LBTQ (In)visibility: Putting Queer Issues on the Agenda at CSW61

At a panel hosted by the Fundación Arcoiris (Rainbow Foundation), a LGBT non profit based in Mexico, a woman with short silver hair and blue reading glasses stood up to express her outrage that the economic challenges that LBTQ women face in the workplace are not addressed in the proposed conclusions of the 61st CSW. Upon hearing this, I blinked several times and quickly pulled up the document on my phone. I had read it before, and hadn’t noticed that LBTQ women had not been acknowledged in the document, which covers issues ranging from human trafficking, representation in STEM fields, to immigration. There is also no mention of the rights of LBT women in CEDAW. This oversight is infuriating in light of the wave of anti-LGBT laws being passed by national governments across the globe, particularly in Eastern European and African countries. The federal United States government still provides no legal protection for LGBT Americans in employment and education. In North Carolina, I could be fired for being queer. This has real economic consequences for LBTQ women that are not being addressed by the UN CSW.

Yesterday I attended two parallel events relating to the challenges facing LBT women around the globe. While I have a good understanding of what LGBT organizing looks like in the US, I was completely unfamiliar with what LBT activists were doing in other countries. 

At the first panel, hosted by the American Jewish World Service, an activist from China described her efforts to organize queer women, primarily in the form of campus organizations and consciousness-raising groups, since direct actions like marches are not an option in China. In addition to grassroots organizing, activists in China are litigating a case in protest of the dismissal of a trans man from his job with some encouraging results. There is also an effort to ensure that new domestic violence laws are implemented in a way that includes LBQ couples. A “transfeminist” activist from Fiji discussed the relationship between colonialism and anti-LGBT laws.

The next panel I attended addressed the barriers to LBT women in the workplace. The representative from Fundación Arcoiris shared the results of their survey of lesbian women in 7 Mexican states and discussed their effort to get funding to do a larger survey. The survey revealed that many lesbians in Mexico do not feel safe in their place of work. Another activist from China reported that the gender wage gap has been growing in recent years, in part as a result of the growth of the private sector, the prevalence of service jobs, and an increase in demand for care work as a result of the increasing average age in China. A queer Lebanese organizer expressed frustration with the tendency of gay men to co-opt the contributions of queer women to the movement and the domination of men in LGBT spaces.

There were two CSW side events relating to LBTQ women. One addressed the barriers to LBT women in the workplace and the other examined the legal issues facing transgender, intersex, and gender nonconforming individuals. Unfortunately, I had to rehearse for a panel I will be speaking at hosted by GLI during the first side event. I was torn between the second one and the launch of the equal pay platform event in the general assembly hall. Ultimately, I chose to attend the equal pay event because I wanted to gain a more global sense of the gender pay gap and did not want to pass up the opportunity to see the general assembly floor. As part of the event, Abby Wambach, the US soccer player who set the world record for the most international goals scored, explained why she decided to challenge the unequal compensation of men’s and women’s sports teams. She explained that she felt compelled to take action on behalf of her step daughter in hopes that by the time she enters the work force, she will be guaranteed equal pay. One thing that struck me in light of the revelations earlier in the day is that Abby Wambach did not mention how her queer identity impacted her experiences, though she is somewhat of a lesbian icon.

The UN CSW’s goal is to raise the standards by which countries will be judged. While the CSW remains silent on LBTQ issues, countries face no pressure from international leaders to guarantee the rights of queer women.

*For more pictures from the conference, follow me on Twitter! (@willingham_zoe)*

 

Day 2: The Official First Day

Today was marvelous. I have not felt this marveled since summer. Today I began my day alongside Beth. We attended a parallel event titled “Future Shift: Young Women and the Changing World of Work”. The event was hosted by YWCA Canada. YWCA is a non-profit organization that was originally focused on eliminating racism. Overtime it has expanded to focus on women’s issues. Just FYI. Interestingly enough, this event was led by young “millennial” women.

