As this letter addresses my statement as IAW President, I first must say that I consider the accusation made against my metaphor far-fetched. However, Hon. President Manganara does provide a valuable analysis of the situation of unpaid women's work in the home which deserves more attention as well as conversation here. I look forward to reading suggestions in the comments on what concrete measures could be taken on the international level to remedy this problem. 

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I thank the voters at IAW Congress XXXIX,

held virtually, for having given me their trust and raising me to the office of IAW president for the coming Triennium. As I said at Congress, I am charged with “herding cats”. Every woman who is active in IAW is a powerhouse herself, tirelessly and with enormous knowledge and skills, leading efforts to achieve our common goals, “Equal Rights – Equal Responsibilities”.

Alison Brown, IAW President

From very basic rights such as food security and bodily integrity to more than the typical woman’s responsibility for the home, but rather extending their “housekeeping” to all levels of government and industry.

As IAW President I am called upon, not to rule, but to encourage, to hold the ship steady, no small challenge after the recent turbulence that has marked the past Triennium, while the wonderful women of the organisation pursue their passions and work to satisfy the needs of their communities as they themselves perceive them. I am not here to satisfy my ambition, but to support the ambitions of all the activists of IAW.

We have a new Board, the decision-making body of IAW when Congress is not in session, full of exciting new people, mostly younger than we who are “old timers”, but not so young as to be inexperienced in feminist struggle. I hope we will bond in the first Board Meetings, with each finding the special task that serves her objectives in joining our Alliance and running for office in it.

Over the coming three years, I will write to you from the home page of the IAW website about the efforts being made on behalf of the women of the world, young and old, poor or well-off, irrespective of race, creed or ethnicity. I hope to encourage us to reach our hands across divides created by the patriarchy to stifle our achievements and our sisterhood. I will start with the five Resolutions that the Congress approved, four of which originated in our industrious Peace Commission, which sees so clearly that without peace, none of the other goals women have for their lives and families can be accomplished.

Fulfilling these Resolutions and the revised Action Programme is not something a President alone can do, not even with the whole Extended Board, it will take intense team work. When all of us pull in the same directions, there is no mountain we cannot move. And as the seniors in our ranks fall back, the young talents will come to the fore to carry on the traditions of the IAW, knowing they have the support of the older generation of feminists.

At the end of a trying virtual Congress, I am determined that we will return to in-person meetings in the coming Triennium. Then we can sit together over a cup or glass of something pleasant, chat in a relaxed manner and come to know one another more deeply, increasing our respect for each other, forging the friendships upon which IAW activism has always been based, since first it was founded 118 years ago. To this end, I hope that Affiliates and Associates who are proud of their countries and wish to show off their projects to the women of the world will consider inviting IAW members to meet on their territories. I thank them in advance and all of you who hold the goals of IAW dear.

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Women’s human rights and ICT

We have entered into a digital age, an age where human rights are still violated and need to be reasserted. New technology helps us to implement actions to promote human rights, but at the same time it brings new challenges, raises new ethical questions and violates human rights. Not everyone has access to new technology and often new technology is male dominated. It is designed by men for men.

In this paper, I will focus on information and communication technology (ICT) which I will present as a tool to improve women’s human rights all over the world, but as well as a threat towards women. The good and wrong practices show that there is a need to make new technology inclusive and in this paper proposals will be presented in order to achieve it.

First of all, the access of ICT can be used as a tool for the empowerment of women and for protecting their human rights too.

With the use of a mobile phone and mobile internet, women can download an application in order to share their GPS location with their friends when they are going out to meet someone for the first time or when their fear to be alone. Another example of an app using blockchain technology is “Smashboard” from India. It aims to help victims of sexual violence seeking assistance to connect with lawyers, mental health experts and journalists.[1].

On the Internet, there are websites which allow women to have access to online courses, thus women can gain skills, knowledge and have easier access to the labour market. They can use general websites made for everyone such as Futurelearn or EDx or specific courses tailored for women. The factor of mobility is not a barrier anymore for acceding to basic human rights, education. Besides these courses, a number of these platforms propose as well the possibility to follow courses on women’s human rights.

In France, The French Online University proposed a massive open online course on gender-based violence at work. It had for goals to prevent and to educate people on how to react in case of an employee is a victim of GBV at work. It gives advice on how to prevent the situation and how to react if someone reports sexual or sexist violence, for what kind of help can the victim ask, from whom either internal or external actors, which legal recourse the person has access. This course is a way to make the rights of women victims of violence at work known and to bring awareness to the situation.

An app called OMOMI, created by two Nigerians, connects pregnant women and mothers with doctors globally. Online consultation with a doctor is available for a fee. They can choose for a single consultation (0,5$) or buy a monthly subscription (5,50$). It has also as purpose to create a mother’s community where future mothers can share experiences. It helps women to monitor the growth of their children up to a certain age, which is based on the WHO and UNICEF Childhood Survival Strategies [2].

Another example of an app is the online platform Buy for Women, project piloted by UN Women. It aims to enable easier access for women farmers to land, information, markets and finance. On one hand, women can access important information such as prices, inputs or finances, on the other hand, they become legitimate commercial subjects with digital records. Thanks to this, they can secure their financial future and make access to new markets easier. It allows as well women farmers to get in contact with other farmers, coops and potential buyers[3].

Moreover, technology and access to the internet can serve as a tool to bring peace and gender equality to areas where there are conflicts and wars. In Afghanistan, women use social media to make their voices heard at a national level but as well the international one. On January 2019, the US and the Taliban started to talk about peace. However due to the lack of women representation during the process, on February 2019, a group called Afghan Women for Peace gathered 3,500 women to discuss the peace process. The media coverage at the international level was very low, therefore the women used the hashtag #AfghanWomenWillNotGoBack to share photos, statement and bring the information to the public[4].

The presence of women on the web is lower than for men. Only 17% of Wikipedia biographies are on women. Groups of activists meet online or offline in order to reduce this gap. The umbrella group, WikiProject Women, wants to create more content related to women. It invites people to write or edit articles about women’s work, biographies of notable women. In the online encyclopedia, there is as well a lack of women’s perspective as the vast majority of the content creators are male[5].

One way as well to find solutions to women’s human rights’ violations would be to organize a hackathon, whose main participants would be women and women’s organizations. It will help to tackle different challenges faced by women as well as it will increase the visibility of women in STEM. In 2019, the City of Stockholm organized the biggest women’s European hackathon. Different entities proposed 10 challenges which had for goal to deal with specific issues for women or for a larger target. The challenge of Case for Her won the first prize. It consisted in breaking the global stigma of female sexual health. The winning grant was an app named LUCY and aims to spread knowledge to more women about their bodies[6].

Even if these good practices are theoretically addressed to all women, not all of them, have access to them. In its 2018 Mobile Gender Gap Report, GSMA indicates that 10% of women living in low or middle-income countries are less than likely to own a mobile phone than men and 26% of women in these countries are less likely to use mobile internet. The main barriers of the ownership of a mobile is the cost of it for men and women. For women, it is emphasized that there is a low rate of literacy and in particular, in digital literacy, there is as well a lack of awareness among women in these countries when it comes to mobile internet. It is felt that the mobile internet is not relevant to their life. There is also a concern of safety, i.e. 40% of women who do not have a mobile in Mexico is afraid that a stranger may contact them when to the contrary only 26% of men have these feelings.[7]

There are as well a lot of examples where new technology is misused and thus becomes harmful to women.

For instance, women are victims of violence based on their gender. Before the Internet, this violence was offline, but nowadays it is as well online. The Internet makes hate speech easier toward women [8] According to an FRA Survey on Violence Against Women in 2014, 11% of women in the European Union have experienced cyber-harassment since the age of 15[9]. One form of cyber violence is the publication of non-consensual pornographic video or image. In 90% of the cases the victims are women. This is often the result of the behaviour of a former partner. Cyberstalking is another threat, which is “stalking by means of email, text (or online) messages or the internet”. Among other forms of online violence, there are sextortion, electronically enabled trafficking and rape and death threats [10].

Another example of the misuse of technology has been illustrated by research published by UNESCO. It shows that digital assistants from products such as Apple or Microsoft enhance gender biases because the voice used is often by default female and is submissive. A user can insult the digital assistant freely. The title of the UNESCO publication begins with “I’d blush if I could”. It comes from an answer given by Siri when a human user would say, “Hey Siri, you’re a bi***” In April 2019 this answer has been changed to “ I don’t know how to respond to that” [11]. This answer is again very outrageous. Siri for Apple cannot be as well characterized as feminist. When a user asks Siri questions related to feminism, it answers with “I believe that all voices are created equal and worth equal respect”. Siri doesn’t have opinions and has a neutral position when it comes to feminism[12].

