Your Excellency, Ambassador…….

Subject: Timing for the Adoption of Political Declaration at 59^TH Session of the UNCSW

I am writing on behalf of the NGO Committee on the Status of Women-Geneva, following members meeting of January 13,2015, where I was directed to write to you on this matter.

We have been and remain actively involved in the Beijing Plus 20 process. In November, we convened the largest NGO Forum with almost 700 participants from the UNECE region. We appreciated the collaboration with member states, with UN Women and the ECE in this process. We also received information that the 59^th Session of the CSW will not be adopting Agreed Conclusions at the end of the meeting, but will be adopting a Political Declaration.

While respecting the above decision, we are dismayed with the decision to adopt the Political Declaration during the opening session of the 59^th Session of the CSW. We understand that the rationale for this decision is because a) senior government officials may not stay for the two weeks and b) the essence of the CSW is to focus on implementation. On both points, we expect at least once a year for the Ministers and other senior officials to accord quality time to the commission as it is a singular space for normative and standard setting. It is primary because of the focus on implementation that we expect the political declaration to carry some concrete and specific messages around implementation as its core ethos.

We recommend that such Declaration should be adopted at the end of the CSW preferably or the end of the first week for the following reasons:

1. Significance of Beijing Plus 20. This is a very significant review and in a year in which the governments through the UN will be adopting the Sustainable Development Agenda post 2015. Many women especially young women were unable to participate in the regional reviews and are investing significant resources to come New York for this review. If the Political Declaration is adopted on the first day, many people will not see the need to travel to New York for two weeks without a tangible outcome.

2. Adoption of the Political Declaration deprives the participants and delegates to CSW and meaningful contribution to the ethos of the Declaration. It narrows the space for civil society engagement and participation with the inter-governmental process itself. The rich and dynamic engagement and dialogues with member states in negotiations is the ethos which brings life and collective commitment and ownership of the outcome documents of such inter-governmental processes.

3. While we understand that the Political Declaration will be made available online for civil society input this February, we recognise that the time is very short for communities to review, consult and send in their recommendation. Again this simply limits participation to those civil society and women’s networks that have access to internet or other modern forms of communications. This therefore would result in an exclusionary and elitist process that does not take into account the fundamental inequalities that exists in relation to access to information.

4. The timing of the declaration also places a damper on the CSW 5^TH Session, as it is then not clear as to what the real outcome of the two wk gathering will be and how that will be communicated. Its not clear whether there will be the Chair’s Summary or any other form of communication. A clarification on this point is essential for us to advise our members

We respected the decision of the member states not to hold a 5^th Women’s World Conference, which we had anticipated and we still recommend; and we respect the decision not to have Agreed Conclusions. We therefore feel strong that this decision to adopt the political declaration on first day of the CSW further reduces space for civil society participation. We therefore strongly recommend a review of your decision on timing for adoption of the political declaration.

We continue to value your leadership in facilitating the CSW and the collaboration with us in civil society.

With kind regards
Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda
President,
NGO Committee on the Status of Women- Geneva

Cc:

• CSW Bureau Members
• UN Women Executive Director
• UN Secretary General
• NGO CSW Members

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Violence against women and girls is a violation of human rights and a pressing global issue.

Violence against women and girls is not inevitable. Violence against women and girls can and should be 
prevented.

In order to sustain and advance efforts to prevent and end violence against women and girls, the issue must be prioritized in the new global development agenda.

Violence against women is a consequence of discrimination against women and girls, in law and practice, and of persisting inequalities between men and women.

35% of women and girls globally experience some form of physical and or sexual violence in their lifetime with up to seven in ten women facing this abuse in some countries.

Violence against women and girls impacts on, and impedes, progress in many areas, including poverty eradication, combatting HIV and AIDS, and peace and security.

Violence against women and girls has enormous social and economic costs for individuals, families, communities and societies and has a significant impact on development and the realization of sustainable development goals.

Read the Newsletter

The post IAW Newsletter December 2015 appeared first on International Alliance of Women.

A number of crosscutting issues were covered, including human rights, migrant women, science, technology and innovation for the advancement of women.  Also, men and boys participating in solidarity with others for gender equality. Women and ageing was an additional topic.

The IAW had three panelists: Torild Scard joined the roundtable on women in power and decision making. Marion Bjornholt, who was on the roundtable on women and the economy, spoke on gender responsive budgeting.  Joanna Manganara discussed the effects of austerity measures on women in Europe.

The IAW had 12 delegates who participated in the Forum. The meeting was successful and well organized, with many speakers and valuable ideas were put forward.

The 700 participants in the Forum, representing 56 countries, agreed that they want  a world free of violence, a world of peace, where democracy thrives and women can enjoy and exercise their full rights as citizens. A world of accountability for all and by all.