                                        

(Future Shift: Young Women and the Changing World of Work)

I quoted the term millennial because that’s what they called themselves. That’s what the media calls us. But this is the first time in my life that they have embraced our millennial generation. I am so glad I attended this event. It helped me feel proud to be a millennial woman. At this point you’re probably wondering why. Well they explained a few issues that our generation of working women have gone through in the past years and are going through right now. Issues like online “trolling”, underpaid/ unpaid work, lack of affordable child care. (Sidenote: North Carolina ranks 11^th in most expensive childcare of all the states). The young female speakers shared their work history in relation to technology, lack of legislative support, and the perception of society, and occupational segregation.

 Occupational segregation in terms of vertical and horizontal were discussed in 3 out of the 4 events I attended today. Occupational segregation refers to the tendency for men and women to seek employment in different jobs (horizontal segregation). Vertical segregation refers to the way specific occupations tend to have a lower societal status and less rewarded positions than others. Nordic leaders explained this concept to me for the first time. I had no idea that these ideas were defined and heavily researched.

One of the speakers explicitly told the crowd that she was a millennial and yes people consider us millennial individuals“lazy” but our generation consists of hard working women that work long hours unpaid in this current economic structure. The audience clapped after she stated this. I had never really though much about unpaid work that women do of all kinds such as domestic work. I had also never realized how under-appreciated most care-giving jobs are given the undervalued pay. This was discussed at the side event at the UN Headquarters titled “Gender equality the Nordic way: What can we learn from it?” Some prime ministers of children in the Nordic countries mentioned that the care-giving jobs are still far less underpaid than the jobs in the male dominate field.

                                (Gender equality the Nordic way: What can we learn from it?)

Even though Nordic countries have balanced employment of women, the pay gap is still there. One minister mentioned that despite all the efforts, care-giving jobs (that women tend to take on more than men) are often viewed as less than compared to the jobs that men take on. The options of care-giving jobs are so limited compared to non care-giving jobs as the prime minister mentioned. She gave the example of the nursing profession. While nursing is seen as a feminine care-giving job, there aren’t as many nursing type of jobs as engineering jobs which tend to be male dominant. There’s all kinds of engineering fields for men to enter like industrial, civic, and so forth but women are less limited to the type of nursing they can engage in. I had never thought of this. Male-dominant fields are expansive in terms of job opportunities. Which goes back to emphasizing how BADLY we need more young girls in the STEM field. I think of the speakers from the first event compared the pay of the stem field and the social field also. She noted that RIGHT NOW we need more people involved in the social context than advancing the next technological thing. (She made reference to politics when she said this). However because women’s participation in the social field wasn’t valued as much, they are under-appreciated. I feel like those two sessions really expanded my view of the life hardworking women go through. I have so much more respect for women now more than ever. I go to an all women’s college and I already knew what it felt like to be a woman and step into the shoes of a woman. However, to step into the career path of a woman emotionally is different. I now believe that women don’t complain enough about all the work that they have to do. Even some ambassadors at the UN Ministerial Round Table discussed the unpaid work that women do. The ambassador of Spain compared the amount of domestic work women did to the bare minimal hour that men do in his country…which I don’t have much data for in our country but from experience, my female friends most often complain about how often men leave dishes around and don’t do laundry. The little things often end up meaning all too much for women- they cost women too much. I am going to miss the UN CSW tomorrow now that the blizzard canceled all of tomorrow’s events.

