DEVELOPMENT POLICY FORUM THE GLOBAL DEBATE ON DEVELOPMENT
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY: WHY WOMEN HOLD THE KEY TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Spring 2013 In association with
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INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY: WHY WOMEN HOLD THE KEY TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Development Policy Forum (DPF) Policy Insight
Spring 2013 Brussels
This report reflects the conference rapporteur’s understanding of the views expressed by speakers. Moreover, these views are not necessarily those of the organisations that participants represent, nor of Friends of Europe, its Board of Trustees, members or partners. Reproduction in whole or in part is permitted, providing that full credit is given to Friends of Europe, and provided that any such reproduction, whether in whole or in part, is not sold unless incorporated in other works.
Rapporteur: David Koczij Publisher: Geert Cami Project Director: Nathalie Furrer Project Manager: Patricia Diaz Project Assistant: ChloĂŠ Lermuzeaux Photographer: Philippe Molitor Design and layout: Daniele Brunetto Cover photo: Asian Development Bank
International Women’s Day: Why women hold the key to sustainable development | Spring 2013
WHY WOMEN HOLD THE KEY TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT “The question of equal rights for women is vast and multi-faceted,” said moderator Shada Islam, Head of Policy at Friends of Europe, during the Development Policy Forum (DPF) Policy Insight.
While attempts to tackle the issue of empowering women in both the developing and developed worlds have shown some progress in meeting the challenge, the struggle is by no means over, as women and girls worldwide continue to suffer high levels of discrimination, violence and exclusion, she added.
That this struggle for rights is responsible in great part for the fact that developing countries are failing to meet their development goals is demonstrated by United Nations (UN) data which shows a direct correlation between the empowerment of women and lower levels of poverty and hunger.
“Seven out of ten women experience violence in their lifetimes” Dagmar Schumacher, Director of the Brussels Liaison Office of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (UN Women)
“Seven out of ten women experience violence in their lifetimes,” noted Dagmar Schumacher, Director of the Brussels Liaison Office of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (UN Women). As the 2015 deadline for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) approaches, much work remains on ameliorating gender issues.
“Women are still disproportionately affected by poverty,” she continued. “As we consider the post-2015 development agenda, we will need to place emphasis on the issue of gender equality, making it a standalone goal. This is an issue that is hindering global development.”
“The continuing reality of gendercide and lethal discrimination against women makes for a sombre tableau,” agreed Lindsey Nefesh-Clarke, Founder & Managing Director of Women’s Worldwide Web and European Young Leader: ‘40 under 40’. “There is a positive change in the making, however,” she continued, “a growing consensus that gender equality is one of the highest-yield investments we can make in order to drive global development.”
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Friends of Europe | Development and Policy Forum (DPF)
As this recognition increases and more solutions become available at all levels and across all sectors, it behoves governments, the private sector, grassroots organisations and the international development community to reduce the gap between knowledge and action and invest in equal rights for women. "
“There is a growing consensus that gender equality is one of the highest-yield investments we can make in order to drive global development” Lindsey Nefesh-Clarke, Founder & Managing Director of Women’s Worldwide Web and European Young Leader: ‘40 under 40’
Targeting violence against women In its post-2015 preparations, the UN, UN Women and other organisations are pushing for a standalone goal on gender equality, underlined Ramona Vijeyarasa, Senior Programme Manager for Women’s Rights at ActionAid International, adding that it is a troubling state of affairs that this goal is not a given.
Many facets of women’s rights are encompassed by the heading of ‘gender equality’, including some issues which are not even close to being recognised. Amongst these, she noted, is the issue of unpaid care work. “In developing countries especially, women spend a disproportionate amount of time involved in household care work,” she stressed.
In Nepal, for instance, women spend an average of five hours a day doing housework – as compared to men with an average of 56 minutes – in addition to outside work farming, crafting, selling, and so on. “We need to strive to gain recognition for the unpaid care work undertaken by a majority of women,” she concluded.
Another much-neglected policy area is the question of women smallholder farmers, she continued. While the European Union (EU) has a policy on smallholder farming, this policy and others like it ignore the fact that 80% of smallholder farmers worldwide are women. This gender aspect has a huge impact on the control these women farmers have over their own crops, as laws protecting their rights are weak, ignored or non-existent in many parts of the world.
