This discussion examines the role of institutions in perpetuating structural discrimination in the fabric of governance, and examines ways of challenging and changing it. Historian and writer Onyeka Nubia chairs the discussion at the Commonwealth People’s Forum in London. Panellists include: Kalpana Kannabiran, a sociologist and legal researcher; Marai Larasi, a black women’s rights activist; and Tshepo Madlingozi, a senior lecturer in Law at the University of Pretoria.
I was a newbie at the sixty-third United Nations Women’s Commission on the Status of Women (CSW 63) and the Annual Consultation of Commonwealth National Women’s Machineries this month. It was a great feeling to meet a few of the pioneers who attended the same conference in Beijing in 1995 – still going strong and honouring us with their hallowed presence. But I was left wondering: Where is the vibrant African women’s feminist movement that took charge after Beijing 1995? The movement appears to have subsided with time.
Over the past two decades, the women’s empowerment movement ensured that more girls and women secure their agency and claim their rights to voice, as well as access to education, health, shelter, and political representation. It catalysed progress and gains but has fallen short of a complete transformation. It was all because of the work of a few activists who braved the odds and spoke out boldly and firmly in deed and in fact against all forms of discrimination against women and girls.
‘The women’s empowerment movement ensured that more girls and women secure their agency and claim their rights to voice’
My attendance at CSW63 was funded as part of an ongoing initiative of the Commonwealth Foundation which aims to revive, reconnect, and build a cross generational women’s movement, celebrating past gains and inspiring a bold future. It is my hope that this initiative will nurture a new generation of highly motivated and skilled young African feminist activists to continue the struggle.
Hazel Brown (left), feminist activist and pioneer delegate to the 1995 Commission on the Status of Women in Beijing, joined the activities in New York this month
About the CSW 63
Representatives from 45 UN member states, UN entities and the ECOSOC-accredited non-governmental organisations from all regions of the world attended CSW 63. The key themes of the event were: social protection systems, access to public services and sustainable infrastructure for gender equality, and the empowerment of women and girls. The programme was in line with global need: these thematic areas remain the major barriers to the full and effective participation of women in their societies.
‘We may have won some battles but the war towards a free and gender equal world is far from over.’
Push back against the push back
The new buzz-phrase for me is to ‘push back against the push back’. After so much work on women empowerment and equality, there seems to be a global push back against women’s rights issues and in some cases an erosion of the gains – in political participation for example. Women’s rights organisations and their allies must rise up and redouble their efforts to rebuild the movement. The UN Chief, Antonio Guterres, acknowledged this when he said ‘power is not given, power is taken’ (Mr. Guterres said this at a town hall meeting that Executive-Director of UN Women, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, had chaired and opened with song).
Registering my presence at CSW 63
At that same lively town hall meeting, I tried to catch the attention of Ms. Mlambo-Ngcuka, but to no avail. And so in the spirit of Mr. Guterres’ words, I approached him as he left the hall. In the few seconds I had, I urged the UN Chief to look into the challenges the movement faces. My argument – as it has been throughout – was that without a deepening collaboration between the media and the women’s movement, they will at best remain mere purveyors of news, rather than proactive shapers of new narratives and realities.
This is why I was pleased to moderate the session on how Ghana was incorporating gender into its social protection programmes: I got a chance to shape some of the narrative and I feel confident that next year, God willing, I will be able to do more…
My key takeaways from CSW 63
Learning about our shared humanity as women of different regions, religions, ethnicities and classes is crucial. Giving agency to these different voices is key to local advocacy and implementation of action plans
It was sad to learn that women’s political participation has regressed; we must push back
There is an urgent need to ensure women’s access to social protection systems, public services and sustainable infrastructure to level the playing field
Africa and Ghana have even greater challenges in meeting these ideals, and must work to revive and rebuild a cross generational movement of young and old feminist activists to maintain pressure on power.
I was inspired by the conversation about youth and rural women’s participation as well as conversations to include men and boys on the agenda
My suggested key action points for African and Ghanaian participants are: mobilise to organize press interactions back home on the outcomes of the CSW63 meetings; issue statements to government agencies highlighting the gaps in existing programmes on women empowerment and equality; organize intergenerational dialogues aimed at revamping the women’s movement and including newer, younger, or excluded voices; continue public awareness campaigns to increase knowledge and shape better attitudes towards women and girl’s rights.