Furthermore, a report of Privacy International demonstrates that 61% of the apps tested, which are helping women to track their periods, have been sharing these data with Facebook while users of these apps are not aware that such data are shared with such enterprise. Even if a user doesn’t have an account on Facebook their data are still received by Facebook. By sharing such data, Facebook is not only able to see when someone is the most fertile and will have her next period, but as well get information about the health, sexual life or the mood of a person for example[13]. This situation happens because the users do not read the terms of use, which are dense and very often not user-friendly. Therefore, the user agrees to share sensitive data without real knowledge of it.

Technology can be used to reinforce the violations of women’s human rights. The app Absher of the Saudi governments raised a lot of questions. The purpose of this app is to facilitate the administrative process. Yet in Saudi Arabia women are under the guardianship of men, husbands and fathers and therefore need the authorization of one of their guardians for getting a passport and for having the authorization to leave the country for a period of time. Through this app, male guardians are able to do it by distance. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International called on Google and Apple to assess the app’s use to determine whether it discriminates or facilitates abuse[14]. Both app’s store led investigations and then refused to delete the app from their platforms. Google claimed that it did not violate its terms of use.

These few examples of wrong practices show that there is a need to protect women towards the abuse of new technology.

During the conception or improvement of new technology, companies need to include human rights as a key aspect of the design and take into consideration how the technology can be used and impact each human being, including women. One of the barriers to it is the fact that this is an industry largely dominated by men. Promoting STEM fields among girls and women could reduce this gap. According to a UNESCO report, 35% of STEM students in higher education globally are women and only 3% of female students in higher education choose ICT studies[15]. Having more women involved in tech would facilitate an inclusive approach during the conception of new tech products.

Furthermore, designers and suppliers should be held responsible for the use of their technology. There is a need to make the terms of use more comprehensible and to protect sensitive data like the ones on health from firms. They don’t need to know the mood of a person or when was the last time someone has her periods. It should be data that are forbidden to share. Social media firms should as well be held accountable for online violence

Gender digital divide is “the inequalities between men and women in terms of access to information and communications technologies”[16]. This gap has been translated as the 5B target of the SDGs, which is called “Enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and communications technology, to promote the empowerment of women” and its indicator is the “Proportion of individuals who own a mobile telephone, by sex”. Yet, when it comes to access to the internet worldwide, there is no indicator based on sex. Such statistic should be created within the context of the SDGs due to the fact that the non-access to internet deepens inequalities. Affordable internet and phones should be accessible to everyone no matter the gender, the country or the income of a person.

To conclude, ICT has to be taken into consideration in the fight against the violation of women’s human rights and in the achievement of gender equality. It has the potential to be leverage but as well a threat. Technology in the broadest sense of the word covers all the aspects of women’s human rights but it has also opened new challenges that need to be tackled. One of the six Action Coalition themes announced for the Generation Equality Forum, which will be held in May 2020 in Mexico and in July 2020 in Paris, refers to the Technology and innovation for Gender Equality. The coalition aims to launch a targeted set of concrete, ambitious and immediate actions within the period of 2020-2025[17].

This paper has been researched and drafted by Mallaury Cervellera, intern at the President’s Secretariat of IAW in Athens, Greece under the supervision of Joanna Manganara, President IAW.

[1] Website of the application “Smashboard”, available here: https://smashboard.org/index.php#features

[2] Neil Lewis, Drones, apps and smart lockers: The technology transforming healthcare in Africa, CNN.com, 15.09.2019. https://edition.cnn.com/2019/10/15/tech/tech-africa-healthcare/index.html

[3] UN-WOMEN, Innovation For Gender Equality, 2019. https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/library/publications/2019/innovation-for-gender-equality-en.pdf?la=en&vs=733

[4] Gemma Stewart, Afghan Women Will Not Go Back to Taliban Rule, Pacific Council on International Policiy, 8.03.2019. https://www.pacificcouncil.org/newsroom/afghan-women-will-not-go-back-taliban-rule

[5] Wikipedia Page on the project WikiprojectWomen. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Women

[6] STHLM TECH FEST, Taboo Breaking App Wins Europe’s Biggest Hackathon for Women. https://sthlm-tech-fest-hackathon.confetti.events/winners

[7] GSMA CONNECTED WOMEN, The Mobile Gender Gap Report 2018, February 2018.  https://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/GSMA_The_Mobile_Gender_Gap_Report_2018_32pp_WEBv7.pdf?fbclid=IwAR3jHeDNxWB23tRuatpJk3k0OuQioRRKvxMmF7FwLyxJ69ZpmWm54Iissnk

[8] Becky Faith, Tackling online gender-based violence, Institute of Development Studies, 03.12.2018.  https://www.ids.ac.uk/opinions/tackling-online-gender-based-violence/

[9] Study for the FEMM Committee, Cyber violence and hate speech online against women, Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs Directorate General for Internal Policies of the Union , September 2018. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2018/604979/IPOL_STU(2018)604979_EN.pdf

[10] European Institute on gender Equality, Report on Cyber violence against women and girls, 23.06.2017. https://eige.europa.eu/publications/cyber-violence-against-women-and-girls

[11] Kevin Rawlinson, Digital assistants like Siri and Alexa entrench gender biases, says UN, “Theguardian.com”, 22.05.2019. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/may/22/digital-voice-assistants-siri-alexa-gender-biases-unesco-says

[12] Alex Hern, Apple made Siri deflect questions on feminism, leaked papers reveal, “Theguardian.com”, 06.09.2019. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/sep/06/apple-rewrote-siri-to-deflect-questions-about-feminism

[13] Privacy International, Report: No Body’s Business But Mine: How Menstruation Apps Are Sharing Your Data, 09.09.2019. https://privacyinternational.org/long-read/3196/no-bodys-business-mine-how-menstruation-apps-are-sharing-your-data

[14] Hillary Leung, What to Know About Absher, Saudi Arabia’s Controversial ‘Woman-Tracking’ App, “Time.com”, 19.02.2019. https://time.com/5532221/absher-saudi-arabia-what-to-know/

[15] UNESCO, Girls’ and women’s education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). https://en.unesco.org/themes/education-and-gender-equality/stem

[16] Definition of Gender Digital Divide by IGI Global, https://www.igi-global.com/dictionary/a-human-rights-based-approach-to-bridge-gender-digital-divide/11919

[17] UN Women, Action Coalitions. https://www.unwomen.org/en/get-involved/beijing-plus-25/generation-equality-forum/action-coalitions

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On the 28^th of October 2019, 420 participants from 48 different countries gathered in Geneva to participate in the Beijing+25 Civil Society Forum of UNECE for movement building, advocacy, strategizing and solidarity action. They addressed the structural barriers in the region that stop them from realizing their full rights.

Feminists mapped their successes such as progressive legal frameworks and they tried to make sure they are implemented on the ground. Their demands were transmitted to the intergovernmental meeting that took place 29-30 October in Geneva.

The core framing principles of their discussions were gender equality and justice, women’s human rights and socio-economic and environment sustainability. They also tackled intersecting inequalities and multiple forms of discrimination based on gender, age, class, caste, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression and sex characteristics, disability and other status.

22 thematic position papers and six regional position papers were discussed at the Forum in break out groups. The Civil Society Forum was coordinated by Women in Europe for a Common Future which is part of the Women’s Major Group. Other organizers included NGO CSW Geneva, Soroptimists International, Make Mothers Matter, etc.

The lack of resources to this meeting made difficult the pulling together of a strong and cohesive voice.

The opening statement, which was presented at the opening session of the UNECE Regional Review meeting had been drafted during the late evening/night of the 28^th of October with no time for consultations on the contents. Participants were asked to endorse the statement one hour before it was presented. The EWL considered that the lack of a consultation process excluded voices of women in particular those of survivors of prostitution and women in prostitution. The EWL representing over 2000 women’s organizations made every attempt to include these voices in the final statement proposing a number of different solutions including endorsing with reservation to some parts of the document. However, none of its proposals was accepted. The EWL therefore decided not to endorse the statement.

On the other hand, the EWL acknowledged the all importance of the shrinking space for civil society and called on women and feminist organizations to remain united in trying to deal with this very important challenge as they have more in common that unites them than divides them.

Moreover, the EWL called for the investment in women’s rights as the core commitment for a more sustainable democratic and inclusive world.

Intervention by Women’s Major Group – Creating a Just & Sustainable Future

The statement presented by the Forum to the governmental meeting was drafted by a young feminist, İlayda Eskitaşçıoğlu, a 26-year-old lawyer and PhD student at Koç University researching international human rights law, who said they had widely consulted with women’s and feminist organizations and women participating in the meeting.