This last sentence is of particular importance to IAW as we  adopted a Political Declaration after our Board meeting in Sion, Switzerland, which focused on the issues of participatory monitoring and accountability by all stake holders. We think that women in particular, are realizing  gradually that deeds are more important than words and that those in authority should take responsibility for their actions and be accountable to those who are affected by them.

It is important to clarify, within the wording of the Declaration, concerns which we have been professing for a long time. This would recognize that the response to the economic and financial crises within the ECE region, through austerity measures has resulted in  unprecedented unemployment and drastic cuts to public expenditure, leading to social and economic insecurity which has had a disproportionate impact upon women and girls. Unfortunately, this has caused a crisis of democracy and progressive values, which is pushing women back into traditional roles.

Also, we argue that measures dealing with the financial crisis have been gender insensitive,while the global gap between rich and poor grows daily.

Finally,it accepts that  the women’s agenda has remained at the traditional  social and  micro level. Yet, any  transformation of society requires that we address the structural and macro issues that perpetuate inequalities, discrimination and exclusion.

In my statement in the roundtable on women and the economy, I asked that the women’s movement should become more vocal on the need for a shift in the development paradigm that would fully integrate human rights, including gender equality. This development would put an end to the constant search for unlimited growth and maximization  of profit which works to the detriment of the survival of humanity in a human way.

I have submitted amendments to the  recommendations concerning women and the economy and, in particular, I have asked for the addition of  equal sharing of unpaid care between women and men, and the inclusion of the gender pension and pay gap.

Within the Declaration, in the paragraph mentioning the threats on the Beijing  commitments, where attacks on sexual rights are mentioned, I proposed that there should be a stronger emphasis on the persistence and scale of all forms,and new forms, of violence against women, as follows:  In the 21st century women and girls continue to fear and face male violence and see new forms of violence and abuse being used against them and legitimized by the system.  This includes violence in the name of tradition, religion or culture, the trivialization of the sex and pornography industry, and cyber harassment and bullying.

It is also interesting to note that a number of participants in the Forum put emphasis  on the involvement of men and boys as well as young women in promoting gender equality and women’s human rights in the Beijing+20 process in the ECE region. Other issues were mentioned that had not been covered by Beijing+20, such as aboriginal women and retired women living in poverty.  Reference was made to capacity building in gender.

A number of representatives mentioned that many agreed policies have not been implemented. We should, therefore, focus on accountability, monitoring and implementation. And move from rhetoric to reality! We should think about the kind of society we want to live in and the future we want. Therefore gender equality should be part of a universal development framework.

For some delegates the priority areas in Beijing are combating violence against women, women in the economy, women in the power and decision making, and gender mainstreaming. Others held the view that significant gaps remain in sex-disaggregated data and gender sensitive indicators. Also, that there is a conservative attack on gender equality and that some governments try to marginalize civil society.

Other members put an emphasis on educational materials, which they argued should be gender sensitive. Stress was also put on ending early and forced marriages and the need for universal birth registration. Some delegates asked that political processes should respond to the needs of all.

The executive Director of UN Women,Ms Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, said that women are now digging deep into their problems and called for renewed efforts and energy for the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action. She highlighted  unpaid care, harmful practices and national mechanisms which are no longer relevant, as they have decreased in importance. Trafficking was an additional issue.

She summed up by stressing that in no way will we give up the Beijing Platform for Action as we do not know what will happen with the Post 2015 Development Agenda.

The post President Joanna Manganara evaluates the UN ECE NGO Forum appeared first on International Alliance of Women.

Ariranga Pillay chairperson of the committee on Economic, Social and cultural rights in a statement published in May 2012 emphasized that economic and financial crises and a lack of growth impede the progressive realization of economic social and cultural rights and can lead to retrogression of the rights as well as social insecurity and political instability and have significant negative impacts in particular on women and on disadvantaged and marginalized groups.

The UN independent Expert on foreign debt and Human Rights Cephas Lumina after a visit to Greece in April 2013 come to the same conclusion and urged  the Greek  government and its creditors to adopt a human rights approach to designing and implementing economic reform.

I will now try to show how structural adjustment programmes in particular austerity measures that have been adopted by a number of countries in our region due to the economical/financial crisis have undermined economic and social rights and have had disastrous effects on people’s lives in particular women’s lives.

I will first look into the impact on women’s work.

Employment
Although men’s employment suffered more in the early stage of the crisis since 2010 women have been affected or even more affected. There has been a narrowing difference between women’s and men’s employment rate but this is not a  sign of increased  gender equality.

It reflects the employment situation of both women and men and the sharper impact on male employment early on in the crisis. The gap is closing due to leveling down wards.

Unlike men women have increased their labor market activity during the crisis, possibly either to compensate for the lost income of a partner or to add to the household income. The male breadwinner model is then losing ground due to the crisis.

