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International Alliance of Women

Associated Country Women of the World

1. On International Women’s Day, 8^th March 2021, Sharon Fisher, President of Soroptimist International; Cheryl Hayles, President of International Alliance of Women; and Magdie de Kock, World President of Associated Country Women of the World, ask, “Are women making any progress in participation in leadership and decision-making?”

2. Twenty five years on from the Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action which identified the need for more women at the top, it is time to #ChoosetoChallenge what has been achieved, or rather, what has not been achieved. It is time to heed the platform’s overdue call to increase women’s “capacity to participate in decision-making and leadership with measures being taken to ensure women’s access to and full participation in power structures and decision-making”.

3. After Beijing, the heightened expectation is that more women would be elected as parliamentarians and legislators; more women would take their place as senior managers and board directors in private and public companies; more women would be recognized as community leaders and contributing to the development of their local economies; more women would be found at negotiating tables following conflicts. In addition, it was hoped that the contribution of women’s organisations and participation through civil society, generally, would be acknowledged and accepted.

4. Where are we now, 25 years later? Research shows that in all these sectors women are still not equally represented; that men still hold the majority of leadership roles.

5. Although women make up approximately 50 per cent of the global population they do not share power or leadership equally with men anywhere in the world. There are currently 10 women serving as Heads of State with small numbers of women filling Government Ministerial posts or serving in Cabinets. The proportions of female representatives in national Parliaments are similarly low. Yet the media is reporting that women leaders can be very effective, showing that during the COVID–19 pandemic, they have protected their countries significantly, often better than many counterpart male leaders.

6. The United Nations Human Rights Council has pointed out that women and girls, as well as women’s organisations and networks, are not equally represented in local, national, and global COVID-19 policy spaces and decision-making. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the value of women’s roles in society to the forefront, especially in the positive impact they have made throughout the health and care sectors. We believe efforts should be made to ensure women’s full and meaningful participation, representation and leadership in all aspects of dealing with the virus, including plans for recovery. A diversity of women’s voices should be heard and represented in public discussions and media broadcasts.

7. Women and girls of all ages deserve a seat at the table in public life, leadership and decision-making. Women belong in all places where decisions are being made. To make that a reality, all states, the private sector, civil society, non-governmental organizations, and other stakeholders must work in collaboration. Men must also be included in these discussions.

8. Only when women and girls of all ages are able to fully and equally participate in public life, hold positions of leadership, and be recognised key players at all levels of decision-making, will the world we live in be one where everyone has equal opportunities, economies are more sustainable, and societies more inclusive and prosperous. Women enable a just, equitable and peaceful world.

9. Girls and young women like Malala Yousafzai and Greta Thunberg have proven that they are capable and want to be seen, heard and transform the world they have inherited from the previous generations. There is no need to wait for girls and young women to become adults before more women become visible.

10. Sharon, Cheryl and Magdie say, “These young women demonstrate clearly that they can lead campaigns, like Greta against climate change, and Malala for girl’s education,  and create change enabling a better and healthier future for other young women.”

11. Young leaders such as these work directly with communities, influencing older leaders who are frequently male, and encouraging young women to take hold of their own lives. They are persuading governments around the world to change legislation so that discrimination against women and girls is ‘put to flight’ and gender equality becomes a reality. They provide excellent role models for younger women and girls alongside the women who lead their countries.

12. Young women looking to the future can take encouragement from the fact that their skills and qualities as leaders are being recognised and will provide the foundation for them to take their place as leaders now and in the future.

13. Rural women face the same challenges as their urban counterparts, but these challenges are compounded by diluted access to social resources. When looking at parliamentary representation, women from rural areas and communities are less likely to be involved; and when they are involved, they face often hazardous, long, and arduous journeys to central points of government.

14. It is imperative that we enable and empower today our future women leaders. We are recommending to the sixty-fifth session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women that “New laws, regulations and social justice programmes should be developed and implemented to respond to women’s and girls’ under-participation and under-representation in leadership. Such laws, regulations and social justice programmes should include: guaranteeing equal pay; addressing harassment, violence and abuse of women faced online and offline; examining legal ideas of what constitutes a threat or threatening behaviour; and requiring additional protection measures to be developed, recognising that online presence is now part of participation in public life and discourse, and therefore online space should be protected and safe from abuse and harmful, sexist and discriminatory language.”