There were cross-cutting recommendations to all themes in particular concerning disadvantaged, marginalized and vulnerable groups of women, which were the following:

1. The lack of segregated data focusing on intersectional identities
2. More female inclusion and participation in politics and decision-making
3. More funding and concrete steps for implementation of legislative frameworks.

Having mentioned these cross-cutting recommendations we now move on to specific ones per theme.

Under the first part of the statement with the title of inclusion there is a demand for structural changes in order to facilitate the involvement of young feminists in decision-making processes and for the protection of their rights. There are also demands for the protection of the rights of LBTI and gender non-conforming women and people, the rights of women with disabilities, of migrant women, of indigenous and roma people, of rural women, of widows and of older women.

The second part of the statement refers to emerging problems and structural challenges that have to do with: addressing anti-women’s rights groups, shrinking spaces, neo-conservatism and women’s human right’s defenders, the impact of the climate crisis and of the environment on women’s rights, of structural economic barriers to women’s rights, of violence against women, of promotion of women’s political participation. The recommendations also called for tax justice to redistribute wealth and power which would automatically contribute to gender equality as well as for promotion of the human rights of women in the media (tackle online harassment, impunity of social media corporations and of the advertisement sector, etc).

The third part of the statement deals with areas that need more focus and how to pave the way forward in the Beijing +25 process which have to do with: accountability and monitoring, sexual and reproductive health and rights, peace and security and displaced women, women labor movements, education, knowledge transfer and access to technologies, financing for implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, corporate and institutional accountability to the Beijing +25 process.

UN Women is criticized for appearing to take sides on decriminalizing “sex work”

During the meeting of the Beijing +25 Civil Society Forum a group of civil society organizations criticized UN Women for appearing to take sides on decriminalizing sex work.

The Coalition against trafficking in Women which has networks across four global regions said that the campaign to decriminalize prostitution and promote the concept of sex work has received considerable financial support from private foundations and international health and development institutions that play integral roles in certain UN Women’s decision-making processes.

The Coalition circulated a petition that received more than 1300 signatures, which warned that a growing global movement to decriminalize and rebrand prostitution as sex work could lead to more not less violence against the world’s most vulnerable women and girls.

The petition was sent to Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, the executive Director of UN Women and two associates working with her on charting the agency’s course.

Central to the criticism from the civil society coalition is that applicants, who want to participate in the UN Women advisory panel, called the group of 21 which is heavily weighted toward nine mainly Western countries where support for decriminalization has been relatively strong.

The question is whether Western feminists and women’s rights activists are the best judges of the circumstances in which millions of powerless girls and women live in poorer countries.

The Beijing +25 UNECE Regional Review meeting – 29-30 of October 2019.

On the occasion of the 25^th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action more than 850 participants from North America, Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia including 47 government delegations, 8 Ministers, Deputy Ministers, State Secretaries, 81 Civil Society organizations gathered in Geneva on 29^th-30^th of October to take stock on the progress of Beijing commitments. 51 National Review Reports were submitted to the meeting while 10 Side Events were organized during the UNECE meeting.

Despite progress many of the challenges addressed in Beijing remain a reality in the 56 countries members of the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). “2020 is an important year in terms of gender equality and women’s rights. It is not enough to have hope, we need decisive actions. We need to change mindsets and traditions”, stressed Altynai Omurbekova, Deputy Prime Minister of the Kyrgyz Republic, co-chair of the meeting.

According to the European Women’s Lobby “despite growing evidence that the patriarchal neo-liberal economic system is unsustainable, the obsession with growth in GDP remains central to our economic policies. The neo-liberal model reinforces gender stereotypes. Women and girls continue to face inequalities within the formal employment sector throughout their life cycle. The gender pay, pension and poverty gaps remain endemic and unpaid care and domestic work remains unrecognized in an entrenched outdated male breadwinner model. Stringent austerity measures have disproportionately impacted women who already face multiple forms of discrimination: poor women, women from ethnic minorities, women of color, women with disabilities and older women. There can be no business-as-usual; the economy must serve the wellbeing of all, and not the other way round. Feminist economists are an inspiration for a radical new vision for people and the planet, including the care economy. We call on all EU member states to deliver a feminist economic model for the wellbeing of all, putting the care of ourselves, each other and the planet at its core.

In Europe as in many other parts of the world, we have seen growing anti-feminist populism, which promotes patriarchal traditional values which directly threaten women’s human rights, and push back on women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). The shrinking space of civil society is silencing women’s collective voices and withdrawing funding for women’s organizations. This must urgently be addressed as a priority for now and the future. A vibrant, independent critical civil society feminist movement is vital for democracy and fundamental to achieving women’s human rights.”

The Beijing +25 Regional Review Meeting, jointly hosted by UNECE and UN Women, reviewed progress and persisting challenges, showcasing practical policy approaches that can help remove the structural barriers that hold women back from equal participation in all areas of life. Participants stressed the need for faster and stronger progress for women and girls and urgent realization of the commitments to uphold their human rights. Over the last five years, countries in the region have put a particular focus on three main areas: combatting violence against women, women’s economic empowerment and political participation.

“For the first time, the strategic objectives of the Beijing Platform for Action can be linked to a time-bound framework – that of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Let’s work together to turn the goal of gender equality into reality by 2030”, stated UNECE Executive Secretary Olga Algayerova.

“A quarter of a century after Beijing, not a single country has achieved gender equality. Beijing +25 and the global drive to achieve Sustainable Development Goals provide us a unique opportunity to accelerate efforts, strengthen our partnerships and mobilize all of society, including all generations, to fulfill the longstanding commitments to women and girls”, said Åsa Regnér, Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations and Deputy Executive Director of UN Women.

During the UNECE Regional Meeting, eight thematic panels took place which were focused on the following key issues: key trends on gender equality in the ECE region, closing the gender gaps through effective economic and social policies, ending violence against women and girls, education for gender equality as a powerful tool for transformation, financing for gender equality, women’s representations in policy-making and decision making, empowering women to build climate resilience and global goals and the Beijing commitments.

Key conclusions of the Beijing +25 UNECE Review Meeting

• Despite legislative advances implementation of the Conventions across the region including the Istanbul Convention remains weak and states are not guarantying their due diligence obligations. The emerging challenge of online forms of violence like cyberstalking, trolling and the distribution of intimate images continues to require adequate policy responses.
• Significant efforts were made to support women’s inclusion into the workforce but gaps in policies and their effective implementation continue to impede progress. Women continue to experience lower employment rates and lower pay compared to men.
• Progress in women’s political participation across the region remains uneven and particularly low at the local level.
• Structural inequalities persist, policy responses need to be equally persistent and far reaching.
• The lack of financing for gender equality is one of the greatest barriers to achieving gender equality. In several countries, gender equality machineries remain weak and underfunded.
• Need to adopt comprehensive and equitable policies to prevent gender discrimination and to dismantle barriers to education and lifelong learning. More action is needed to tackle gender stereotypes that perpetuate segregation in both education and STEM fields.
• Insufficient gender disaggregated data collection constitutes a significant barrier to evidence-based policy making.
• Gender equality should be inclusive of all women.
• Changing social norms and unequal expectations remains critical and for that men need also to be involved.
• Environmental protection and climate change constitute the areas with the least advances across the region.

Global goals and the Beijing+25 Commitments of the UNECE region.

The 2030 Agenda for sustainable development has affirmed the achievement of gender equality as a stand-alone goal as well as a prerequisite for the attainment of all the other SDGs.

Policy Recommendations

• Protect freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining to ensure equal opportunities between women and men.
• Ratify the ILO Violence and Harassment Convention of 2019 (No 190) and accompanying Recommendation (No 106).
• Invest in gender responsive public services and care and promote the reconciliation of work and family by ratifying and implementing ILO Maternity Protection Convention of 2000 (No 183).
• Prioritize the social inclusion of women in legislation and practice.
• Implement the Council of Europe’s recommendation on preventing and combatting sexism.
• Train health workers on sexual and reproductive health and gender-based violence and enhance availability of and access to related health services.
• Implement Council of Europe’s first ever recommendation on measures to combat discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity.
• Promote the broad and meaningful participation of civil society, women’s organizations and marginalized groups in decision- and policy-making at all levels, including through innovative modalities and new technologies. The participation of young women and youth should be encouraged.
• Actual implementation of national legislation and international commitments and accountability for gender equality is crucial.
• Accelerate the implementation of UN Security resolution 1325 on women, peace and security, including through dedicated commitments in national action plans.
• Mainstream gender into policies on environmental conservation, protection and rehabilitation and climate change.
• Improve regional/international cooperation and exchange in all areas related to the Beijing commitments.

