Friday 12th March

Guns: the unending cycle of violence

Sarah Masters, 12 March 2010
The words of the women paralleled each other as they described how armed violence in the home and community, armed conflict, and the availability and misuse of guns feed each other in an unending cycle. These are not simple issues with easy solutions, but Sarah Masters says that this cannot justify apathy, silence, and inaction
Thursday 11th March

Putting money where our mouths are

Lyric Thompson, 11 March 2010
Lyric Thompson, in her last report from New York, writes that as we close the 54th UN Commission on the Status of Women, there’s no mystery as to what it takes to close the tremendous gap between policy and practice: money. Best-laid plans are moot if not resourced. Invest in women. As the UN motto reminds us, it's our world.

Haven't we said so already?

Roberta Clarke, 11 March 2010
If the actions recommended by the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action on Equality, Development and Peace were honoured, Roberta Clarke argues that the Millennium Development Goals could be met.
Tuesday 9th March

Keeping hope alive in New York

Muadi Mukenge, 9 March 2010
Will the government representatives at the CSW remember their commitments when they are back in their home countries? After all, any gains for women and girls translate into gains and advancement for the entire population and by extension, the planet.
Monday 8th March

Iran: time to change the question

Jane Gabriel, 8 March 2010
Parvin Ardalan spoke to Jane Gabriel at the UN CSW about the link between a conversation with her father and her work fighting for the rights and freedom of both men and women in Iran, and why it's time the international community changed the question: how can we help?

Negotiating Bliss

Cassandra Balchin, 8 March 2010
The bliss of an egalitarian and just relationship between spouses cannot be achieved through a sheet of paper. But Cassandra Balchin writes that in Muslim contexts efforts to take a fresh look at marriage contracts is certainly a step towards this goal

New York: no place for women in action

Margaret Owen, 8 March 2010
In an open letter to the United Nations Secretary General, the European Women's Lobby declares that "The 54th Session of the CSW...represents a step backwards by its failure to offer a new vision and mechanisms for implementation"
Sunday 7th March

How about equality of respect?

Jane Esuantsiwa Goldsmith, 7 March 2010
Last week the UN CSW54 was accused by the European Women's Lobby of being a 'step backwards' for women. As it grinds on into its second week Jane Esuantsiwa Goldsmith says the women’s movement needs a new twin strategy around equality of respect and quality of experience

An uncomfortable truth: the gender turf war at UN CSW

Lyric Thompson, 7 March 2010
Lyric Thompson takes issue with those who argue that men are inherently unqualified to speak as advocates for women's rights, and sees a paradoxical mirror image of the thinking that kept us out of classrooms, voting booths, political offices and boardrooms globally

Courage, controversy and chaos at the UN Commission on the Status of Women

Jane Gabriel, 7 March 2010
More than two thousand women's rights activists are in New York for the UN Commission on the Status of Women to review the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action for Equality, Development and Peace. The inside story is being covered daily by openDemocracy guest writers.
Friday 5th March

The table around which we didn't sit

Zohra Moosa, 5 March 2010
CSW has attracted 1000s of women to its proceedings this year, but there is a danger that we are just talking to ourselves. Two sessions on the financial crisis point to the change that is needed.

The price of peace

Lyric Thompson, 5 March 2010
“Peace processes are bad men talking to bad government and other bad men.....women in civil society are doing tremendous work on the ground, but they are not heard, they are not respected, and above all they are not funded.” Mary Robinson speaking at the UNCSW....

Women: reflections on our human rights

Jane Gabriel, 5 March 2010
It's seventeen years since women's rights were recognised as human rights at the World Conference on Human Rights held in Vienna. openDemocracy writers examine the struggle to turn these rights into a day-to-day reality for women and girls and examine the challenges that lie ahead

This is my witness

Emily Stokes, 5 March 2010
The human voice has a way of piercing through you. Emily Stokes listened to the testimony of the women of Burma.

Haiti's 'restaveks'

Jessica Loudis, 5 March 2010
Less than a month after Haiti was brought to its knees by an 8.8 magnitude earthquake, another story emerged from the island that briefly arrested international attention and interrupted the torrent of post-disaster coverage...
Thursday 4th March

Burma may save its tigers and not its women

Cora Weiss, 4 March 2010
Cora Weiss reports on the International Tribunal on Crimes against Women of Burma - an overwhelming day of stories told by remarkable women of all ages of inhumanity leaving the listeners wondering how the women could have survived.
Wednesday 3rd March

Defining the new American gender agenda

Lyric Thompson, 3 March 2010
There has been much debate both within Washington and without as to what the new American gender agenda will be. Clearly, we’ll have one.......

Overdue justice

Zohra Moosa, 3 March 2010
The next Progress of the World's Women, UNIFEM's flagship biennial report, will be on Access to Justice. I went along to their CSW session to hear their solutions for justice systems that are not working for women.

Disillusionment, Anger and Protest.

Margaret Owen, 3 March 2010
At this Tuesday morning’s NGO consultation we women from the NGOs, attempting to participate in the 54th CSW, finally collectively erupted, en masse

Enter NGO

Zohra Moosa, 3 March 2010
Much of the negotiations seem to be sewn up before the conference has even started, but NGOs seem two steps behind each development. Is the space for NGO influence shrinking?
Syndicate content