For information on this statement, contact:

Soroptimist International: Beverly Bucur, ida@soroptimistinternational.org

International Alliance of Women: Cheryl Hayles, cherylhayles@sympatico.ca

Associated Country Women of the World: Nick Newland, nick@acww.org.uk

Read more

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CSW 2021 – Decision making

This year the CSW has as its main topic DECISION MAKING.

Its emphasis is on ensuring women’s full and effective participation and decision making in public life as well as the elimination of violence. Thus ensuring human rights. The positive effect which equal participation of women have on the whole of society is hardly mentioned.

Last year the IAW Commission on Democracy formulated its recommendations on this issue in its annual Report. The IAW Action Plan 2021-2123 included those in its objectives.

We recommend to insist on implementation of International Treaties to start with CEDAW, the implementation of National laws and the commitments made such as UN agreed conclusions.

This includes equal participation of women and men in decision making in all areas and in all activities. It also includes to ensure that gendermainstreaming is understood by both men and women and henceforth implemented.

We also advise to emphasise that the participation of women is not only a human right but has positive effects on the whole of society. Stronger : it is often essential for the solution of problems.

Recently I studied the book “The United Nations and the Advancement of Women 1945-1995”.

This 690 page book list all activities, UN resolutions, recommendations and documents on this issue.

In all those documents women’s unequal situation, women’s problems including violence are described as shortcomings in human rights. Solutions are formulated in long lists of commitments in UN agreed conclusions.

The emphasis on women as victims is clear, victims to be rescued by ….. you guess it.

Nowhere (!!) in all those documents is mentioned the positive effect the participation of women have on the whole of sosiety, leave alone the essential participation of women to solve conflicts.

UN Resolution 1325 on Women Peace and Security was an exception in 2005. But even then participation in conflict resolution was presented as a human right, not as essential.

The Council of Europe seminar we organised in 2018 was called “Women’s contribution to world Peace by implementing UNSC Resolution 1325 Women, Peace and Security”

However in 2021 the website of Wikipedia states “The resolution acknowledged the disproportionate and unique impact of armed conflict on women and girls. It calls for the adoption of a gender perspective to consider the special needs of women and girls during conflict, repatriation and resettlement, rehabilitation, reintegration, and post-conflict reconstruction” Again women as victims.

It reminds me of my first endeavour with women’s rights 1982-1996 on UN Habitat. We worked with five  International Women NGO’s to include women’s issues into the UN Habitat Strategies. UN started to describe women as the “poorest of the poor” in need of support in competition with other priorities. We stated “in spite of women as the poorest of the poor, it are women to keep societies together” and we supported and proved this with case studies over the years.

Result : The UN Habitat Strategies included as one of its three major fundamental strategies “the contribution of women is essential to the solution of problems”. This is what we need again. This recognition.

Rita Marque Mbatha showed us in 2016 another example how women keep their society together.

Conclusion We advocate that Governments at the CSW recognise the essential contribution women have in keeping societies together and that the equal participation of women and men in decision making in all areas and all activities, is not only a human right but a essential condition for a healthy society particularly in problem solving and conflict resolution. This should be included in the CSW agreed concluisions 2021.

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Female politicians are often met with skepticism because of their gender, and Clinton was exposed to clearly misogynist attitudes. Whether the two female presidents of Brazil and South Korea were judged more harshly than men is difficult to say. No one wants corrupt politicians, but both of those countries are flawed democracies. It would take deep analysis to determine whether women were more exposed, caught up more easily or criticized more severely for gender-related reasons to explain their downfalls.

What’s clear is that the number of female top leaders globally was small last year, dropping from a record high of 24 in 2015 to 20 in 2016.

My country, Norway, is described internationally as a “gender equality winner,” but we have never exceeded 40 percent of women in parliament and local councils, so the women’s movement here still has work to do. Norway is holding general elections on Sept. 11, and 40 percent of the candidates are women, including the incumbent, Erna Solberg, of the Conservative Party.

Solberg is the second female prime minister of Norway, and we have at times reached gender parity among ministers in the cabinet, yet counting the political advisers and state secretaries reflects a solid male-dominated government. Researchers note that Norway’s gender-equality policy has failed, especially as men control the economy and the media as well.

