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Report from CSW 60 by UKPAC Vice Chairman Glenys Hunt

CSW60

 CSW60

What a privilege it was to attend the 60th Commission for the Status of Women at the United Nations in New York, as UKPAC representative. This was my first CSW and I have to say, as well as a privilege it was also very interesting, confusing and tiring.

 

The priority theme of this year’s CSW was “Women’s Empowerment and It’s Link to the Sustainable Development Goals”.  The review theme was “The Elimination and Prevention of all Forms of Violence against Women and Girls”.  Both of which are dear to Soroptimist hearts.

 

There were over 600 sessions on in total over the 2 weeks, although I attended only for the first week. These were official sessions, side events and parallel events. Choosing which to attend when was a major problem. I had pared the timetables down and made a programme for myself before I went, consisting of some sessions relevant to UKPAC, some particularly relevant to me, and some official sessions, so I could get the flavour of the whole event. This worked to some extent, but there were of course other sessions that caught my eye while I was there, and also some that were changed or cancelled, so one has to be adaptable. There were of course a number of different venues to accommodate all these sessions, so learning the geography of the area was important too.

 

I arrived on the Saturday and on the Sunday went to a Consultation Day organised by CSW NGO, which was helpful in setting the scene, and there were some interesting speakers and breakout sessions. I was also able to meet up there, and later for a meal, with some of my SIGBI colleagues who were also attending

 

The real work then started on the Monday morning, beginning at 8.30 with a session on trafficking. In particular trafficking internally in the US, which was quite a revelation, this also dealt with the impact of the media, and pornography, and was very compelling. Next I went to a session on widowhood and the problems widows face around the world – widows not always being elderly, but some very young, especially in regions of conflict. This was followed by sessions on empowering women by giving them access to energy, and solar powered cookstoves featured heavily, which fits in well with our recent see Solar, Cook Solar project. The session after this was headed by 4 students from the University of West of England, who gave a brilliant presentation on work they had done researching girls access to education in the UK, and particularly their involvement with the STEM subjects – which fits in with President Margaret’s theme for SIGBI this year.  The following session was on the same subject, but this time at governmental level, with speakers from the Danish and British governments, the latter being represented by Caroline Dinenage the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Ministry of Justice and Minister for Women and Equalities at the Department for Education. Soroptimist International President Yvonne was present at that session and commented that in New Zealand there was a great impetus for women to join the construction industry after the recent earthquake there – but that was not to be recommended as a promotion tool! There was then a quick dash back to the hotel to get ready to go to an SI reception at an Italian restaurant which was attended by Soroptimist from around the world, I personally spoke to Americans, Japanese, Indian, Cameroon, and even a Mongolian lady. It really brings home the international aspect of our organisation, and shows we are all working to a common aim.

 

I will not go through the whole timetable of my week, the preceding paragraph gives you a flavour of how the time was spent.  I will mention the themes that came through over the week. There was overall a feeling of optimism, following the Sustainable Development Goals that had been decided in 2015.  If these could be reached the world would be a much better place.  However it was emphasised time and time again that the consideration of women and girls should go throughout all the goals, and not just Goal 5. It was also emphasised that the SDGs do not stand alone, but are to be considered along with CEDAW and the Beijing platform for action. The language in those two being much stronger in many places than in the SDGs. It was also stated many times that now agreement had been reached, it was the implementation that we had to get right, and many of the sessions I attended were about implementation – otherwise the whole event would have just been a talk shop. In order to aid implementation statistics and data need to be gathered on the current situation, so any change can be monitored.  This data needs to be disaggregated as far as possible, so it is broken down by gender, race, disability etc. A consistent theme, which became almost a mantra was “Leave no-one behind”.  The involvement of men and boys in many aspects of achieving the goals and gender equality is paramount.

 

It is also important to have partnerships.  There were many different NGOs present at CSW and many were working in the same fields, forming partnerships can make the message stronger and its delivery easier. It was very encouraging to see so many young people attending, as well as the university students mentioned above, there was a group of schoolgirls from Stroud, all of which made presentations at various sessions, and all of which were articulate and confident.  In addition there was a large contingent from WAGGS from all round the world. It seems that the future of gender equality is in safe hands.

 

There was some talk about the involvement of NGOs in the whole process, as some government representatives seem to want us to be excluded from many aspects.  I am happy to say that the UK government do not seem to have this view and welcome our input.  The UK Mission held a briefing every evening to inform us of the latest negotiations, and to ask our views and what we had attended of interest that day.  One evening there were 5 MPs, 2 Baronesses and a Lord there, as well as the civil servants, so they were not just paying lip service. The schoolgirls from Stroud were also in attendance, and it must have been especially encouraging for them.

 

I was not involved in the high level negotiations, I left that others in the Soroptimist International hierarchy, such as Pat Black and President Yvonne, they are still there this week trying to influence the final text of the agreement.  It seems there are a number of areas in dispute, such as removing reference to “sex workers”, and ensuring they are called “prostitutes”; making sure there are more references to Human Rights included; and ensuring there is no discretion by governments to get out of their obligations by referring to sovereignty.

 

Overall my attendance at the Commission was a great experience.  It was wonderful to see how strong a presence, and an influence, Soroptimist International has in the process, and reinforced my pride in being a member of our organisation. It was also wonderful to see how many committed people are prepared to work to improve the status of women and girls worldwide.

 

Glenys Hunt

Vice-chairman

UKPAC