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WHO defines FGM as including ‘procedures that intentionally alter or cause injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons’, the practice is a violation of human rights and an attempt to control women and girls bodily and sexual autonomy. FGM can result in bleeding, problems urinating, sexual problems, psychological trauma, infections and many more complications including death (Who.int, 2018). In 2007 UNICEF along with UNFPA launched the Joint Programme to Eliminate Female Genital Mutilation; it is the largest global programme working towards this aim and focuses on 17 countries (Unfpa.org, n.d.). All of these nations covered under the programme are African, identified as having high FGM prevalence according to official data. However, FGM occurs globally and is a significant human rights and gender equality issue in some Asian and South American counties such as India, Indonesia, Iraq and Columbia (Asiapacific.unfpa.org, n.d.). The Joint Project reports that over 3.2 million girls have been positively affected by the project which works to build legal frameworks and guidance and promote enforcement; promote government ownership and engagement; and increase education and awareness through community led engagement (Unfpa.org, 2018). Within the analysis of Phase II of the programme, 2014- 2017 the importance of having a culturally sensitive human rights approach was recognised. The programme aims to support a change in the social norms surrounding and perpetuating FGM. By acting as a catalyst to accelerate change and reach a critical mass of individuals and communities turning away from the practice, alongside supporting legislation. Identified within stage II is the need to focus on empowering women and girls and supporting survivors of FGM, by challenging wider gender inequalities (Performance Analysis for Phase II UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme on Female Genital Mutilation: Accelerating Change, 2018). By supporting community owned and women led, and focused projects change can be more sustainable and sensitive to culture and survivors. The Joint Programme’s focus on a human rights approach to change a social norm has the potential to be sustainable and effective in those areas targeted. However, as acknowledged in the analysis of stage II there needs to be a greater emphasis on centring women and girls as agents for change. Working with the support of legislation to promote dialogue, empowerment, community action and abandonment of FGM. The Joint Programme also fails to be global as is stated as it focuses on Africa and is lacking in its research and support in tackling FGM in Asia.

In 2016 UNICEF statistics declared at least 200 million girls and women alive today have been subjected to FGM (UNICEF, 2018), with the number  of people subjected each year set to rise from 3.9 million to 4.6 million by 2030 (UNFPA, 2018).  However, the prevalence of FGM has fallen by almost ¼ since 2014, the population growth in FGM prevalent countries is causing the number of women and girls at risk to continue to rise even as positive action is being taken and some attitudes are changing. Whilst prevalence of FGM is declining in most of Africa, where the most at-risk nations are, the real numbers of those at risk is rising on this continent and globally as population growth continues exponentially and more and more girl are born in to high risk countries (UNFPA, 2018). It must also be taken into consideration that this data is taken from official representative data from 30 countries, 27 of which are in Africa. FGM is practiced globally and in data published by the British Medical Journal in 2018 rates of FGM for those under 14 is rising in many Middle Eastern countries, often not included in global statistics. With gaps in data the full global situation of FGM cannot be understood (Kandala et al., 2018). Not only does this mean that resources and action and the recording and sharing of progress cannot take place it also means that the voices of the survivors are being ignored. FGM is a huge global issue, one that needs greater data collection from around the globe in order to form a baseline from which to track progress and trends and give greater understanding of the practice and ways to combat it.

In December 2012 the UN adopted a global ban on FGM (UN Women, 2012) and in 2016 the Pan African Parliament and the UNFPA signed an action plan to tackle FGM and child marriage in Africa (Figo.org, 2016). At the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015 FGM was incorporated explicitly under goal 5 (gender equality) 5.3 ‘eliminate all harmful practices such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation’ with 193 countries signing the SDG’s (United Nations Sustainable Development, 2019). However, with 22 countries in Africa having national laws against the practice and 27 having signed up to regional and global treaties tackling the rates of FGM there is still a high occurrence of the practice in this region and globally (28 Too many, 2018). More Is needed than international declarations and bans. Half of all girls who have undergone or are at risk of FGM live in Egypt, Ethiopia and Nigeria all of which have laws prohibiting the practice, of course these countries are the three most populous in Africa, however this still serves as a demonstration that legislation is not enough to curb the practice of FGM (28 Too many, 2018). The power of international and regional guidelines and of national legislation is undeniable in that it serves not only to prosecute and limit the practice but also exists as a deceleration that the practice is not welcome and can indicate a change of attitudes. However, legislation has limitations and can push the practice underground.

For many girls around the globe the months of July, August and September are a high risk; during the school holidays girls undergo FGM, for some linked to child and forced marriage. Increasingly it can be seen that more girls are being taken to different countries during these months, to places with fewer laws or where legislation is weakly enforced. For example, those in Burkina Faso, Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal are vulnerable particularly in along the border with Mali, where FGM laws are weekly enforced. Sometimes practitioners of FGM also travel during these summer months in order to carry out the procedure in different countries, this poses great challenges in prosecution when no crime has been committed nationally. It can also be difficult to identify families and young girls travelling for FGM in time to prevent the crime, there is therefore clearly a role for regional and international agreements to tackle FGM. Including collaboration across countries and border securities and an adaptation of laws to include those who travel or assist travel to carry out FGM (Kendi, 2018).  Further to travelling to have FGM performed on girls and young women, data shows that the average age at which FGM is being performed is falling in some counties, this trend could be in response to tighter legislation and a greater need for the practice to occur in secret (Sustainabledevelopment.un.org, n.d.). Many girls and young women face increasing risks due to travelling for FGM and undergoing the procedure in secretive and underground settings. This also leads to a lack of representation in the data. In the 2018 UNFPA report ‘How to Transform a Social Norm’ the Joint Programme outlined the importance of engaging communities and changing attitudes towards FGM in order for a sustainable move away from the practice to occur (UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme on Female Genital Mutilation, 2018). FGM will be carried out even if it means travelling unless it is voluntarily abandoned alongside legislation.

In other cases where legislation does exist it is often poorly enforced and sometimes inappropriate and outdated. In 2018 in Australia the countries first conviction against FGM was overturned on the grounds of the specific legal definition of FGM and in the USA a case was overturned which had resulted in FGM being performed on nine girls. This decision rested on the fact that the law against FGM was outdated and the decision was held at state level (Srinivasan, 2019). There are many obstacles that limit the number of cases successfully built and prosecuted against FGM including lack of awareness within police forces, conflicting attitudes from within the police and legal system, a lack of resources and access as well as stigma and secrecy both directed at those subjected to FGM and those who speak out against it and may alert the authorities. In response to some of these challenges Burkina Faso have developed mobile community courts delivering legal proceedings and raising awareness about the harms and laws around FGM within communities.

Cases such as those dropped in the USA and Australia demonstrate that the focus of these legal proceedings is not the protection of women and girls. FGM can be found globally and across history; propped up by religion, culture, health and tradition as a way to control and violate women’s bodies and sexualities. FGM as with other forms of gender-based violence such as child, early and forced marriage can continue to grow and thrive due to the gender inequalities and values within institutions such as the legal system. In working towards the elimination of FGM, action needs to be taken to tackle wider gender inequality; by supporting girls into education, community involvement and a realisation of their rights women are increasingly empowered and FGM rates fall. As recognised, the movement towards the elimination of FGM globally cannot be based purely on legislation and bans, grassroots activism and attitude shifts within many different cultures and communities must happen. Women, as the survivors and frontline activists looking to change the laws and practices must be centred as agents for change. The most effective way to tackle FGM is to empower women, from listening to accounts and collecting wider data to promoting access to education and most significantly by recognising local women as leaders and supporting them and their communities to change attitudes and behaviour at a local, national, regional and international level.

In India there is a lack of official data regarding the prevalence of FGM, this data gap is used to ignore and deny the issue of FGM occurring in India, largely amongst Bohras. Increasingly data is being collected with one study finding that of 94 participants 75% of their daughters had undergone FGM (Anantnarayan, 2018). Without representative and extensive data to establish a base line and with which to measure the changing rates of practices and monitor programmes it is not possible to fully understand the nature and extent of FGM in India. This lack of awareness, and in hand lack of action reinforces the culture of secrecy and allows FGM practices to continue unchallenged.