Throughout the world, bringing women into political power has been a long, slow process ever since the United Nations proclaimed the equal rights of men and women in 1945. Since then, 100 women in total have gone to the top with widely varying impact in 66 countries worldwide. Only North Africa and the Middle East have never had a female national leader, and there has been only one in the Pacific region, in 2016.

Each female leader has her own special story. But studying the 73 women who rose to the top in 53 countries from 1960 to 2010 for my book, “Women of Power,” certain trends can be discerned.

Rich democracies in the forefront

Women rose to power more often in industrial than in developing countries. People’s health, education and income made a difference. Most of the female national leaders had exceptionally high education and professional careers. The improvement of living standards, not least for girls and women, represents a positive factor for women’s participation in politics. Most female national leaders rose to power in democratic systems. Particularly after the end of the Cold War, the number of democracies increased globally, as did the number of female leaders.

In 2016, about half of the world’s nations were democracies, while the rest had authoritarian or hybrid regimes. The great majority of democracies, however, were “flawed,” according to the Economist’s Democracy Index. Even the “standard-bearer” of democracy, the US, was downgraded from “full” to “flawed.”

This means that there were faults in the electoral process, civil liberties, political culture, political participation and functioning of government. These factors led to the election of a US president, Donald Trump, who among other matters, disrespects democratic values and women’s rights.

In democracies, political parties are the routes to power, and most of the female national leaders in the world obtained a position of power through such parties. There is limited research on these fundamental political institutions, but it is noted globally that they are extremely male dominated.

Although 40 to 50 percent of party members are women, women hold only about 10 percent of the leadership positions.  In fact, we see an iron law of power: the more power, the more men. In 2016, there were 23 percent women in the world’s parliaments, 18 percent in the cabinets and 7 percent among the national leaders. Besides the political leadership, the economy and the media were also dominated by men. Misogynistic sentiments permeated public and private spheres, making political participation difficult for women.

In politics, the electoral system is crucial. Considerably more women became national leaders in countries with proportional representation than those with majority vote, as the latter favors men. In parliamentary elections, legislative reform and quotas have helped to increase the representation of women, but more ambitious measures are needed.

Indications show that the general involvement in political parties is declining right now, not least in industrial countries, weakening their position and opening space for monetary power, financial interests and lobby groups. Election turnout is also declining as democratic disillusion is spreading. If a certain democracy is necessary for women’s participation in power structures, it does not mean that it is enough. There must be a demand for women in decision-making.

Norway would never attained so many women in parliament and the cabinet and two female prime ministers without the efforts of a persistent women’s movement in place over many years. The UN, in collaboration with the women’s movement have been driving forces for gender equality internationally and nationally. The great majority of female national leaders benefited from female voters and female activists requiring more women in leading positions. And most of the female leaders did something to support women. They made a difference, though it was often limited.

Read the whole article, which was first published by PassBlue, which is a nonprofit journalism site wholly dependent on donations.

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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.

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Poverty has affected the lives of millions but the most suffering section of society is the women and children. Because of constraints and discrimination, women have to bear the maximum brunt of poverty.  They cannot afford basic needs like food, clothes, house, education and health-care. Even whatever they can afford is of poor quality. Poverty for them is insecurity, powerlessness and susceptibility to violence and often living without access to clean water and sanitation.

Governments of countries are trying to prove that they are more concerned in framing the women friendly policies and programs to improve their quality of life while the prevailing status of women presents a grim picture. Sources reveal that there has not been any change in their quality of life as is quite evident from their unequal and poor status in the society.
Gender economist, E. Boserup explains that women were not always in disadvantageous position. How they reached the position inferior to that of men has been a long process. During the different stages of economic development, their status deteriorated.
Economic development may have resulted in economic growth but has not resulted in human development, especially since half of the population i. e women seem to have been bypassed in this process. Thus, being poor means that they are resource less, unhealthy, exploited and more vulnerable to sexual harassment.