                                      

                                                      (UN Ministerial Roundtable)

Songs, Poems, Speakers, and Panels: Consultation Day

I was so excited to begin this experience with today’s NGO CSW 61 Forum: Consultation Day from 9 until 3:30 p.m. titled “Women’s Rights and Gender Equity in the Changing World of Work.” Ivy Gabbert from Soka Gakkai International and Bette Levy from Soroptimist International facilitated the program. First, the United Nations Singers gave an incredible performance. Then, the Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, and H.E. Ambassador Antonio de Aguiar Patriota, chair of the Commission on the Status of Women, started us off with remarks on this year’s theme, economic empowerment in the changing world of work. It was Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka who said “it is not enough to do no harm. You need to do something about the harm.” And this summed up one of my strongest feelings about anti-oppression work and the fight for global justice. Actively perpetuating oppression and violence, remaining ignorant about oppression and violence, or simply identifying oppression and violence will not create change. There needs to be active resistance and advocacy to end oppression and violence and I believe the majority of the people at this event are here to find out how they can continue their efforts to make these changes.

I was happy to hear panelists and speakers acknowledge the connection between economic empowerment and domestic violence, as this is something I am particularly passionate about. Violence affects women and people of all gender identities at home, in public spaces, in the workplace, and wherever they go. We live in a world that allows for gender-based violence all over the world, causing serious damage, health care costs, and economic losses. Dr. Mabel Bianco, this year’s Women of Distinction awardee and medical doctor from Argentina, called for an end to the murder of women who defend their rights and emphasized the need for comprehensive sex education. Dr. Susan O’Malley, the chair of the NGO Committee on the Status of Women condemned the recent executive orders, rooted in nationalism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, and fundamentalism, that banned people from coming to the United States.

I love what Dr. Radhika Balakrishnan, the faculty director for the Center for Women’s Global Leadership at Rutgers University, said about economic justice. She critiqued neoliberal economic policy and the financialization of the economy. While proponents of neoliberalism promote the idea of deregulation, neoliberal policy generally re-regulates the economy, simply for the benefit of corporate interests. As an example, General Motors made more money loaning people money for cars than actually selling cars. She brought up the Oxfam statistic that the most recent analysis shows 8 people in the world own the same amount of wealth as half of the world. This is absolutely unacceptable and dangerous. With extreme economic injustice, she stressed that we must reconsider what the economy is for and we need to critique the field of economics. Economics as a field is not only dominated by men, but even some of the women economists are not feminist economists. Economic justice relates to immigration, climate change, violence, and every other intersecting issue. For example, she pointed out that migration increased because of the disruption caused by the North American Free Trade Agreement. We must build a world in which our economy honors our human rights.

Lastly, I must gush about how amazing it was to see Rupi Kaur perform her poems in person. I have been a huge fan of hers ever since I saw her Instagram post of a photo of herself with a period stain. She is a fierce feminist activist who incorporates principles of justice into everything she does. She began tearing down the stigma of menstruation with her photo and with her poems she tears down patriarchy, xenophobia, racism, body-shaming, competition among women, and so much else that is dangerous. I have her poems taped up in my room for daily inspiration and it was incredible to hear her read some of those poems out loud. The day ended with a performance from the Harlem Diva, LeeOlive Tucker who brought me to tears with her captivating voice passionately singing “I Wish I knew How It Would Feel to Be Free,” “This Little Light of Mine,” “We Who Believe in Freedom Cannot Rest,” and “Keep on Movin.”

This photo is from the breakout session I went to on gender violence at home and in the workplace which included Raphael Crowe, senior gender specialist at the International Labour Organization, and Dilshad Dayani, founder of World Women Global Council. I was overwhelmed with information, thoughts, ideas, connections, inspiration...all in the best way possible. I cannot wait for what’s to come tomorrow.

Consultation Day Experience

I could not have asked for a more thrilling first day at the UN CSW. Despite a few hours of sleep after a 5 a.m. workout, I remained in sync with the passionate Consultation Day speakers and attendants. As soon as I got to the event, I met an overjoyed woman from Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui Women’s League. The women’s league was run through a church. Even though we came from different worlds, we chatted about our past church retreats. We connected almost instantly. She told me that she came to the CSW to learn more about equal pay. She explained the regulations of equal pay in Hong Kong.  She asked me questions about why I thought there was a gender gap in America. I could sense her enthusiasm of this issue by the sparkle in her eyes. Building mutual connections with strangers is what I enjoyed the most about day 1. You could engage in minimal English with people from all over the world and still share a mutual interest with them over women's issues. 

