Women's Views on News |
| Is the women’s movement sustainable? Posted: 12 May 2015 08:41 AM PDT
Feminism has often been declared 'dead', a fringe movement surviving off the persistence of a fractured collective of women's organisations and individuals. Fast-forward to 2015 and the feminist renaissance appears well underway, its significance on the political agenda re-established and its cultural status reinforced. But what lies ahead? In recent years feminism has undergone a successful rebranding, which has dispelled the most stalwart myths, and fashioned a cause many more people can relate to. Celebrities have clambered aboard, and with them, commercial interests, with the likes of Dove, Nike and Pantene mobilising feminist motifs to sell. A more gender aware media combined with burgeoning networks of activists both online and off, have removed feminism from the guardianship of academia and planted it firmly into the public domain. Grassroots resistance has characterised the women's movement since the Suffragettes, and recent actions like the Beach Body Ready and Sisters Uncut protests demonstrate the continued commitment among activists to this mode of decentralised, oppositional mobilisation. The more radical and visible side of feminism is the one most frequently relayed in media coverage – there is comparatively little awareness of the annual Commission on the Status of Women for example – but institutions have evolved and diversified at every stage in the women's movement, and play a similarly important role in determining the feminist agenda, particularly at the global level. The recent formation of the Women’s Equality Party in the UK marks a new attempt to unite different strands of feminism in a formal capacity. The 'non-partisan' party has yet to declare official policies, but has outlined some broad goals: equal representation in politics and business, equal opportunities, equal pay and parenting rights, and an end to violence against women. The party seeks to politicise gender equality so that 'both sexes can flourish' and states that it will not present itself 'as a party with an answer on every issue' so as to remain 'clear and unambiguous'. The intentionally narrow parameters of the party's statement sit uncomfortably in a movement now defined by more intersectional analysis of gender equality, acknowledging the multiple categories and privileges which mediate women's experience of oppression. While the issues highlighted are significant obstacles for many women, generalised statements pertaining to women's collective needs, interests and subjectivities refute the diversity of women's experience and conditions, particularly those of women of colour and trans women. Establishing an identity for women as a cohesive social group negates the myriad of sub-groups and categories within, which risks privileging positionalities within the movement. Given the substantial media attention the party has already received, there are important implications from this identification process on public opinion of feminism and whom it appears to represent. The Women's Equality Party further stipulates that 'equality means…a more vibrant economy' in which everyone is able to benefit. Framing equality within a narrative of economic gain not only undermines a human rights based argument for gender equality but also parallels a growing pattern in other parts of the women's sector towards greater corporatisation. This presents further damaging consequences for women's agency. An increasingly hostile funding climate has destabilised parts of the sector and forced organisations into competition for resources. Up to 75 per cent of women's organisations have had to reduce or close services, while demand has risen by 97 per cent. The requirement for service efficiency and results driven work has particularly affected small and specialist front-line organisations and services with fewer income sources. And the homogenisation of services will mean that the diverse needs and interests of women will struggle to be met. Not unsurprisingly, organisations have begun to collaborate with commercial partners; the Nike Foundation, Exxcel, Coca Cola, Chevron and Intel have all invested in work with women and girls. These partnerships, driven by necessity, constitute an erosion of women's agency, as corporate messages and interests intertwine with project goals. Non-institutional feminist organising is in many ways a better indication of appetite for social change; women can mobilise around particular issues and cleavages, and often this form of activism is highly successful in lobbying for change. Institutions are essential mechanisms in the women's movement, but they are not a direct extension of feminist principles and they do not represent all women. As the sector becomes increasingly permeable to external forces, tradeoffs can be expected, but women's agency must not be one of them.  |
| More commitments to HeForShe campaign Posted: 12 May 2015 07:53 AM PDT
UN Women's HeForShe campaign has announced 10 bold commitments from its IMPACT Champions, demonstrating strong leadership in the progress towards advancing women's rights and empowerment. The HeForShe IMPACT 10x10x10 is an initiative that aims to engage an initial 10 governments, corporations and universities around the world in activities to achieve gender equality. The initiative prioritizes legislative bodies and corporations in view of the gender inequality that exists in these areas, confirmed by findings from the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2014. The report highlights a large current gap between men and women in terms of political engagement and opportunity and little improvement in equality for women in the workplace since 2006. Universities join the impact trio because youth engagement represents one of the greatest opportunities for accelerating progress toward the achievement of gender equality, and for ending violence against women. Earlier this year at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, UN Women unveiled the pilot IMPACT 10x10x10 initiative with six inaugural partners – Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands; President Ernest Bai Koroma of Sierra Leone; Prime Minister Stefan Löfvén of Sweden; Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever; Rick Goings, Chair and Chief Executive Officer of Tupperware Brands Corporation; and Dennis Nally, Chair, PricewaterhouseCoopers International Ltd. "If we are to achieve gender equality in our lifetime, we need creative approaches that target the biggest barriers. "IMPACT 10x10x10 brings together the strength of partners across sectors to crack some of those barriers from within," Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, UN Women’s executive director and United Nations Under-Secretary-General, said. "Our pilot IMPACT Champions have taken ownership of these issues. Their leadership and ideas will pave the way for others to join in." Since January, leaders from around the world have made personal and institutional commitments to the advancement and achievement of gender equality. The CEOs and chairs who have announced their commitments represent five industries and almost 800,000 employees in over 190 countries around the world. They include: Sébastien Bazin, chair and CEO, Accor; Rick Goings, chair and CEO, Tupperware Brands; Mustafa Koç, chair, Koç Holding; Dennis Nally, chair, PricewaterhouseCoopers International Ltd and Paul Polman, CEO, Unilever. This group provides the foundation for further expansion of the initiative to a broader range of companies, which can draw on the initial ideas to shape their own activities. As part of the effort, each company has signed the Women's Empowerment Principles, committing to implement Principle #7—Measure and publicly report on progress to achieve gender equality. In addition, each company has outlined commitments to address the core challenges and barriers in their industry, so as to accelerate progress towards equality. Corporate champions have also made commitments within their companies to boost efforts towards closing the pay gap, reaching parity in management, and mandating gender sensitivity training. Some commitments even go beyond direct staff, including: expanding opportunities for women across the extended supply chain, reaching parity in factory operations, and empowering men as change agents in local communities. The UN Women's HeForShe initiative also announced five university Champions, representing over 150,000 students on four continents, including: Vice-Chancellor Paul Boyle of the University of Leicester; Vice-Chancellor and Principal Adam Habib of the University of the Witwatersrand; President and Vice-Chancellor Feridun Hamdullahpur of the University of Waterloo; President and Vice-Chancellor Peter Mathieson of the University of Hong Kong; President Seiichi Matsuo of Nagoya University. The Champion universities have made concrete commitments including: advancing women in academia, addressing campus violence, building gender-sensitive campuses, and tackling pervasive biases towards women and men. Their specific commitments can be found here. The companies and universities engaged in 10x10x10 were selected because of their reputations for strong ethical practices, their demonstrated excellence in public service, their global reach and relevance and their willingness to use their influence to drive and inspire change. Since the September 2014 launch of HeForShe by actor Emma Watson in her capacity as UN Women Global Goodwill Ambassador, men and boys around the world have committed to take action for gender equality. Nearly 300,000 men and boys have made their commitment to gender equality through the “HeForShe Commitments API”, a geo-located website app allowing men to register and visualize the real-time number of men activated on the map globally. In addition, HeForShe has reached over 2 billion people on social media.  |
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