Girls' Statement to the 58th Commission on the Status of Women

As mentioned in previous posts, this year we have three teenaged delegates from the Anglican Church of Canada who join other youth from around the world in the Working Group of Girls. 

During CSW 58, girl delegates drafted their statement to the Commission on the Status of Women on how the Millennium Development Goals impact girls’ lives around the globe. The statement will be read on the floor of the UN during Week 2 of CSW 58.

Here is the full-text copy of the Girls Statement:

The Millennium Development Goals attempted to achieve gender equality, however, they failed to include a comprehensive goal towards the empowerment of girls and are all too far from being achieved. Therefore, post-2015 the UN must re-evaluate methods for undertaking gender equality. 

We, the girls of the 58^th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, demand that in the next development agenda the UN incorporate girls into every aspect of the agenda – politically, socially and economically. A stand-alone goal for girls requires sufficient consideration as well as a dedicated effort that includes realistic and achievable targets and indicators to ensure success. Three key areas that must be put into action are education, poverty and violence. We believe that these issues along with the consistent inclusion of girls will lead to girls’ empowerment and an ultimate worldwide respect for the girl child.

The focus of the second Millennium Development Goal was to improve access to primary education, but this target is not sufficient, nor comprehensive. A quality education is not solely based on what is learned in a primary school; it is in secondary and tertiary education where the focus must be now. This does not just mean learning within the classroom but also creating additional enrichment opportunities that allow for global learning communities. How are girls expected to succeed with only basic literacy and math skills? Globally, 1 in 5 girls don’t make it to secondary school. All across the world girls are falling into the learning gaps due to minimal resources and gender-biased learning environments. Schools should not just teach a basic curriculum but also real life lessons and issues such as respect, tolerance, human rights and health. A supportive and stimulating education taught by passionate teachers should build the confidence of girls as well as offering sports, theater, and other extra curricula – where girls can discover their voices and passions. Girls should be encouraged to pursue any subject of interest in order to eliminate stereotypes and achieve equality.

But it cannot stop here. Far too many girls today live in poverty and are hungry across the world. The causes of poverty and hunger include lack of resources, climate change and an imbalance of gender in the workforce. Achieving gender equality can assist in ending hunger and poverty.  Education is only half of the equation – after receiving an education females need to have the same opportunities as males to enter the workplace and put their skills to use. When we have equality in the workplace, every girl and thus, every woman has the opportunity to provide for themselves and for their family, putting the world one step closer to eradicating poverty and hunger.

Globally, girls are united by the same fear – the fear of gender-based violence in one form or another. The so-called “superiority” of males is seen in all parts of society and it hinders girls’ empowerment on a global scale. There has not been enough effort to address gender-based violence in the MDGs. Whether it is domestic violence, sexual violence, FGM, honor killings, human trafficking, verbal and emotional abuse, or partner abuse — girls should not have to be afraid.  From a young age, girls are told to alter their appearance, so that they are not exploited. But it is not our fault – victim shaming happens all too often. Many people are not educated on the meaning of violence and need to be educated about what this really means – especially the boys and men of today. We, as girls, believe that our bodies should never be violated and there needs to be more advocacy about gender-based violence because once a girl is abused her life is changed forever. No one can understand this feeling of violation until they have been through it – and that is why it is so important that we as girls speak out against violence. By speaking out, we help protect ourselves, and the global girls of the future. We want to live in a world where girls are united, not by fear – but by a sense of safety, pride and peace.

We believe that in the next Development Agenda being a girl should be not an impediment but an empowerment.

More updates from Judy's week

Day Five

I apologize for not posting last night but this cold is slowing me down some.
Yesterday (Tues) began with Chapel done by the young people and it was awesome. There was singing, clapping, dancing etc. as well as thought provoking scripture. The centre of all our worship services is a door, just a door and frame, sitting in the altar space, sometimes open and sometimes shut.

There was a briefing by the Commission to NGOs at 8:45 and something unheard of until now happened. The Chair of the Commission actually attended the briefing and presented "us" with a hard copy of compilation draft #2. Usually we are scrambling to get a copy of the compilation text and he just handed it to us. I already had an electronic copy about 10 pm Mon evening but what he did changes the tone of the event into a very cooperative atmosphere - it is not "them" in the closed chamber and "us" outside the building trying to figure out what is going on.
After the briefing I journeyed to second Ave. to the Episcopal Church Centre to hear Leymah Gbowee speak. She is one of the two Liberian women who won the Nobel Peace Prize last year and she is an amazing speaker. I thought that I had recorded her speech on my phone but I cannot find it so maybe it did not work. Two quotes from her talk are "Let us do what we profess" and "Good work is bright light and it attracts lots of shadows".
After a quick lunch I headed off to "meet the Canadians" which means meeting the Canadian negotiating team in the UN building itself. They are very good about meeting whoever shows up every day at 1 pm.
However it is a big hike and I guess all the exercise I worked on during the winter is no where near enough. They have moved the entrance to the UN buildings from 45th street to 47th street. So I set out at 12:30 to head over from 44th to 47th, through the entrance and security, through the building to the outside and back to the other building and then all the way across that building, near 42nd.  The meeting was good and we heard about the current negotiations as well as a couple of seminars which the Canadians were pushing. I was fortunate enough to negotiate an exit onto 42nd street so that I only had to walk back to 44th street to go to my room and have a nap.
As chair of the advocacy committee, I chaired the "debrief" Tues. At the debrief as many as can, meet and talk about our day and what is happening tomorrow. We meet at 6 pm at the Episcopal Center.  I think that it went well.
After the debrief, the Canadian Anglicans had dinner together at "Patsy's" an Italian restaurant. We are not often together all in one place so this was fun. Ellen's husband Tim and daughter joined us as did honorary Canadians Joan and Ross Fraser and Lynnaia Main. Good food and a fun time; delicious calamari.

