PHM-Exch> March 8 - International Women's Day and UNDP at the Commission on the Status of Women

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: Laura Hildebrandt laura.hildebrandt at undp.org

  *International Women’s Day and UNDP at the Commission on the Status of
Women – Beijing + 15*

 The gender-specific implications of climate change, the economy, HIV/AIDS,
and post-conflict recovery were the subjects of panel discussions hosted by
UNDP and partners during the first week of the 54th Commission on the Status
of Women (CSW).

 The 2010 CSW, which continues through March 12, is focused this year on a
15-year review since the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action were
adopted at the landmark Fourth United Nations World Conference for Women in
Beijing in 1995. UNDP also co-hosted a dialogue on achieving gender equality
(MDG3) and how that is vitally linked to achieving the Beijing Platform for
Action.

 Plenary sessions throughout the week were devoted to reviewing progress
since Beijing and reports from Members States on achievements in gender
equality and areas of challenge.

 “We can be proud but not complacent,” said Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon at
the Plenary’s International Women’s Day Observance, held on March 3. The
Secretary-General noted the prevalence of violence against women and also
urged the General Assembly to adopt a resolution as soon as possible to
commit to create the proposed UN gender entity. The press release on the SG’s
statement <http://www.un.org/apps/sg/sgstats.asp?nid=4414> is available at:
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=33954&Cr=gender+equality&Cr1= *
*

* *Other speakers included Norway’s Minister for Gender Equality and
Children’s Affairs (notably a man), who said there is no gender equality as
long as violence against women exists; a Canadian high school student and
Chinese immigrant who said that gender equality will not be eliminated as
long as the preference for sons over daughters exists; and the president of
the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995.

 On Thursday, representatives of the UN’s five regional commissions
presented regional perspectives in progress achieved and remaining gaps and
challenges in the implementation of the Beijing Platform.**

* *They each* *reported that much progress has been made in a number of
areas including girls’ education and women’s political participation.
Nevertheless, the representative of Asia and the Pacific noted that maternal
death is still extremely high in the region.  The representative for Europe
pointed to the inadequate availability of sex-disaggregated statistics and
proposed to work more on policy dimensions of increasing men’s involvement
in care and house work.

 The representative for Latin America and the Caribbean noted that if things
progress at the current pace it will take 40 more years before the region
can achieve gender parity in political participation.  The representative
was also concerned with the existing gender wage gap where a well-educated
woman earns much less than non-educated man.**

 At statements throughout the week, delegations of many countries expressed
support for the UN’s proposed new gender entity, with several urging that it
be finalized and operational as soon as possible.

* **Beijing** Platform + CEDAW + MDGs = Progress on Gender Equality and
Women’s Empowerment*

The panel discussion,* Take Action Now: The Pathway from Beijing to
2015*underscored that the Beijing Platform for Action, the Convention
on the
Elimination of All forms of Discrimination and the MDGS are mutually
reinforcing. High-level representatives of the governments of Egypt and
Denmark and representatives of Cambodia, Burkina Faso and Zambia spoke about
specific actions taken in their countries to achieve MDG 3.

 Denmark, a champion for MDG3, emphasized the need to focus on a wide range
of financial resources (e.g. ODA, domestic resource mobilization and
remittances) to achieve the MDGs by 2015. Egypt reported building capacity
on gender-responsive planning and budgeting, and Cambodia recounted progress
in integrating gender equality in national policy and planning frameworks.
There was particular interest in UNDP Burkina Faso’s presentation on
how multifunctional
platforms have supplied energy to reduce the time required for labour
intensive tasks and enabled women to shift to income-generating activities.

