The Lion Is Out

It is time for us to roar.

So said Zainab Salbi, founder and CEO of a fabulous organization called Women for Women International (which I will cover in a later post) at the UNIFEM / USNC annual conference, No Violence Against Women: Strategic Imperatives for Ending Violence against Women. It was a two-day conference held from June 11-June 12 at Hunter College (NYC) that delved into the global issues of violence, systemic causes of violence, what is being done to take action against this issue (a lot) and what still needs to be done (a whole lot more).

It’s difficult to summarize a two-day conference while avoiding platitudes like “that was inspirational” (though it was) or “the speakers were great” (though they were) – so I won’t try to do that. Instead, I’m making this meeting part of a two-part blog series about violence against women – including next steps so we can ALL take action, because if there is one thing that is clear, it’s that while global attention to violence against women is gaining traction – we need everyone’s help – men and women alike.

Whether you consider yourself a human rights crusader or not, the way that women are treated is implicated in everything: the economy, environment, healthcare, education and war. In a global economy, it becomes impossible to ignore it.

But for this post, let’s focus on just one of these things:

War: What is it good for?

Abigail Disney, Co-President of the Daphne Foundation, sat on a U.S. Foreign Policy Addressing Violence in Global Hot Spots panel at the conference and discussed the film she is working on called Women, War and Peace. The film shows how globally, women have been written out of wars. She talked about a “shared vocabulary of misery of women who are involved in conflict areas.”

I had never really thought about this. My school textbooks seemed to be an exhaustive string of battles and war stories, but the prominent facts I gleaned were the surface causes, countries involved, dates, and what was won. Where were the women?

Below is an interview with Abby and her co-producer so you can hear more about the movie and support their cause. Please note - I do not ask people to do anything I would not do myself, so I freely admit that the trailer on their website was very (emotionally) difficult for me to watch and (at this time), I did not get through the whole thing. But please watch the interview below and look around their website. Their point is incredibly clear – women are inextricably implicated in war. The movie is due out in Spring 2011.



Additional insight came from Salbi, a native Iraqi who, through her organization, works in conflict zones. She was also on this particular panel. She said that “When it comes to war, we only see things from a frontline discussion…that is the fighting and the troops and the army and the bullets…[but] how do you actually keep life going in war? Because it doesn’t occur to people that you actually go to school and have to get a job, and fall in love and get divorced and get married and go to parties and do all the things that one does in peace, except you do it in war within a...very, very fragile, very finite framework...your daily conversation becomes ‘don’t go to this road because there is a bomb in here, go to this road.’ You know, that becomes your coffee conversation.”

With this in mind, Salbi says that we need to have the discussion of what is happening from a backline perspective and how these people are affected. That, she says, is a discussion in which women are needed, and that is missing from the negotiating table. She says that what ends up happening is that war and peace becomes about “the ending of fighting” as opposed to a conversation on how do we build peace, because 60-70% of the population that this affects is not involved in the discussion.

Both womens' points really resonated with me. Next time you hear a news piece on the war in Afghanistan (just check today’s paper or turn on the television), or anywhere else for that matter – ask yourself – where are the women? What’s happening to them? Why isn’t the media telling this side of the story?

I would argue that based on facts alone, it’s not because their side of the story isn’t an important one.

According to Amnesty USA, violence against women is used as a weapon of war to attain military objectives such as spreading terror, breaking the resistance of a community, rewarding soldiers, intimidating the perceived enemy or obtaining information. The same organization notes that impunity for perpetrators (and if there is any word I heard a lot at this conference – it was “impunity”) remains the norm due to a number of factors, including a pervasive atmosphere of indifference towards many forms of violence against women.

Just take a look at this recent New York Times article: Child Brides Escape Marriage, but Not Lashes. That’s impunity.

The reality is upsetting, to put it very mildly. And while laws and resolutions to end violence against women are steps on the right direction, I began to feel very helpless early on in the conference when I saw that in many cases, this isn’t enough.

So I raised my hand.

This was during a Global Action Against Violence session when members of UNIFEM – the United Nations Development Fund for Women, were discussing the resources and campaigns put forth by their organization. I said that they seemed to be creating all these call-to-action programs and encouraging the passage of laws and resolutions, but it didn’t look like things were being implemented to the extent that they should be on the ground. What is going to be the catalyst, I asked.

“You are the catalyst,” one of the speakers responded.

She went on to say – and I love this line – that “advocacy isn’t a fluffy thing.” The law needs to get resources behind it and have people trained to do implementation. Others on the panel echoed her sentiments, and said that while the government may have the political will, they lack the resources and technical expertise. They don’t always know what works, or why it works.

And that’s where UNIFEM comes in – they bring together civil service expertise into these dialogues by funding groups on the ground and implementing monitoring and evaluation measures.

But advocacy is important to their efforts. How do we expect governments to implement changes if there is no call-to-action from the people to do so?

Which brings me to the next step – how can you support the global women’s cause and bring an end to violence against women?

So glad you asked!

Read on.

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On Your Mark, Get Set...

For those readers I didn’t lose after the last entry, thanks for sticking around. Here is the fun part – where we get to take action!

At the end of the UNIFEM/USNC conference, attendees were read a list of primary outcomes and actions we can take to move the global women’s agenda forward. I’m combining some of those actions with others that I have come across in my reading and throughout the course of the conference.

Let me also say that, as the description of this blog states, I too am learning about many of these things for the first time and am by no means an expert. So if you like what you hear – feel free research it further. I am not the final word on this.

1) Support grassroots efforts – While there are many NGOs out there that work on the ground in countries where women face severe violence, they can’t do it alone. These groups are limited in their resources and need our funding. They are the experts in their fields, so let’s support the excellent work they’re doing. Check out a list of these organizations here and see how you can support their work. And if you do further research, you’ll see that there are many more.

2) Pass the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) – I kept hearing about CEDAW (pronounced See-Daw in political acronym-speak) and how it’s time the US passes this treaty, called “the world’s most complete international agreement on basic human rights for women.” According to the website, the treaty was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1979 and as of March 2010, 186 countries have ratified the treaty – only seven have not. These countries are Sudan, Somalia, Iran, the United States, Nauru, Palau and Tonga.

Yeah. I had the same reaction.

The website has a “take action” tab where you can reach out directly to senators on the Foreign Relations Committee, where the treaty is currently sitting, and tell them to move it through. I personally think that the site would benefit from having an online petition so people can just add their name – I’ll pass that idea along and see if anything happens.

I encourage you to take a look around the CEDAW website and learn more about the issue. If you have a chance, I would also encourage you to read this article written by the chief to the Africa Division of UNIFEM that explains what the UN treaty can do if passed.

3) Sign up to receive daily e-mails from Women's eNews – a non-profit, independent news service focusing of issues on importance to women, this is a great way to stay up to date about the women’s movement. I actually had the privilege of meeting the founder, Rita Henley-Jensen, at this weekend’s conference – she’s an awesome woman and a survivor and her news service is really a labor of love.

4) Take action on the CARE Action Network – You can do this right now, just click on the link and scroll down to see a list of different advocacy actions. I did this last week by supporting the International Protecting Girls by Preventing Child Marriage Act. It’s an easy way to add your voice to the conversation.

Thanks for reading.

Okay, now GO!