the CSW59 where an important backlash took place with the exclusion of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), as well as women’s and feminist organizations from both the negotiation of the Political Declaration and the Resolution on the working methods of the Commission on the Status of Women. What are the root causes of this situation?

Currently there is an international environment that is not conducive to the realization of human rights, in particular women’s human rights. The current macroeconomic model fails to address structural barriers to gender equality and the fulfilment of women and girls’ human rights perpetuating poverty, inequality and the gendered division of labour.

CSOs, women’s and feminist organizations should demand a new development paradigm that is not based solely on economic growth but which prioritizes people over profits. A new development paradigm that regulates as well the role of the private sector through binding frameworks that aligns their actions with human rights and sustainable development objectives and holds corporations accountable for violations of human rights and gender equality.

We should call on politicians to recognize the critical role women’s organizations, feminist organizations and women’s human rights defenders have played in pushing for gender equality, the human rights and empowerment of women and girls. The attempt of governments to marginalize the role of these groups is an affront to women everywhere.

CSOs, along with women’s and feminist organizations, should demand from governments and politicians that they create robust accountability mechanisms at national, regional and global levels. These should clearly set out the responsibilities of all stakeholders which  hold state and non-state actors, including multilateral institutions to account for their role in perpetuating gender inequality and violations of the human rights of women.

We call on politicians to show renewed political will and move from commitment to accomplishments. We call on them to work to adopt a new paradigm of accountability that can make the entire process of sustainable development more transformative and responsive to the peoples’ needs. As the Secretary General of the UN has said, a new paradigm of accountability is in fact the real test of a peoples’ centred development. This new accountability paradigm should institutionalize the participation of CSOs, in particular women’s and feminist organizations and marginalized groups, in the implementation, reviewing and monitoring of the Post-2015 Development Agenda at all levels. It should provide avenues for CSOs, women’s and feminist organizations to hold decision-makers answerable for their actions and seek redress where necessary.

States should recognize that by participating in accountability mechanisms, hearing from stakeholders and people affected and addressing their concerns, they are helping to ensure implementation at all levels.

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International Alliance of Women is of the view that Beijing+20 is taking place at a historic moment when major international efforts to advance human development and human rights converge.

This review of the Beijing Platform for Action is important because it will inform the Post 2015 Development Agenda process. Trends will be identified at the regional level as well as obstacles and progress in its implementation.

It will also strengthen the case for transformative goals on gender equality, women’s human rights and women’s empowerment and call for gender mainstreaming across all other goals.

Although the normative force of the Beijing Platform for Action has repeatedly been reaffirmed there is still a long way to go to realize the full promises of the Beijing Agenda.

One of the reasons has been that the Millennium Development goals did not tackle structural issues and macroeconomic and financial policies which affect the realization of human rights in particular women’s human rights.

To this end, a post 2015 framework must ensure that the international financial system works to advance gender equality, women’s empowerment and women’s human rights.

However, the proposed Sustainable Development Goals are still not sufficiently transformative, ambitious, or rights based. There are only a few explicit mentions of human rights in the targets and human rights are not, as was hoped, the framework for the Sustainable Development Goals. Particularly disappointing is the lack of commitment to the full realization of women’s human rights in goal 5.

Another challenge concerning the implementation of Beijing+20 has been the ongoing financial, economic and social crisis which has affected most regions of the world and has had particularly adverse effects for women.

Women workers in the developing and the developed world have been paying a heavy price  as the global economic crisis unraveled their rights, including their right to decent work, their livelihoods and their families’ welfare, with knock on effects , which will last a generation.

The economic crisis has led to a slowdown of progress by directing attention away from gender equality objectives towards seemingly pressing policy imperatives, such as establishing austerity measures.

Equality between women and men should be an inherent part of recovery plans including the direct involvement of women in financial and economic decision making and of feminist economists in the definition and implementation of policies related to recovery.

The International Alliance of Women has major concerns in relation to the unfulfilled promises of the Beijing Platform for Action. The most important of these are gender inequality and the feminization of poverty, both of which have been exacerbated by the ongoing economic/financial crisis. In addition, they have been deepened by the current development model based on growth that has failed to address the concentration of power and wealth within and between countries.

Women comprise the majority of the world’s poor. The majority of workers in the most vulnerable sectors: domestic work, garment, workers in subsistence farming, are women. Women also suffer from climate disasters that they are least responsible for.

A post 2015 Development Agenda should address the structural factors that perpetuate crisis, inequality, insecurity and human rights violations.

Other concerns for International Alliance of Women are the conditions for the realization of women’s rights, which are crucial in addressing the structural causes of gender inequality and poverty. These include pandemic of violence. Violence against women has become an epidemic in some countries. Women are not only raped, they are also killed.  It appears that in many of the cases the state and its administration are not concerned and on occasions culpable. Femicide is the ultimate form of violence against women and girls. To end femicide we need to end impunity and bring perpetrators to justice.