International Women’s Day: Why women hold the key to sustainable development | Spring 2013
By and large, one of the most visible challenges in women’s rights is the issue of violence against women. “Violence against women is not only occurring in developing countries,” underlined Nefesh-Clarke. “Violence against women is right here on our doorstep.” Citing the ongoing exploration of the effects of violence against women by photographer Walter Astrada, she noted that 25% of women in Norway are currently being subjected to violence.
“In developing countries especially, women spend a disproportionate amount of time involved in household care work” Ramona Vijeyarasa, Senior Programme Manager for Women’s Rights at ActionAid International
To tackle violence against women, governments must strive to create, enact and enforce legislation against it, Schumacher said. “Globally, only two-thirds of countries actually have legislation against domestic violence,” she underlined. In order to address this deficiency, UN Women is considering five areas where efforts need to be concentrated: strengthening existing frameworks; prevention of violence through enhanced education policies; the formation of one single global strategy; creating multi-sectoral services in countries in conflict; and streamlining data collection and analysis.
In terms of data collection, noted Timothy Clarke, Head of Division at the Crisis Management and Planning Directorate of the European External Action Service (EEAS), the European Institute for Gender Equality, founded in 2006 in Vilnius, has been developing the Gender Equality Index which may be used to determine how governments are performing in the area of gender equality.
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To increase its effectiveness, the rhetoric surrounding violence against women should be broadened to include effects other than the societal ills it creates, the panel agreed. “We need to consider the economic cost of violence against women,” noted Schumacher. “This is not often considered but has a great effect.”
The economic cost to society of such violence needs to be taken into account. The economic loss of women being unable to work, the cost of entities created to provide services and aid to victims, as well as the long-term cost to society in terms of unwanted pregnancies in the case of rape must all be factored in to the equation, she continued, especially in countries in conflict.
In addition, the economic cost to individual women subjected to violence can make a large difference, especially in the case of poorer countries where subsistence living is the norm. “It is extremely detrimental for women to lose their right to earn their livelihood through the after-effects of violence,” concluded Vijeyarasa.
Deploying digital technology in the fight for women’s rights “The issue of violence against women has gained significant momentum over the last ten years as digital technology and the advent of social media networks has increased global awareness of previously concealed or unreported events,” Schumacher said.
As increasing numbers of users sign on in the non-western world, the spread of local information also increases. For example, noted Vijeyarasa, Arabic has become the fastest-growing language used on Twitter in the last two years. Considering the recent events of the Arab Spring, it is clear that the Arab world is quickly becoming a whole region of citizen activists and that women are able to find a voice to speak with outside of often restricting social and political systems.
International Women’s Day: Why women hold the key to sustainable development | Spring 2013
“The increased use of digital technology and social media is a bold and unprecedented opportunity to drive progress in women’s empowerment,” agreed Nefesh-Clarke. A digital world offers opportunities for women to create and access lifelines and networks with other women and organisations involved in striving for greater gender equality.
Though viral awareness campaigns and the internet’s capacity for holding governments and companies accountable for their actions are valuable tools in this struggle, there still remains the question of access to digital technology. “Access to mobile technology and the internet can be a great equaliser but we need to do much more to overcome the digital gender divide,” she stressed, adding that one of the primary goals of Women’s Worldwide Web is to ensure access to digital technology for women, aiming to double access from 600 million users to 1.2 billion.
Social networks are indeed a valuable tool for awareness and the dissemination of information but there exist quite some tangible initiatives that serve to highlight the value of digital and mobile technology in the developing world, Clarke underlined.
An example of such an initiative comes from the NGO Comprehensive Community Based Rehabilitation in Tanzania (CCBRT). CCBRT, in cooperation with Vodafone, has set up a system to combat widespread cases of Obstetric Fistula in Tanzania. Though surgery for this condition is offered free of charge at the hospital in Dar es Salaam, the transportation costs for rural Tanzanian women with this condition are prohibitive. Taking advantage of mobile banking through cellular telephones, CCBRT is able to send money for transportation to women who require the life-saving surgery.