My concluding advice, to all planning to attend CSW 64: by all means attend, but if you can: prepare, prepare, prepare. Above all be truly present when you are in the sessions and make many friends and contacts.
The Commonwealth Foundation’s Participatory Governance and Gender Programme focusses on developing the capacities of civic voices to constructively engage with institutions, with each other, and with policy-makers to get their voices heard and ultimately influence policy.
‘Civic voices’ in this context is a broad concept, which does not only include civil society organisations but also individuals such as writers and filmmakers, who have a public voice and can influence public discourse towards policy change. The Foundation recognises that there are voices in the margins, voices who are more excluded than others, because they may not only be female, but female and from a poor rural background, or female and disabled, or young in societies where older people are more likely to be respected and listened to. Therefore, an intersectional analysis lies at the heart of our work.
‘local ownership is critical and movements need to identify their own agendas and solve their own problems’
In line with this broader understanding of civic voices, the programme worked with the West African Civil Society Institute in Ghana to organise a three-day dialogue in Accra. A diverse group of women’s rights activists, networks, journalists and writers from five West African countries, both young and older, were invited to the conversation to explore strategies to amplify their voice, advance the women’s rights agenda across the region, and identify challenges to the women’s movement. In the spirit of South to South learning, women’s rights networks from Southern and East Africa were also invited to share their learning on monitoring the gender commitments of their governments.
Movement-building is critical to strengthening the collective voice of women. The added value of the Foundation is to facilitate processes that enable women from across the Commonwealth to come together to learn from each other and strategise together. This is part of the Foundation’s capacity development approach, which is a holistic process of change whereby people and institutions develop their abilities to do what they already do even better, to help them solve problems, and set and achieve their goals. This also means that local ownership is critical and movements need to identify their own agendas and solve their own problems. The conversation in Accra was organised on this basis; there was an explicit acknowledgment of this from participants: ‘[we need to] redefine feminism for ourselves, set our own agenda and harness our own resources and inspiration.’
‘In the spirit of South to South learning, women’s rights networks from Southern and East Africa were also invited to share their learning on monitoring the gender commitments of their governments.’
A key result of the dialogue was an in depth analysis of the main challenges facing the West African women’s movement. There was agreement that the women’s movement had been fragmented and was characterised by numerous cleavages, especially along intergenerational and class lines.
‘It is imperative to start a serious intergenerational dialogue, so the next generation of young women will get to understand what we have fought for and the need to continue the fight if the gains are to be sustained.’
The discussion therefore focussed on developing strategies to bridge these gaps–between women of different ages who had a different understanding of feminism and experiences of being a woman; the gap and mistrust between female politicians and women’s rights activists; the gap between rural and urban, rich and poor women – in order to effectively mobilise women to develop an inclusive agenda that all could support. Therefore, engaging more with younger women and expanding the dialogue on equalities-taking into consideration the various diversities-was seen to be critical to furthering the agenda.
Ultimately, the dialogue created the space for a renewed commitment to the women’s movement at national and regional levels, which enabled each country to develop a road map to strengthen its women’s movement. The Foundation is currently supporting some countries to develop these plans further into proposals that can be supported over the medium-term.
Malou Schueller is a Senior Programme Officer for the Partipatory Governance and Gender team at the Commonwealth Foundation.
In April 2018, the Foundation carried out semi-structured interviews with selected programme partners attending the Commonwealth People’s Forum 2018 (CPF). CPF brings together civil society from around the world, including the Foundation’s programme partners, every two years. The interviews were designed to learn about partners’ experience working with the Foundation, its impact on their work and to explore other opportunities to improve programme outcomes.
This short report highlights the key findings from interviews with storytellers based on their personal opinions and who have been involved with the Commonwealth Writers programme over the last 7 years. In addition to finding out about the impact of the Writers programme on their work, the interviews aimed to explore the ways in which less-heard voices can influence governance and decision-making and to paint a picture of the socio-political environment in their individual countries, how this affects the craft of storytelling, and where Commonwealth Writers may be able to enhance its programme support.
The interviewees were: Demere Kitunga, a Tanzanian writer; Erato Ioannou, a Cypriot writer; Gabrielle Hossein, a Trinidadian writer; Gloria Kiconco, a Ugandan poet and writer; Kendel Hippolyte, a St. Lucian poet and playwright; Lisa Harewood, a Bajan filmmaker; and Tracy Assing, a Trinidadian writer and filmmaker.
