Continuing Session, Commission on Status of Women Takes Up Empowerment, Combating Gender-Based Violence
Entering the fourth day of its sixtieth annual session, the Commission on the Status of Women held two panel discussions focused, respectively, on the roles of partnerships and data collection for the achievement of gender equality and women’s empowerment.
The morning panel explored the roles of different stakeholders — ranging from local governments to multilateral institutions — in supporting the gender dimensions of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Among other issues, panellists tackled the crucial role of female political leaders, the need to change the “narrative” of gender among private sector businesses and the increase in restrictions on the freedom of civil society, including women’s groups.
“We know that the glass ceiling can be broken,” said panellist Angela Brown-Burke, Mayor of Kingston, Jamaica. Despite years of political participation in her country, women still had low levels of political power and leadership and were concentrated in lower wage jobs. Municipal governments were ideally placed to build partnerships and play a facilitative role in empowering women, she said.
For their part, multilateral development banks were well-placed to contribute to achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment, said panellist Michaela Bergman, Chief Counsellor for Social Issues of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Among other things, they could help to establish public-private partnerships for development and ensure that sex-disaggregated data were collected.
The collection and quality of data was also the focus of the afternoon panel, which addressed gaps in data and methodology issues. Panellists discussed how data could help to track and tackle one of the most fundamental challenges facing women around the world — gender-based violence — including from national perspectives.
Interactive Expert Panel I
This morning, the Commission held an interactive panel discussion on the theme “participation and partnerships for gender-responsive implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”. Moderated by Jun Saito (Japan), Vice-Chair of the Commission, it featured the following panellists: Olfa Soukri Cherif (Tunisia), Member of Parliament; Angela Brown-Burke (Jamaica), Mayor of Kingston; Emma Kaliya (Malawi), Chairperson of the African Women’s Development and Communications Network; Michaela Bergman, Chief Counsellor for Social Issues, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD); and Rima Khalaf, Executive Secretary, Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA).
Mr. SAUTO, opening the discussion, said that in an effort to accelerate the gender-responsive implementation of the 2030 Agenda, the panel would explore the roles of five key stakeholder groups: city governments and local authorities; parliamentarians; multilateral development banks; women’s civil society organizations; and the United Nations system. He posed two main questions for the panellists in that regard: first, what the roles were of the different stakeholders in ensuring that existing commitments were implemented; and second, how multi-stakeholder partnerships could mobilize and share knowledge, experiences, technologies and financial resources to support the achievement of gender equality and women’s empowerment in the context of the Agenda.
Ms. CHERIF said the future of the 2030 Agenda depended on the implementation, review and evaluation of its Sustainable Development Goals. Her country had lifted key reservations to the international women’s treaty, which constituted a major step towards ensuring gender equality. The country had also outlawed gender discrimination in work and public life. However, there existed gaps in practice; the country had no women governors and the unemployment rate of female graduates was almost double that of men. Multi-stakeholder partnerships for gender equality had to begin with a participatory approach, she said, adding that women’s civil society organizations and networks had a major role to play in that respect.
Ms. BROWN-BURKE said that, despite years of political participation, women in Jamaica had low levels of political power and leadership. Increased economic development did not necessarily lead to female leadership; similarly, female leadership did not automatically lead to economic empowerment. Women constituted 46 per cent of the labour force, but they were concentrated in lower wage jobs. Jamaica’s debt had placed a strangle-hold on the country’s ability to provide social services to combat poverty. Notwithstanding those frontiers that remained to be crossed, however, “we know that the glass ceiling can be broken”. In that regard, municipal government was ideally placed to build partnerships and play a facilitative role.
Ms. BERGMAN noted that, given their role of leveraging finance for development, multilateral development banks were well-placed to contribute to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. They had increasingly partnered with numerous institutions to address gender gaps. Among other things, they were uniquely positioned to ensure that sex-disaggregated data were collected so as to meaningfully inform policy dialogue on gender issues, establish public-private partnerships for development and obtain private sector clients’ commitment to promote gender equality in their businesses. To achieve those goals, she said, multilateral development banks should address policy and regulatory barriers and engage in monitoring and building capacity.