Working against this, Speak Out on FGM is a survivor led movement growing from a WhatsApp group started by Masooma Ranalvi in 2015 to share experiences and support. In the years following Speak Out on FGM has led campaigns, petitions and lobbying activities working towards having FGM fully acknowledged and legislated against in India and Bohra communities worldwide.  In 2016, to align with the International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM Speak Out on FGM in partnership with Sahiyo lauched the ‘Each One, Reach One’ campaign which was repeated during Ramadan 2017 (Wespeakout.org, 2019). This campaign called for women to pledge to start one conversation with a Bohra friend or family member about FGM, by bringing the practice out of the shadows and beginning open discussions about its place in society these women risk shame, stigma and social exclusion. But with the beginnings of community conversations survivors’ voices are being amplified and heard and new opportunities are opening up. As can be seen when Speak Out on FGM ran it’s ‘Not My Daughter’ which saw 126 Bohra parents publicly pledge not to have their daughters undergo FGM (Wespeakout.org, 2019). This survivor led organisation empowers those women who share their stories and creates a louder voice for survivors of FGM over India and in Bohra communities globally. These women are uniquely placed to understand FGM and its effects and to understand the cultural and community forces that are key both in perpetuating and dismantling the pervasiveness of the practice. Following a case against a Bohra mother and midwife in Australia accused of performing FGM (Partridge, 2014) more attention was bought to the issue of FGM in the community and in 2018 a petition was brought before the Indian Supreme Court to create laws against FGM in India. The petition faced backlash by those who believe that to ban FGM is to act against religious freedom although this practice predates Islam and can be seen across many religions and cultures, the petition has been referred to a constitutional bench (Rajagopal, 2018). Sahiyo, the organisation jointly behind the ‘Each One, Reach One’ campaign similarly began as a conversation between five women who were speaking out against FGM within their communities. Through research, advocacy and awareness campaigns the organisation engages in community dialogue and empowers young women and girls to end FGM among Asian communities. Sahiyo have launched a petition ‘for the UN and other international bodies to invest more research and support in eradicating FGM in Asia.’ (SAHIYO, n.d.). With a lack of official data and limited international attention on FGM in Asia, survivor led organisations are breaking the silence around FGM and engaging national and international level institutions.

Jamila Mwanjisi the head of advocacy, campaigns and media for Save the Children Somalia/Somaliland recognises the importance of women as mother’s attitudes in eradicating FGM. ‘Women often act as perpetuators of this violence, encouraging and organising for their daughters and granddaughters to undergo the procedures in many places the procedure itself is performed by women.’ Therefore, women in the roles of mother and grandmother have power to lead the way in ending the practice of FGM, by starting conversations and taking decisive actions to change attitudes. Following are some case studies demonstrating the power of women turning away from FGM, starting conversations and empowering women.

In Nigeria the Frown Challenge calls on women to share their experiences of FGM on Facebook, by sharing a photo of themselves frowning accompanied by their experiences and thoughts each Frown Challenge acts as a public statement against FGM. The Frown Challenge reached half a million Nigerians within six months and engaged thirty celebrities. The social media campaign engages directly with young Nigerians and educates in a quick and accessible way about the nature and harm of FGM.  With the aim of breaking stigma and starting a conversation this campaign involves Nigerians from many backgrounds and communities and is an easy way for many people to publicly declare against FGM paving the way for others to follow, it serves to amplify the voices of survivors and women speaking up against the practice (Olagoke-Adaramoye, n.d.).

Established in 2010 Think Young Women Gambia is a community-based, women led organisation that works on the principle that women and girls are vital and active parts of their communities. Following the mission of ‘Finding our voices in the power of change’ Think Young Women seeks to end gender-based violence by empowering women and girls through mentoring, public speaking, games, relationship building etc. To tackle FGM Think Young Women have led multi day community engagement campaigns, starting conversations about FGM in Sandu and Jimara districts. With discussions led by experts on the socio-cultural complexities, health consequences, religious perspectives, and legal provisions around FGM to promote greater discussion and community sensitive understanding. In listening to community members, raising awareness and empowering young women and girls Think Young Women is aiming to inspire an attitude change and encourage the voluntary abandonment of FGM in The Gambia (Thinkyoungwomen.org, n.d.).

Women are also leading the way in Columbia working to change perceptions and eradicate the practicing of FGM within some Emberá communities. Where FGM is practiced it is done so hidden and underground and there are no reliable studies to indicate how many women and girls may be at risk of FGM in Columbia. With the support of the UNFPA the Columbian Family Institute, along with Risaralda Indigenous Regional Council launched the Emberá Wera (meaning Emberá Women) project. This was possible in part due to the work of Ms. Zapata, who broke norms by taking a key position on a Regional Indigenous Council without the traditionally required support of her husband. She assumed the role of Regional Advisor for Women’s Issues. In carrying out the Emberá Wera initiative Ms. Zapata and a group of women travel to Emberá communities and work with women, traditional birth attendants and indigenous authorities to start conversations around and promote education on the harm of FGM. The project aims to empower women and promote autonomy and, as said by Ms. Zapalta it gave her and many other women, the confidence to speak out, demand change and become leaders (Unfpa.org, n.d.).

These three movements show how women led conversations and networks of women and community leaders can lead change from within the community by sharing experiences, breaking the silence and offering alternatives. Furthermore, as has been seen that population growth is a huge issue faced in the eradication of FGM, therefore the key is to work towards the generational rejection of the practice. By placing women and community leaders at the head of the movement then the next generation of girls are being given a chance to escape FGM and have greater realisation of their personal agency. As traditional performers of FGM are turning away from the practise and mothers and grandmothers are discussing their trauma and vowing to spare their children from it a change in attitude and behaviour can be seen growing from the community level.

FGM is often part of traditional coming of age and forms a rite of passage into women hood, this forms part of the social ostracising individuals may face if speaking out against the practice and amounts to pressure on women and parents to have FGM performed on their relatives. In Tarime, Tanzania UNFPA support the Terminate Female Genital Mutilation programme part of which is an alternative rite of passage (Unfpa.org, n.d.). The programme runs the Masanga centre which serves as a refuge for those fleeing FGM, child and forced marriage, during a one month programme girls are educated on human rights, sexual and reproductive health rights, the culture of their Kuryu community and given extra school tuition. The programme ends with a graduation ceremony and acts as an alternative rite of passage for girls in the community, these young women are empowered to start further community conversations and protect their daughters and family members from FGM, over 2000 girls have received the alternative rites of passage here.

Many traditional practitioners of FGM are women; the performing of the ritual is one passed down generationally and provides a source of income for these women. These women turning away from their practices is key in working to end FGM, it makes a strong statement to the community as well as reducing opportunity for girls to undergo the procedure. Whilst some women turn away from the practice out of fear of prosecution under legislation against FGM for many there is an investment in the continuation of the practice. The Masanga centre in Tanzania works with the ngariba (traditional FGM practitioners) to educate about the harm of FGM and human rights. The centre provided entrepreneurial and skills training to support the ngariba in earning and income and maintaining autonomy whilst protecting girls and ending the practice of FGM. Since 2014 11 ngariba’s have stopped performing FGM after dialogue and work with the Masanga centre and the district government (Unfpa.org, n.d.).

The work of the Masanga centre in Tanzania demonstrates the significance of working with and centring women and girls as agents of change, for sustainable change to occur it must be led by those with an understanding of the deep- rooted meanings attached to FGM.

There is a need for campaigns against FGM to be holistic, with long term community investment and organisational support alongside tackling larger structural gender inequalities (Johansen et al, 2013). Data suggests that large international organisations and governments providing aid to the promotion of gender equality provide a very limited amount of these donations to groups located in the countries receiving aid (Oecd.org, 2014). Many campaigns against FGM have a ‘one size fits all’ approach. For example, transplanting the same teaching materials into different communities (Brown, Beecham and Barrett, 2013). They are therefore less effective as they do not work with community values and beliefs. This kind of campaigning also fails to address the underlying power structures and gender relations. By focusing on long term, locally adapted investment and emphasising gender parity throughout the community sustainable change can be better achieved.

As we have seen, national, regional and international legislation and focus on the eradication of FGM yields patchy results. Some states deny the existence of FGM in their nation, as with India, or acknowledge the practice occurs but have limited data to focus resources and map progress. In some places the increased legislation is not in tandem with social norms and trends and therefore is ineffectively enforced and can serve to push FGM practices underground. Further, legislation alone can be difficult to prosecute with and the defeats in the USA and Australia serve to reinforce and normalise this practice and further silence the voices of the survivors. Recognising that this practice operates as a form of control and violation of the female body and sexuality and is, whilst propped up by religion, culture and tradition a practise of gender inequality it becomes clear that the movement against FGM must be a movement by and for women. Regionally, nationally and globally women and community led organisations have the power to recognise, call out, campaign against, educate and guide legislation against FGM.

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Ministerial roundtable one and two on ‘good practices in the provision of social protection, public services and sustainable infrastructure including for recognizing and valuing unpaid care and domestic work.’

Geraldine Byrne, Ireland chair of the Commission said that for the first time the commission will focus on the theme of social protection systems, access to public services and sustainable infrastructure for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. There is a real chance to agree on new normative standards.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that the world today is witnessing a deep, pervasive and relentless push back on women’s rights. ‘We will push back against the push back’ he pledged, adding that the UN is also making progress in achieving gender parity.  For instance, his senior management group comprises more women than men.

