UNCSW66 - Do we still need to talk about gender equality?

 

UNCSW66: CSW66(2022) | Commission on the Status of Women | UN Women – Headquarters

As a teacher educator, I look forward to the UN CSW. This is my 3rd year attending and I look forward to the theme, the space and the connections.  The space that is created is built on a coming together to examine the inequality women and girls face in a world which is still evolving. This Commission creates opportunity to examine the status of women from many different angles whether this is within the context of country, region or topic. As a woman, trade unionist and activist this space is bother empowering, exhausting and energising.

This year the theme is “Achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls in the context of climate change, environmental and disaster risk reduction policies and programmes”. How do we reconcile gender equality with the climate crisis?  we are facing both as one global community, yet it isn’t that isn’t easy to link.

Often we become ‘siloed’ into our area of interest whether that is equality in the world of work, education, sexual health and reproductive rights, violence against women and girls – to be able examine our lives through different lenses is invaluable. And this is the power of the CSW.

I was fortunate to join the CSW virtually from the UK TUC Women’s Conference the week before and it is empowering to see the same issues presented globally.  But discussing these concerns internationally is both heart-breaking and heart-filling at the same time. Heart-breaking because we are still having trying to solve these problems after decades, but also heart filling because we are coming together to take action in our ‘small’ way. Each action is part of a larger network, an action that moves us forward and closer to equality.

Our debates and discussions are about building and cementing community, a global community and network of women creating and ‘infiltrating’ spaces to bring about change.

To protect the rights of women and girls we first need to be clear about the barriers and challenges that there are to true equality of access.

There is clearly a role here for those of us who are activists, to listen, learn and enact.

By being in these spaces, we need to be humble and learn from each other irrespective of whether we are in in the global north or south, the inequality of women is seen as the solution, the solution to the climate crisis, to economic regeneration and post-pandemic recovery.

The main question- How can we move forward as a society when half of the population haven’t got the opportunity to contribute in their fullness?

As a teacher educator it is crucial that our women and girls are given the tools, skills and confidence needed to not just talk about change but to demand it and to be bold in the change they want to see and be a part of.

This applies to the most pressing crisis facing our eco-world as we know it.  Climate change can only be faced when we are all activated and focused on getting to a solution, but this can’t be achieved with one arm tied behind our backs.

 

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