According to the 2014 edition of the world bank    report, the global target for reducing poverty by half was achieved five years ahead of schedule and the number of poor people – those living on less than $1.25 a day — had halved to 18 percent in 2010 from 36 percent of the population in 1990. Even if the current rate of the progress is to be maintained, around 1 billion people will still live in extreme poverty by 2015.In some developing countries, we continue to see a wide gap between the rich and the poor and between those who can and who cannot access opportunities .Other challenges such as inequality, non effective governance, economic shocks, food insecurity and climate change threaten to undermine the progress made.

According to United Nation’s Millennium Development Goal programme ,270 million or 21.9% people out of 1.2 billion of Indians lived below poverty line of $1.25 in 2011-2012.   According to Tendulkar Poverty Line ,during  the year 2011-12, India had 270 million persons below poverty line as compared to 407 million in 2004-05.These figures indicate that  there is a reduction of 137 million persons over the seven year period.

As per the UNDP report 2014, India ranks 135 in Human Development Index. The number of poor is now estimated at 250 million, of which 200 million reside in rural India. The report states that none of the BRICS countries have made place in the high human development category and India remains at the bottom with lowest HDI value among them. “India is the lowest performing country among the BRICS nations in all categories of the HDI with the exception of life expectancy, which is lower in South Africa as a result of the HIV/AIDS epidemic,” the report says. “Everyone should have the right to education, health care and other basic services. Putting this principle of universalism into practice will require dedicated attention and resources, particularly for the poor and other vulnerable groups,” says the report. “Strong universal social protection not only improves individual resilience, it can also bolster the resilience of the economy as a whole. The Human Development Report lays great stress on global agreements and pacts and how these can   contribute to build a universal system. National initiatives for universal provision of services are more easily enacted when global commitments are in place and global support is available. Global agreements are essential because they can instigate action and commitment and generate financial and other support.

CHALLENGES FACED–

There are several challenges facing India today vis via women’s economic development but some of the big red flags are-
Inadequate economic opportunities is one of the biggest causes of female poverty which is one of the big challenges to the progress of women. In India poverty is multi dimensional social problem.  Causes of poverty are many like-unemployment and underemployment, lack of property rights, dependence on agriculture, high population growth rate, caste system, corruption and above all holding of financial resources in the hands of males. Most of the women are not direct earners. They do not have a direct standing in the credit market, either formal or informal, as they do not own any assets in their name. There were no property rights in family property till 2005. The custom of dowry as a substitute to inheritance gave them the role of 2^nd class members of the family and society. There is no budget for spending on their education. Lack of skills, heavy physical work of different types, long hours of work with limited payment, lack of guarantee of minimum wages, lack of job security and social security, lack of minimum facilities at the work place, lack of income after retirement are some of the factors of the informal sector which contribute to women’s weakness. Also female-headed households are likely to suffer more than male-headed households as they have less access to government development programs, welfare schemes, resources and communal assets. 

Male migration from rural to urban areas is also a big problem. Men migrate to other cities leaving behind women and children, making them further vulnerable since they solely depend on men economically.
Providing the inhabitants  with need based skill training at local level, equipping them with the latest techniques, helping them to access the marketing links, setting up of  small enterprises ,will help to stop migration of the labour force in search of jobs. It will create an infrastructure within the community that will be conducive to women’s economic empowerment. In a country like India, where the gender divide and the inequality between men and women is so wide, providing the skills and the opportunity for women at local level to be economically self sufficient is a must for social and political empowerment.  Even though there is a vast development in agriculture technology, it is yet to reach all the villages.
Women entrepreneurship program, access to credit and ensuring their participation in value chains is critical. Provision to centers of higher learning, vocational and skill based training, technical education will help in increasing economic participation and also reduce occupational segregation.

Lack of infrastructure in rural areas increases women’s contribution to unpaid housework. Even today women spend up to six hours, just to fetch drinking water from the ponds, rivers etc. In making the development process inclusive, the challenge is to formulate policies and programs to bridge regional, social and economic disparities in an effective and sustainable manner.

Although the Government’s schemes and programs are quite promising, yet concerted efforts are required to ensure inclusion and empowerment of women in all the schemes and policies formulated so far. The schemes such as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM), Self Help Groups and many others have opened employment opportunities to women but with low remuneration, minimal benefits and uncertain contracts. The recent announced 2015 budget cuts in the health, education and social sector spending are a further detriment to the development and empowerment of women especially in the rural areas.

