Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) Background Guide

Transcription

1 Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) Background Guide Written By: Madison Wong, Peter Chmiel, Nathan Ruhde, Case Western Reserve University The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is the core body for addressing matters related to the progress of women s empowerment and gender equality in the international system. CSW is a functional commission of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and was established by Council resolution 1 11(II) of June 21st, The committee meets annually to discuss programs and gaps in the implementation of the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (the key global policy document on gender equality), as well as emerging issues that affect gender equality and the empowerment of women. The UN Women states that the role of the committee is to agree on further actions for the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women by adopting agreed conclusions and resolutions. 2 Topic A: Maternal Rights of Women 1 "Commission on the Status of Women." UN Women. 2 Ibid

2 Current Situation The rights of new mothers worldwide is a persisting issue in many different countries. Many developing countries struggle to provide sufficient maternal care, leading to high levels of infant and maternal mortality. New mothers typically have insufficient protection in the workforce, resulting in unemployment on maternity leave. These issues are even present in developed countries, as some states do not have sufficient national maternal leave laws or do not have sweeping protections of maternal healthcare. Because of the gaps that exist in the protection of maternal rights, many mothers are forced to reconsider possible pregnancies due to the multitude of preventable risks that are present to new mothers. Even then, 222 million women worldwide who wish to delay or prevent pregnancy do not have 3 sufficient access to contraception. Lack of access to contraception represents the first of many hurdles that women globally face in terms of maternal care, as there are often deficits in support for mothers during and after their pregnancies. Besides the aforementioned gaps in labor laws, mothers face challenges in medical care during their pregnancies, including checkups on their health and the health of their unborn child. Nearly half of the 125 million women that give birth every year do not receive the minimum number of antenatal checkups as recommended by the WHO, 4 and 43 million do not give birth in a healthcare facility. These gaps in care are also believed to be responsible for the 65 million women who suffer a miscarriage each 5 year, more than half the number of births globally each year. Maternal rights is a 3 "Maternal Health and Maternity Care Fact Sheet." Gender Health. 4 Preventable maternal mortality and morbidity and human rights. UN Human Rights Council. 5 The Costs Benefits of Investing in Reproductive Health. Guttmacher Institute.

3 complicated problem because issues at several levels from providing medical care to women during their pregnancy to guaranteeing equal labor and legal protection to women as new mothers. 6 In an extension to a June 2009 Resolution on Maternal Mortality, the UN Human Rights Council passed a resolution on Maternal health as a Human Right on 27 September 2010 at its Fifteenth Session. The 2010 resolution, while affirming that maternal mortality is in decline, still expressed continued grave concern at the still unacceptably high global rate of preventable maternal mortality and morbidity. Ultimately, maternal rights are viewed by the United Nations as an improving issue, but one that still needs continued attention. Additional legislation to address the issues of maternal rights has encompassed funding in maternal healthcare such as through the Title V program in the United States to maternal leave of absence protection laws in Europe. Future legislation is needed to address the shortcomings in maternal healthcare globally as well as support and protection for new mothers in the labor force. Bloc Positions United States: The United States is one of only four countries in the United 7 Nations that does not have a nationally mandated system for paid leave. Ultimately, many of the laws and regulations that deal with maternal rights, from breastfeeding laws to paid-leave laws, are determined on a state-by-state basis. 8 6 Issues of Maternal Health. Maternal Rights Task Force. 7 Countries Around The World Beat The U.S. On Paid Parental Leave. NPR. ve 8 Breastfeeding State Laws. National Conference of State Legislatures.

4 The United States is wary of federally mandated regulations regarding maternal rights, instead choosing those issues to be determined by state autonomy. Nevertheless, the United States is still somewhat open to national regulations, as a basic level of laws protecting maternal breastfeeding were present in the Affordable Care Act. China: Although China does have maternal leave of absence laws, many mothers still face discrimination if they choose to take the legal amount of time off. While Chinese law blocks employers from firing female employees up to one year after giving birth, some employers have been accused of trying to circumvent this regulation. Ultimately, there is still social stigma towards new mothers, an issue that the Chinese Government is unwilling to combat. Saudi Arabia: Saudi Arabia has a similar social stigma towards maternal leave, with many women documenting negative opinions in the workplace due to their leave. Additionally, Saudi Arabia has been accused of adopting heavily misogynistic practices for decades, such as implementing a male guardianship program that heavily limits the free choices women can make and has been called the most significant impediment to realizing women s rights in the country by the Human Rights Watch. The policies that Saudi Arabia enacts to limit the rights of 9 Title V Maternal and Child Health Services Block Grant Program Health Resources and Services Administration. nt-program

5 women all heavily impact the rights of new mothers by negatively affecting the choices mothers have for themselves and their children. Topic B: Empowerment of Rural Women Current Situation Rural women could play a catalytic role in the future towards invoking economic, environmental, and social change. This is in part due to the sheer number of rural women expected to be on the planet in the near future. By 2030, about 1.6 billion people will reach working age in low and middle-income countries. 10 However, despite the astounding number of rural women of working age, society does not appreciate the value women provide to society. Fifty percent of the world s population is and will be female, but the participation rate of women in the 11 labor force has continued to decline within the past few decades. An increase in 10 The Future of Food: Shaping the Food System to Deliver Jobs World Bank. Link 11 Labor force participation rate, female (% of female population ages 15+) (modeled ILO estimate)" World Bank. Link