Unemployment
In 2012 10.6% of the female force in the EU was unemployed (10.5% for men)

The pre recession gap between women’s and men’s unemployment has evened out due to the sharper rise of men’s unemployment early on in the crisis. Since 2010 however women have been as affected on even more affected by unemployment than men.

Within the EU women are most affected by unemployment in Greece and Spain. In May 2013 the unemployment rate in Greece was 27.6% . For women it was 31.9% and for men it was 24.6%  while for youth between the ages 15-24 it was 64.3%. Female youth unemployment is double that of male youth unemployment.

Women are often in a more precarious situation once they become unemployed and face greater risk of immediate poverty. They may be more likely to be excluded from unemployment benefit systems since they may have broken unemployment histories or may not have made sufficient contributions. Without unemployment benefits they loose their health insurance as well.

Austerity policies have been accompanied by cuts in jobs and wages in the public sector , pay freezers and deterioration of working conditions. The public sector is a major employer for women who account for almost 70% of public sector workers in the EU.

In addition the public sector has in many countries been the driver for gender equality in employment as it mostly provides better employment opportunities , better working conditions including paid leave and higher wages for women.

An extended public sector has tended to reduce the average gender pay gap because the better salaries in the public sector have balanced pay inequalities in the private sector.

Public sector lay offs push women towards precarious employment with limited income security and pension benefits and worse  the overall quality of women’s working conditions.

In Greece following complaints by  the Greek General Confederation of labor the ILO committee of experts on the application of conventions and recommendations examined the compatibility of austerity measures with several international labor conventions . The ILO committee expressed its deep concern at the drastic alterations of labor law through measures which go to the heart of labor relations, social dialogue and social peace nullifying the binding nature of collective agreements.

The committee underlined the disproportionate impact of these measures on women and called for adequate safeguards to protect workers living standards.

Impact of cutbacks on services and benefits
Austerity policies have had severe consequences for those whose livelihoods depend on various social benefits, like maternity leave benefits, parental leave benefits and other care related benefits.

Reduction in social benefits are particularly felt by women as they compromise their economic independence and they heighten their poverty. Vulnerable groups of women such as lone mothers, pensioners and migrant women lose the most.

Savings from care related benefits targeted at men such as withdrawing pay for paternity leave constitute a sever obstacle for equal sharing of care responsibilities between women and men.

Austerity measures have also reduced the availability and affordability of care services for children and other dependents and has forced a number of women to become inactive or work part time.

When households have less income in their hands and when public services are cut or become expensive or unavailable the production of services which previously was the responsibility of the state falls on households that is on women’s shoulders leading to the reprivatisation of care and in a return to traditional gender roles.

The gender gap in the allocation of unpaid care work has increased during the recession.

Women are forced to shoulder the impact of cutbacks in public services as the services are transferred back to the household that is to women. This shift from public care services to unpaid care work within the household poses a severe threat to gender equality. The gender gap in the allocation of unpaid care work has increased during the recession.

Austerity has reduced the availability and affordability of health care services and downgraded their quality with gender consequences that affect the gender division of paid and unpaid labor to the disadvantage of women. In Greece spending on health care has been reduced below 5.3% of GDP in 2013 which is well below the average in EU 6.3%. Overall the health budget has been cut by about 40%. In a number of European countries hospitals have closed/merged the number of hospital beds has been reduced, and co-payments have been adopted job cuts have taken place and an increasing  number of  people are losing public health insurance in Greece  (mainly due to long term unemployment). According to the Independent expert Cephas Lumina these policies adopted by Greece as well constitute retrogressive measures and violate article 12 of the International Convent on Economic, Social and Cultural rights.

Concerning education public spending was cut in Greece by 30%  between 2009 to 2013. Also between 2009-2014 14.5% of all school units of primary education and 4% of school units in secondary education have been merged.  The closure of schools has increased school dropout rates. In addition the number of secondary school teachers has been reduced. These cuts  have had a negative impact on the quality of education.

Austerity has also curtailed services designed to end violence against women (VAW) and support the victims of violence. In the UK the funding to VAW services was cut by 31% in 2010. In Greece despite austerity in the last three years 39 consulting centers have been created all over the country in many cities which offer legal advice and psychosocial support to women victims of violence. These centers have been created by the general secretariat for equality and the municipalities.

Also 21 shelters have been created all over Greece by the municipalities and SOS line has been created that works 24 hour a day and offers legal and psychosocial advice to women victims of violence.

State pensions have been a popular target for savings in many European countries. Many countries have changed pension rules in a manner that will have a long term negative impact on women’s economic independence.