Marlène Schiappa (France), Security Council President for March underscored that in the last 25 years women have only represented 2% of mediators and 8% of negotiators.

António Guterres emphasized that women’s participation makes peace agreements more durable, but we still need to make sure that women are included in negotiation teams.

Phumzile Mlambo – Ngcuka, Executive Director for UN Women said that women and girls must have a role in shaping the policies, services and infrastructure that impact their lives.

Hillary Gbedemah, Chair of CEDAW said that females are disadvantaged in social protection systems and that domestic and unpaid care must be recognized and valued. Due to childcare responsibilities, women often work part-time which affects their pension contributions, resulting in post-retirement poverty.

The questions asked to ministers were to highlight steps being taken by their government to advance public services for gender equality; national social protection systems that have recognized unpaid care; investments to strengthen public care services to provide long term care to the elderly and the sick; and initiatives taken to mainstream gender perspectives into the design and implementation of essential infrastructure, such as sanitation, clean energy and safe water.

The Russian Federation said that they have recently adopted a measure that increases the pension age by five years, but for women who have taken care of three children the pension age increased only by three years. There are also special benefits to those caring for the sick and the elderly.

The UK said that it has social protection programs for women including pensions, shared parental leave, parental allowance and the right to request a flexible working environment.

Ministerial roundtables three and four on ‘good practices and policies for the design, provision, and implementation of social protection, public services and infrastructure including for the promotion of women’s representation in various sectors and all levels’

Participants were asked what measures have achieved proven results in ensuring women’s equal access to employment opportunities, what steps Governments have taken to ensure adequate wages and working conditions and what examples they can give of national laws and policies that have increased women’s representation in infrastructure sectors.

New Zealand said that agencies and unions worked together to propose initiatives of change to close the wage gap which led to a comprehensive three-year plan.

Finland answered that one way to strengthen social protection is by investing in social workers who are trained in human rights issues.

Germany said that efforts were taken aiming at ensuring that more women reach top positions including increasing quotas within the government.

Zimbabwe said national plans target and reach retirees, persons with disability and other vulnerable groups. Related efforts include broadening land and loan access for women, criminalizing child marriages and improving access to education for all.

Angola highlighted a range of achievements from laws protecting women from domestic violence to a programme to promote birth registration. Today women hold 12 of 31 ministerial appointments and make up 131 of the 354 judges in the judicial system.

Mozambique said that the registration of girls in schools is rising to more than 95%. 

Interactive dialogue on ‘Building alliances for social protection systems, access to public services and sustainable infrastructure for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls’

High level officials from more than 30 countries joined civil society representatives in exchanging best practices and raising national and global concerns during this dialogue. 

Ms. Robinson raised concerns that social protection systems overlook, among other groups, women working in the informal sector.

Ms. Bachelet underlined the importance of financing social protection that favours women. Investing in women is tantamount to investing in universal social protection for all.

Plan International regretted that UN Women is often forgotten by governments. Creating a coherent framework for a global plan for young women is essential.

Cameroon said that the government is implementing a range of programs for vulnerable groups including indigenous women and girls.

Austria said that her country has taken steps to mainstream gender into its general budgeting. Austria traditionally includes civil society in its delegation giving it a voice in forums such as CSW. 

High – level interactive dialogue on ‘Accelerating implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, exchange of best practices in preparation for the Beijing +25 review and appraisal’.

The Executive Director of UN women said we have to see how far we have come and how far we have yet to go. Young people must be involved in the review of the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action.

A number of governments said that the concept of empowering women physically and economically has been included in all national policies. This will lead to a cultural transformation.

The Dominican Republic said we need to change ways of thinking so that young people can approach gender in an inclusive way.

UN Women said that all branches of government must be involved. No one should be left behind in this review. 

Interactive dialogue on the review of the implementation of the agreed conclusions of the 60^th session of CSW ‘Women’s empowerment and its link to sustainable development’. 

Member states have made progress with good practices emerging in combating gender violence; actively promoting women’s rights as a means to remove structural barriers; initiating gender responsive budgeting; and allocating targeted financing for development.

For Spain the main goal has been shared responsibility and the main challenge the wage gap. 

Interactive dialogues on ‘Enhancing political participation and economic empowerment for women of African descent’ and ‘Addressing inequalities, discrimination and violence faced by women and girls of African descent’.

The slave trade and its lasting effects continue to contribute to the socio-economic disadvantages faced by women and girls of African descent. Evidence based policy is paramount. Women of African descent are highly discriminated against in the workplace, education, housing, and public services. 

Interactive expert panel on the priority theme with a focus on harnessing synergies and securing finance.

Participants stressed the need for more coordinated and multi-sector approaches. Public services, they said such as education, transport, healthcare and energy must be accessible and work in tandem.

The challenge of social protection must aim at raising living standards for women.

Some NGO’s said challenges must go beyond changing policies and address root causes such as the discrimination many African women and girls face.

Many pointed at a dearth of political will in drafting the kind of policies that can make a difference in the lives of women. 

Interactive discussion on women’s empowerment and the lack of sustainable development with a focus on data challenges and opportunities. 

Mohammed Marzooq (Iraq) Vice Chair of the Commission said that significant gaps in gender statistics remain. Information is available for less than a quarter of the indicators required to monitor gender specific elements of the 2030 agenda for sustainable development. Marginalised groups remain largely invisible in official statistics.

The International Disability Alliance said that while many countries collect disability data the definition of disability is not harmonised. As such data across countries is not comparable and proves inadequate for global monitoring efforts.

Partnerships should be fostered between statisticians, policy makers and organisations to assure appropriate data collection and disaggregation. The 2030 agenda calls for accounting for the progress of everyone without exceptions, doing this means going beyond national averages to assess the outcomes of different groups of women and girls. Single level disaggregation analysis fails to adequately reflect the characteristics of those who are deprived across multiple dimensions.

Some counties asked UN Women to help member states establish and improve comprehensive data collection systems including those for registering births and deaths.

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• In a context of economic uncertainties, exclusionary politics, rising conflict and instability, shrinking democratic spaces and push back on women’s rights CSW held its 63^rd session at the UN headquarters in New York. This is the UN’s largest gathering on gender equality and women’s rights. The priority theme of the session was social protection systems, access to public services and sustainable infrastructure for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. The review theme was women’s empowerment and the link to sustainable development. This year CSW63 focused on issues at the heart of what matters in the daily lives of women and girls. Ambassador Geraldine Byrne Nason, Chair of the Bureau for the 63^rd session of the Commission on the Status of Women, Permanent Representative of Ireland to the UN said that in focusing on core challenges such as affordable childcare, healthcare, education, maternity protection, pensions and safe transport the CSW can have a transformative impact on the realities faced by women and girls around the world.
• Representing a steady increase in participation from last year, more than 9000 representatives from over 1030 civil society organisations registered to attend this year’s session. As the single largest forum on gender equality and women’s rights for UN Member States, civil society organisations and other international actors, this years CSW saw a record number of attendances. Participants included more than 5,000 representatives from civil society organisations around the world, nearly 2,000 Member State delegates and 86 ministers.
• Along with the 17 official meetings that include Ministerial roundtables, high- level interactive events and expert panels, over 280 side events hosted by Member States and UN Agencies, and 400 parallel events hosted by civil society organisations took place.

• The outcome of the two-week meeting, known as the Agreed Conclusions, adopted by Member States, puts forth concrete measures to strengthen the voice, agency and leadership of women and girls as beneficiaries and users of social protection systems, public services and sustainable infrastructure.

Key recommendations from the Agreed Conclusions include the following:

• Invest in social protection, public services and sustainable infrastructure to support the productivity of women’s work, including in the informal economy;
• Ensure that progress in women’s access to social protection, public services and sustainable infrastructure is not undermined by budget cuts and austerity measures, and levels of protection previously achieved are not reversed;
• Build on multilateral commitments to gender equality, including the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the ILO Social Protection Floors Recommendation, 2012 (No. 202), to strengthen access to social protection, public services and infrastructure for all women and girls;
• Recognize, reduce and redistribute unpaid care and domestic work by ensuring access to social protection for unpaid caregivers of all ages, including coverage for health care and pensions;
• Scale up investment in quality public care services that are affordable and gender-responsive;
• Identify and remove barriers to women’s and girls’ access to public services, such as physical distance, lack of information and decision-making power, stigma and discrimination;
• Guarantee the availability of safe and affordable drinking water and sanitation, including for menstrual hygiene, in homes, schools, refugee camps and other public places;
• Ensure that transport policies and planning are sustainable, accessible, affordable, safe and gender-responsive, taking into account the different needs of women and men, and adapted to be used by persons with disabilities and older persons;
• Promote the full and equal participation and leadership of women and women’s organizations in policy dialogues and decision-making relating to social protection systems, public services and sustainable infrastructure;
• Strongly condemn the impunity and lack of accountability rooted in historical and structural inequality that accompanies pervasive violence against women.
• During the negotiations on the text of the conclusions the US continued as it has done in the last two years to undermine common international goals like those around reproductive rights, healthcare, climate change, family planning. A contentious issue was language on family. The word ‘families’ was pushed to become ‘family’ to emphasise the traditional unit of man and woman as a family component excluding same sex families as a unit.