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Power from the people: the individual’s role in gender equality “The digital world in which we live affords every individual the possibility to be a change-maker,” stressed Nefesh-Clarke. “Using the digital tools available, every single one of us can personally contribute to the fight against violence against women.”
“The only way to translate policy into action is for each and every person to make a personal commitment to tackle the challenge of gender equality,” agreed Clarke. “Every action one takes as an individual has an impact on others.” In support of this idea, Clarke told the participants that every year, he renews his personal commitment to strive for equal rights for women both in his personal life as well as in his official capacities as an officer of the EEAS. “The only way to tackle this and other development issues is to strive for change at the grassroots level,” he concluded.
An example of such a grassroots movement is the work done by Dr. Bogalech Gabre against female genital mutilation (FGM) in Ethiopia. In her home village of Zato – where previously 99% of girls were subjected to FGM – she started a campaign to combat the issue. Following five years of community discussion, the percentage of girls mutilated in such a way had turned full circle and today, only 1% are victims. The active and dynamic process of open discussion about the evils of FGM has had a dramatic impact on the local level and this process has been repeated successfully in other areas.
“Every action one takes as an individual has an impact on others” Timothy Clarke, Head of Division at the Crisis Management and Planning Directorate of the European External Action Service (EEAS)
The importance of education to the process of redressing gender equality cannot be understated, noted Rokiatou Maïga, Consultant on Development, Africa and Gender at the Centre d’Etudes Africaines et de Recherches Interculturelles, in an intervention from the audience. Education is the key to changing mentalities, and especially education for girls. “If we don’t train women to use the tools available to them, they will continue to be dependent,” she stressed.
International Women’s Day: Why women hold the key to sustainable development | Spring 2013
Education and training needs to go much further than only women, noted Clarke. In Tanzania, a major training program for male police officers has been a massive success in promoting equal rights.
“Violence against women is a most pressing issue, with great impact on cultural and economic aspects of our global society” Shada Islam, Head of Policy at Friends of Europe
As is the case in many African nations, the police are more often part of the problem of discrimination against women, he said. As more officers were seen to successfully complete training to promote equality, instances of police victimisation of women decreased. As a side effect, belief in the judicial system increased as well, he noted. “If one can convince central individuals to transform the way they think about women’s rights, incredible changes can occur,” he concluded.
This notion of grassroots change is at the centre of the struggle for gender equality, Nefesh-Clarke underlined. “The current debate only makes sense if it translates to actual progress and it is on the local level that change can most readily occur and impact women in tangible ways,” she concluded.
“Violence against women is a most pressing issue, with great impact on cultural and economic aspects of our global society,” concluded Islam. “It is essential that the global community and local actors ensure that change can become a reality. To this end, the transformational power of individuals cannot be underestimated.”
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Over a hundred stakeholders attended the debate
International Women’s Day: Why women hold the key to sustainable development | Spring 2013
ANNEX I – Programme 13.00 – 13.30
Welcome lunch and registration of participants
13.30 – 14.30
Policy Insight
Gender equality and women’s empowerment are essential for meeting global aspirations of inclusive and sustainable development. Some progress is being made in improving targets for female education and access to health but in many parts of the world women are still dying in child birth. How can women be given a stronger voice in decisionmaking? What is the impact of pro-equality campaigns such as “One Billion Rising” to stop violence against women? What is the role of women in promoting growth and development? Timothy Clarke
Head of Division at the Crisis Management and Planning Directorate of the European External Action Service (EEAS)
Lindsey NefeshClarke
Founder & Managing Director Women’s Worldwide Web and European Young Leader: ‘40 under 40’
Dagmar Schumacher
Director of the Brussels Liaison Office of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (UN Women)
Ramona Vijeyarasa
Senior Programme Manager for Women’s Rights at ActionAid International
Moderated by Shada Islam, Head of Policy at Friends of Europe
14.30
End of Policy Insight and networking coffee
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Debating Europe, an online discussion platform launched by Friends of Europe, published a themed week of posts on the issue of gender equality in Europe. This infographic sets out some of the key facts and figures. For more info, visit www.debatingeurope.eu/gender-equality-themed-week
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