by Carole Shaw (JERA International)

Over the last few days, New York has seen more diversity and colour than usual arriving through the airports, roads and trains. Bit by bit, like pieces of a giant colourful jigsaw, women representing non government organizations and government organsiations from around the world have arrived in New York to participate in the Global NGO Forum for Women and to participate in the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) 54th Session. Many women faced up to 30 hours delay in flights to get to New York. This is the major policy making forum for women at the United Nations and this year is the 15 year review of the Beijing Platform for Action, a groundbreaking treaty for advancing the situation of women globally.

This year, being a review year, there is a 2 day Global NGO forum prior to the 2 week CSW 54th .

Despite flight delays, jetlag, snow, sleet and transport challenges, over 700 women from around the world attended the opening day of the Global NGO Forum for Women. This year there are approximately 50 Australian women from various NGO’s attending CSW. Many have been extremely active in the national review and have attended a series of meetings, teleconferences and strategizing before coming to this event. Representatives from various Australian NGO’s gathered at the lunch break to share information and to further strategise how to raise specific issues with NGO delegates and governments alike.

A separate forum for girls and young women was held in a parallel session as part of this Global forum. I don’t know how many attended this event coordinated by YWCA and WAGGS.

The Forum began with welcome remarks from Vivian Pender, Chair of NGO CSW, NY who outlined the structure of the conference. MC Mavic Cabrera-Balleza introduced the Keynote Speaker, Dr Sima Samar, an inspiring woman who is currently the Chair of Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (Afghanistan). Dr Samar acknowledged all the women and men in the room and shared experiences of coming from a country where actions, platform, resolutions do not have much meaning for Women. She highlighted with examples the situation for women in Afghanistan and discussed how culture and religion have been used to stop women’s participation in society, in some cases women deemed to be objects and not human beings. The dire situation where women and girls may not have access to education or health care and where access to justice is taboo for many. Honour killings and child marriages, are considered private matters of the family and the state do not intervene. Afghanistan has signed CEDAW without reservations. “We have to make better space for our daughters and our granddaughters … we have not finished our jobs …” One way to change this is to inform women of their rights, so they can know and defend their rights. She called for solidarity and support for the women and girls in Afghanistan. Dr Samar stated the importance of Independant Human Rights Agencies to monitor and act on women’s rights violations, As she left the stage to a standing ovation, women in the room were left with many issues to contemplate.

Following the keynote speech, Panel members were invited to talk on‘Advancing Womens Rights, 1975 – 2010. The prominent panel of Patricia Licuanan, Charlotte Bunch, Gertrude Mongella and Martha Benevidas (standing in for Virginia Vargas) and charied by Jan Peterson, highlighted advances and challenges from each of the World's regions.

Gertrude Mongella spoke first and acknowledged those women who were the building blocks for women’s development and acknowledged the strength of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA) as a process and series of commitments that keeps the global women’s movement working together for common aims. Gertrude was the Secretary General of the UN Conference on women in Beijing, China and is today the President of the Pan-African Parliament. She outlined advances in the African region, Rwanda at 57% of women in parliament, how most girls are in primary school education and many more are now attending secondary education. She discussed new issues: Terrorism, the global food crisis and the oil crisis – the need to keep moving forward on these issues. Gertrude highlighted the accessibility gained by women due to computers and mobile phones. “A computer doesn’t know if you are a woman or a man” and doesn’t differentiate in the way it treats you she stated. However, Gertrude highlighted that “the gun is still loud and clear in many parts of the world” and money for education and social programs is often rerouted into guns sales and military arms.

Gerturde used the analogy of the BPFA being as a 15 year old girl who has entered a new phase of life – she is now accepted in many areas and old enough to produce children and to reach a new stage of maturity. How mature has the world become she challenged. As the challenges change, so has the way in which the BPFA has been used to address the issues. Gertrude Mongella encourages all women to continue working towards equality.

Following Gertrude Mongella was Dr Patricia Licuanan, the President of Miriam College in Manila and the trustee of the Center for Asia Pacific Women in Politics. Dr Licuanan spoke eloquently on the importance of partnerships and how since the BPFA conception, the women’s movement has a better sense of allies, perceived and active. The complex processes in a review year of national, regional and international reviews. Partnerships arise through these processes, non-government and government partnerships can achieve many wonderful things. She highlighted 2 examples from the Phillipinnes. Patricia talked of a need to review gender mainstreaming and how it could actually be working against women. Patricia touched on the new GEAR UN Agency and the potential of this. She urged that women work on themselves to strengthen the movements and to come from a more mature position in advocacy, she highlighted that tenacity and steadfastness does eventually pay off.

