Young Women Speak out at CSW

The Youth Organisation Caucus had worked as a collective group to prepare the final statement that outlined three key observations on care giving that included:

• governments must adopt comprehensive education as a tool for promoting gender equality
• governments must not only protect young women and girls from violence and abuse but also work towards preventing violence
• the media, including the internet and social networking sites, must be used to fight gender stereotypes

“It was clear from the interventions that young people are concerned about negative stereotypes. There was great suggestions on how to improve the way young women and girls relate to men and boys,” said Kaburo Kobia, World YWCA Communications Director who helped facilitate the caucus. “There was a high level of respect within the group. People listened to each other and offered constructive suggestions. It was really great to have such smart and dedicated women and men work together.”

The Youth Organisation Caucus was initiated by World YWCA and the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) to ensure the voices of young women are heard throughout the event. An evaluation of last year’s CSW revealed young women did not feel they had sufficient space to network, deliberate and strategise during the two-week long session, thus limiting their participation.

Your Excellencies and colleagues

Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today about issues critical to girls and young women in regards to the theme of the 53rd session of the Commission on the Status of Women.

While there is no doubt that care giving conveys rewards, it has huge costs for girls and young women, such as time, energy, lack of access to education, lack of secure employment and social marginalisation. This creates a tragic cycle of poverty,vulnerability and exclusion thus reducing their potential livelihood.

It has been estimated that girls and women provide up to 90 per cent of the care generated by HIV and AIDS. Studies show that girls are twice as likely as boys to be kept out of school to care for sick relatives or work to contribute to household income.

You have committed to reduce poverty by 2015 through achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Poverty cannot be eradicated without gender equality.

The Youth Organisations Caucus calls on member states to adopt the following strategies:

Ensuring access to education is one of the most powerful responses to combat the perpetuation of gender based norms and behaviours that maintain the unequal division of responsibilities between girls and women and boys and men.

In collaboration with parents and guardians and NGOs, governments must provide girls and young women with academic and vocational training, leadership and social skills to prepare them to participate fully in society. When girls have no options than provide caregiving, flexible education schedules must be offered.

Comprehensive education must instil in girls and boys an understanding of equal sharing of responsibilities. Young men must be socialised, for example through peer education, to respect girls’ and women’s autonomy and to share responsibility with girls and women in matters of sexuality and reproduction and free choice of family status.

Governments must provide appropriate and gender-sensitive information to help young women and men to understand their sexuality, including their sexual and reproductive health and rights, in order to increase their ability to protect themselves from HIV, sexually transmitted infections and unplanned pregnancy.

Violence, the threat of violence and fear of abandonment are key inhibitors to girls and young women claiming their Human Rights. Violence against girls and young women impoverishes individuals, their families and communities socially and Governments in partnership with families, communities and civil society must take active measures to protect girls and young women as well as support men and boys’ role in preventing and eliminating all forms of violence.

The media shapes values, attitudes and perceptions of young women and girls in both positive and negative ways.

Governments must develop aggressive strategies to eliminate gender stereotypes and sexual exploitation in all spheres of life, particularly by using the media and internet to foster the positive portrayal of women and girls as leaders. To truly empower girls and young women a comprehensive social, political and economic response is urgently required, one that addresses the increased feminisation of the AIDS epidemic. We urge you as member states of the United Nations to place girl children and young women at the centre of all efforts to combat gender inequalities and to ensure equal sharing of responsibilities between women and men, including care-giving in the context of HIV and AIDS.