6 the figure could potentially stimulate the international economy and create new jobs for the growing population. The task of empowering rural women, however, does not come without serious questions. Many women lack basic literacy skills. The lackluster literacy rate is troubling for multiple reasons. First, women in these areas cannot access information as easily. If an international body hands out a pamphlet on an issue containing all the steps, then the information will not get absorbed by the woman even if she has contact with it. Another important issue that stems from the lack of literacy is the inability to engage in trade. If women cannot read bills or read rudimentary documents, then the money which is being traded is being completely arbitrary. If anything, further efforts to trade with these women would be less successful because they do not understand the gravity of the situation, and, as such, would not trust the traders going forward. While all of these problems are serious and should be addressed at some point in the near future, rural women s education should be addressed first and foremost. All of the aforementioned problems stem from the lack of literacy. Hence, if serious actions are not taken in regards to the advancement of literacy in these communities, the impact which the community could make on any of the other issues is severely limited. Some solutions have been attempted to assist rural women in gaining education. UNESCO s Better Life, Better Future, also known as the Global Partnership for Girls and Women s Education, is the primary body taking initiative in this regard. The partnership attempts to address the two weakest links to the

7 12 empowerment of rural women: secondary education and literacy. By partnering with governments of China, Pakistan, and the United States, to name a few, as well as NGOs, international organizations, and private sector companies, Better Life, Better Future hopes to include more girls and women in education through 13 coordinated projects between them and their partners. Some examples of these projects include the Malala Fund in Pakistan, which supports projects to facilitate gender-sensitive training in the classroom, crowd-sourcing to community leaders in Ethopia and Tanzania to reduce drop-out rates, and gender sensitive training in the schools of Kenya and Lesotho, which encourages rural women to stay engaged in 14 education of the math and sciences. Although the international community has made great strides with respect to the education of rural women in the recent past, more needs to be done in the future. The number of partners who have signed on to the UNESCO partnership is six, and many of the countries in most desperate need are not in the partnership. 15 Because the number of governmental partners is so small, many other problems also exist. For example, the geographic extent to which aid providers can access women in need is severely limited. When a government is not in direct cooperation with the UN and its partners, the UN must go through an NGO or an intergovernmental organization to get the job done, which takes longer and is less reliable. Last but not least, the amount of resources allocated to these projects is limited. Even though countries like Ethopia, Kenya, and Tanznia have been the sites of significant UNESCO projects within the recent past, many countries in near 12 Better life, better future: UNESCO Global Partnership for Girls' and Women's Education UNESCO, Link 13 Ibid. 14 Ibid. 15 Ibid.

8 proximity have not been allocated resources because there are not enough of them. 16 So, even though the community is at a good starting point towards tackling the issues of women s empowerment, by no means are these issues solved. Bloc Positions India India has had a troubled past with the empowerment of the rural women. As a matter of fact, many of them have been disenfranchised for a long time. Due to rapid increase in population and ensuing efforts to limit said population, boys were given preferential treatment to girls from childbirth. Many girls were often neglected as kids, and this reinforced a patriarchal society which is critical of women for even the smallest things they do. Despite the unfavorable sex ratio and patriarchal past, India is currently trying to rectify some of its past ills. India has now instituted one stop centres where women can get police action, psychiatric help, etc. The number of these centres has skyrocketed in recent years, which indicates the slow cultural shift away from patriarchy into a world where Indians are starting to consider the well-being of the women with a greater priority, even though it still battles with its callous disregard for women in the past. Pakistan Pakistan recently joined forces with UNESCO to empower women s education 17 through the Malala Fund. They encourage private sector companies to donate to 16 Ibid. 17 Ibid.

9 the Malala Fund in order to fund gender-sensitive training for teachers and safer learning environments for girls in hard to reach areas. While Pakistan s federal government appears to be relatively cooperative with NGOs and intergovernmental organizations in regard to the education of rural women, Pakistan simply does not have the infrastructure yet to support massive rural education. About three quarters of the schools in some areas of Pakistan do not permit women to attend. Sometimes, a girl in a rural area will have to go a town or two over just to go to a school which could support her. However, many people within rural Pakistan either cannot save enough money for these girls to attend school or believe that a woman s place is in the home, not in the classroom. 18 China The Chinese government has taken on education of their entire populace as a priority. In 1986, the Compulsory Education Law of the People s Republic of China went into effect, which required all citizens to get nine years of an education completely funded by the government. The compulsory law was important because it helped mitigate the education gap between men and women on the whole in China. However, not all rural women are guaranteed this education. Sometimes, women flock from the rural fields of China toward the city. Because the trek can be long and arduous, the recent trend has been to take the sons with them, leaving the daughters at home. As such, the proportion of Chinese girls with access to a highschool education is still noticeably lower than the proportion of CHinese girls 18 Girls Education in Pakistan. The Borgen Project. Link

10 19 with access to a middle school or elementary school education. So, even though China has made strides in the regard of empowering rural women with education, a large minority still cannot access the higher education they need to be successful in the workforce. Conclusion: The international community has taken steps which constitute an encouraging start in terms of both empowering women through education and reducing maternal mortality. In general, access to education has slowly increased in years past, and maternal mortality has slowly decreased in years past. However, the degree to which both of these issues have improved varies wildly by geographic area. Some areas have seen phenomenal growth in both issues. Some areas have seen phenomenal growth on one issue, but not on another. Some have even seen negligible growth on both issues. Now that the international community has started to combat these problems effectively, the concern is not so much about developing new strategies as it is about figuring out how to implement them across many different cultures, geographic areas, and language barriers. 19 Girls Education in China More Accessible Than Ever. The Borgen Project. Link

11 Questions to Consider: - How can more governments with largely rural populations be integrated into a future solution? - How can NGOs, International Organizations, and other acting bodies assist rural women in countries where the government or society is discouraging towards women s education? - Given that many more men get an education in many rural areas than women, how can the educational environment be made more gender sensitive?