Ms. KALIYA said urgent action was required in five priority areas: transforming discriminatory social norms and gender stereotypes; transforming the economy to achieve gender equality and sustainable development; ensuring the full and equal participation of women in decision-making at all levels; increasing investments in gender equality; and strengthening accountability for gender equality and the realization of the human rights of women and girls. All stakeholders — in particular women’s rights and feminist organizations — had the right to participate in the implementation of the programmes and policies that affected them, she said, noting that civil society organizations were frequently denied that right around the world.
Ms. KHALAF said the 2030 Agenda created high expectations. Partnerships between various stakeholders would be required to meet those expectations, and were even more necessary in countries affected by warfare, humanitarian needs or foreign occupation. The global convening role of the Organization greatly facilitated the setting of norms, she said, adding that it played a critical role in raising awareness and influencing public opinion in favour of social change. It must continue to build the capacity of women — including by partnering with universities or helping parliaments draft legislation in support of women’s rights — and help to foster an environment in which gender-related norms were enforced.
As the floor was opened for questions and comments, many speakers agreed with the panellists that partnerships between a wide range of stakeholders were critical to protecting and promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment. They also called for a gender-sensitive approach to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals — including the development of gender-sensitive indicators — and for their strong monitoring.
A number of speakers also posed specific questions to the panellists.
The representative of Norway, for example, asked about the role of the private sector in helping to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women in the context of the 2030 Agenda.
Ms. BERGMAN, in response, said it was critical to change the narrative to show the private sector that increasing the representation of women was good for business.
Ms. BROWN-BURKE, asked by the representative of Switzerland about ways to reverse the concentration of women in the low-wage sector, said it was important to introduce young women to new employment possibilities. Mentorship from women in non-traditional jobs was also crucial, she stressed.
The representative of Uganda said women’s rights organizations should not use their energies negatively or for “disruptive purposes”, adding that they should partner with — and not challenge — Governments.
Ms. KALIYA, in response, noted that such cases were extremely isolated, and that her organization had never attempted to confuse the authority of the State.
Also participating were representatives of Italy, Estonia, Iran, Tunisia, Egypt, Rwanda, Niger, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Japan, Chad, Sudan, Honduras, Mexico and South Sudan.
A representative of the European Union also spoke.
Also taking part were the representatives of Federación Española de Mujeres Directivas, Profesionales y Empresarias, Asian Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women, Egyptian Centre for Women’s Rights, Education International and the Regional Centre of Human Rights and Gender Justice.
Interactive Expert Panel II
In the afternoon, the Commission held an interactive panel discussion on the theme “the elimination and prevention of all forms of violence against women and girls — addressing data gaps and methodological issues”. Moderated by Šejla Ðurbuzović (Bosnia and Herzegovina), it featured the following panellists: Francesca Grum, Chief of the Social and Housing Statistics Section, United Nations Statistics Division; Irene Casique Rodríguez, researcher at the Regional Center for Multidisciplinary Studies, National Autonomous University of Mexico; and Ainur Dossanova, Chief Expert of the Division of Social and Demographic Studies, Committee for Statistics under the Ministry of National Economy of Kazakhstan.
Ms. ÐURBUZOVIĆ, opening the discussion, said that, despite progress in data collection through surveys over the last 15 years, many countries still had little or no data on the prevalence of violence against women. Such information was costly and time-consuming to collect. Methodological and ethical considerations needed to be taken into account, as well as the capacities of national statistical offices. Prevalence data made it possible to assess the magnitude of the problem, understand the various types of violence and identify high-risk groups. They also provided a starting point for laws, policies and programmes, and enabled countries to monitor effectiveness and change over time. The panel would reflect on the status of data collection and analysis and consider how the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development could help enhance the evidence base on violence against all women and girls.
