Consultancy Day: 55th Commission on the Status of Women Feb. 21, 2011, New York
MICHELLE BRIGNONE
As Written by: MICHELLE BRIGNONE, WOW Intern in Geneva UN
Our first opportunity to hear from Michelle Bachelet, the first Under Secretary General of UN Women
The historic 55th session of the Commission on the Status of Women kicked off today in New York City with the introductory Consultancy Day before the formal General Assembly Opening session tomorrow.
Civil Society has lobbied long and hard to raise the status of women at the United Nations (UN) and the UN has finally heard us, they have consolidated all of the UN organizations for women under one new UN Women and raised it to an undersecretary level with Michelle Bachelet, the former President of Chile, as the first Under Secretary General.
Ms. Bachelet introduced the theme of the CSW, Access and participation of women and girls in education, training, sciences and technology, including for the promotion of women’s equal access to full employment and decent work, and laid out the priorities of UN Women for the year ahead. She applauded the Non Governmental Organization (NGO) community for its active participation in gender relations, Human Rights, and Peace, as well as the creation of UN Women.
“The Civil Society sector is invaluable in bringing the voices of women around the world to the attention of those in Government,” she said. She referenced her experience working with NGO’s in Chile both as a doctor and while she was President of that country and how the government and the NGO’s worked together to ensure the rights and health conditions of traumatized children in Chile.
“People are the solution to national and international problems,” Ms. Bachelet repeatedly told us. “Education is essential and the civil society can and must play an essential role as stake holders and not only as part of the problem, but part of the solution.”
The general assembly determined the need for UN Women to function at the secretary level, but at the same time, carry out operational activities at the country level and ensure and co-ordinate gender equality activity within the whole UN system.
Ms. Bachelet laid out a concise action plan for UN Women moving forward. The two main aspects are:
1. Women and how they go to work in a civil society
2. Access and participation of women and girls in education, training, sciences and technology, including for the promotion of women’s equal access to full employment and decent work. (This year’s CSW theme)
Un Women will support countries and deliver on the commitment for change in the lives of the women around the world suffering from gender violence and discrimination.
UN women will strive to strengthen coherence between the UN system, regional and country governments, NGO’s and other nongovernmental actors. UN Women will also lead, coordinate and promote gender equality and the empowerment of women within the UN system.
“UN women will be a catalyst for change.” UN Women’s mission is one where, “Women and men have equal rights and opportunities and where the principle of gender equality and women’s empowerment are thoroughly integrated in UN development, Human Rights, and UN Security agendas.” To meet these objectives, UN women will center its work on 4 core principles;
1. Support national partner initiatives to enhance implementation of international women’s standards.
2. Support intergovernmental processes which strengthen the role and framework on gender equality
3. Advocate for gender equality and women’s empowerment, championing the rights of women and girls
4. Leading and promoting coherence in the UN system’s war on gender inequality
“Women will never have equal rights if they are not empowered. We have seen that in so many places and in so many different contexts. When we talk about physical security, it is very difficult for women who are victims of violence to get out of their homes because they do not have the capacity or economic autonomy.” Women’s voices cannot be heard if they are not empowered enough to speak out. To that end, UN Women will focus on five essential issues:
1. Expanding women’s voices, leadership and participation will be one of our main areas of focus. To improve political participation but that means improving women’s negotiating skills, and developing qualified candidates for any and all positions from Govt. trade unions, NGO’s etc.
2. Enhance economic empowerment
3. Ending violence against the girl child and women
4. Strengthening Peace and Security Agenda, we need more women in peace talks.
5. Support national partners and encourage gender equality at all levels of Govt.
Ms. Bachelet is setting up NGO advisory panels for herself as well as for the regional representatives to gain greater access and to hear the voices and stories of disadvantaged women in the poorest areas, so that UN Women can better serve the needs of women worldwide and be a catalyst for change.
“While access to education is growing, access alone is not enough. Despite the closing gap between boys and girls in school at all levels, progress is wildly uneven and women are still being barred from labor force participation.” Ms. Bachelet laid out the following statistics;
97/100 girls/boys ratio in school at the primary level
96/100 girls/boys ratio in school at the secondary level
108/100 girls/boys ratio at the tertiary level
But
In 2008, only 52.6% of women were able to participate in the labor force, while 77.5 % of men participated. To counter this, Ms. Bachelet set a framework for change:
1. It is crucial to improve the quality of education as well as access
2. We need to eliminate gender stereotypes in schools and the workforce
3. We need practical measures to facilitate transition from school into the job market
4. Girls need to be encouraged to get involved with gender sensitive science and technology.
While education is good, it is not enough. We must eliminate violence against women and the girl child, we must achieve gender equality and sustainable development, and we must drastically lower or eliminate maternal mortality and morbidity rates
“If women do not have information and an education, they do not have any power.”