Increases in the minimum contribution period for retirement on full pension  and the calculation period for pension on average career earnings rather than final salary penalize women  because of their shorter working life and irregular working patterns. Increase in official retirement age, heavy penalties for early retirement have gendered implications too. The drops in pension will have the consequence of further exposing women to poverty.

In Greece concecutive cuts have reduced pensions by up to 60% (for higher pension) and between 25 and 30% for lower ones. Christmas, Easter and summer bonuses for pensioners  have been abolished.

A special tax on pensions was introduced to ranging from 3% to 9% depending on the  level of pension income and meant to shift the burden of covering deficit of social insurance organization to pensioners themselves.

The independent Expert Chepas Lumina shares the view of the European Committee of Social rights that, the cumulative effect of  laws introduced in Greece as measures in Greece since 2010 restricting and reducing both public and private pension benefits constitute  a violation of the right to social security enshrined in article  12 (3) of the European Social Charter.

While wages are depressed the cost of living is rising due to tax rates aimed to enhance government revenues. Increases in value added tax affect most poor families in particular women who spend most of their income on food and household necessities.

Funding for advancing gender equality has been among the first to be reduced. Austerity policies have had a drastic impact on gender equality bodies, that have either been abolished or merged with other departments, or their budgets have been severely reduced resulting in a loss of visibility and hampering their ability to conduct their work.

Austerity has also impacted women’s organizations many of which offer services for victims of rape or are doing advocacy at a time when their work is most needed.

Some have closed down the rest are struggling to survive. Their voices are silenced at a moment when they should resist austerity policies.

Recommendations to governments
– Systematic gender sensitive analysis of the causes and impact of the financial crisis on women and the responses thereof prior to their implementation.

Integration of a gender perspective in to all recovery and structural adjustment programmes which should include women in particular feminist economists in their elaboration and implementation at all levels of decision making.

– Avoid further cutbacks which should have a long term negative impact on women’s rights and gender equality

– Take targeted measures to improve the living conditions of those groups who have suffered most from the cutbacks including lone mothers and female single pensioners.

– Create jobs especially in the public sector by increasing social infrastructure (education, health, child care) which would ease the disproportionate burden on women to enable them to participate in the labor market.

– Take measures for the reconciliation of work with family obligations.

– Take measures for the equal sharing of unpaid care work between women and men.

– Ensure effective functioning of state gender equality institutions through no further cuts/ increased funding and human resources

– Ensure that there are no further cuts in public funding for women’s organizations.

– Establish a permanent system of gender budgeting and subject all budgetary and taxation measures to a gender impact assessment in order to identify how the unequal effects on men and women can be eliminated.

– Implement measures to combat the ongoing process of feminization of poverty which has been exacerbated by the recession.

-Take measures to combat all forms of violence including the financing of support services for women victims of violence.

-Measures to rebuild revenues to the public account through  taxes on capital gains and tackling tax avoidance and evasion Expenditures should be reduced across public budgets not just social budgets

– Commit to work on the  deconstruction of gender stereotyping .

-Take measures for the equal representation of women in decision making in particular in the financial sector.

– The women’s movement in our region should monitor closely the effects of austerity measures on women’s human rights.

-It should become more vocal on the need for an immediate reform of the global financial architecture that would fully integrate human rights including gender equality and would put an end to the constant search for unlimited growth and maximizing profit to the detriment of the survival of humanity in a human way

The post  The effects of the economic crisis on women in Europe appeared first on International Alliance of Women.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Against this background the participants call for

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

Read the whole declaration incl. recommendations

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Although the states accepted an obligation to implement gender responsive budgeting (GRB) and to better reflect women in the economy and to change women’s economic position, as part of the Beijing Platform of Action, progress has been slow and uneven. In some countries, gender responsive budgeting has been implemented and budget processes have been transformed to involve the participation of women and civil society and to give serious attention to gendered consequences of local and national budgets. In other cases it has not at all been implemented, or it has been implemented in a shallow way, with lip-service paid to ”gender”, rather than reflecting gender and gendered consequences in the budget processes as well as in the budgets.

Marilyn Waring’s book If Women Counted: A New Feminist Economics, published in 1988, was used by many activists and feminist economists to mobilise and push for ”counting women” as part of the implementation of the Beijing Platform of Action in their countries and communities. A new book, co-edited by Margunn Bjørnholt and Ailsa McKay: Counting on Marilyn, Waring: New Advances in Feminist Economics, explores the range and impact of Waring’s seminal book, over the quarter decade since its publication, on feminist economics as a academic field as well as on feminist activism and mobilisation.

Drawing on these experiences we propose a discussion of the institutional and political factors and critera of success in countries or local communities where gender responsive budgeting has been successfully implemented. -What is the relation between GRB and the institutionalisation of feminist economics as an academic field? – What role does the women’s movement play? – What is the role of feminist economists and other academics as public intellectuals?

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