A Step Towards a New and Powerful Voice for Women at the UN

After more than three years of work and struggle by women’s rights advocates worldwide, the UN General Assembly yesterday took a momentous step forward.  In a unanimous vote, they adopted a resolution pledging to create a new UN agency for women.

To date, the efforts of existing UN entities related to women’s rights issues have been undermined by their lack of funding and political clout.  Unlike many other UN agencies, the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues, the UN Division for the Advancement of Women, and the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW), are not headed by an under-secretary-general, the third highest ranking position in the UN system.

All of these factors have combined to weaken the status of women’s rights at the UN.

All of this is set to change with this week’s historic resolution.

The new UN women’s agency is set to be created in early 2010, out of the consolidation of the four existing women’s entities, and led by an under-secretary-general.  The resolution charges Secretary General Ban Ki-moon with creating a detailed plan for the organization, funding and composition of the new agency.

The Gender Equality Architecture Reform (GEAR) Campaign, mobilizing over 300 international organizations, has for years fought to change the status quo for women’s rights at the UN.  In a statement, the GEAR Campaign commended this latest step forward, while recognizing the work that still remains to make this new UN women’s agency a reality.  The campaign stated:

Women around the world have waited a long time for the United Nations and member states to fulfill the promises made since the first International Women’s Year in 1975, the adoption of the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) thirty years ago, as well as the UN World Conferences in Nairobi (1985) and Beijing (1995).

This is an important and crucial step forward – now it must be made operational without further delay.

*Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevecadman/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

Comments

[Tom Boone]

I was able to read most of an advance copy of this book before Bill Drayton (founder of Ashoka: Innovators for the Public) snatched it away and ran off with it on his annual 2-week hiking trip to the mountains.

I think this has to be the most important book - not just for women’s rights globally but for human rights - published in my memory.

Kristof and WuDunn weave together a most compelling story of how culture and customs historically suppress women. They tackle many tough, taboo topics - for example honor killing. But more importantly, they champion the stories of heroic women worldwide wholly committed to changing the many evils of the status quo.
What is more, they posit a kind of general framework theory that the really important advances in human rights that are going to be made in the near future are going to be brought about by these entrepreneurial pioneering women. In essence, that the backbone of the human rights movement and of real change across all societies is going to be a direct function of brave women who give themselves permission to say “NO” to thousands of years of (to most Westerners) unimaginable oppressive cultural customs and who take it upon themselves to lead to a new way. Once you have read the book, it is very hard, if not impossible, to disagree with Kristof and WuDunn’s general theme. To wit, the brave women of Iran who took to the streets to protest the results of the recent election.

I am also reminded of Kathy Engel and the many other heroic women, including Eleanora Kenned who founded Madre in the wake of the war in Nicaragua in the early 80s.

Among many other “super” women, HALF THE SKY spotlights the following inspirational Ashoka Fellows:

• Sunitha Krishnan (India), founder of Prajwala, a citizen sector organization in Hyderabad, India, fighting forced prostitution and sex trafficking, rescuing women and children from sexual exploitation, incestual rape, sexual torture, and abuse in prostitution. Her organization helps former prostitutes learn vocational skills so they can move into new careers. “Prajwala” means “an eternal flame”.

• Sakena Yacoobi (Afghanistan), founder of the Afghan Institute of Learning, a citizen sector organization providing teacher training to Afghan women, educating and fostering education for girls and boys, and providing health education to women and children. Her organization also runs fixed and mobile health clinics that provide family planning services. Sakena holds the distinction of having been Ashoka’s first Afghan Fellow. Educating women and girls was banned under the Taliban and is controversial under Islamic law.

• Roshaneh Zafar (Pakistan), founder of Pakistani microfinance lender, Kashf. A former World Bank employee, she was inspired after a chance meeting with Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank. “Kashf” means “miracle” and Kashf is indeed fostering a miracle by leveraging microfinance to women to transform the role of women in Pakistani society and bringing about a poverty-free world. To date, Kashf supports 305,038 families in Pakistan, has disbursed $202 million, and has 52 branches nationwide.

I am not alone in my enthusiasm for this book! Last Tuesday, September 15, 2009, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (“UNODC”) hosted a panel discussion and booksigning with Mr. Kristof and Ms. WuDunn in the UN Trusteeship Council Chamber at UN Headquarters. All 550 seats in the Trusteeship Council Chamber were filled. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon delivered opening remarks. Special credit goes to Simone Monasebian and Anna Rosario Kennedy of the UNODC for an absolutely herculean task of putting together this behemoth of an event.

The buzz out there is that the many people who came everyone were very excited about the publication and significance of this extraordinary milestone work.

Five out of five stars. An absolute must read for anyone who cares about women’s rights or human rights. A genuine eye popper that moves so fast, tackles so much that has hitherto been taboo and unmovable, and interweaves the unbelievably positive stories of the very heroic women already leading and creating change in a tapestry that is glimpse of a brave and very different, humanitarian new world.

Once you pick this book up, you will not be able to put it down. And once you have read it, you will be moved to help bring about tomorrow. Absolute proof that the glass (or the sky) is half full. We just have to give ourselves permission to make change. Or as Gandhi said, “we must be the change we wish to see.”

BUY IT. READ IT. PASS IT AROUND.
- Tom Boone, Ashoka

[bottle king]

A friend of mine just emailed me one of your articles from a while back. I read that one a few more.