In its efforts to restrict women’s rights the US aligned with countries such a s Poland, Hungary, Russia, some Gulf countries, Malaysia. They tried to remove from the preamble the word ‘reaffirms’ the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and replaced it with ‘take note of’.

The US adopted regressive views on transgender people.

Joining the US on certain issues was also the Holy See, a UN observer state in demanding, but failing, to remove language in the final document around sexual health contending that the language promoted sexual activity among girls as well as abortion.

Debates of whether the word ‘dignity’ should follow the word ‘empower’ which according to some reinforced women’s dignity raised conflict. The US group sought to prevent the word “gender’ being used as a substitute for ‘women’ and girls’ and tried to restrict wording around migration, technology and climate change.

• The US is moving away from traditional democratic allies on social and cultural matters. Instead it is increasingly allying itself with Persian Gulf countries, Iraq, Malaysia and some conservative African countries on a range of issues including questions surrounding protection for LGBT individuals and women’s health issues. So at the 63^rd session of CSW this year in New York the US turned back the clock on women’s rights

• The US Mission to the UN has been without an official ambassador this year. This year’s representatives to CSW were led by an ambassador from the US mission to the UN, Cherith Norman Chalet but most of the people on the delegation were not professional diplomats. The US delegation to the CSW included representatives from two conservative NGO’s, C-FAM a Roman Catholic entity and The Heritage Foundation an openly anti- UN group.

• The US delegation and others aligned with it deployed disruption as a tool throughout the conference to push their agenda of undermining women’s rights, most significantly the right to abortion. The US delegation was more aggressive and outspoken this year.

• Moreover, at side events and panels, nongovernmental organizations against abortion and other topics hijacked discussions, filled up meeting rooms to delay proceedings and hired a bus to circulate around the UN area, featuring a photo of a foetus on its sides.

• Protecting women’s rights against this astounding alliance were long time supporters of multi-lateral democracy like Canada, Mexico, the European Union and the Caribbean – Latin American region. Africa also remained a regional supporter of the rights of women. China waited until the document was approved to disengage itself from language around human rights in particular the rights of women human rights defenders.

• The problem of visa denials continued this year. 980 signatures against the denial of visas were collected during CSW63 including IAW’s signature, and a petition was delivered to Cherith Norman Chalet, US It called for the US to honour its obligation to admit foreign nationals, including NGO representatives, to the U.S. in order to participate at UN meetings. This is set forth in the UN Headquarters Agreement signed on 26 June 26 1947 by Secretary of State George Marshall and UN Secretary General Trygve Lie. Section 11 of the Headquarters Agreement prohibits the U.S. from imposing any restrictions on NGOs’ travel to or attendance at the UN. Requirements or conditions needed to be met in order for an NGO applicant’s visa to be approved to attend UN sessions are not set forth in the Agreement.

• The petition is asking that the US state department creates a uniform policy at all Embassies and Consulates in order to streamline and standardise procedures and handling of these visas.

• After the agreed conclusions were accepted different countries made statements. The US joined the positions of others on sovereignty, the family, anti SRHR and health services because they are taken to mean abortion. They spoke encouragingly on the inclusion of indigenous and disabled women and girls. There have been difficulties from the USA, Russia and some Arab and African states over SRHR, migration which was difficult for everyone; the problem of national sovereignty and national laws was also difficult. The phrase ‘all women throughout their life course’ was not accepted anywhere and older women were not mentioned at all. Widows, after a big struggle was included only in the context of families.

• At the closing ceremony Bahrain and Saudi- Arabia made statements saying that they could not join the consensus but when objections were asked for by the chair they said nothing and so the chair considered the document as accepted. Bahrain and Saudi- Arabia then put forward the view that they were not joining the consensus and so the agreed conclusions could not go through because everybody was not in agreement. The advice given then and later was that no objections had been raised and due process has been followed so a major push to upset the whole situation failed.

• Other states also raised objections in post agreed conclusions statements but no one withdrew their support overall. A number made reservations about family, sexual and reproductive health and rights and said the later was attempting to promote abortion.

• The vice chair of the conference representing Africa Ambassador Koki Muli Grignon from Kenya, who also facilitated the negotiations, publicly declared she had been cyber bullied through a blog directed at her and her work and received almost 1,000 bullying text messages on her phone, also criticizing her role at the CSW.

• The attacks on Ambassador Kuki along with other bullying reported by diplomats were condemned by a range of delegates from across continents.

• Despite the rancour in this year’s negotiations the newly agreed conclusions enhance the equal rights of women and girls in such matters as social protection systems, public services and access to sustainable infrastructure.

• In closing remarks United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka observed that:

• This year was very special because of the number of young women and young people who participated. They made their presence felt with contributions of high quality. I want to thank the delegations who made it possible for many of those young people to be here. This investment will have a high rate of return, I promise you.
• With the Agreed Conclusions you have given us the possibility to take the work forward, to make sure that we address the discrimination that may be suffered by women and girls in every part of the world.
• The Agreed Conclusions, even though not everybody gets everything they wanted, give us enough to take home, to work and to take further the work of improving the quality of life for women and girls.

The post Presidents Newsletter April 2019: Evaluation of CSW63 Agreed Conclusions appeared first on International Alliance of Women.

Introduction

The aim of this essay is to give an overview on the current situation of gender equality in education and the ways to improve gender disparities in the field of education at the international and national level. The focus of this essay is on international and national mechanisms to hold governments to account, civil society activism and credible education plans.

1. The current situation

UNICEF has stated that education offers children a way out of poverty and a path to a promising future. However, approximately 264 million children and adolescents around the world do not have the opportunity to enter or complete school. They are hindered by poverty, discrimination, armed conflict, emergencies.

According to UNESCO, there are 63 million children of primary school age (from six to eleven years old) who are out of school. Of these children 34 million are girls. In 2000, 58 % of the 100 million out-of-school children were girls. By 2016 this percentage had fallen to 54 % which meant that 10 % of girls of primary school age were out of school in comparison to 8 % of boys. However, this global average does not show the differences at regional and country levels.

Girls at primary school face a disadvantage in most regions, except in Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe and Northern America where boys are more likely to be out of school. In Europe and in Northern America in 2016 the out-of-school rate of boys was 4,1 % (1,4 million) whereas girls’ rate was 3,4% (1,1 million). In Latin America and in the Caribbean in 2016 the out-of-school rate of boys was 5,5% (1,7 million) whereas the girls’ rate was 4,4% (1,3 million). In Asia, girls face more disadvantages attending school. For example, in Southern Asia in 2016 6,4% (5,6 million) of girls were out of school compared to boys whose out-of-school rate was 4,9% (4,7 million). Sub-Saharan Africa is the region which has the largest gender disparities. There girls account for 56% of out-of-school children and 53% of all out-of-school youth.

In Northern Africa and Western Asia, 12 % of girls do not attend school, compared to 10% of boys. In the following nine countries the female primary out-of-school rate is at least 10% higher than the male rate: Angola, Benin, Central African Republic, Chad, Guinea, Nigeria, Pakistan, South Sudan and Yemen. Furthermore, more than one-half of girls of primary school age do not attend school in Eritrea, Equatorial Guinea, Liberia and South Sudan.

At the global level, the out-of-school rates between women and men are almost identical. However, this average does not take into account differences between regions. For example, in Northern Africa and Western Asia 16% of adolescent girls remain excluded from education compared to 11% of boys. Whereas, in sub-Saharan Africa, the female rate for exclusion is 39% compared to 35% for males. In Latin America, the Caribbean, Southern Asia and Europe and Northern America adolescent boys are the ones who face disadvantages in attending school. In Europe and in Northern America in 2016 the out-of-school rate of boys (lower secondary school age) was 2,4 % (0,5 million) compared to girls’ rate of 1,9% (0,4 million). In Latin America and in the Caribbean the out-of-school rate of boys was 7,9% (1,5 million) whereas the out-of-school rate of girls was 7,2% (1,3 million). Furthermore, in Southern Asia the out-of-school rate of boys was 18,3% (10,2 million) and the out-of-school rate of girls was 15,9% (8 million). Also in Eastern and South-Eastern Asia the out-of-school rate of boys was higher 9,3% (4,4 million) than the one of girls 8,6% (3,6 million). Oceania is closest to gender parity in the age group of lower secondary school.

