Today was another exciting day at UN CSW! We spent most of
the day at the NGO Consultation Day that took place in the historic Apollo
theater, where we heard multiple women’s rights advocates from around the world
share the work that they have been doing addressing the needs of women and
girls, what the progress has been since 20 years after the Beijing Platform for
Action, and what are the next steps to keep progressing.
My favorite two speakers had to be one woman from India, who
worked with women and girls in India who were victims of sex trafficking, and
another young woman from Mexico, who worked with governmental agencies to
implement gender-inclusive human rights agenda. The first woman made a powerful
statement about the interconnectedness of the exploitation of women’s bodies
through prostitution and sexual assault and the importance of addressing larger
cultures of unhealthy masculinity. The young woman from Mexico spoke a lot
about how the relation between the Global North and the Global South drove
inequality and made it difficult for less industrialized nations to meet many
human rights standards and how international coalitions could do more to
address the larger economic context in which women’s human rights exist.
I’m so excited for the rest of the events this week starting
tomorrow and the opportunity to continue learning more about women’s human
rights issues around the world.
- Mina
Mina,
ReplyDeleteBoth of these speakers point out the fact that we are trying to address through WomenNC: that women's rights are not just an issue for women activists, but that the culture of men's attitudes, especially in the nearly universal paternalistic cultures of the world must also change. That will happen through policy, but changing cultural norms is a long-term difficult challenge. Your research on prison populations also points this out. Will be interesting to see if some have found good methods to involve men. Are there a lot of men at CSW this year?