 Recommendations for action included establishing powerful mechanisms for
supporting work on gender equality at the national level; providing
incentives for promoting gender equality, such as through the gender seal
for private companies in Latin America; and engaging a wide range of
stakeholders, including government, UN agencies, NGOs, academia and the
private sector, to achieve the MDGs. The role of men champions was also
highlighted, as well as the importance of having women leaders in strategic
positions such as ministries of finance, planning and labour.**

* **Putting gender into HIV/AIDS response and HIV/AIDS into gender plans*

Singer/activist Annie Lennox, UNDP Administrator Helen Clark and UN Deputy
Secretary-General Dr. Asha-Rose Migiro were among the panelists who helped
launch an *Agenda for Accelerated Country Action for Women, Girls, Gender
Equality and HIV (2010-2014). <http://www.unaids.org/en/>* Panelists and
participants welcomed the plan, which was developed to address gender
inequalities and human rights violations that continue to put women and
girls at risk of HIV infection. Panelists urged all sectors of society to
work together to help countries implement the plan, which was described as a
“long overdue” gender-centric approach to HIV/AIDS.

 No more pilots, it’s time for action,” said Clark, agreeing with several
ministers who urged immediate implementation of the plan in all countries.
“Governments, international, multilateral and civil society organizations
need to integrate gender issues into the HIV programmes - and to integrate
HIV issues into gender programmes,” Clark said. “These are fundamental
matters that cannot be dealt with separately."

 Annie Lenox recounted how she became an activist on HIV awareness after an
invitation from former South African President Nelson Mandela to engage
artists. “He said that the HIV pandemic is a genocide. And it is. Music,
film, writing...all of these are creative ways to help transform HIV into
something from the past."

 UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe, moderating the panel, was one of
several people on the panel and in the audience who noted the critical
importance of addressing violence against women, both in preventing and
responding to HIV/AIDS.

* **Gender Equality Key to Climate Change Response*

The importance of considering gender implications in the response to climate
change was the focus of the panel discussion, *Gender Equality and Climate
Change: Opportunities and Challenges for the MDGs*, which drew a crowd of
over 140 people. Winnie Byanyima, Director of the UNDP Gender Team,
emphasized the growing opportunity of a new climate deal for financing
adaptation and development, but cautioned that little attention has been
given so far to addressing how climate change financial resources can reach
the poorest women and men equitably. A representative from the Finnish
Council for Gender Equality said that Finland will continue to support the
participation of women in the global climate change negotiations in
recognition of the important voice they bring to the table, as environmental
stewards in many regions of the world where they are responsible for the
majority of food production and in meeting household energy needs.

 Panelists agreed that sustained investments are needed in building the
capacities of negotiators to understand the linkages between gender and
climate change. Melanne Verveer, the US Ambassador at Large for Global
Women's Issues, said that the United States recognizes that women are
critical to addressing climate change and that the U.S. will work to ensure
that women's potential "is tapped to address this critical challenge." The
representative from the Mexican government emphasized the importance of
reaching a new climate agreement at the next COP meeting to be held in
Cancun, Mexico in November 2010. There was general agreement among the
panelists that the debate could be further strengthened if women's
organizations were more focused on climate change as a development issue
and, at the same time, if more environmental groups were to focus on the
role of women's rights and gender issues.

 *Women Must Be Involved and Funded in Post-Crisis Responses*

“Women are not heard, not respected and not funded,” said Mary Robinson,
former President of Ireland, at the UNDP/UNIFEM panel discussion, *The Price
of Peace: Financing Gender Equality in Post-Conflict Recovery and
Reconstruction*. Robinson called for a requirement that 30 percent of
negotiators in all peace processes be women for the UN to be involved.

 Moderating the panel, UNDP Gender Team Director Winnie Byanyima cited a
UNIFEM study indicating that in 10 major peace processes in the past decade,
women were on average six percent of negotiators. Forthcoming research by
UNDP indicates that no rules have been established to integrate gender
equality into post-conflict funds.

 Ingrid Fiskaa, Norwegian State Secretary for International Development,
said large funds must address women’s needs. “Women will not settle for a
gender window – they want a door for full access to resources,” she said.

 Panelists also agreed solutions should include: earmarking funds for
women’s needs in recovery and reconstruction; including gender expertise in
all assessment missions; and making women’s economic empowerment a top
priority in the aftermath of all crises, including the recent earthquake in
Haiti.

