The U.N. General Assembly’s adoption on September 14 of a resolution to create a
new U.N. agency solely dedicated to gender equality is to be applauded.
It is comforting to know that the efforts of civil society organizations and women’s activists are at last rewarded and that women will have a stronger entity to look after their interests.
About a year and half ago, at the 52nd meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in New York, a friend told me, as we were attending a
Gender Equality Architecture Reform (GEAR) meeting, that although change might be slow coming, she was sure that within a few years, the General Assembly would adopt a powerful resolution in favor of women. “The pressure on them is just too much,” I remember her saying. It was one of those moments when fighting actually meant something. We were gathered in a small room at 777 United Nations Plaza, listening to speakers and strategizing for a more powerful campaign. I am sure each one of us present at the meeting has followed, one way or the other, each step of the advancement of the campaign, until this memorable day of September 14, 2009.
I must admit though, that a question has been on my mind for several years with regards to the creation of a U.N. agency for women: why did it not occur earlier? The Mirabal sisters (in memory of whom we commemorate
November 25th) were brutally killed in 1960; the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) was adopted in 1979; two of the greatest gatherings of and for women occurred in Nairobi in 1985 and in Beijing in 1995. These events, the yearly meetings of the CSW, the weakness of the four existing women’s U.N. bodies (in view of recurring and increasing violence against women especially) did not seem to really affect the General Assembly in a way that made it realize that women needed an agency with more powers.
I haven’t found an answer to the question, but the General Assembly’s resolution is an important event in the history of our fight for a reform of gender norms. We are now, more than ever, G.E.A.R.ed for the advancement of the condition of women worldwide. We do not have any excuses anymore. Let us dare hope that when the agency is created, member states will abide by their promises and work towards true gender equality.