Following Ms. Bachelet’s speech, Dr. Kaosar Afsana, the associate director of health programs at BRAC and this year’s Woman of Honor, spoke about how mobile technologies are helping poor women in Bangladesh and should be considered as inexpensive, innovative ways to connect poor, disadvantaged women to the healthcare and legal services they so desperately need. She referenced today as being the Bangladesh Independence Day (liberation day from Pakistan) and how the area now known as Bangladesh used to be known as Golden Bengal because of its wealth and resources but now it is known as Bangladesh, for its poverty.
Dr Afsana spoke of Gandhi offering women, “Peace, love and friendship” but in 2005 45% of women in Bangladesh lived below the poverty line. In 2010, that number is slightly better at 35% and the MMR went from 574 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2007 to 194 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2010. While a 40% reduction of fertility deaths in 9 years is great, more can be done. As the number of educated women increases, the number of fertility deaths decreases. But there is still a vast lack of education, technical skills and access to help in Bangladesh as evidenced by the fact that only 27% of birth attendants are skilled.
As BRAC expands out of Bangladesh, currently in nine other countries, their successes are spreading throughout the developing world. With the expansion, come the skills and technical access necessary to lower MMR rates permanently.
Manoshi, which are mobile birthing centers for poor rural women, offer privacy, experienced help, and referrals to hospitals when complications arise. Manoshi are mobile health centers (mhealth), with mobile phones and hotlines for care and emergencies.
In Bangladesh, only 23% of poor, rural women have access to mobile phones (with no infrastructure for landlines). Manoshi gives each pregnant woman a cell phone number with free access to the local Manoshi cell phone, when the woman calls the number, her picture comes up on the phone, and all of her health information is displayed for the medical technician so that accurate medical help can be given. The woman can ask questions, receive important information during pregnancy, deliver and post pregnancy to facilitate healthy mothers and babies as well as family members reporting deaths of mother or child, if something goes wrong.
The neo-natal mortality has been reduced from52, in 1993 to 30 in 2010. Because of the built in software in the cell phone, Mother, mobile health technician and an experienced doctor can all access the patient’s health information without paperwork, expensive computers and software packages etc. The mobile phone keeps costs down to a minimum, allowing more women to be covered.
Dr Afsana started and ended by quoting Gandhi, “The future is the woman.”
Following Dr Afsana, there was an expert panel on Women, Science and Technology, which explored the gains made by women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) subjects as well as the barriers to getting more girls and women involved at all levels.
Dr. Eleanor Nwadnobi from Nigeria spoke about increasing women’s access to and use of technology, including more gender responsive products. She stressed availability, affordability and ability (ability of women to use the technology, a purposeful building of their skills). Dr. Nwadnobi was quite a dynamic speaker with a good sense of humor, which did not offset the urgency of her message at all.
Shelley Canright, from NASA, spoke of the importance of studying the cultural phenomenon of why girls, who showed an interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) subjects in grade school, begin to drop out in middle school and are all but nonexistent in STEM subjects by the time they graduate from college. While the White House Counsel on Women and Girls is trying to address the issue, more can be done. NASA is partnering with local organizations to educate girls in STEM subjects, concentrating on middle school teachers, who are brought to NASA, educated on engaging ways to teach and then sent back to school to engage girls in the sciences. She stressed the need to engage girls in STEM outside of the classroom as 80% of a child’s time is spent OUT of school.
Dr. Miriam Erez, from Israel, addressed the lack of girls in STEM subjects from a point of lack of motivation and gender role segregation or social norms. She spoke of the incredible opportunities for change with technology, calling attention to social network sites as an example. If women and girls got involved with technology they already use and love, they can improve it. Technology is no longer for engineers or computer geeks. All technology is really in the customer service sector. Apple does not build a cell phone, cell phones have been around for decades, apple creates services and experiences, things girls’ value. Dr. Erez used the example of Will.i.am, from the Black Eyed Peas, being named Intel’s Director of Innovation, anyone can be creative in any field, STEM subjects seem to have a cultural barrier for girls, in access, motivation, and ability to enter into the labor force. She offered three ways to change this:
1. Education
2. Curriculum – show the link of technology with everything around us
3. Policy Incentives – change social norms and gender role segregation by using effective role models to inspire young girls (such as the CEO’s of Yahoo, Dupont, Sonoco and Wellpoint, who are all women).
Dr Akanisi Kedrayate Tabualevu, from Fiji, spoke of the massive gender gap in enrollment at the University of the Pacific, which serves 13 countries and has an enrollment of 22,000 students. She sited possible barriers to female enrollment as being Cultural – patriarchal society, Religion, curriculum, scarce resources and no available jobs to women in traditionally male industries upon graduation. She recommended a compulsory gender unit in school for boys and girls, government initiatives, especially the creation of more scholarships for girls,
After a brief lunch, we separated into breakout sessions to discuss various aspects and challenges of higher female participation in STEM subjects so we could then go back to our individual NGO’s and be better equipped to address these needs at local and national level.
Overall, it was a great way to kick off CSW55. We left unified and motivated to carry on the work of women not only for the two weeks of the commission but going forward for the rest of the year as well.
