Bette Levy is a member of Soroptimist International of Manhattan and one of SI’s Representatives to the United Nations in New York.  In this week’s blog, she talks about her work on domestic violence with the Working Group on Girls, and how lessons from Soroptimist projects around the world will be used to help influence UN and member-governments’ policies at the UN’s Commission on the Status of Women.

One of our important roles of UN reps is to take what we’ve learnt from Soroptimist projects around the world and integrate it into the work of committees and working groups, which in turn influence the development of policy at the UN and by member-states.  One example is my current work on domestic violence with the Working Group on Girls (WGG).

The WGG is an NGO committee, as well as a newly formed not-for-profit, that focuses on issues related to girls.  A main theme is that girls have different issues from women and their needs have to be considered separately, especially since they are often on the very bottom of any family hierarchy.  Soroptimist International is a member of the NGO committee and I attend the monthly meetings and work on on-going projects that dovetail with SI’s mission.

In the run-up to CSW, WGG has been working in small groups to cull research and best practices in various situations around girls and violence. The outcome will be a document to be used during CSW for advocacy with member states or talking points. I have been involved with the group that is working on domestic violence and girls, a growing phenomenon that is gaining in recognition.  

Domestic Violence as experienced by girls is a cross-cutting issue intertwining with harmful practices including kidnap of girls (Trafficking) for prostitution, early and forced marriage, female genital mutilation and dating violence.  Definitions are complex, intricate and culturally determined.  A girl has experienced domestic violence if she is under 18 years of age and has experienced “willful intimidation, physical assault, battery, sexual assault, and /or other abusive behavior perpetrated by an intimate partner”.  A new and under-recognized area of partner violence is new technology, by which exploitation and control can be extended to all aspects of young people’s lives.

As part of an organization that has done considerable research and has projects working on this (for example, my own club, SI of Manhattan co-developed the original “loves me / loves me not” bookmarks, which we distributed at bookmarks, libraries, schools, at parent resource centers and other places where youth and women would come in contact with the bookmark) I was able to contribute a great deal to the group’s work.  Much of the resulting document was based on learning from SI and SIA projects and research.

For example, one section of the report highlights the need to develop literature and social media tools to educate girls about the rights within relationships and therefore prevent them from becoming victims of domestic violence. Three of the examples of good practice cited in our summary report were of Soroptimist projects:

• The “Loves me, loves me not” bookmarks to help teens understand what makes a healthy relationship, developed in the US  and then used by clubs all over the world,  in the UK, Australia, Canada, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, and India.  
• Soroptimist work in New Zealand, which showed that educating both girls and boys about healthy relationships around age 11 has a positive impact on decreased dating violence in teenage relationships.
• SIA’s Teen Dating Violence Model Program Kit  and Awareness Campaign:  “Because Teens Have the Right to be in Safe and Healthy Relationships”.

You can read our summary report on girls and domestic violence (pdf) and find out more about the Working Group on Girls at www.girlsrights.org.

As I begin my second year as an SI Rep to the UN Centre in New York, I have learned that it takes more than just oral and written statements to change the old “business as usual”. It  requires behind the scene advocacy, perseverance and hard work. To get through to member states, UN agency staff and even civil society, I’ve learned that words are just not enough; they want to be shown proof. That’s how we can break through the excuses of traditions, whether cultural or religious, in the developing or developed world.

While it is not glamorous,  this “grunt work” on the small work groups, task forces and on NGO committee boards is what enables us to change the world.  The NYC reps attend many large-scale UN events, NGO committee meetings but the heart of what we do is in small ways, day to day.

What I love about being a rep is that I can see that one individual is able to contribute to making change. The other thing I love is that we actually are public relations emissaries for SI, we get to share the exciting projects and research that happens around the world on key themes at the UN (i.e.; empowerment, education, employment, poverty eradication & gender based violence, to name a few). We would love to hear directly from clubs and federations around the world about their projects that we can share throughout the year.

The UN’s Commission on the Status of Women (CSW57) will take place in New York from 4-15 March 2013, with this year’s primary focus “Eliminating all forms of Violence against Women and Girls”.  SI will be running a parallel session on Teen Dating Violence in partnership with the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) at CSW.  Read more.