Sr. Joan Pytlik, D.C. of the Elizabeth Seton Federation responds to the question “Where Do the U.S. and the U.N. Really Stand on Women?”Belief in the inherent dignity of the human person, male and female, is the foundation of all Catholic social teaching. Feeling pretty smug, I thought we were far advanced on gender equality for women and girls in the USA, and wondered about the rest of the world. In March, I was fortunate to attend meetings of the Commission on the Status of Women at the United Nations. About 2,000, mostly women, came from around the world. I spoke with women from areas of recent conflicts in Sierra Leone, Israel, and Iraq.
Since it’s original charter, the U.N. has championed equal rights for women. Much of it’s work is done in commissions, so in 1946 the U.N. established the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). In 1948, the U.N. Declaration on Human Rights included equal rights for men and women. In 1981, the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) went into effect. The outcome document of the 23rd Special Session of the General Assembly “Women 2000: Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the 21st Century” culminated in the Security Council’s Resolution 1325 “On Women, Peace and Security.“ There have been four U.N. World Conferences on Women (1975 – Mexico; 1980 – Copenhagen; 1985 – Nairobi; and 1995 – Beijing). The CSW has subsequently addressed two topics each year from the Beijing Conference Platform at its annual meetings in New York, with resultant resolutions.
One of this year’s topics was “Women’s Equal Participation in Conflict Prevention, Management, and Conflict Resolution and in Post-Conflict Peace-Building.” The 2004 CSW Resolution calls upon the U.N. and governments to protect full human rights for all women, especially in times of conflict. It states, “To achieve sustainable and durable peace, the full and equal participation of women and girls and the integration of gender perspectives in all aspects of conflict prevention, management and conflict resolution and in post-conflict peace-building is essential. Yet women continue to be under-represented in the processes, institutions and mechanisms dealing with these areas. Therefore, further effort is needed to promote gender equality and ensure women’s equal participation at all levels of decision-making in all relevant institutions.” CSW calls for the protection and security of women who are often subject to gender violence and deprivation in conflicts, including sexual violence and trafficking in women and girls.
The second topic taken up by CSW was “The Role of Men & Boys in Achieving Gender Equality.” Because men generally hold the power, the CSW recognized it is essential to
have men and boys as advocates in making gender equality a reality. The CSW Resolution encourages governments to promote understanding of the importance of men and boys sharing family responsibilities, including becoming care-givers of children, the sick and the elderly. Governments should increase the capacity of men, organizations, and the educational system to raise children in a manner oriented toward gender equality. The media and advertising should be engaged to stop portraying women and girls in a demeaning or exploitative manner (including through pornography). Men need to be encouraged to adopt safe and responsible sexual behaviors, especially as regards the transmission of HIV-AIDS. Men are also called upon to consider measures aimed at eliminating the demand for trafficked women and children.
In examining my smugness, it now seems the USA has a long way to go in promoting an equal participation of women and in finding solutions. We provide a demand for prostitution, even by trafficked women and children, and have a huge market in pornography. Our advertising and media is certainly demeaning of women. All of us can become involved in one of these areas of abuse of women and girls. The U.S. has signed CEDAW, but the Senate has not ratified it, so it does not yet have the force of international law in the USA. We can urge our Senators and the President to get on board with gender equality for women and girls by ratifying CEDAW.
