Soroptimist International has launched the CSW 56 pre-session advocacy tool kit. This tool kit is designed to help Soroptimists in all 124 countries lobby their Goverments and local decision makers to ensure that all Government missions attending CSW 56 are aware of SI’s position.
What is CSW?
The Commission on the Status of
Women (“CSW”) is a functional commission of the United Nations Economic and
Social Council (ECOSOC), dedicated exclusively to gender equality and
advancement of women. It is the principal global policy-making body. Every
year, representatives of Member States gather at United Nations Headquarters in
New York to evaluate progress on gender equality,
identify challenges, set global standards and formulate concrete policies to
promote gender equality and advancement of women worldwide.
What is the theme for CSW 56?
The priority theme for CSW 56 is "the empowerment of rural women and their role in poverty and hunger eradication, development and current challenges".
What can you do?
Here are three things you can do to make a difference for
women and girls using the Soroptimist International CSW 56 statement:
- Use our postcard or letter template to write to your national government officials responsible for
gender equality and women’s issues. Click here to download and print. - Lobby government
officials, women’s commissions, or other relevant targets in person to ensure
that the voices of women and girls, as expressed in the Soroptimist
International statement, are included in decision-making at this year’s
CSW. Make sure they have a copy of the
Soroptimist statement! - Learn more about the
issues raised in SI’s statement and spread the word in your club and
community. Discuss the
issues with local community leaders.
The letter, postcard, SI statement and advocacy guide can be found by clicking here. To find out who is responsible for gender and equality within your Government, please consult the UN Women directory, available here.
Frequently Asked Questions:
What do we mean by "systems-based" and "horizontal"?
By advocating for a ‘systems based’ approach, we advocate for a holistic
approach which addresses all areas of a problem. Instead of focussing on one
isolated project, SI argues that far more can be accomplished if decision makers
look at all the factors which interconnect to produce a particular environment.
In the case of the empowerment of rural women, this approach argues that it
is not sufficient to only provide access to new technologies, for example.
Economic empowerment, inheritance and land rights, and access to markets,
finance, education, water and health care are all essential.
A systems based approach produces ripples which spread across society,
bringing about broad change which is long lasting. It enables people to build
their own capacities and create their own opportunities. A horizontal approach
sees the involvement and empowerment of the local population as crucial to
success.
What do we mean by "project-based" and "vertical"?
Project based development typically has a very specific focus. Projects are
time bound, have a set budget, and are often implemented by an external
organisation. Typically, projects have a ‘top down’ management structure with a
hierarchy of staff.
Projects do not always result in sustainable change. Once the project comes
to an end, the problem may re-appear. Interconnected concerns are often
considered to be outside of the scope of the project. This is different from
the systems based approach which seeks fundamental systemic change across
sectors.
Currently, most development organisations follow a project based approach as
systemic change is beyond their capacity. However, governments do have this
ability. SI urges governments to pursue a systems based approach where possible
– both nationally and internationally. SI lobbies Governments to pursue
systemic change at events like CSW.
What do we mean by the
“victim/saviour dichotomy”?
SI urges caution in the language used when talking about recipients of aid
or any other form of assistance – whether governments, communities,
organisations or individuals. Care must be taken to enable and empower
recipients to be the change makers in their own situations, rather than viewing
them as ‘victims’ to be ‘saved’. It is for this reason that SI does not refer
to ‘victims’ of trafficking or of war, but to ‘survivors’.
What do we mean by “human
rights based approaches”?
The aim of this approach is to actively promote and realise
the principles enshrined in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. For
example, equality, non-discrimination, participation and inclusion. The
promotion, protection and realisation of human rights becomes an explicit
objective under such an approach.
Under a human rights-based approach, the plans, policies and
processes of development are connected to a system of rights and corresponding
obligations established by international law. This promotes sustainability,
empowering people themselves to participate in decision making, and holding to
account those who have a duty to act.
What do we mean by a “patriarchal
hierarchy” in the context of economics?
Traditional economics renders a large proportion of women’s
work invisible because economic activity is associated with the formal ‘money’
economy. The economic contribution of women who work outside of the formal
economy is therefore obscured. For example, many rural women do not farm for financial
profit but for subsistence (family consumption). The husband/father/brother
tends to be the family member who farms for economic gain. Many millions of women work exclusively in the
home, providing care for children and extended family members.
Macro economic policy renders these women economically
invisible to national and international policy makers. This is can interpreted
as a ‘male bias’. If women’s work is not registered as economically
significant, policy makers overlook their contribution and do not address their
needs. In the case of rural women, if the significant contribution of female
subsistence farmers to global food security was taken into account, policies
and opportunities would be developed to support rural women in initiatives to
increase yield, for example.
If you have any further questions about the statement, the SI request to decision makers or general queries about CSW, please contact SI at hq@soroptimistinternational.org
And when you’re done lobbying your decision makers, we’d like to hear about it! Use the Soroptimist International online reporting system (the
PFRs) (http://reports.soroptimistinternational.org/)
to tell us what you did!