The Commonwealth People’s Forum (CPF) is a biennial event held prior to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. CPF 2018 took place on 16-18 April in London and was jointly organised by the Government of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth Foundation. CPF 2018 critically explored policy based actions under the theme of ‘Inclusive Governance: The Challenge for a Contemporary Commonwealth’. It provided an innovative opportunity for civil society organisations to share knowledge and learn from each other as well as to interact with governance institutions on key policy issues. The CPF 2018 series elaborates on the issues covered in the London Declaration on Inclusive Governance for a Renewed Commonwealth.
I was working as a member of the environment team at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations in 1992, when the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was signed in Rio. At the time we were full of optimism and hope that the global community could come together to address the defining issue of our age. It was with some trepidation that I travelled to Katowice with colleagues to hear about the progress had been made in the time since the Convention was ratified in 1994.
The Foundation’s delegation was joined by more than 33,000 delegates including heads of state, ministers, officials, businesses, the scientific community, and the widest range of civic voices. We converged on the city’s vast conference centre, which symbolises the transition Katowice is making from a coal dependent town to one that increasingly looks to the service sector for its jobs. Perhaps this was why the conference strap line read ‘Changing Together.’
‘Will governments grasp this opportunity to convene and coordinate the multi-stakeholder approaches that are required? Will they put the “together” in changing together?’
This was the 24th time that the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Convention had met and this year the focus was on getting agreement on the rule book that should govern the way that countries go about achieving agreed targets. Small states – many of them Commonwealth members called for more ambitious targets when the parties met at COP23 last year. The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was asked to provide scientific evidence that might support these more stringent limits on global warming. That report (Global Warming 1.5˚C) provided the backdrop to COP24. Its message was that more needed to be done and quicker. The science is clear.
More than 32,800 delegates from around the world registered to attend this year’s event, a record number
Governments found it difficult to agree how the report should be received and what the rulebook should say. This only served to highlight the importance of multilateral spaces. The majority of national governments, municipalities, businesses and civil society organisations signalled their intent to accelerate efforts. Thinking about how should these coalitions of the willing operate focuses attention on implementing national adaptation plans and delivering nationally determined contributions (NDCs). NDCs are statements on how each country will reduce national emissions and adapt to climate change impacts. Those NDCs have to be more ambitious and are due to be shared internationally by 2020. The Fijian government as President of COP 23, last year introduced the concept of Talanoa, a Pacific process of storytelling that enables agreement and action. The Talanoa Dialogue was introduced as a means of helping countries to upgrade and act on their NDCs.
.@vkrishnarayan speaking at the high level segment of #COP24: ‘Fairer, more inclusive and participatory governance are central to climate justice.’ (6/6)
Will governments grasp this opportunity to convene and coordinate the multi-stakeholder approaches that are required? Will they put the ‘together’ in changing together? I heard many government representatives – particularly those from the Caribbean and the Pacific commit to working in this way. This is an area of keen interest for the Commonwealth Foundation. As the Commonwealth’s agency for civil society, the Foundation is focused on supporting those that are less heard. We amplify civic voices as they engage with the institutions that shape people’s lives – UNFCCC is one such institution.
Delegates discussed how to include less heard voices in the climate change debate
The COP23 gender action plan was an acknowledgement that some voices have not been heard. Earlier this year in partnership with UNDP GEF in Barbados we called together civic voices from the Commonwealth Caribbean to explore the intersections between gender and climate change. We have committed to continuing that conversation.
‘If “changing together” is to mean anything, that ambition cannot be limited to the scale and pace of action needed. It must also apply to the inclusion of the widest range of affected peoples.’
We convened civil society at this year’s Commonwealth summit. In their dialogue with Foreign Ministers, civic voices highlighted the unjust burden, loss and damage imposed on small states. They critiqued a preoccupation with adaptation which places an inequitable burden on communities at the margins where climate change impacts continue to be catastrophic. Speaking at this year’s Commonwealth People’s Forum, civic voices from Oceania remind us that politics and history matter too, particularly when considering relocation for already marginalised peoples.
