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Empowering Women for Peace and Democracy |
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Written by Elizabeth Sidney OBE
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Wednesday, 23 April 2008 |
 Early in 2008, the International Federation of Women against Fundamentalism and for Equality (WAFE) and the Womens Federation for World Peace (WFWP) UK agreed to work together to advance Millennium Development Goal Number 3: The Empowerment of Women.
The Millennium GroupEmpowering Women for Peace and DemocracyReport on Launch of 2008 Project 21/4/08
The Empowerment of Women
Kofi Annan, when Secretary General to the United Nations, said that without reaching this goal none of the other goals could be realised The enormous work undertaken by women’s NGOs, to promote women’s advancement and wellbeing, was clearly being handicapped bt the absence of women from decision-making positions.
We agreed to run a joint project to help UK women enter politics, and in particular to improve the dismal 19% of women in the House of Commons.
The Millennium Group
We formed a small steering committee, the Millennium Group. We are:
Mitty Tohma, President WFWP UK
Elizabeth Sidney, Chair of WAFE
Tina Coombs, Vice President WFWP Europe
Roya Kashefi, Human Rights Activist
Tahirih Danesh, International Coordination for Gender Justice in Iraq
The 2008 Project
The Millennium Group developed a programme to run through 2008. It was launched in April. Our total programme is:
April 21st: Inaugural Launch
April 24th: First Information Training Day: How the Political Systems Work
April 24th Evening: Celebration of Women working for Gender Equality
June 14th: Information Training Day: Institutional Barriers to Women’s Advancement
September 20th: Changing Culture
November 25th: Evening pre-Christmas Reception
November 29th: Violence isn’t only physical
The Millennium Group
Inaugural Meeting 21/04/08 6.00-8.30pm House of Lords
The meeting was chaired by Baroness Harris, Patron of WAFE. An audience of some 130 people packed the room to hear three distinguished speakers and additional addresses from distinguished guests.
Dr Nancy Tokola, Marie Curie Fellow at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands, reminded us of the effects of patriarchy. Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) had diagnosed that it emphasised national power and led to stratification of society with women in subordinate positions. Their subordination was emphasised by denying them economic and political resources. In Holland, Aletta Jacobs, the first woman to be admitted to a University course (1871) had challenged the voting system in 1883 by registering to vote. She was refused a vote as a ‘citizen’ and the law was redefined as meaning male. In consequence she led the suffragette movement and Dutch women received the vote in 1919.
Dr Tokola had worked on a major project in Mongolia, combating HIV/AIDS. Mongolia had only 6.6% women MPs. She had worked in women’s prisons and in hospitals and was now Visiting Professor of Biomedical Ethics at the Health Sciences University of Mongolia and International Consultant to a network of NGOs concerned with Human Rights and Reproductive Health.
She commented that Fundamentalist regimes were well resourced and well organised. They did not understand the meaning of gender equality, which required equal dignity, respect and justice.
Dr Zaituna Shah, former Advisor to the United Nations on Training and Research, spoke on the need for a universal Human Development Index, to help us think in new, radical ways about human happiness. We had to break the powerful bonds of tradition and custom.
It was helpful to compare progress in different countries. Seventy per cent of lawyers in Algeria, for instance, were women. Tunisian women now enjoy equal pay. Pakistan has done much to incorporate gender neutrality into its legislation.
It was absolutely essential, said Dr Shah, to have gender neutrality enshrined in national constitutions.
Kathleen McCulloch, Chair of Northern Ireland Women’s European Platform, gave an account of women’s local contribution to peace and stability. She described how, during ten years of conflict in Northern Ireland, women had crossed the divide and focussed on poverty, childcare and housing. They had supported the community and made sure money was spent on people, not only on roads. European funding had helped women in political education, dealing with violence and learning non-traditional and managerial skills. Women had contributed significantly to support for the Belfast Agreement. Sadly, this had not resulted in gender equality. Women in Northern Ireland now made up only 18% of politicians elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly, which was even questioning diversity (i.e. gender equality). European funds were dwindling. The province has never had a female judge. It was frustrating to see Rwanda with 50% women in its government.
For this inaugural meeting, the Millennium Group had invited all Embassies and High Commissions in London to send representatives. We were greatly honoured that five were able to send their Ambassadors or High Commissioners.
In national alphabetical order we heard from:
 Ambassadors from four countries
Women brought a different perspective. They were good at networking and dealing with the details of daily life. The Austrian Foreign Minister, Mrs Ursula Plassuit, had brought women together in conferences on the Middle east, black women and women in armed conflict. Together with the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, she had requested that the UN Security Council pay special attention to women’s needs. Austria already had a special plan for women’s inclusion in international peace keeping and nation building.
We also heard from Mrs Pilar Sabrio Rocafort of Costa Rica. As early as 1996, Costa Rica had passed a law requiring 40% of all political representatives to be women. The law was gradually implemented and was accepted without question.
The Liberian Ambassador, His Excellency Mr Wesley Johnson, described himself as the offspring of a strong woman. On 8th November 2005 the Liberian people overwhelmingly elected Africa’s first female President, Mrs Eileen Sirleaf Johnson. She had to work twice as hard as her male rivals but had appealed to the vast majority of Liberians seeking for political, economic and social change. ‘I have come to realize’, said Ambassador Johnsson, ‘that women are good thinkers, passionate, caring and they believe in what they do’.
Ambassador Mrs Maria Efremova of Macedonia spoke of the steady increase in the number of women being elected to the Assembly, from 5 in 1994 to 35 elected in 2006. In an Assembly of 120 parliamentarians, women formed 30.8%. Fifteen women had held Ministerial positions, including one Vice Prime Minister and one Minister of Foreign Affairs.
 All women Parliamentarians belonged to the Women’s Parliamentary Club, which had the aim of examining existing legislation and proposing new laws to advance gender equality and women’s participation in decision making. The Club had ensured that every third place on the election lists must be filled by the less represented gender, had promoted the law on equal opportunity and had obtained amendments to pension, insurance and protection of victims of violence.
Mrs Efremova stressed the need for women to have economic independence. Women entrepreneurs must be supported and microfinance made available.
First Secretary of the Pakistan High Commission, Mrs Aisha Farooqui spoke of the situation in her country. Before 2002, only 3% of Parliamentarians were women. Now it was 20%. Pakistan was the first country to have a woman speaker for Parliament. Women brought communication skills and a sense of fairness into politics.
In discussion, Diana Baskerville of the Ministry for Peace warned against women who opposed the success of other women. Emancipation was often linked to class. In Turkey, rich, educated women were emancipated but the poor remained confined to domestic life.
Other points raised included the need to involve NGOs at all levels of decision-making. Women should empower girls and develop their own readiness to take responsibility for making decisions.
The meeting was filmed and formed the basis of a programme put out by Sky Television on May 9th.
Elizabeth Sidney May 2008 |
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