Charlotte Bunch picked up the threads presented by Patricia on the new UN GEAR entity. She reflected on how she found herself working closely on this ambitious reform that changes the UN structure. Charlotte discussed the importance of the World Conferences, as a ground for bringing together unlikely partnerships to advance the status of women globally. She highlighted how institutional advances had been made at world conferences how they brought global attending to issues and platforms that were not part of the mainstream debate. How women and governments come together to bring the issue back home and how World Conferences transformed the women’s movement by highlighting the differences, highlighting conflicts (between north and south) and challenging the debate to be more inclusive of the diversity of ALL women. The growth of a diverse and vibrant women’s movement that grew from these debates and conflict, a women’s movement that was very present here today in this meeting. How spaces and resources have expanded and restricted over the years, and how world conferences brought women together across geographic and social lines to work on common issues. The challenge is to continue strengthening the women’s movement in the absence of world conferences and to continue the work of breaching intergenerational gaps.

Martha Benavides from El Salvador stepped in at the last minute to present Virginia Vargas’s discussion in Virginia’s absence. Martha highlighted how the UN is an instrument, a tool to bring people together. She highlighted advances in elimination of Violence against Women and acknowledges the advances of the ECLAC regional active plan of ECLAC. However, she reiterated the need to address the MDGs and support women’s role in conflict, democracy and economic development in this new capitalist environment. She challenged economic growth that was dependant on the continued destruction of ecological areas and natural habitat. Martha also talked about the strength of partnerships and encouraged the women’s movement to seek out younger women and include them in existing networks and support in setting up new networks. She indicated that this could be part of the work of the new GEAR entity.

The session broke for lunch and the video ‘To Empower Women – Beijing 1995’ was shown.

During the lunch break, old friends and new friends came together. The Australian flag was flying at the meeting point of for the Ozzie contingent where reflections, strategies and issues were discussed. Off for a quick coffee and into the second part of the session.

Panel 2 – the State of the World’s Women: Patriarchy, Violence Against Women and Girls, Women’s Health & Climate Change was moderated by Afaf Mahfouz from Egypt. Speakers, Nyaradzayi Gumbodzvanda General Secretary, YWCA (Zimbabwe) led the group in the discussions. In an entertaining and thought provoking presentation, Nyaradzayi started her session by calling for a moment fo silence for the sisters who died due to preventative disease, those sisters who died giving life, those sisters who died of HIV/AIDS and those human rights defenders who dared to speak out, for the many people who would like to have a voice but they are silenced. She then celebrated the last 15 years of women engaging with the BPFA and engaging on the journey of women’s Human Rights grounded in the premise for transformation. She celebrated Security Council Resolution 1325 which brought women’s rights in to the security agenda. She talked about patriarchy being about power, how power is accessed, enjoyed, manipulated. Nyaradzayi spoke of how patriarchy showed the different standards around men and women – who determines what – ownership of resources, and how patriarchy is a formula for keeping women in the margins of economies. She discussed how women’s human rights should be seen in the paradigm of family and community and the need to address the spaces in which women abide in order for women to life their lives and for women to transform their lives. In talking of institutional transformative structures and having women in governance structures and not just as a reference point.

Following Nyaradzayi, Mahnaz Afkhami used the words of Martin Luther King to say dream – dream for a peaceful and just world that allows all people to reach their potential. It is time for a longer vision, a time to rearrange human relationships to reach the goals of gender equality. She discussed the aspects of culture that hold us all, but which also have the potential to give freedom, and the need for a holistic vision to change relationships. It is time to change.

In the final session of the day, Violeta Shivutse a health worker from Kenya discussed the young female face of HIV/AIDS and how change to risk behavior should be determined in development with the community. Violeta spoke of the need to include grassroots women and men in decision making about their own health in an informed and systematic way.

Following this session was an open mike where members had the opportunity to share their issues and comments with those in the forum.

As the participants flowed out from the venue, the excitement and suspense was poignant in the air. All were tired, most were inspired. All were engaged.

Stay tuned for day 2 of the Global Women’s Forum tomorrow.