Transcript International Approaches to Gender Equality

International Approaches to
Gender Equality
Historically Examining the United Nations and
Gender Issues
Why the course?
• Issues of Gender – rarely addressed in historical
context
• World Affairs
– Evolving from the national to international spheres
• Primary Modes of approaching supra-national
issues today
– Multilateralism + development and subsequent
challenges of globalization
• Global Governance
– Getting states to comply with national obligations
Course Focus
• Historical perspective – Last 100 years
• Institutional mechanisms: UN system, national, and
regional levels
• Comparative analysis of UN world conferences on women
• Comparative analysis of progress made
• Evolution of concept of gender equality
• Role of civil society in promoting gender equality within
the UN and international frameworks
Syllabus
Brief Introduction of the course
1. UN, multilateral diplomacy, and
movement towards gender equality
2. The UN organizational structure for the
promotion of gender equality
3. Issues and Activities- international,
national, regional and sub-regional
spheres
4. Beijing and Beyond
Part I.
Multilateral diplomacy, and national
and international movement towards
gender equality
Multilateral Diplomacy
• Loosely Defined:
– decision making in the foreign policy realm involving or participated in by
more than two sovereign states or parties
• Necessary to have sovereign states
• Historical Usage/development of terminology
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Peace of Westphalia: 1648
Congress of Vienna: 1815
Berlin Congress: 1878
Post WWI, with the conclusion of the Peace at
Versailles
• Multilateralism as an ever evolving concept
Gender Equality - overview
• Women since the 1920’s
• League of Nations & UN: a strong impetus for historic
change
• Power of international documents
• Factors of positive results of women’s participation in intl.
political dialogue and UN operations
• Shift in geographic focus
• Culmination
• More work to be done
Movement Phases
1. Changing objectives of the Women’s agenda:
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
Suffragette and labour movements
Ind. Rev. Economic Rights 19th/ 20th C
Peace and security WW1 and WW2
Gender Equality, esp. advancing political rights
Recognition of equality, peace, and development as
prerequisites for equal participation of women in
decision-making
Mainstreaming the gender perspective  1990s
Establishment of the International
Discourse
Policy and Institution Building
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
International Women’s and Labour Movement
The establishment of the League of Nations
Founding of the UN and Adoption of the UN Charter
Adoption of the UDHR (Universal Declaration on Human Rights)
Est. of CSW (UN Commission on the Status of Women)
Adoption of CEDAW
The UN decade for Women and the world conferences
The 1990s
Notable historical periods
• French Revolution – notion of citizenship and the
rights of man
• 1890 - 1945
• 1945-1962
• 1963-1975
• 1976-1985
• 1986  1995 and beyond
Establishing Institutional
Machinery
1. The League of Nations
2. The International Labor Organization
–
Liaison Committee of the Women’s
International Organizations
3. The United Nations
1. The League of Nations
• Founding of League of Nations marked:
– Beginning of organized & institutionalized
intergovernmental collaboration
– Specified goals
• Cooperation of women’s international
organizations & the League of Nations
• Reasons for women’s involvement
Recommending functions of League of
Nations
•
Paris Peace Conference (1919)
–
Representatives of Women’s organizations
present
•
5 Proposals
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Suffrage
Retention of nationality during marriage
Support abolition of trafficking of women and children
Intl. education and health
Control and reduce armaments
Results of Recommendations
• League of Nations declared the following
– “Member states should promote humane
conditions of labor for men, women, and
children”
– “Governments should allow all positions in the
League of Nations and Secretariat to be open
equally to the men and women”
• Establishment of a tangible committee
2. International Labor
Organization
• Requests from women of American and
British labor unions
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Working day and work week limits
Termination of child labor
Support for social insurance
Equal pay for equal work for both sexes
Minimum wages for housework
Creation of the World Health Organization
•Liaison Committee of Women’s International
Organizations
• Purpose of formation
• Participation
– estimated membership of 45 million women
from Europe and America
– meetings in Geneva and London
– consisting of a number of adjunct committees
– organized the first non-governmental
conference (1919)
Subsequent Trends
• Latin American Women in 1928
– International conference of Latin American states
results
• Amazing success
– Made in the face of limited women’s rights
– Women created and achieved
• Model for cooperation and interaction between NGOs and
intergovernmental orgs.
• Obtained numerous rights
• Increased prominence on agenda of intl. cooperation
The Establishment of the UN
• Historical basis
– The League of Nations
• Established on 24 October 1945
– By 51 countries
• with the commitment to preserving peace through
– intl. cooperation
– Collective security
• Breadth of participation
The UN Charter
• Voluntary acceptance of obligations
• Emphasis on the rights and freedoms of
every human being
• 4 articles
• 4 purposes
• Wording
Membership/Function
• UN members  sovereign countries
• NOT a world government
– Thus, does NOT make laws
• Holds other functions
• All members have a voice and vote in the
decision making process
UN Organization
•
6 main organs
–
The first 5 are based in NY headquarters
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
The General Assembly (GA)
The Security Council
The Economic and Social Council
The Trustee Council
The Secretariat
The International Court of Justice, which is located at the Hague
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There are also over 30 affiliated organizations known
as the UN system
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Ex. UNESCO, UNICEF, WHO etc.
