Tuesday, March 20, 2007 at 1:01am
We must uplift the global status of women
Column: All Paths
From Feb. 26 to March 9 the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women gathered for its annual meeting at U.N. headquarters in New York. From what I understand, more than 3,000 women attended. The CSW, a full working commission of the United Nations Economic and Social Council, is dedicated to promoting gender equality and the advancement of women. It is the principal global policy-making body for women's issues.
The commission was established by ECOSOC Resolution 11 (II) of June 21, 1946, with the aim of preparing recommendations and reports to the council on promoting women's rights in political, economic, civil, social and educational fields. It also makes recommendations to the council on urgent problems requiring immediate attention in the field of women's rights.
Forty-five member states of the United Nations serve as members of the commission at any one time. The commission consists of one representative from each of the 45 member states elected by the council on the basis of equitable geographical distribution: 13 members from Africa; 11 from Asia; nine from Latin America and the Caribbean; eight from Western Europe and other states; and four from Eastern Europe. Members are elected for a period of four years. Each year, representatives of member states gather at U.N. Headquarters in New York to evaluate progress on gender equality, identify challenges, set global standards and formulate concrete policies to promote gender equality and the advancement of women worldwide. It is an inclusive body.
Why am I writing about the Commission on the Status of Women? The first reason is that it is important to know about its work. Second, for the past two years I have had the pleasure of attending part of its meeting. My organization, The New Seminary, which is an NGO affiliated with ECOSOC, sponsors one of the hundreds of workshops or presentations held during this annual 10-day gathering. Our event, "The Sacred Women's Circle," provides a forum for CSW attendees to talk about the status of women in their countries, cultures and faith traditions. It is called the Sacred Women's Circle because the participants sit in a circle and speak as they have done going back thousands of years in many cultures.
Just as they did at last year's Sacred Circle, this year women again offered words of hope from their cultural and faith traditions, about empowering and raising the general stature of women worldwide. They addressed issues of gender equality, education, abuse, etc., and ways in which interfaith collaboration can help with these issues. They were from all over the world — Africa, China, the Caribbean, Europe, South America, the Middle East and the United States.
One thing still astounds me after hosting The Sacred Circle for the past two years: Women are suffering badly around the globe. Woman after woman in the circle talked about the hardships they faced in their respective cultures and even their religious traditions. I understand this was the case in many of the other workshops and meetings that were held. One woman in The Sacred Circle from Sudan almost made me cry when she told how women are raped and abused in her country without any recourse.
Can you imagine that in the 21st century, there is still a need to have a global body discuss how women are treated? If you took all the reports or statements about the treatment of women made during the CSW, ranging from the illegal trafficking of young girls, government-sanctioned rapes, beatings, and their general systematic denial of basic rights across the globe, you could sum them up in four words: "Women are globally oppressed." This is not a revelation, and it should not be to anyone else.
I applaud the CSW for making the struggle of women worldwide a global priority. The global mistreatment of women is something that deserves everyone's full attention, especially the faith community. When you look across this troubled globe of ours and you ask why it is so troubled, the answer would be very clear to you if you had attended the CSW meeting: Our women, who give birth to our babies, nurture and raise our children, and are the backbones of the family unit, are troubled. That's why!
Former U.S. Vice President Hubert Humphrey said: "The moral test of a government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped." This is a great quote and offers a basic criterion for judging the values of any government or society. You know what would make this a perfect quote, and I mean no offense to Mr. Humphrey (I admired this great man) — if women were included in it.
Thank you, CSW, for making us remember how much work we need to do to uplift the status of women worldwide.
— — —
Rev. Jay Speights, with an MA in public policy, is an interfaith minister and main U.N. representative for The New Seminary in New York. You can learn more about his work at the United Nations at The New Seminary website. His email address is {email jayspeights@newseminary.org}jayspeights@newseminary.org{/email}. © copyright 2007 by Jay Speights
The commission was established by ECOSOC Resolution 11 (II) of June 21, 1946, with the aim of preparing recommendations and reports to the council on promoting women's rights in political, economic, civil, social and educational fields. It also makes recommendations to the council on urgent problems requiring immediate attention in the field of women's rights.
Forty-five member states of the United Nations serve as members of the commission at any one time. The commission consists of one representative from each of the 45 member states elected by the council on the basis of equitable geographical distribution: 13 members from Africa; 11 from Asia; nine from Latin America and the Caribbean; eight from Western Europe and other states; and four from Eastern Europe. Members are elected for a period of four years. Each year, representatives of member states gather at U.N. Headquarters in New York to evaluate progress on gender equality, identify challenges, set global standards and formulate concrete policies to promote gender equality and the advancement of women worldwide. It is an inclusive body.
Why am I writing about the Commission on the Status of Women? The first reason is that it is important to know about its work. Second, for the past two years I have had the pleasure of attending part of its meeting. My organization, The New Seminary, which is an NGO affiliated with ECOSOC, sponsors one of the hundreds of workshops or presentations held during this annual 10-day gathering. Our event, "The Sacred Women's Circle," provides a forum for CSW attendees to talk about the status of women in their countries, cultures and faith traditions. It is called the Sacred Women's Circle because the participants sit in a circle and speak as they have done going back thousands of years in many cultures.
Just as they did at last year's Sacred Circle, this year women again offered words of hope from their cultural and faith traditions, about empowering and raising the general stature of women worldwide. They addressed issues of gender equality, education, abuse, etc., and ways in which interfaith collaboration can help with these issues. They were from all over the world — Africa, China, the Caribbean, Europe, South America, the Middle East and the United States.
One thing still astounds me after hosting The Sacred Circle for the past two years: Women are suffering badly around the globe. Woman after woman in the circle talked about the hardships they faced in their respective cultures and even their religious traditions. I understand this was the case in many of the other workshops and meetings that were held. One woman in The Sacred Circle from Sudan almost made me cry when she told how women are raped and abused in her country without any recourse.
Can you imagine that in the 21st century, there is still a need to have a global body discuss how women are treated? If you took all the reports or statements about the treatment of women made during the CSW, ranging from the illegal trafficking of young girls, government-sanctioned rapes, beatings, and their general systematic denial of basic rights across the globe, you could sum them up in four words: "Women are globally oppressed." This is not a revelation, and it should not be to anyone else.
I applaud the CSW for making the struggle of women worldwide a global priority. The global mistreatment of women is something that deserves everyone's full attention, especially the faith community. When you look across this troubled globe of ours and you ask why it is so troubled, the answer would be very clear to you if you had attended the CSW meeting: Our women, who give birth to our babies, nurture and raise our children, and are the backbones of the family unit, are troubled. That's why!
Former U.S. Vice President Hubert Humphrey said: "The moral test of a government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped." This is a great quote and offers a basic criterion for judging the values of any government or society. You know what would make this a perfect quote, and I mean no offense to Mr. Humphrey (I admired this great man) — if women were included in it.
Thank you, CSW, for making us remember how much work we need to do to uplift the status of women worldwide.
— — —
Rev. Jay Speights, with an MA in public policy, is an interfaith minister and main U.N. representative for The New Seminary in New York. You can learn more about his work at the United Nations at The New Seminary website. His email address is {email jayspeights@newseminary.org}jayspeights@newseminary.org{/email}. © copyright 2007 by Jay Speights