In addtion challenges in the form of traditional and cultural practices, socio-economic conditions remain and lack of awareness, inadequate implementation of various policy measures and mechanism  continue.

 Bottom up programs and legislations have further hampered the possibilities of grassroots women’s needs being addressed by development interventions. Any development program that ignores the life chances of half the population cannot address the problems of poverty and crisis of sustainability. 

Inadequate social security net system has not proven effective. At present, whatever the pension amount is given by the government is too little even to survive and it covers only a very small segment of women from  the lowest income group. The rate of pension varies from state to state.

As per UNDP Report 2014   “Universal access is vital to protect people from vulnerability”. I think this is the area where we can work together and put our views strongly for universal access, keeping in mind our national interests and initiatives. Our efforts to create a better society should be based on promoting peace through participatory good governance ,creating  accountability and grievance mechanisms at local, national and international levels.

AIWC’s Initiatives-

Education and empowerment of women have been at the core of All India Women’s Conference’s agenda since its inception in 1927.  AIWC has been striving incessantly to promote literacy and skill training to empower women, for the last 86 years, through our wide network of 500 branches spread all over the country.  Over 1.5 lakh voluntary members work with selfless dedication for the cause of women in various fields.  AIWC’s programs in education, health and eradication of poverty are aimed at helping 50% of our population i.e. women. Empowerment of women is an essential ingredient in protecting women’s right and has to be looked at from a holistic perspective. Proper education, economic self sufficiency, self confidence and courage are needed on the part of the women with a matching response from men based on mutual respect.  HE for SHE , A UN program, where men are a support system to their women, and gender equality becomes a primary goal in all areas of social and economic development.

AIWC has initiated programs like socio-economic, skill centered literacy, health awareness, legal awareness, environment friendly income generating activities, leadership training programs particularly for women Panchayat members, adoption of villages ,rural/urban community resource centres which have brought quite encouraging results. To quote a few—our  projects on solar drying of food products for income generation, sanitary napkin making unit , spice grinding units, dairy farming, provisional stores, medicinal herbs units  etc have been very successful and given economic independence to women in their local area. The results are visible as the living standard has improved and women have emerged as empowered women who are making decisions for their lives. Around 50,000 women and girls have benefited from these programs. Since 1995,we have introduced new ventures like renewable energy, environment friendly alternate vocations for women bidi  workers(rolling of tobacco leaves),Herbal gardening for  women as income generation activity etc. 

The following suggestions would go a long way in bringing women out of the morass of poverty:

1. GIVING WOMEN EQUAL ACCESS TO LAND AND OTHER ASSETS

Due to son preference culture and second class family member status of women throughout world, they do not enjoy entitlement rights of land and other family property .They are always treated as a liability by their parents. Therefore, it becomes mandatory to change the traditional tactics of making women landless and resource less individuals by giving them equal access to assets and resources at par with men so that they can gain control over family as well as community resources, increase their bargaining power and enjoy equal say in decision making.

2.     MAKING VISIBLE THE CARE ECONOMY

It is imperative to measure the output from the Care economy  in terms of time  and in terms of money so that women’s work will gain economic recognition and monetary edge by including it in national accounting system. Although, some recent legislations have supported this view that women’s household work as well as child care should be measured in monetary terms and husbands should be asked to pay for their wives services but yet it also waits for enforcement.

3. INVOLVING women in economic decision making

Economic policy making is the domain of politicians who usually happen to be mostly men. At various decision-making levels, gender imbalances can be distinguished in communities even at the earliest stage of development. Women are underrepresented in decision making in govt., business sector especially at senior levels. The irony is that women are not even involved in decisions related to their life like consent at the time of the marriage, and the decision regarding reproductive matters like how many children she should have or how to go for family planning practices? . Therefore, the demand of time is that women being the implementers of the decisions of men need to be involved in framing policies and plans of the society so that they can  be able to address their issues in a much better way.

4. CHANGING GENDER BASED DIVISION OF LABOUR

A universal trend of dividing the household work according to gender has been acting as the main obstacle in the way of women’s suppression and economic backwardness. All the household drudgery from cooking to crop cultivation, harvesting and rare and care of pet animals in homes is performed by women in Indian society as a whole. Women remain busy with performing household tasks and in addition to this perform the most sacred job of motherhood which leaves no scope for her to work in any productive activity. On the other hand, men have kept themselves away from domestic obligations and care of children which are full time jobs at home and they only participate in economic activities which get in cash income (revenue) and thus enjoy command in household as well as community affairs.  Therefore, this uneven and unequal gender based division of labour needs to be changed and men also have to come forward and share the the burden of domestic duties so that women can participate in economic activities.

