Image: Danish Soroptimist Governors and volunteers at the SI stand
From 12-19th June, Soroptimists from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden were among nearly 20,000 participants at the Nordic Forum, a conference marking the 20th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in Malmoe, Sweden. Soroptimist International President Ann Garvie and SI Europe Federation President Ulla Madsen also attended and spoke at a Soroptimist seminar. In this week’s SoroptiVoice blog, Else Larsen, Governor of
SI Denmark, writes about the event and what it achieved.
“We make our
voice heard and – we take action” These were
the words written in bright yellow on the blue T-shirts carried by 78 Soroptimists from the 5 Nordic countries,
who gave their time as volunteers to help make us visible at the SI stand and seminar
at the Nordic Forum (12-15
June) in Malmoe, Sweden. These T-shirts,
carrying also the Soroptimist logo, were a real catch, in terms of attracting
attention, both at the SI stand and everywhere at the exhibition hall, where Soroptimists mingled with crowds of
people visiting the Forum, handing out SI flyers and brochures. It
was a perfect opportunity for networking
and letting the “world” know who we are – where we are – what we do and
how we influence.
So what is
Nordic Forum (NF)? Basically,
this Forum was a Nordic follow up to the 4th UN World Conference on
Women in Beijing in 1995. Since then
there has been no other world conference on women’s rights and gender equality,
since there has been a fear that a 5th conference would open up for
re-negotiations on commitments already made in 1995 by governments of the UN
member states under the so called “Beijing Platform of Action” However, now
almost 20 years later, women’s organizations and movements in the Nordic
countries felt that it was important to join together to analyze the present
situation and challenges in the struggle towards equal opportunities for men
and women and to take active part in defining the development agenda beyond
2015.
Image: spreading the word about what Soroptimists do
How did our
SI participation in NF come about? It all
started one year ago at the SIE Governors meeting in Berlin. While chatting at
coffee breaks, the Swedish Union President and Governor launched the idea that the
Nordic SI Unions could possibly work together to make a joint SI presence at
the Nordic Forum. The idea snowballed and already in Berlin a small working
group of Governors and Union Presidents from each of the 5 Nordic countries
(Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Finland) was formed to carry the idea
forward.
For the NF working group this was a fantastic experience
of 5 countries joining together for a common SI purpose. We worked really hard,
with Linda Schang, SI Sweden, as our nominated chairperson, leading the working
group in her firm, persuasive and caring style. We met for workshops over 2 weekends, once in Sweden and once in
Denmark. Additionally, we held fortnightly and gradually weekly Skype meetings,
for almost a year. Finally, on 11 June the working group met in Malmoe,
well prepared to take on the big event – and what a successful event it was.
All our hopes and dreams came through; our objectives were met, and they even
exceeded our expectations.
Image: International President Ann speaking a the seminar
What did we
achieve? We created high level visibility, raised awareness and
networked with many women and other women’s organizations. How? – mainly through active
non-stop presence at our SI stand and also through the SI Seminar which
featured SI President, Ann Garvie and SIE President, Ulla Madsen, who gave inspiring talks about our worldwide
projects and how we make a difference for women and girls in partnership with
the UN and at several European organization. The SI Seminar also included talks
by Icelandic Soroptimists María Lóa Fridjonsdottir and
Hafdis Karlsdottir, who spoke enthusiastically
about their personal Soroptimist experiences as members of a global network. Eighty
two people joined our seminar. We distributed over 3000 SI flyers and
brochures over the 4 days at the Forum and we took down names and e-mail
addresses of 77 women who expressed interest in becoming members and wanted to
know more about SI.
We also participated in the People’s Parade on the last
evening of the Forum, where amongst several thousand participants, parading through
the city of Malmoe, we once again created much visibility, simply by wearing our
yellow and blue T-shirts and carrying several big Soroptimist banners.
Image: Soroptimists at the People’s Parade
What more did
we achieve? We participated in, and made our voice heard, at many
seminars and debates organized by the more than 200 Nordic women’s organizations
taking part in the Forum. Although the Nordic countries appear like role
models, compared with many other countries inside and, not least, outside of Europe,
there is still much work and lobbying to be done in getting Nordic governments
to implement gender mainstreaming in national legislation. Also many other fast
growing problems, such as violence against women and girls, including
trafficking of women; prostitution; forced marriages; stalking and related
problems, urgently require renewed attention and inclusion into the post-2015
development agenda. There is still much
work to be done and we cannot rest on our laurels.
The importance of the Nordic Forum was marked by the
presence of all the Nordic Ministers for Equality and many key politicians at
different events during the Forum. Also Nicole Ameline, UN High Commissioner
for Human Rights and Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka,
Director for UN Women, took active part in the Forum. In her closing speech Phumzile
Mlambo-Ngcuka urged governments and civil society to continue being role models
for gender equality the Nordic way, as this will benefit development in other
countries. She highlighted that while the NF had been an important milestone,
it was important to remember not only to focus on what we can do for ourselves
in the Nordic region, but also on what we can do for other women in the world.
This will be your homework when you leave this Forum, she said.
You can read more about the many events held, statements
delivered and final outcome of the NF at following website: www.nf2014.org
The website can be translated to English.
What next? Our
Nordic SI cooperation will not end here. We have started an exciting process of
working together which we will now build on. The NF working group will meet
again at the Nordic Days, to be held 5-6th September this year in Denmark. We
will evaluate our achievements and lessons learned from our participation in the
NF. On that basis we will determine what
will be our next joint project or homework as stated by Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.
News: Nordic Soroptimists unite to urge new action on women’s rights #Beijing20
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