Gender-centric articles
1. UN Charter
- Article 8 addressing gender equal
participation in the UN
- Article 55c. addressing human rights
and fundamental freedoms
- Article 71consultative status*
2. Universal Declaration of Human Rights
(UDHR)
–
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Process
Equal rights of men and women (gender
specific)
All human beings  born free and equal in
dignity and rights
Part II.
UN Organizational Structure for the
Promotion of Gender Equality
Intergovernmental and Treaty bodies
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CSW
ECOSOC
UN 3rd Committee of the General Assembly
CEDAW
(DAW) UN Division for the Advancement of
Women
• UNIFEM
• INSTRAW
UN Commission on the Status of
Women (CSW)
• Established as a functional commission of the Economic and
Social Council by Council resolution 11(II) of 21 June 1946
– To Prepare recommendations and reports to the ECOSOC
– Make recommendations to the Council on urgent problems
requiring immediate attention in the field of women’s rights
– Promote implementation of the principle that men and
women shall have equal rights
• Commission’s mandate expanded in 1987 & 1995 by the
Council
• Composition/work schedule
Economic and Social Council
(ECOSOC)
• Functions and Authority
• Composition/schedule
– 54 elected members
– 3 yr terms
– Meets 1 month a year
• Work Distribution
UN Third Committee
• The Third Committee  part of the General
Assembly that deals exclusively with
economic and social affairs.
• General Assembly (GA)
– the highest intergovernmental body in the UN
– is the principal policy-making and appraisal
organ on matters relating to the follow-up to the
FWCW
UN Committee on the Elimination of
Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)
• established under the terms of the Convention on
the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
Against Women
– adopted by the General Assembly in its resolution
34/180 in December 1979
• reviews the reports of States parties on the
implementation of the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women
• evaluates the progress made
UN Division for the
Advancement of Women (DAW)
• Established in 1946
• Functions
– Conducts research
– develops policy options
– fosters interaction between governments and civil
society
– provides substantive servicing for United Nations
intergovernmental and expert bodies
– provides advisory services and technical cooperation
programmes to developing countries
UN Development Fund for Women
(UNIFEM)
• Created in 1976 as an innovative and
catalytic fund
• Functions
– Supporting new initiatives and programs for
developing countries
– To aid beneficial activities for women at the
pre-investment stage at the national and
regional level
INSTRAW
• Established in 1980 with HQ's in the Dominican
Republic
• its programme is comprised of "practical and
specific objectives"
• Functions
– conducting action oriented research and studies with particular
problems of WID
– establishing training programmes, including fellowship
programmes and advisory services
– to raise awareness on issues relating to WID
– develop and increase opportunities for women to gain new skills
– establish an information system on women
International Instruments
Conventions and declarations of particular importance to women's rights.
• Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against
Women (1993)
• Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against
Women (1979)
• Declaration on the Protection of Women and Children in
Emergencies and Armed Conflicts (1974)
• Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination Against
Women (1967)
• Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for
Marriage and Registration of Marriages (1962)
• Convention against Discrimination in Education (1960)
• Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention
(1958)
• Convention on the Political Rights of Women (1952)
• ILO Equal Remuneration Convention (1951)
• Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons
and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others (1949)
Part III.
Issues and Activities
International, National, regional/sub-regional levels
Role of personal commitment and
NGO Activity
"More perhaps than any other UN body the
delegates to the CSW were personally
committed …and acted as a kind of lobby
for the women of the world…There was no
more independent body in the UN. Many
governments had appointed…as their
representatives women who were militants
in their own countries" (Humphrey 1984)
Issues Relevant throughout
• marriage/divorce, custody over children =
nationality
• women in decision-making and public life
• labour relations - developed into WID
• trafficking with women
• Statistics
Helvi Sipilla
• appointed UN Assistant Secretary General
in 1972
Women In Development Approach
(WID)
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Pre -Mexico Conference-1975
4 Principal Aims of the Mexico Conference
Changing the political environment
Post-Mexico Conference
– UN Decade for Women
– Establishment of national machineries
• World Conference in Women in
Copenhagen
Shifting from WID to GID
(Gender in Development)
• Began in the 1980s
• Nairobi Conference (1985)
• Usage of the term Gender
– a socially constructed definition of men and
women
– a socially constructed definition of the
relationship between the sexes
• Gender Mainstreaming and GID goals
Part IV.
Beyond the Beijing Conference
Emerging Issues
• Human Rights of women/violence/conflict
• Role of men in eliminating violence
• Reiteration of the right to family planning as a
human right
• Feminisation of poverty
• Sectoral approaches to gender equality (e.g. trade)
• Conservative backlash
Focusing on political rights
– Participation
• Strategies for achievement
– Transforming political structures and systems
– Obstacles
• From The World Survey on the Role of Women in
Development (1984)