Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) 2010): Genesis of the Women Agenda – Contours and Cross-Roads from Beijing (1995) – New York (2010) – Optimism or Pessimism.

By Binneh s Minteh

Former Gambian Army First Lieutenant

Fifteen years ago, in Beijing, officials of 189 governments and more than 2,000 non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and over 40, 000 participants and observers, described women’s empowerment and equality as a socio-economical and socio-political pillar to global development. The Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA) to empower and eliminated all forms of discrimination against women was unanimously adopted in September, 1995. Women empowerment has since then become a contentious policy phenomenon of our contemporary modern world, as codified in both the Beijing Platform For Action (BPFA), and preceding International Instruments – Millennium Development Goals (MDGs, 2000), UNSCR (1325) ,and UNSCR (1825).

Despite such historic mobilizations, the contours and cross-roads from Beijing (1995) to New York (2010) have not been an easy one. Women continue to be vulnerable to poverty, violence and, discrimination, thus widening the gap of equality as the largest proportion of the world’s population.

As government representatives, religious groups, women and civil society organizations once again gathered at the United Nations Headquarters, New York City for the historic CSW 2010, an atmosphere of business as usual was visible around the UN Headquarters and the city of New York, respectively.

Colorful traditional attire, from Africa to India, South America to Asia, and North America to the Russian Federation was the hallmark of the historic occasion. Hallways, elevators and street corners in and around the United Nations could be seen jammed packed with global citizens- sometimes traditional languages and advocacy banners – characterize the order of the days between March, 1^st 2010 and March, 13, 2010.

Amidst UN sponsored conferences and parallel events organized by Non-Governmental- Organizations (NGOs) and civil society organizations, the question what has been achieved, and how far have we come thus far, continue to shape both a spiraling optimism and pessimism across global socio- political, socio-economical and socio-cultural parallels. The agenda for CSW 2010- “Equal rights, equal opportunities: Progress for all,” could not therefore come at any better time.

Responding to the questions above, it is worth noting that with the adoption of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA) in 1995, and the subsequent coming into effect of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2000, our world witnessed a proliferation of advocacy for the global women agenda across global contours. Several countries have since then adopted national developments plans that embedded the codification of these great international legal instruments in to laws, providing protection for women, thus becoming the bedrock of bridging the gender gap. Through-out the cross –roads, considerable achievement has been made in both the developed and developing world– women leadership and empowerment became the characteristic of policy from Latin America, Asia, Europe, America, and the African continent. The proliferation of women leaders in the United States of America, Europe, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Rwanda, Ghana, Nigeria, Liberia, Senegal, and The Gambia are global embodiments to that reality.

Such strides intertwined with what most analysts contend as an increasing number in the education of girls across the developing world. However, considering that over 50% of the world’s population constitutes women and girls, such considerable achievements have raised both optimism on one part of the global political spectrum and pessimism on the other part. How that has shaped the women agenda could very well be pondered with our changing global realities.

Nonetheless, what is certain is that, both optimists and pessimist have a breaking ground on the contentious global women agenda. Although there has been considerable success as opined by the optimists, but does that suffice to say that the gender gap has been bridged, or does that mean that Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), Forced Marriages, Rape and Domestic Violence has been effectively contained, as argued by pessimists of our times.

A careful analysis would show that amidst breakthroughs in upholding the women agenda, there is still a lot of work to be done. According to the United Nations Report on the World Social Situation 2010:

Women are still subjects of structural exclusion in societies and are perceived as inferior and subordinate to men. In developing and developed countries women are overrepresented among people living in poverty and suffer from exclusion from basic education, landownership and employment. It is further worth understanding that although anti-poverty policies focusing on women are often seen as attaining development objectives, they may not be very effective in tackling gender-related issues because the subjugation of women is not caused by poverty alone. That is why equality issues should be considered in development programming (Jackson, 1996)

The United Nations Report on the World Social Situation 2010 could not have come at any better time. Amidst a global financial crisis that has shaped our world, women continue to be the disproportionate world population ravaged by relative poverty. These has raised quite an alarm as the implementation and domestification of international legal covenants protecting women continues to face daunting challenges – Such challenges are attributed to the lack of political will, cultural and traditional constraints, as argued by scholars, policy analysts and representatives of civil society organizations throughout the historic occasion.

Apart from concerns of political will, we have also learned that culture and tradition have made a paradigm shift of the women agenda difficult, if not challenging. In both the developing and developed world, the patriarchal nature of our societies has brought to light the compelling realities of most modern societies. From India to Africa, and from the America’s to Russia and Europe, male dominance encompassed by religion and culture posed daunting challenges to the empowerment agenda of women- a historical mistake, and a religious contradiction that requires prompt reversals.

As children of Abraham, it is imperative to understand that teachings in both, The Holy Torah, The Holy Bible and The Holy Quran, upheld empowerment and dignity of women as an embodiment of societal development. History has also shown that throughout global transformations, women have always taken a forefront of communal affairs. These include taking leadership roles and fighting side by side with men in the confrontation of major communal and societal agendas.

In view of the religious and cultural hurdles confronting the women agenda, a contentious challenge of educating the Girl – Child brought to light a compelling global reality. In spite of the progress echoed by some civil society organizations, achieving the 2015 Millennium Development Goal for the Girl-Child remain to be a dream in some countries. More donors funding to adopt legislation and mechanisms that support Girl-Child Education in National Development Plans must be aggressively explored – this should be built around frameworks that would aggressively confront corruption as an undermining mechanism of institutional effectiveness. Just as the sexual exploitation and trafficking of the Girl- Child is globally confronted, so must the education agenda take a forefront of Global effort. Economic and social scientist have further proven that marginalization and divisions within a society diminish the possibility of accessing socio-economic and socio-political opportunities. And our collective failure to provide equal education to the worlds Girl –Children falls along similar trajectories.

Amidst considerable success as opined by the optimist, and daunting challenges ahead as argued by the pessimist, our world has come a long way since the inception of Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA 1995), the Millennium Development Goals (2000), and United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 and 1825 respectively. With the 2010 celebrations and reviews of the global women agenda, the contours and cross-roads from Beijing (1995) to New York (2010 could be chronicled with mixed reactions.

Progressively and aggressively pushing the women agenda forward requires both national governments and civil society organizations to work in partnerships across multifaceted dimensions. Ratification of The Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) by the United States as the global political, social and economic powerhouse will positively shape the women agenda across our civilize world. It is further important to understand that for African women to fully realize the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA), ratifying and implementing the African Union (AU) Protocol on the Rights of African Women will only embolden Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA) adopted in 1995.

Hopefully the year 2010 will be remembered in history for the Ratification of CEDAW by the Obama administration and the AU Protocol on the Rights of African women by the remaining African nations. What else could we say?