Post 2015 Updates: FTF co-moderates e-Discussion online on Gender Equality
As part of the Feminist Task Force participation on the Addressing Inequalities Consultation Advisory Group, the FTF participated in the e-discussion which began Oct. 3rd and concluded on Oct.24th. This was the first online consultation with other thematic consultations to follow the model. Rosa Lizarde, FTF Global Coordinator, co-moderate the e-discussion beginning on October 17th, International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, which coincided with the e-campaign and mobilization around that day. The FTF has been advising the Inequalities e-Discussion moderators on how to be more inclusive, more strategic and provide more outreach to socially excluded and under-represented groups. UN Women and UNICEF, co-conveners of the Inequalities Thematic Consultation and the e-Discussion, are placing much energy and importance in the global conversation on inequalities. See summaries of e-discussion here.
For those around the world providing input on the WorldWeWant2015.org is an opportunity to include diversity of voices not only from NGOs but from academics, those involved in media, grassroots groups and activists. Also important is to have gender inputs related to ‘inequalities’ and touching on the other thematic consultations (listed below) and from key constituencies (VAW, LBGT, grassroots, indigenous, disabilities, socially-excluded, youth and children) in order to ensure gender is cross-cutting and builds on what has been provided in the main consultation relating to gender. Building our messaging and constituency regarding the other consultations will mean we have a leg up when the other online consultations take place. Look for upcoming e-discussion on these issues at WorldWeWant2015.org:
- Population;
- Health;
- Education;
- Growth & Employment;
- Conflict & Fragility;
- Governance;
- Environmental Sustainability;
- Food Security and Nutrition
- Water and Sanitation (added recently, UNICEF & UN DESA convened)
- Energy (added recently-UNIDO convened)
Gender Equality e-discussion Co-moderators included:
Nicole Bidegain from Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN); Kate McInturff from Amnesty International (Canadian Section), Rosa Lizarde from Feminist Task Force and Ranja Sengupta from the Third World Network (TWN). FTF will begin co-moderating on October 17th, International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.
The recommendations emerging from your contributions will be part of a synthesis report that will be presented at a high-level meeting in Denmark in February 2013 on inequalities as well as transmitted to the HLP. For more information on how you can join the discussion go to www.worldwewant2015.org or Gender Equality discussion. It is important to highlight RECOMMENDATIONS in your interventions.
From UN Women and UNICEF: We are delighted to welcome you to the global conversation on gender equality; the first of a series of e-discussions taking place as part of the Global Thematic Consultation on Addressing Inequalities. The discussion on gender equality will run for three weeks from the 3-24 October 2012.
Key questions to consider:
1. What are the most widespread and fundamental forms of gender-based inequalities faced by women and girls? (Contributors may wish to cite examples, including discussion of where and among whom these challenges occur, their severity, the evidence about them, etc.)
2. What are the major structural factors at the root of these inequalities, within and among different societies?
3. What kinds of policies, strategies or interventions have been most successful in addressing the various inequalities experienced by women and girls? And under which conditions/in which situations have particular policies, strategies or interventions had the greatest, lasting impact? (Contributors may wish to cite examples or give references to these “successes”).
4. Based on experience, what are the most important Recommendationsthat could be proposed in the Post-2015 Development Agenda for making a lasting and transformative impact on the different forms of inequalities faced by women and girls on the basis of gender?
5. What actions and initiatives could be taken by different stakeholders, including civil society, to bring about lasting improvements in these inequalities? How can we ensure the implementation phase of the new Development Framework will be more inclusive of those who face inequalities, and more accountable to them?
To participate, it is not necessary to register, but you are welcomed and encouraged to log-in here. This site is available in English, French and Spanish, and you are invited to post your contribution in any of the sixty languages supported by the site’s Google translate feature.
From FTF’s Global Coordinator, Rosa Lizarde, posted on the Gender Equality e-discussion site:
It is with much interest that I join as co-moderator today on the auspicious occasion of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, October 17th. To build on the ongoing global conversation on gender equality, we will shift slightly to reflect not only on the theme of today’s World Poverty Day 2012, Ending the Violence of Extreme Poverty: Promoting Empowerment and Building Peace, in particular as it relates to women and girls, but also on how we envision that the Post-2015 Development Agenda should address the feminization of poverty.
Building on the discussion guided by co-moderators Kate McInturff (Amnesty International) the first week on widespread and fundamental forms of gender-based inequalities, and Emily Esplen (Womankind Worldwide) and Nicole Bidegain (DAWN) this second week on how theseforms ofgender based inequalities intersect with inequality based on income, race/ethnicity, age, location, disability, and sexual orientation, I invite you to comment on the ongoing questions for week 2 and pose the following questions to deepen the discussion:
- Last week we discussed gender norms as limitations and obstructions for the advancement of women. Women living in poverty are confronted by severe obstacles – physical, economic, cultural and social – to accessing their rights and entitlements. Reversing these obstacles and gender inequality across generations is key to moving out of a life of poverty. What are the obstacles in your society that perpetuate the cycle of poverty for women? What are some successful approaches for tackling the feminization of poverty and reversing the cycle of poverty for women?
- Reflecting on the October 17th theme of “Ending the Violence of Extreme Poverty, how should the Post-2015 development framework include and address issues of the impoverished women and girls, especially those from socially excluded groups and those facing multiple forms of discrimination?
- As mentioned in the introduction of the e-discussion, the recommendations emerging from your contributions will also be transmitted to the Secretary-General’s High Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda. Looking ahead to the upcoming HLP meeting in London (Oct. 31 – Nov. 2), how can the HLP influence the Post-2015 process to ensure gender equality and the intersecting issues of impoverishment and the structural causes of poverty be featured in the framing of the dialogue?
As our UN Women and UNICEF colleagues have noted, we see this platform as an opportunity for a multitude of voices to be heard, particularly inviting those around the world not present at discussions here at the UN Headquarters in New York. I invite UN representatives and delegates from Member States to join civil society and NGOs, academics and others who’ve joined the global conversation on the critical topics of inequalities and gender-based discrimination.
UNICEF and UN Women are using the WorldWeWant2015.org platform for the online discussions and consultations.
Photo credit: Rosa Lizarde
Feminist Task Force 