5. ACCESS TO CREDIT AND FINANCE

Women face a major constraint in availing the facility of credit. Establishing their small scale enterprises to earn their own livelihood and to become self reliant turns into an unfulfilled dream due to lack of financial availability. They can’t avail loans from banks unlike their male counterparts because they don’t have assets and other property in their name that could be kept as mortgage with the bank. Therefore, it is the utmost responsibility of the government and other financial institutions to come to their rescue and facilitate women by providing them easy access to credit facilities and grant subsidies to encourage them to come forward.

6. GENDER BASE DISTORTIONS

There is discrimination against women workers in the  labour market whereby women performing the same work as their male counterparts are paid less. The minimum wages ACT 1948 is not enforced due to lack of knowledge and information. Thus, gender based price distortions lead to false economics. Economic policy makers aiming to improve overall economic efficiency need to count and measure women’s work equally with men’s so that their contribution does not remain hidden and   invisible. Policy makers should focus and work for creating job opportunities for women and only then their problems of   economic dependence, poverty and resource lesness can be addressed properly in a broader perspective.

7. GENDER BASED INSTITUTIONAL BIASES

Women’s work days are longer than men’s in general. Men monopolize the use of new technology and women have to work with traditional labour intensive techniques. Thus, change from traditional to modern methods of production in any sector tends to enhance men’s prestige at the expense of women’s by widening the gap in their levels of knowledge and training. Thus ,need of the hour is to make these institutions bias free so that women can enter the fields so far denied to them for lack of training and exposure.

8.GENDER BUDGETING

Gender budgeting will help govt and civil society to assess the extent to which gender issues are being addressed through budgetary allocations and expenditures so that women may not be only the beneficiaries of benefits of development but equal participants in the process of development.

9.  GENDER STUDIES

Gender Studies need to be promoted in academic curriculum from the initial stages of schooling so that both boys as well as girls will develop sympathy and respect for each other. There is a need to change the male psyche and sensitize men to understand the role and relevance of their opposite gender in their lives. Gender education will help in promoting gender equality and empowerment of women.

10.POLITICAL PARTICIPATION

Women need to be invited in the political domain of societies world over by giving them not only one third representation but fifty percent of their share as per the proportion of population. It is an admitted fact that unless women make their entry into top decision making bodies of the nation, they can’t reshape their destiny.

While cultural, economic and educational inequality in different states make matters more complicated change cannot be escaped, and there can be no standing still. The people of the developing countries must be given opportunity to develop and improve their way of life and make it imperative that all forms of oppression and exploitation should be systematically controlled and ended. It is without doubt in the interests of world harmony and peace that this should be so. How different would our nation be if the ruling party added the concept of economic exploitation of women and girls in their manifesto? The progress of civilization depends on the continuous search for truth and knowledge and that the remedy lies in more liberties, not their suppression, that equal opportunity available to all and all form of gender discrimination ended.

11. STRONG SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM

Provision of a robust social security system for women and girls is the need of the hour. Social services – which include universal access to health care and education, full employment and social protection are required for sustainable and resilient human development. Also there has to be a strong social security system especially for women from private and unorganized sector to provide them economic and health security after a certain age in private and unorganized sector.

I  conclude with a quote of Mahatama Gandhi “The world has enough for everyone’s need, but not enough for everyone’s greed.” If we limit our greed and share more with the underpriviledged, we can definitely contribute for creating a harmonious society.

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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.

The post A forward looking approach to the Beijing Platform for Action appeared first on International Alliance of Women.

1. a) Economy

Collect and publish systematic gender sensitive analyses of the impact of the economic crisis and responses thereof, prior to their implementation.
Upvalue work in the caring sector, reduce and redistribute unpaid care.
Promote decent work for women and reduce their disproportional representation  in informal work which is generally precarious, poorly paid and not covered by labour legislation. Identify and change the structural factors that contribute to the rise of this type of employment.
Close the gender pay gap by 2025
Redesign and rethink budgeting to ensure that women’s rights and needs are met at national and community levels.
Promote women’s equal representation in decision making in particular in the economic field.