Gender Day at COP24 promoted the fair representation of women in climate discussions
The clear message from Katowice is that this is the time for ambition and action. If ‘changing together’ is to mean anything, that ambition cannot be limited to the scale and pace of action needed. It must also apply to the inclusion of the widest range of affected peoples. As implied by the Talanoa Dialogue, fairer, more inclusive and participatory governance are central to climate justice.
Vijay Krishnarayan is Director-General at the Commonwealth Foundation. Image credit: UN Climate Change Flickr
This brief provides a summary of research findings on civil society and resilience by Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) candidate Sarah Peck. The research was jointly funded by the Commonwealth Foundation and the University of Sheffield and focussed on civil society in Barbados and Granada from September 2015 to March 2016.
‘Economic policies impact different segments of the population, including men and women, in different ways. In turn, gender inequalities impact on trade policy outcomes and economic growth. Taking into account gender perspectives in macro-economic policy, including trade policy, is essential to pursuing inclusive and sustainable development and to achieving fairer and beneficial outcomes for all.’- United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’ (UNCTAD)
The recent public forum of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in October 2018 with the theme Trade 2030 addressed the issues of sustainable trade, technology-enabled trade, and a more inclusive trading system.
The inclusion of civic voices in the forum was important. Coalitions and organisations such as Third World Network, Our World is Not for Sale, Women at the Table and Consumer Unity and Trust Society International curated and facilitated important sessions debating the intersection and implications of trade justice (or lack thereof) on: human rights gender, agriculture, food security, and climate justice, among others.
Two issues that stood out for me were ‘gender-responsive trade policies’ and the notion of technology as an enabler of trade.
Trade experts from around the world presented on options for sustainable trade
In 2017, the Ministerial of the WTO in Buenos Aires endorsed the Buenos Aires Declaration on Trade and Women’s Economic Empowerment. The views on the Declaration were contrasting. One argument asserted that the Declaration does not need to assess the negative gendered impacts of trade liberalisation in multiple sectors such as agriculture, industries, service and garment sectors, among others. However, Ranja Sengupta of Third World Network in her paper, Addressing Gender and Trade Issues in Trade Agreements: Creating more problems than solutions? suggests the need to explore the question as to which space is best suited for achieving gender equality or readjustment to address the adverse impacts of trade policy and liberalisation. She posed the question: ‘Is it [gender equality] in trade agreements or should it be done in other enabling spaces such as through human rights mechanisms or should it be done through domestic policy…?’
‘Women entrepreneurs and producers not only benefit less proportionately from trade liberalisation but also bear a much higher share of the adverse impacts.’
In the current climate of ‘hyperglobalisation’ where trade negotiations are driven strongly by large and complex corporate and commercial interests, there are indeed serious questions that persist: what policies are likely to have an effect on gender equality and how can such policies be influenced? How can civic voices and development workers advocate for gender equality and better support women’s access to the benefits of trade? And how robust is the process of identifying and addressing gender-based constraints that impede inclusive development?
The dominance of neo-liberalism, which is focused on creating a set of rules, arguably works against women’s rights and equality and excludes women. The questions that resonate are: how can the rules be rigged to make the system more inclusive? How can women in the global south and in the margins of developed countries in the north truly benefit from inclusive and enabling trade policy? What does this look like and what will it take to make this happen? And is the claim that countries should and will be enabled to ‘trade their way out of poverty’ viable?
Over 1500 participants attend the forum each year
Trade 2030 also highlighted technology as a driver of innovation for development. But civic voices said this cannot come at the expense of other imperatives such as social justice and environmental protection, which must also be considered when industrial policy is being formulated. While there is healthy scepticism about technology as a panacea, it would be wrong to discount the potential for technology to enable inclusion. For example, women entrepreneurs and producers use technology as part of their business solutions. But even as this is the case, access to technology is differentiated and the result is often making the gulf between haves and have-nots even greater – in an already divided and polarised world. For instance, women entrepreneurs and producers not only benefit less proportionately from trade liberalisation but also bear a much higher share of the adverse impacts due to their unequal access to resources and their location in the power structure. And at the macro level, economic empowerment of women in developing countries must be analysed within the broad context of development in these countries. How can a global ‘free’ trade agreement benefit women if their countries are not able to realise their domestic economic, social and human development plans and outcomes?
The answers to these questions can begin to rebuild trust in institutions- but only if voices less heard in trade debates are listened to.
Myn Garcia is Deputy Director-General at the Commonwealth Foundation. Image credit: WTO
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