24^th October 2013 Soroptimist International UN
Representatives in New York organised an event entitled ‘’The Challenges of the Post 2015 agenda in Sustainable Development for
NGO’s and Civil Society” which asked the question, what can civil society
and NGOs do to engage the Post 2015 agenda?

Opened by UN Lead Representative for Soroptimist International Lois Beilin, speakers included International President of
Soroptimist International Ann Garvie, David O’Conner – Chief of Policy and
Analysis Branch, Division for Sustainable Development, United Nations, and UN
Representative for Soroptimist International in New York Paulette Forbes-Igharo.

The speakers focused on the importance of women’s voices and
actions in the drive for sustainable development. "Women comprise 49% of the
global population. They want and should be equal partners in discerning and
advocating for sustainable development" said Ann Garvie. 

David O’Conner expressed how the
Millennium Development Goals were a positive stride forward, driving progress
in many areas including primary education, health services and poverty reduction. He explained however that it was the Rio+20 conference that provided
a more specific platform because it called for sustainable development goals (SDG’s)
to be achieved. "The Rio+20 brought with it a renewed political commitment for
action, and the SDG’s are a concrete expression of that commitment, however….. the concrete is not yet set”.

International President Ann Garvie expressed that there
is a lot hard work ahead and that we must not be complacent, stating that civil society must
continue to raise awareness and show governments results so that confident
decisions can be made.

Soroptimist International believes that the Post 2015
agenda will achieve so much more than the MDG’s if it wholeheartedly addresses
gender inequality as the root cause of under development. When this is realized
and understood with conviction, and inequalities are finally at the centre of
sustainable development decision-making only then can we truly make great
strides.

SI believes that the Post 2015 agenda must include
women’s voices so that the decisions being made use a bottom up approach. It is
the women and girls themselves, living in their individual communities who are
able to tell those making the final decisions about what their barriers are. By
including their voices in debates, only then can we have real sustainable
solutions at regional, national and international levels.

Soroptimists believe that there are 5 key reasons why
women and girls are still more resource poor than their male counterparts which
can be addressed in the Post 2015 agenda to make the kind of structural changes
that real gender equality demands:

1.            The
global community knows that what you measure significantly impacts on what you
do and how resources are distributed. 
The MDGs did not treat gender as a cross-cutting theme.  Indicators for each and every MDG should have
been disaggregated by sex.

2.            Funding
and financing were noticeable absent.  Of
particular importance, there was no mention or requirement to deploy
gender-responsive budgeting and gender audits.

3.            Accountability
mechanisms were weak.  All involved
actors, in particular governments and private institutions, must be held to
account for their actions or lack thereof. 
Naming and shaming is not usually enough.

4.            Violence
against women and girls was not addressed. 
As we all know that this is one of the primary barriers to achieving
gender equality and ensuring women have equal access to resources and security,
it is no wonder that the MDGs didn’t achieve what they could have for women and
girls. 

5.              “Gender” has two sides, yet the MDGs focussed
solely on women and girls.  To truly
effect change, attention must be paid to working with men and boys and breaking
gender stereotypes for women AND men.  We
do not want to gauge women’s success by how much their lives look the same as
their male counterparts.  At the same
time, we want men to be able to freely determine the course of their lives
without being constrained by male stereotypes. 
Work on both sides must occur in order to achieve true gender equality.

Gender equality in society is very
difficult to achieve, because inequalities are often very deep rooted. However
they must be tackled, and what SI hopes for is a Post 2015 agenda which is bold
and brave in doing so.

 

Pictures: Top right – Mr David O’Conner –  Chief of Policy and
Analysis Branch, Division for Sustainable Development, United Nations. Middle Left – Speakers, Left to Right  – David O’Conner, President of Soroptimist International Ann Garvie, UN Representative Paulette Forbes-Igharo and Lead UN Representative Lois Beilin.