1. Stereotyping

Act against the stereotyping of women in all fields of life i.a. by sensitizing men and boys.

1. Violence

Combat all forms of violence against women including by financing of support services and protection for women victims as well as non sexist education. This approach must include the role of men and boys in addressing the root causes of male violence.  Ratify the Istanbul Convention.

1. Access to justice

Facilitate access to meaningful, affordable and human rights based justice systems for all individuals, particularly for women and marginalized groups

1. Health

Ensure access to family planning for all women including girls in all countries in order to reduce preventable mortality and morbidity.
Countries with restrictive abortion legislation should lift the ban, or at least allow for exceptions including on social grounds. Women who resort to unsafe abortion should receive post-abortion medical care as needed. Emergency contraception should be available and affordable.

1. f) Peace and security, the effects of armed or other kinds of conflict on women

Implement UNSCR 1325 and subsequent resolutions of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda and report thereof through national reporting under CEDAW.
Establish effective protection of women and girls against sexual and gender-based violence as a political weapon in conflicts.
Ratify and implement the Arms Trade Treaty.

1. g) Women and Climate change

Commit to gender transformative policies and objectives, protecting and promoting women’s human rights in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 2015 Paris Agreement.
Recognize that climate change crisis has a negative impact on gender equality and women’s human rights, challenging implementation of BDPfA and threatening all development outcomes.
Include women in decision making, because women are on the front lines and often have a greater stake in leading climate change solutions.

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When Sirimavo Bandaranaike became the world’s first woman prime minister of what was then Ceylon in 1960, it caused international concern. How could a woman cope with such a demanding task?
Half a century later the woman president of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, received the Peace Prize from an impressed Nobel Committee for her contribution to ‘ensuring peace, promoting economic and social development and strengthening the position of women’.
Since 1960, in total 73 women have been presidents and prime ministers in 53 countries until the end of 2010. In 2010 there were 18 in all – or 6 per cent of the world’s top leaders. This was more than before, but there certainly was a way to go to attain gender balance.
All over the world the national political institutions are dominated by men. Everywhere, politics is considered a male domain. How did 73 women manage to rise to the top, and what happened when they got to power? These are themes of my new book “Women of power”.

Rich Countries at the Forefront
In 1945, the United Nations emphasised that women and men should have equal rights. During the following years, the number of nation states increased dramatically and economic and technological developments gave women and men across the globe greater income, more education and better health. Living standards were highest in industrial countries and about 40 per cent got one or more women as heads of state or government. In developing countries this was the case for only about 20 per cent. Thus conditions in industrial countries were more favourable for female leadership. People’s health, education and income were important, though they were not necessarily the only factors of importance.

Democracy
It has been an advantage for women in politics that the number of democracies increased. Democracy is based on the principle that people are equal, and it is the people, not a limited elite, that should govern. Therefore women should participate in decision-making bodies.
In non-democratic systems women generally did not become national leaders. Only two women were prime ministers in authoritarian countries (Elisabeth Domitien in CAR 1975 and Milka Planinc in Yugoslavia 1982), while nine women rose to power in turbulent transitions where democratic systems were not in place or did not work, where there were uprisings or civil war (Isabel Perón in Argentina 1974, Lidia Güeiler in Bolivia 1979, Sabine Bergmann-Pohl in GDR, Ertha Pascal-Trouillot in Haiti and Kazimiera Prunskienė in Lithuania 1990, Sylvie Kinigi in Rwanda and Agatha Uwilingiyimana in Burundi 1993, Ruth Perry in Liberia 1996 and Roza Otunbayeva in Kyrgyzstan 2010).
The great majority of women presidents and prime ministers obtained their positions in countries characterized as ‘democracies’. There were 62 women in 48 countries. Most of the women rose to the top in liberal democracies in Western industrial countries, while some did so in emerging democracies in Eastern industrial countries. Moreover, they were scattered over different regions.