At dinner I asked everyone to write down the one thing that he or she felt that a Canadian Anglican should say to the Canadian Ambassador. An interestingly diverse set of answers.
We did not get back until about 10 pm so I did my email and played a few games and crashed.
 
Productive day. Wish I was not so tired.
Blessings Judy

Day Six

As usual Chapel starts at 8 am. We had breakfast in our room this morning from oatmeal I brought .
 
There is a room on the end of our floor where you can get a complementary breakfast but it is not especially nutritious - cold cereal, pastries, yogurt, and some fruit. Sometimes I go and have yogurt and fruit.They have bread or bagels but their peanut butter is old and dried up.

The hotel is extremely dry and today I scored a humidifier. This is great because the design of the shower does not put steam in the room. By the way - have you ever seen a square toilet? We have square toilets throughout the renovated part of the hotel. Our room looks south I think and our view is the Chrysler building and the Empire State Building.

After Chapel and briefing, the advocacy committee met to start looking at the compilation draft. We met for an hour and then agreed to work on a section each and report back to me.

I returned to my room to have lunch and worked on a draft statement for our meeting at the Canadian Mission tomorrow. I fell asleep around 2 and woke up at 4:30. So much for seminars today. Finished draft one and headed out for a planned "Advocacy" dinner. About 80 people having dinner at the Church Centre, pasta, salad, chicken and grilled vegetables. A nice meal and an opportunity to catch up with some Canadians and some old friends also.
Now I am back in my room and the draft is circulating. For the first time since I got here the TV is on and I will quit working now.

I hear that it may snow here tomorrow. I hope not. It was 55 yesterday and about 45 today.

Blessings Judy  

Day Seven
 
I cannot believe that I have been here 7 days. The time goes by so quickly. We are so busy that you do not realize the time.

Today was blessed. Started with Chapel as usual. Then I went up to the briefing. The tone continues to be very positive and open which is wonderful, and the room was full. Next week there will be less people as many cannot stay for the 2 weeks.

This morning I returned to the Episcopal Centre to hear Lakshmi Puri speak. She is part of UN Women and spoke for nearly an hour. She talked about the Millennium Development Goals and the future beyond 2015 when new goals possibly called Sustainable Development Goals will come into being.

Back to my room to put the finishing touches on our visit to the Canadian Mission this afternoon. I arranged this visit and all of the Canadian Anglicans got a private audience with the Ambassador for 1 hour. He spent some time explaining how things work at the Mission and who works there. We had a prepared statement which he had read before we arrived. I had asked the youth to prepare a 4 or 5 minute presentation as part of our time and they did an awesome job. They talked about access to post secondary education, missing Indigenous women, difficulties for the LGBT community and the problems of stress and other mental health issues in young people.

Our paper talked about poverty and hunger, access to resources and services, access to education, employment and decision making positions and the need to look at violence in a non-gender way ie: violence against a person instead of violence toward women and the need to involve men and boys as well as women and girls in the solution. We had examples from our own experiences to illustrate our points.

We left the Mission quickly because Ecumenical Women were scheduled to have a private audience with the American Mission at 4:30 and we barely had time to get there. This was an excellent meeting and I thanked the mission personnel for their openness and willingness to come to us for this meeting.The meeting lasted nearly 1 1/2 hours.

Immediately after the briefing we held the Ecumenical women debrief which I also chaired. This one was a bit faster because there have been no new drafts of the concluding document and everyone seemed very tired. Alice and I got take out from the Olympia and came back to our room and had a leisurely dinner in our pyjamas and just chatted. Most enjoyable. (I had a craving for meat loaf).

It was cold in New York today and windy, I had to dig out my toque. It will be sunny and warmer tomorrow.

Some of our group left yesterday - I hear they had to stay in Toronto before returning to Muskoka today. More will leave tomorrow. We will miss you all. Caitlin, who has been bunking with her mother til now, will move into our room tomorrow for the next week. Two old fogies and 1 young one.

More tomorrow, Stay warm and safe

Blessings Judy  

Judy's Notes on Phumzile's Opening Remarks for CSW58

In her opening speech, UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka highlighted the following:

 

·       In this CSW we also we kick-off a year-long mobilization for the 20th anniversary and review of the landmark Beijing Platform for Action. From May 2014 and over a 12-month period into 2015, we will review each of the 12 focus areas that are part of the Beijing Platform, together with Member States, UN agencies and civil society groups. This will lead to national and regional reports culminating in a single global report on the progress made. The report will be ready by the General Assembly of 2015 for Heads of State. (NOTE: SI to look into contributing to national reports via UN Women National Committees)

 

·      The challenge of gender equality and women’s empowerment is not just a women’s issue. This is an issue for humanity, which cannot leave out men and boys who are half of humanity. That is why building up to Beijing+20, UN Women has launched the He for She campaign so that men and boys can raise their voices, take a stand and be on the right side of history. We urge men and boys to come out and embrace the campaign as well as take action in their own spaces. (NOTE: SI to learn about possible partnerships in the He for She campaign)

 

·      She emphasised UN Women’s three key areas for the Post-2015 Agenda:

o   The first is freedom from violence for women and girls

o   The second is equality in capabilities – Access to opportunities and resources. This means recognizing, reducing and redistributing the burden of unpaid care work; ensuring equal access to assets and resources such as education, land and finance; equal pay and working conditions; and guaranteeing sexual and reproductive health and rights.

o   The third area is equality in agency, voice, participation and leadership across the full range of decision-making arenas in public and private institutions.

Blessings Judy