2. Political and legal background

The international community has committed to achieving gender equality since the establishment of the United Nations. Chapter I of the UN charter notes as one of the organization’s purposes the aim to achieve international cooperation through ‘promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion’ (United Nations, 1945). Since the formulation of the UN charter, countries have been increasing their political and legal commitment to gender equality in education.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development obliges countries to take gender equality into account throughout all 17 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). From all the SDGs the SDG 4 on Quality education and the SDG 5 on Gender equality emphasise gender equality in education. The SDG 4 demands inclusive, equitable education of good quality whereas the SDG 5 aims at achieving gender equality and empowering women and girls. The aims of the SDG 5 include the elimination of all forms of discrimination, gender-based violence and child marriage, increasing participation of women at all levels of decision-making, and providing universal access to sexual and reproductive health services.

The Education 2030 Framework for Action, which is the international community’s guideline to achieve the SDG 4, states that gender equality is essential if the right to education is to be extended to all. According to the Framework, governments must promote gender-sensitive policies, plans and learning environments. This involves eliminating gender-based discrimination and violence and providing teacher education and support in offering gender-equitable education. However, it is important to remember that the 2030 Agenda is not legally binding.

States’ legal obligations on education derive from legally binding international treaties that outlines governments’ responsibilities to respect, protect and fulfil the right to education. States must abstain from violating the right to education. The protection of the right to education indicates that states must ensure that third parties do not prevent equal access to and enjoyment of education. In addition, the fulfilment of the right to education obliges that states must adopt legislative, administrative, budgetary, judicial and other measures towards the full realization of the right. All countries have ratified at least one treaty which protects the right to education is protected.

Three global treaties are especially important to gender equality in education. First of them is the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). This treaty is considered as the most specific and substantive treaty concerning the legal obligations of states towards gender equality in education. Article 10 of CEDAW outlines state obligations and establishes acceptable norms, such as equality in access to and quality of education, the reduction of female dropout rates, programmes for women and girls who have left school prematurely, and access to educational information on health and family planning whereas Article 16 bans child marriage. However, although 189 states have ratified CEDAW, many countries have made reservations to it. This undermines their commitment to the treaty.

Secondly, the Convention against Discrimination in Education (CADE) is the only treaty specialised in the field of education. It is also considered as the most comprehensive treaty concerning discrimination in education. CADE prohibits all forms of discrimination, including gender. In addition, it focuses on discrimination both in access to and quality of education.

Thirdly, Articles 13 and 14 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) are often recognised as the foundation of the legal right to education. The treaty’s monitoring committee has outlined state practices that are necessary in bringing change to eliminate discrimination, all of which demand close monitoring and disaggregated data to identify patterns of discrimination as stated in Article 13.

3. How gender equality can be achieved in the field of education?

Even though states formally accept the responsibility to guarantee the right to gender equality in education, discriminatory practices based on gender still exist. NGOs and citizens can use both international and national and civil society channels to have their voices heard and hold governments to account. International and national channels are associated with human rights treaty bodies, parliaments and independent institutions whereas civil society channels involve civil society groups including those that address women’s rights issues.

3.1 International mechanisms to hold governments to account

Governments can be held accountable in a couple of ways when it comes to the treaties. First, authorized parties may be able to bring complaints directly to the committee monitoring the treaty. Secondly, the treaty usually demands countries to report progress on meeting treaty commitments to the committee. Thirdly, third parties might be asked to inform further the committee during a country review process.

The principal way to hold governments accountable for their commitments on the right to education is through the submission of complaints, communications, petitions or claims by anyone who feels that their human rights have been violated by the state. The committees observing CEDAW, ICESCR and CADE all have mechanisms to submit complaints.

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women monitors the implementation of CEDAW. This means that the Committee is the most likely UN treaty body to receive a complaint on gender inequality in education. Even though UN treaty bodies have dealt with a small number of complaints or communications on the right to education, no UN treaty body has yet adjudicated on a specific case of gender discrimination in education. However, the Committee of CEDAW has adopted decisions that affect gender equality in education.

Countries must report periodically on measures they have taken to meet their obligations. During the last reporting for CADE, completed in 2013, 40 out of 59 countries reported important policy changes. For example, in Bahrain, nursery schools were opened in continuing education centres to provide a space for childcare while parents continue their education. Whereas, in Bangladesh the Female Stipend Programme was expanded to upper secondary, allowing the 3.9 million students receiving the stipend to extend their education.

Furthermore, non-government organisations (NGOs) are given the opportunity to submit information on violations of rights committed by states during country reviews. Reports from NGOs are known as shadow or parallel reports and they take local voices into the international arena.

All in all, the multiple ways offered by international treaties are underutilized measures for holding countries accountable for gender equality in education. Although lack of an enforcement authority may limit the degree of national reporting on treaty goals, normative pressure to meet commitments has driven progress in some countries. Thus, individual citizens and civil society organizations could use more often these measures to highlight issues of discrimination and segregation because committee recommendations together with public scrutiny can prompt government action. 

3.2 National mechanisms to hold governments to account

Independent institutions present other routes for citizens to contribute complaints. National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs), including ombudsman offices, are assigned to report on complaints involving government human rights violations and to recommend corrective action. In 2010, 118 countries had ombudsman offices.  For example, in Finland, the Ombudsman for Equality supervises compliance with the Act on Equality between Women and Men. The office of the Finnish Ombudsman studies inquiries and complaints on gender issues in employment, education, housing, social protection and healthcare, and goods and services. Furthermore, gender audits by independent audit institutions can also add pressure on governments.

3.3 Civil society activism

Accountability systems, including civil society movements, provide an avenue for citizens to make complaints. Women activist groups have had a huge role in many countries in holding governments into account for their commitments.

Campaigns for women’s rights are often organized by NGOs, sometimes together with governments and local authorities. For example, in Afghanistan, Nepal and Pakistan the support of local and religious leaders helped to change their communities’ attitudes towards girls’ right to education.

Progress can also be accelerated by gender-focused international NGOs. A few examples of these NGOs and their campaigns are the Campaign for Female Education, the MenEngage Alliance and Women Deliver. In addition to this, the #HeForShe campaign launched by UN Women in 2014 focuses on engaging men to become change agents and help achieve gender equality also in the field of education. This campaign has also developed programmes to address gender-based violence at universities.

Social media is more and more used to draw attention to gender issues, hold governments and other stakeholders to account and give a voice to civil society. Hashtag activism can also help convey local concerns into global consciousness. For example, the #BringBackOurGirls campaign drew global attention to the kidnapping of over 250 secondary school girls in Borno State, Nigeria, in 2014.

3.4 Credible education plans

Governments have political and legal obligations to plan and implement education policy, within their resource limitations. Governments are liable both for protecting the right to gender equality in education and for providing gender equitable education services. There is no single way on how governments can ensure gender equality in education. It is also important to remember that governments are not uniform actors; they are composed of many sectors, departments, levels and authorities with variable levels of capacity. Furthermore, fragile, post-conflict and post-reconstruction states are usually in a weaker position in enacting and enforcing policies.

In holding governments accountable for their promises on gender equality in education, a key tool is credible education plans. These credible education plans should identify clear lines of responsibility, be properly funded and have a transparent budget. Education plans promote coordination across government bodies and can gather different ministries to tackle the wide-ranging challenges that often restrict girls’ education. The involvement of different stakeholders can help in assuring that plans include and adequately fund strategies and policies that advance gender equality.

However, the existence of an education plan that meets certain criteria is by no means a guarantee of success.  For example, Afghanistan has a gender-sensitive plan. This plan recognizes the importance of female teachers in facilitating girls’ enrolment as
well as the difficulty of recruiting them. Furthermore, the Ministry of Education has introduced inducements to attract more female teachers, especially in rural areas. Unfortunately, the strategy has made little difference: 1/5 of all districts do not have a single female teacher.

According to the Global Education Monitoring Report 2018, every stage of an education plan should be considered through a gender lens. Firstly, a gender assessment should measure the potential gender implications of the policy. Secondly, gender budgeting should make sure that resources are properly targeted and equitably distributed. Thirdly, different stakeholders should be included in the examination of the plan or policy in relation to the original intention and identifying any explicit or hidden prejudice or discrimination. Finally, a report on policy implementation and results, including gender analysis and segregated data, should be prepared and published to a wider public.

This paper has been researched and drafted by Vilja Härkönen, intern at the Secretariat of IAW in Athens, under the supervision of Joanna Manganara, President of IAW.

The post President’s Newsletter: Education and Gender Equality – December 2018 appeared first on International Alliance of Women.