Women’s Movement
If a democratic system is necessary for women’s political participation, it does not follow that it is sufficient. After World War II, Western industrial countries mostly had liberal democracies with political rights for women. But the systems were based on long-lasting male dominance, and women were not mobilized and welcomed in the political institutions.
An international women’s movement arose during the 19th century in industrial countries and their colonies, among others in Sri Lanka and India where Bandaranaike and Indira Gandhi became prime ministers. Inspired by a new wave of feminism in the 1970s, more women started to participate in formal politics. Parties and governments were put under pressure to let women in, and especially from 1975 the United Nations and the international women’s movement supported each other mutually. The women’s movements presented demands and formulated policies, while the UN promoted change, collected data, organized debates and set standards. In many countries political institutions became more open for women, women’s influence increased and woman friendly decisions were made.
When they rose to the top, at least half of the women national leaders benefitted, directly or indirectly, from women activists requiring more women in leading positions. This was the case also for Golda Meir and Margaret Thatcher, though they were seen as very critical to feminism. The number of women also increased in parliaments and governments.

Extraordinary Qualifications
In all regions the women top leaders had varied economic and social background. But regardless of the parent’s occupations and economy the daughters went to school and became an exceptionally well-qualified group. Practically all went not only go to primary and secondary school, but also got higher education at college and university.
Most of the women top leaders had far more education than the average in the population. Many had long professional careers before they became political leaders, and thirty achieved very high positions such as director, professor, researcher, attorney general, judge, editor or ambassador. At the same time as they had employment nearly all of the women married and 56 had children to take care of, from one to seven. It was unusual that men got high-level jobs, and even more that women got them. But more women top leaders had such positions than their male predecessors. More than men, women had to have high status to succeed.
Most of the women presidents and prime ministers achieved political power through the political parties. In addition to their professional careers they were active party members, climbed upwards in the hierarchy and acquired various positions: executive board members, party leaders or deputies, Members of Parliament, Speakers, ministers, vice presidents or deputy prime ministers. In Asia and Latin America several women based their careers on family relations, aiming to take over the position of a deceased father or husband. Chandrika Kumaratunga in Sri Lanka 1994 and Cristina Fernández in Argentine 2007 took over while their relatives (mother and husband respectively) still were alive. Some women came to power as ‘outsiders’, due to their special occupational status or participation in organisations outside the political parties. Four were elected particularly because they were women: Vigdís Finnbogadóttir in Iceland 1980, Mary Robinson and Mary McAleese in Ireland 1990 and 1997 and Ruth Perry in Liberia in 1996.

Penetrating Labyrinths
It has almost become a standard expression that a ‘glass ceiling’ blocks women’s way to leadership. But the study of women top politicians shows that the image of a glass ceiling is not only too simple, but also misleading. It gives the impression that there is only a single barrier, not that women encounter obstacles all the way, and it says nothing about what it takes to reach the ceiling. The metaphor also gives the idea that one can break the hindrances with a blow, once and for all. But in fact, complex interactions between different factors make it possible or impossible for women to reach the top. Various barriers must be overcome, perhaps one barrier several times, in different ways, and when one is overcome, there are new.
Most men also have to go through a labyrinth to advance to the top in politics. But labyrinths for men are usually simpler than those women have to go through, with fewer dead ends, nooks, crannies and barriers and more support. Women most often start with a handicap and encounter more resistance of different kinds due directly or indirectly to their gender. To achieve gender balance in the national leadership, institutional changes are required in the form of positive action measures such as women friendly electoral systems, gender quotas etc.

Men’s Interests or Women’s
The women did not become top leaders primarily because they were women, but because they should lead the nation. Some also acted in the same way as their male colleagues, fighting on their terms and becoming the first among equals, without being engaged in ‘women’s issues’, whatever they might be. Examples are Margaret Thatcher in the UK 1979, Violeta Chamorro in Nicaragua 1990, Tansu Çiller in Turkey 1993 and Megawati in Indonesia 2001. Nearly half of the women tried to compromise, however, between men’s and women’s interests, looking after both. But one third, among them Gro Harlem Brundtland in Norway 1981, Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan 1988, Helen Clark in New Zealand 1999 and Michelle Bachelet in Chile 2006, challenged male domination and explicitly promoted women friendly or feminist policies. So, some of the top women leaders did more, some less, but the vast majority did something to improve the status of women. It made a difference that a woman rose to the top instead of a man.

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