Soroptimist International has submitted a written statement to the 56th Commission on the Status of Women. The CSW 56 will be held in New York from 27th February until 9th March 2012 in New York.
"The empowerment of rural women and their role in poverty and hunger eradication, development and current challenges."
With a name like ‘Soroptimist’ it should not be surprising
that we, representing 90,000 women and girls in 124 countries, are hopeful –
hopeful that we truly are on the precipice of a global paradigm shift. The world is waking to the realisation that
sustainable development must be the cornerstone of international policy
setting, and that genuine sustainable development means economical and ecological
equality. Soroptimist International, as
a global voice for women, calls upon civil society, governments, and the
private sector to ensure that this paradigm shift becomes a reality and not
just another point on the ever-growing list of unrealised international
commitments.
With so many international meetings, policy setting
forums, and conferences focussing on preparations for the Earth Summit 2012
(Rio +20), we must vigilantly and steadfastly ensure that the role of women and
girls, above all rural women and girls, is at the heart of these debates and
decisions.
“Women have a vital role in environmental management and
development. Their full participation is
therefore essential to achieve sustainable development.” (Principle 20 of the
1992 Rio Declaration)
“Women now represent 40% of the global labour force, 43%
of the world’s agricultural labour force, and more than half the world’s
university students. Productivity will
be raised if their skills and talents are used more fully. For example, if women farmers were to have
the same access as men to fertilizers and other inputs, maize yields would
increase by almost one-sixth in Malawi and Ghana.
And eliminate barriers that discriminate against women working in
certain sectors or occupations.” (statement made in the Open Forum on Gender
during the 2011 Policy Forum at the Annual World Bank and International
Monetary Fund Meetings, reported by Soroptimist International’s representative)
“Investing in small
scale farming, particularly through women, is a vital step towards meeting the
challenges of food production in the future.
Governments are not living up to their international commitment to
protect women from discrimination, as the gap between de jure and de facto
discrimination persists. Rural women
still find it more difficult to get access to a range of resources such as credit,
land, agricultural inputs and extensions, with obvious consequences for their
food security. Land ownership is a
particular issue for women.” (excerpt from statement given on International
Women’s Day at the FAO, 2011, by Soroptimist International representative).
Soroptimist
International demands that governments commit to the education, empowerment,
and enabling of those most affected by ecological and economic degradation and
destruction, namely rural women and girls, to meaningfully participate in
decision-making and policy setting for the achievement of sustainable
development at local, national, and international levels. The Soroptimist International model of
educating women and girls by increasing access to skills, empowering women and
girls with increased confidence, and enabling opportunities in the wider
community to ensure they have choices, has proven to be most effective in the
context of rural women’s needs and sustainable development.
With
this in mind, Soroptimist International brings the following recommendations to
the participants of the 56th Commission on the Status of Women,
based on first-hand knowledge and experience from our worldwide network of
grassroots, community-based clubs in both the Global North and the Global
South. These recommendations are grouped
into three categories. First, we provide
our recommendations based on our work in action, advocacy, and
awareness-raising to empower rural women and their role in poverty and hunger
eradication, development, and current challenges. Second, we note with interest that many of
the recommendations we made for the 55th session of the Commission
on the Status of Women, in the context of access to education, are still
relevant in the context of rural women.
We have reiterated these recommendations specifically towards rural
women. Finally, we have included
relevant excerpts from the Women’s Major Stakeholder Group for the Earth Summit
2012 (Rio+20), in which Soroptimist
International is an active participant.
These recommendations are critical to this year’s CSW priority theme and
we believe warrant attention.
I.
Soroptimist International urges governments, civil society, the private sector,
and other relevant partners to:
·
Recognise
the increasingly important role of women as the primary producers and
purchasers of food, and the heretofore lack of adequate protection and support
of their rights.
·
By
the year 2022, implement domestic legislation and policies which ensure the
full realisation of the commitments made in Agenda 21 and the Rio Declaration,
including the establishment and funding of appropriate audit mechanisms to
ensure accountability and transparency.
·
Ensure
that actions taken to empower rural women are systems-based and horizontal,
rather than project-based and vertical.
·
End
any and all approaches, activities, or policies which promulgate the
victim/saviour dichotomy and ensure meaningful, respectful, and human rights
based approaches to empowerment for rural women and girls.
·
Recognise
that macro-economic policies, originating from an antiquated and inherently
patriarchal hierarchy, tend to discriminate against or ignore the
gender-specific needs of women and girls. Development and implementation of
appropriate micro-economic policies and programmes, in consultation with those
affected, must be actioned to ensure the protection and realisation of the
human rights of rural women and girls.
·
Implement
with urgency policies and programmes which provide rural women and girls with
security in the following areas: financial
security, employment security, land security, food security, freedom from
violence, secure access to education and training, and a secure place in
decision-making forums.
·
Encourage
more female leadership in international organisations pertaining to food and
agriculture through mentoring opportunities and training. The Soroptimist International representative
to the FAO noted with concern that there were no female candidates this year
for the Director General elections. SI
notes with appreciation that the current Executive Director of the WFP is a
woman.
II.
Soroptimist International recalls the following relevant recommendations made
to the 55th session, placed in the context of the 56th
session’s priority theme:
·
Ensure
that policies and programmes take a life-course approach to education and
employment for rural women and girls, recognising and understanding that access
to learning is a human right at all ages, and that women and girls living in
rural areas have different needs at different times in their lives.
·
Improve
and prioritise appropriately disaggregated and internationally comparable data
collection, encompassing process and outcome indicators, which shift away from
purely economic factors, such as GDP, to holistically examine
development. A Soroptimist
representative in Geneva noted, after the 2011 ECOSOC
annual meeting, that there is growing criticism of the focus on the G20, which
is not a UN-based organisation, nor does it address issues outside of finance.
·
Work
with local partners to improve facilities so that women and girls living in
rural areas are afforded education that is accessible, acceptable, available,
and of good quality. This includes
gender appropriate and sensitive sanitation facilities, safe environments,
dormitories for girls, and other aspects as required.
·
Take
a human rights based approach to sustainable development, bringing particular attention and focus to
the participation of women and girls in decision-making and policy setting in a
broad range of settings including both the public and private spheres.
·
Ensure
that traditionally ‘female’ dominated work in agriculture, farming, and food
production is not undervalued or restricted to informal economies.
·
Approach
sex or gender based quotas with careful planning and ensure that rural women,
from an early age, are fully equipped with all of the knowledge and skills
necessary to take on leadership roles for which there may be allocations or
other similar mechanisms. Otherwise, we
are creating a system that inadvertently sets rural women up to fail,
reinforcing sexist perspectives.
III.
Women’s Major Stakeholder Group Recommendations for the Earth Summit 2012 (Rio+20)
·
Commit
to gender-sensitive development of binding international and national measures
for both sustainable and equitable economies and governance of sustainable
development
·
Commit
to targets and indicators for women’s involvement
·
Include
gender equality in the Sustainable Development Goals
·
Address
the following emerging issues:
o
Food
security and food sovereignty
o
Women’s
land rights and ownership tenure, and prevention of land grabbing
o
Privatization
and commodification of commons
o
Clean
renewable energies
o
Women
and migration
o
Water
burdens for women
o
Health
risks to women and girls posed by new technologies and development
Information regarding Soroptimist International’s attendance at CSW 56
has been distributed to Federations. If you are interested in
participating, please contact your Federation headquarters.
To download the CSW 56 Statement for distribution amongst partner organisations and clubs, please visit the SI Resources Page (look under the Green Economy and Food Security section) or click here.