* **Voices of Haitian Women*

The earthquake in Haiti has left the impoverished country’s women even more
vulnerable to sexual violence, sexually-transmitted diseases, poverty,
disability and illness, Haiti Minister of Women’s Affairs Marjorie Michel
said Wednesday at a panel, “Voices of Haitian Women,” organized by UNIFEM,
UNDP and the Huairou Commission. Haitian Ambassador to the UN Leo Merores
and Haitian activists from local organizations were also present.

 Michel said that the difficult situation of the country’s women has been
exacerbated by the fact that many prominent women’s advocates and feminists
died in the earthquake. She stressed the need to integrate women into all
reconstruction efforts. “Reconstruction depends on solidarity for Haiti and
equality between all humans and equality between women and men,” she said.

 Other panelists echoed her concerns about violence against women and cited
the need for such things as creating income-generating projects for women;
capacity building for single parents, given the large number of women-headed
households; and ensuring that women have safe housing.

* **Vision for a Better World: From Economic Crisis to Equality*

The economic crisis’ impact on women and the opportunities it provides to
rebuild global and national economies to make them more inclusive was the
focus of the panel discussion, *Vision for a Better World: From Economic
Crisis to Equality*, sponsored by UNDP, IDRC and the Governments of Canada
and Nicaragua.

 “The capitalist system has failed us,” said Nicaragua’s Minister of
Interior, Ana Isabel Morales, adding that the Nicaragua may not achieve the
MDGs but that Nicaragua has achieved a lot in empowering women at a
decision-making level. Suzanne Clément, coordinator/head of agency Status of
Women Canada, said the economic crisis has had a greater impact on women and
that male needs have been prioritized over the needs of women and children.

 Three speakers from the Casablanca Dream, a group of women thinkers and
activists, spoke about how the current economic system has failed “women,
minorities and the poor in general.” They pointed to the need to transfer
economic power from North to South and said that requirements for economic
development include growth that “bubbles up” rather than “trickles down,”
socially useful banking and finance, and support for equitable property
rights. Click here for a full article on this event from Media
global<http://mediaglobal.org/article/2010-03-04/economic-crisis-now-seen-as-opportunity-for-gender-equality>

 *Additional Resources*:
*UNDP side events during the Commission on the Status of
Women<http://www.undp.org/publications/CSW54-sideevents2010.pdf>[PDF]
UNDP Fast Facts on Progress since the Beijing
Conference<http://www.undp.org/publications/fast-facts/CSWKeyFactsFinal.pdf>[PDF]
UNDP’s messages for the Commission on the Status of Women
2010<http://www.undp.org/publications/fast-facts/CSWkeymessagesfinal.pdf>[PDF]
*

For more Information on the CSW
*15-year review of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and
Platform for Action (1995) * ***National level review of
implementation*<http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing15/national-level.html>

    - Questionnaire<http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing15/national-level.html#quest>
      - Member States
responses<http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing15/national-level.html#res>
   - *Regional 15-year review
processes*<http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing15/regional_review.html>
      - Regional
reports<http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing15/regional_review.html#rep>
      - Regional
meetings<http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing15/regional_review.html#met>
   - *Global 15-year review process in the 54th session of the Commission on
   the Status of
Women*<http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing15/overview.html>
      - Overview <http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing15/overview.html>
      - Documentation<http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing15/documentation.html>
      - Opening
Statements<http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing15/statements.html>
      - High-level
Plenary<http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing15/high-level_plenary.html>
         - Provisional list of
speakers<http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing15/docs/Prov_List_of_Speakers_for_Fri_5_March_and_Mon_8_Mar.pdf>
      - High-level roundtables and Interactive
events<http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing15/ievents.html>
      - Outcomes <http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing15/outcomes.html>
      - Participation<http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing15/participation.html>
         - NGO participation<http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing15/participation.html#ngo>
         - Media
accreditation<http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing15/participation.html#media>
         - Press
centre<http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing15/participation.html#press>
      - Parallel
events<http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing15/parallel.html>
   - *Commemoration of the 15th anniversary by the General
Assembly*<http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing15/commemoration.html>
   - *Related intergovernmental
processes*<http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing15/related.html>
   - *Other commemorative initiatives in the
UN*<http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing15/other.html>
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