My favorite part of the day was the breakout session. I had the opportunity to learn about human-trafficking, child marriage, and forced labor. One of the panelist speakers drew my attention towards this issue when she mentioned that a senator in Nigeria married a 13-year old girl and ended up leaving her for a younger child. I was astounded by this. To realize that a public official engaged in this made my stomach turn instantly.

I chose to participate in the group about child marriage because it’s the subject that I had heard least about. I was very interested in knowing more about child marriage especially after hearing the panelist explain child marriage. Luckily, most people in my group provided insight about this issue. The individuals in my group worked for the Concordia Project, in Japan, Center for Women’s Health, OSMTH, and a hospital in Nebraska. The nurse in the group mentioned a child marriage story that she knew of.

Here is the link if you’re interesting in reading it:

http://journalstar.com/news/local/years-after-controversial-marriage-falls-city-couple-at-risk-of/article_16b4ea35-a638-5d92-923c-c9d43fcb2c31.html

As a naïve young woman, I would have never thought that child marriage was an issue in America. The fact that child marriage is not discussed publicly seems disturbing. Our group generated the idea of starting an awareness campaign of the issue. Signs of child marriage would be a key focus of this campaign. Overall, we all agreed that the public needs more knowledge over this issue in order to prevent it. I just can’t imagine the idea of a child getting married before learning how to drive. One very important point that was made during this discussion was that an action plan is necessary for the child’s recovery. Helping the victim after such a traumatizing experience is crucial. I feel fortunate to have learned so many new things in just one day. I am looking forward to day 2 of CSW.

Consultation Day: Setting the Stage

The Consultation Day programming of the 45th year of the NGO Committee on the Status of Women was kicked off by some remarks from Susan O'Malley of the NGO CSW, UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, and Ambassador Antonio de Agular Patriota. In the loosely structured panel discussion, Mlambo-Ngcuka and Ambassador Antonio de Agular Patriota raised a theme that I heard throughout the day: implementation and enforcement of laws and conventions are crucial to realizing the goals of gender equality. Without enforcement, policies are reduced to mere symbolism.

Next, Dr. Mabel Bianco took the stage to speak about the importance of women's work. She commended the actions of strikers who walked out of their workplaces last week for International Working Women's Day. Indeed, the absence of these working women did demonstrate that our communities rely on women's labor, paid or unpaid, to function. Dr. Bianco noted that 78 percent of Latin American women are employed in unstable or unsafe working conditions. To change this, she said, we will need to strengthen the laws and change norms. I took this to mean that we need progressive, pro-woman, pro-worker laws on the books and that we also need them to be followed and enforced.

This call to action was echoed by Elizabeth Tang of the International Domestic Workers Federation and Radhika Balakrishnan of Rutgers University. Balakrishnan emphasized that neoliberal economic policy has given rise to record inequality, emphasizing the need for more financial and economic regulation to end the economic exploitation of the vulnerable. Tang described the efforts of the IDWF to bring domestic workers under the protection of government labor laws. The break out session "Creating Equalities of Work" also echoed the necessity for formal recognition and policy prescriptions for fighting inequality in the labor market. In small groups, we brainstormed possible solutions and strategies for combating the wage gap, like designing tax credits for unpaid household labor and passing laws allowing employees to discuss compensation with their colleagues without fear of retaliation.

The discussion of implementation and enforcement today made me realize that the NGOs have more power to enforce UN Conventions than the UN itself, which has no formal enforcement mechanisms. NGOs have the power to frame issues, mobilize people, and pressure their governments in a more direct way than the United Nations. That is exactly what WomenNC is doing as part of the coalition to implement CEDAW at the local level.