Elizabeth Abbot describes what she learned:
Notes from CSW59
Finishing the “unfinished business of the 21st century” (Hillary Clinton)
Accountability – we need to hold all levels of government accountable to creating laws and allocating resources to the gender equality and GBV agenda. Example: the Istanbul Convention signed in 2012 for European countries that requires countries to monitor progress and the Swedish “Sex Buyers” law and criminalizing FGM.
Also need to hold businesses, unions and civil society accountable to the gender equality and GBV agenda. Example: the Australian program of involving 25 men in power positions. Called Male Champions of Change.
Implementation will require political will, resources, commitment and collaboration with civil society.
Success will require a more holistic, inter-disciplinary and systems-oriented approach -- partnerships among governments, businesses and civil society, as well as gender and climate, what happens in the home and what happens in society. GBV is a symptom, the roots are in society and culture.
There is a need to measure gender equality and collect evidence that gender equality lifts up society and economies. Show in numbers that gender equality is not only the right thing to do, but the smart thing to do” as a business model (Nordic Council). Show how men benefit from gender equality and lose from an unequal society.
Recognition of the fundamental importance of past, present and future women’s movement in the process of promoting change. Civil society must continue promoting change,
Women must be present not only in parliament and as country leaders, but also at the party level. Quotas as a means to breaking down status quo.
Women need power, influence and money through disruptive strategies.
Women as agents of change and keys to solutions
Gender equality and women’s rights at the center of the SDGs.
Sex education and life-skills education for healthy relationships.
Safe spaces, security, protection.
Inclusive peacemaking -- need to ensure women’s participation in the peace process in areas of conflict.
A need to listen – among NGOs that compete for limited resources, between NGOs and UN institutions, between counterparts in peace process.
An increased focus on the necessity of engaging men and boys in the gender equality agenda and ending GBV agenda as agents of change. Solutions must involve men and boys. At the same time, a concern for how this engagement will take place and with what discourse. A need to be vigilant about the space men take up – their own space, not that of feminist groups, addition funds, not in the place of girls. Vigilant about the language, the messages, the goals, the champions, the organizations. Need to be vigilant of possible “gender washing” in the process. Initiatives Men and boys need to be allies in the movement for gender equality. Increase in primary prevention programs. Another solution would be to create feminist spaces within existing male institutions.
Examples: He for She campaign, and many new groups and campaigns forming around the world, #ThnkgsMenDo., Men Care, Men’s Factory, “The Line”. Questions around their relationships to the women’s movement, the space in which they operate and the discourse they use to further their goals. Working with men and boys must be underpinned by the women’s human rights agenda.
Recent new area of concern:
An alarming emergence of online “hate speech”/ cyber violence as a new vehicle for violence against women. Fewer safe spaces for women in the online world. The need to address the underlying systems that foster cyber violence.