Engaging Women – Challenges and Successes
Tuesday February 22, 2011, marked the beginning of the 55th Commission for the Status of Women. Michelle Bachelet, the Undersecretary General and Executive Director of UN Women, opened the ceremony. In her opening remarks she talked about the establishment of the new Organisation as the mechanism that will further push towards the UN’s goals of achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women. Ms. Bachelet talked about the importance of having more “women decision makers”.
The first day of CSW was packed with important and exciting events. One such event was the discussions on women and girls in sports. Girls typically do not have equal access to sports activities and funding. The YWCA of Sweden has been carrying out research on this issue and has found that in some Southern European countries, for example, sports and fitness activities are not included in the curriculum designed for girls.
Another important event was a workshop on creating supportive learning spaces for children with HIV. The workshop was led by World YWCA General Secretary, Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, and Harriet Musoke from ISIS-WICCE - a women’s organisation based in Uganda. The workshop focused on the importance of creating supportive learning spaces for children living with HIV, and how poverty is linked with HIV and education. One of the participants shared that, “It was a very moving session.”
The YWCA was excited to be involved in a panel discussion and interactive session hosted by the Australian Committee of UN Women. Jessica Notwell, World YWCA Vice President, joined Dr Elizabeth Broderick, the Australian Sex Discrimination Commissioner, and Caterina Stanfield, who facilitates consultations for the Committee, in the panel discussion. Together they explored how to engage young women, and examined both the challenges and the success stories of such an engagement.
Elizabeth Broderick talked about the Australian experience, pointing out that while Australia provides a solid education to women, it does not focus enough on their economic participation. Caterina Stanfield shared her experience as a young women leader and she also drew on her experiences at CSW. She spoke of the fact that many organisations have good intentions and wish to involve young women in the work that they do, however, often times they put barriers in place that make it hard for young women to commit for longer periods of time. Caterina pointed out some ways to help young women become more involved:
- Encourage young women to take up opportunities and display confidence
- Give young women ownership over what they do, and ensure that there is no tokenism involved. It is important for the young women to provide feedback and demonstrate the impact of their participation
- Create an environment where it is acceptable to make mistakes and understand that it is all part of a greater learning process
- Involve young women in projects, ask them what they expect and ensure their involvement throughout the delivery phase
- Use peer education – it is an empowering experience, it develops leadership skills and it is an effective delivery mechanism.
In her presentation, Jessica shared the history of the YWCA with the participants, and reiterated its deep commitment to the intergenerational leadership model. She also talked about the Organisation’s journey and challenge to achieving the participation of young women in 25% of all governance activities. She addressed some of the fears that were expressed, both by young and older women, when this process began. Jessica talked about the success of the World Board in achieving the 25%, and she shared the experiences of many of the young women delegates who are present at the Commission for the Status of Women.
Other YWCA delegates attended a round table discussion on the priority theme of access and participation of women and girls in education, training, science and technology, including for the promotion of women’s equal access to full employment and decent work. 35 of the 97 countries represented at the round table reported back on their progress in implementing the Millennium Development Goals. It was noted that while there has been a lot of progress, there is still a long way to go before women are equally represented, particularly in senior decision making positions. The keynote speaker at the round table was Fortunato De La Pena, Vice-Chair of the United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development and Undersecretary for Science and Technology in the Philippines. He talked about the pressing need for a greater role of women in science.
All in all it was a busy day at CSW. In all of this excitement, and as experiences and stories were shared and telephone numbers and email addresses were exchanged, the YWCA delegates felt the power, importance and challenges of the fight for achieving equal rights and representation for women and girls.
