Gender Equality Architecture Reform at the UN

On July 2 ^nd, the world witnessed what could possibly be the most progressive reform at the UN in the past 20 years. A new institution, UN Women, was established by the adoption of a Resolution which would consolidate the efforts by the previous four UN gender agencies to advance the rights and conditions of women around the world. Such a momentous event was preceded by tireless work from civil society organizations, who strongly advocated for the reformation of gender equality architecture at the UN. The GEAR (Gender Equality Architecture Reform) Campaign, the most visible of the civil society groups, was closely involved in the process for achieving system-wide coherence in designated areas at the UN.

My internship at the BIC was focused primarily on working with the GEAR Campaign. Along with CWGL (the Center for Women’s Global Leadership at Rutgers) and WEDO (the Women’s Environment and Development Organization), the BIC (Baha’i International Community Office at the UN) has played a central role in facilitating the Campaign’s efforts towards lobbying for the establishment of this new institution. When system-wide coherence at the UN was called for at the 2005 World Summit, and initially excluded gender architecture reform from the proposed thematic areas, civil society organizations pushed for the inclusion of gender. The following year, the Panel which did background work on ways to achieve this system-wide coherence, published a report called “Delivering as One.” In this Report, the recommendations from civil society organizations to reform gender equality architecture at the UN were incorporated, and began the process towards reforming gender architecture with the goal of not only impacting internal policies and processes at the UN, but externally as well.

Process

The direction in which gender architecture reform moved, resonates with the Baha’i Writings which uphold the equality of rights of women and men; illustrating how crucial it is to make gender a major consideration in order to achieve balanced progress. In line with this, civil society organizations began mobilizing regionally and globally, eventually forming the GEAR Campaign; reaching a membership of over 300 social justice and women’s groups. The GEAR Campaign would go on to lobby member states to support a unified and strong gender institution at the United Nations; one that would be headed by a visible and empowered leader, that would be ambitiously funded, and would have the independence to carry-out work at all levels towards the empowerment and advancement of women. The process towards creating this institution was not without hurdles and challenges.

One of my duties as an intern this past summer, was to attend the negotiations held among member states. The various elements in the Resolution draft revealed policy divides among the governments. Ultimately the fact that all the member states showed up and stayed hour after hour to consult on what would define this new institution, showed commitment; a commitment which would lead to successful outcomes at the end of the summer.

I was lucky to watch this process and be involved, and the opportunity was timely in that I was able to observe the final stages when the atmosphere was filled with expectation, hope, and all the other attributes of a home stretch. Witnessing the intense negotiations gave me a glimpse into what the past 4 years must have been like for the GEAR Campaign. Judging from the intensity of the negotiations, the efforts to dissolve the former four UN gender agencies must have been met with different forms of resistance along the way. On the one hand, change is never always easy. On the other hand, it cannot be avoided. The challenges were understandably based on leaving behind old ways of doing things. For example, giving gender and women’s issues a voice at high-level ‘tables’ where there was none, and transforming the most active UN gender agency (UNIFEM) from a fund into an empowered independent institution. What would this mean for those already seated at that table and what would it mean for the agencies that monitored UNIFEM’s activities and funding? Change is necessary; in order to adequately deal with the current and urgent issues facing women, and consequently their communities and society at large, a 21^st Century institution is absolutely obligatory. What is even more important is the way change occurs and how it impacts humanity’s progress. The passage of a Resolution to create UN Women was not simply an institutional effort; it was the result of individuals and institutions working jointly to transform the way women’s issues have been typically addressed at multiple levels. What I was observing was true change in which women representatives and their organizations were empowered to step up and voice the need for change. Based on the views of the BIC’s Statement on Eradicating Poverty: Moving Forward As One, in my opinion, the UN as an institution provided these women and the organizations they represented the “channels through which their talents and energies could be harnessed…” At the end of the day, it was simply unacceptable to keep on addressing these issues based on 20^th century structures.

Progress

In September, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed Michelle Bachelet, as the first head (Under-Secretary General- USG) of UN Women. This appointment was widely applauded, especially by the GEAR Campaign. Michelle Bachelet was the first woman to become President of Chile and instituted many reforms to improve women’s lives and the policies that limited their access to certain systems and services. As the Bahá'í International Community’s Principal Representative, Bani Dugal, stated in a GEAR Campaign Press Release “it is our hope that her experience of leadership in the international arena, her dedication to the advancement of women and girls, and her commitment to working with civil society and the women’s movement will guide the work of this ground-breaking entity and rally member states to strengthen their efforts to achieve the equality of women and men.” On the GEAR Campaign’s short-term agenda, is meeting with the new USG and laying the foundation to ensure further engagement between UN Women and civil society.

Conclusion

It was an invaluable experience to be involved with this process. Although it was towards the end of the hard and dedicated work the GEAR Campaign, I was incredibly lucky to be a part of the achievement celebrated by civil society women’s groups all over the world. While there is a renewed hope that the focus on resolving women’s issues and empowering them to be the agents of change that they are, will be enhanced, there is still work to be done. To carry out activities towards achieving this end, ambitious funding is needed and the pledges made by member states need to be fulfilled. Also, the voice of civil society has to be continued to be heard in the spaces where policies and decisions are made. The importance of this fact cannot be understated. I have observed the power of the voice civil society in the past few months, and it can instigate change of thought and action. More than ever before, I realized how much civil society organizations (especially in the GEAR Campaign) at local, regional, and global levels came together to represent women from their respective parts of the world to press governments to change the status quo which has stopped working for them. The birth of UN Women presents an excellent opportunity--one that we must not let slip away—to address the most pressing issues of our time, with the consideration of the voices of those they most affect.