Violence, in particular sexual violence, in situations of armed conflict and in post conflict contexts is perpetuated as impunity for these gross violations of human rights persists.

Despite their increased participation in the workforce women are disproportionably represented in informal work, which is generally precarious, poorly paid and not covered by labour legislation.

The promotion of decent work in the post 2015 Development Agenda will need to identify and change the structural factors that have been contributing to the rise of precarious and informal employment.

Women still subsidize the entire economy by performing most of the unpaid domestic and care work derived from the sexual division of labour.

Discriminatory gender stereotypes, as well as the financial crisis, are perpetuating and deepening the unequal distribution of care work, thereby impacting on women’s equal enjoyment of a wide range of interlinked rights. Unpaid work must be recognized in statistics and policies, reduced by public investment and redistributed, so that it is shared equally between women and men, thus eliminating inequalities in resource control and ownership.

Equal participation of women in decision making has been an area where the pace of change has been slow and uneven across regions. In the area of economic decision making women are consistently absent from key decision making bodies influencing the distribution of resources in both public and private sectors.

Sexual and reproductive health and rights for all have not been realized nor has the provision of comprehensive sexuality education to all young people in and out of school. These rights need to be a clear priority in the post 2015 Development Agenda.

The rights of women to participate in peacekeeping, peace building and reconstruction have also not been realized, as well as the protection of women human rights defenders. We regret that the goal on “peaceful and inclusive societies” of the Sustainable Development Goals does not include these targets. Governments should be asked to implement Security Council Resolution 1325 and subsequent resolutions of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda and to report under the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination against Women.

Finally, IAW would like to put an emphasis on the most important reason for the lack of fulfillment of the Beijing Platform for Action and the Millennium Development Goals, which is their lack of a framework of participatory monitoring and accountability mechanisms to evaluate commitments of duty bearers.

Accountability refers to the obligation of those in authority to take responsibility for their actions, to answer for them to those that are affected and to be subjected to some form of sanctions if their conduct or explanation is found wanting.

Accountability is about empowering people in particular women to articulate their priorities while taking more control over their lives.

Accountability is about monitoring the effectiveness of local national, regional as well as international policies and providing data to improve the policies.

International Alliance of Women will work for the  adoption and implementation of participatory monitoring and accountability  mechanisms that will make possible the fulfillment of promises held in the Beijing Platform for Action and the post 2015 Development Agenda hoping that this time commitments by duty bearers will prove credible.

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The outcome was a declaration and recommendations in 10 areas of concern.

The declaration recognizes the achievements made in the UN ECE region.  Among them is the progress made in education, the fact that fewer women die in pregnancy and childbirth, and there is an increased number of women in decision making. Strong normative, legal and policy frameworks have been introduced to address a range of issues. However, these are undermined by lack of full implementation, compliance and accountability. Data collection has improved, but there is still an immense need for gender segregated data and information. Gender sensitive budgeting has been introduced, but is not applied to all sectors by all countries.

However, the participants express their deep concerns for sustainability, women’s and human rights.  The UNECE region faces a number of crises: financial, energy, climate and food. Austerity measures used as a response to the economic and financial crises are pushing women back into their traditional roles. The global gap between rich and poor is growing every day. Women experience time poverty.  Violations of and threats to girls and women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights call for protection and advancement of the Beijing Platform for  Action and  CEDAW   in the post 2015 agenda as well as regional instruments such as the Istanbul Convention.

The women’s agenda has remained at the traditional social and micro levels. Transformation, however, requires addressing the structural and macro issues that perpetuate inequalities, discrimination and exclusion.

Militarization is increasingly used as the answer to conflict. The result is always gross violations of the human rights of women and girls. The government approach to development inextricably links development, aid, trade, investment and foreign policy. This reduces women’s rights to a sub-text of global capitalism rather than making it central to achievement of peace and sustainable development.

Of special concern is the rise in unemployment in Eastern Europe and the complacency to women’s issues in Western Europe and North America . Violence against women and girls is still pervasive and is  further perpetuated through technology and social media. Young women and girls face psychological pressures, including sexualisation of their bodies.

Against this background the participants call for

• Fulfillment of the Beijing commitments
• A clear and stand –alone goal on gender equality and women’s rights in the post 2015 development agenda
• CEDAW as the framework for monitoring and accountability of government commitments
• Women’s equal access to resources
• Investment in women and girls’ rights
• Ending violence against women and girls
• Focus on women as users, shapers and leaders of new technologies

Read the whole declaration incl. recommendations

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