Ms. GRUM recalled that, last Friday, in the same conference room, the United Nations Statistical Commission had agreed to a set of 230 indicators for the Sustainable Development Goals. Eight of those indicators touched upon various forms of violence against women, including sexual, physical and psychological violence, female genital mutilation, physical and sexual harassment, homicide, human trafficking and child marriage. More data was available today than 10 years ago, but information was still missing from many countries. Another limitation was the lack of comparability of data, not only between countries but also over time. Some surveys might focus on a woman’s most recent partner, while others would consider all the partners she might have had. Many household surveys targeted women of reproductive age, leaving out older women who were also at risk of violence. Finally, the willingness of respondents to talk about violence could vary greatly from country to country. Gaps existed in terms of trend analysis, and for some subgroups, such as migrants, there was no information at all.
Ms. CASIQUE RODRÍGUEZ said that generating statistics on violence against women was the only way to visualize the problem and its cross-cutting nature. To prevent and eliminate such violence, precise and timely data was needed to help guide programmes and policies. In Latin America, 48 per cent of countries had some kind of data, with Mexico among the most advanced in that regard. But the information was still insufficient and inconsistent. The two main sources of data were administrative records from the police and social services, and household surveys. Both had their advantages and disadvantages. The former cost less, but was liable to be inconsistent between sources and lack sufficient disaggregation. Surveys could look at the various types of violence in detail, as well as the characteristics of perpetrators and the context of the incidents. However, they were expensive, and differed in methodology between countries. Going forward, the challenge was to achieve comparability on an international level, without which there could be no global view of the problem from country to country.
Ms. DOSSANOVA said that every country had a duty to ensure the regular collection and dissemination of statistics as part of the fight against violence against women. Several lessons had been drawn by her country’s statistics committee from its research, such as the importance of allowing more time to conduct a survey in greater depth and giving special training to field personnel. Only women would conduct surveys, in a private setting, and the location of households surveyed was scattered in order to preserve confidentiality. Given the stressful nature of the topic, psychologists were provided to support field personnel. Close interaction between all stakeholders was also critical for success. To ensure international comparability of data, a single internationally agreed methodology was needed. And in order to be effective, the results had to be widely disseminated.
As the floor was opened for questions and comments, speakers from a number of States shared lessons learned and best practices. Some emphasized the need to include marginalized and vulnerable groups of women, such as the elderly, the disabled, the poor and those living in polygamous households. Others noted how social and cultural norms might prompt victims to remain silent. Speakers also asked about the role that civil society and new technology could play, as well as the expense of conducting and analysing surveys.
Ms. DOSSANOVA, in response to questions, emphasized the importance of working together to resolve issues surrounding the production, dissemination and monitoring of data, as well as the need for a single methodology. At the national and international levels, she said, “cooperation is possibly the key to success”.
Ms. CASIQUE RODRÍGUEZ described how civil society in Mexico had brought attention to the need to collect information about trafficking in girls and the situation of indigenous women. She also stressed the need for surveys to be well-funded, not just once but on a regular basis.
Ms. GRUM said it was important to get national statistical offices involved in creating and maintaining a centralized data base. Doing so would ensure the scientific reliability of the data. She agreed that disaggregation should only be along the lines of sex or age, given the 2030 Agenda’s ambitious nature.
DUBRAVKA ŠIMONOVIĆ, Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, said violence against women continued to be among the most pervasive human rights violations in the world. It knew no borders and, with the Internet and other new information technologies, it assumed new forms. Several instruments were in place that together provided a road map to improve the response to such violence, but there needed to be universal ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and its Optional Protocol. Impunity and accountability of perpetrators remained a challenge, as was the ability to provide help to all victims. Efforts needed to be made to reach out to young people through the arts and new technology. Empowering women economically meant engaging all parts of the community, including men and boys. But it was important to know exactly what was happening. That was why data collection was so important. The Sustainable Development Goals were thus an opportunity to improve global evidence on violence against women.
Participating in the discussion were representatives of Switzerland, Indonesia, Iran, Chad, Morocco, Italy, Pakistan, Dominican Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Philippines, Mexico, Egypt, Japan, South Sudan, United States and the Lao People’s Democratic Republic.
A representative of the European Union also spoke.
Also taking part were the representatives of HelpAge International, Amnesty International and Global Vision India Foundation.
The Commission on the Status of Women will reconvene on Friday, 18 March, at 10 a.m. to continue its general discussion.