Minu Hemmati,
Gender & Sustainable Development panel, 03 April 2002
Thank you very
much for inviting me to share some thoughts on this panel.
The Johannesburg
Summit process offers – or could offer - a unique opportunity to
"re-engender" the debate on sustainable development, to ensure that
women's concerns, needs and contributions are an integral part of reviewing the
implementation of Agenda 21 (1992) and the Programme for Further Implementation
(1997) as well as an integral part of forward looking analysis and decisions
for the future.
The women’s
movement is standing up to this challenge. Numerous initiatives are underway
and being planned as well as strategies for lobbying, campaigning and awareness
raising, some have been described here by our colleagues.
Sustainable
development is about the three pillars, it is about good governance, it is
about significant changes that need the will and effort of all – and it is
about levelling the playing field (which for many is not a PLAYING field!). It
is about peace and learning to integrate interests. It is about building and
nurturing societies that respect any kind of differences and celebrate
diversity.
And there is no
way we can do this without the full and equal participation and the leadership
of women.
Governments,
United Nations bodies and other stakeholders can play a significant role in
making this happen. And they need to stand up to this challenge.
Women are one –
but one of the most significant or even the most significant – single group in
society. They are a diverse and powerful group. If we cannot mobilise women for
sustainable development we will fail. This can only be achieved if the process
and changes are really geared to being answerable to women’s needs, their
concerns, their vision.
Women will not
engage in a process that once again puts up the façade of “comma, particularly
women”.
Or, in Kofi Annans
(1999) words: "Women are not the feel-good factors of international
policy."
"Human
development, if not engendered, is endangered" (Human Development Report
1995, 1). Sustainable development requires the full and equal participation of
women at all levels. None of the three aspects of the goal of sustainable
development can be achieved without solving the prevailing problem of gender
inequality and inequity.
If we are serious
about this, women need to consider in what ways and under which circumstances
they will want to participate in partnership initiatives.
The Women’s Caucus
has expressed its concerns about the so-called type '2 outcome documents'.
These concerns include, for example:
Partnership
initiatives led or driven by large corporations – trans-nationals and multinationals
and their linkage to the UN. This is linked to criticism towards the UN Global
Compact where women have for a long time expressed the same concerns as many
NGOs.
Inequity in
so-called “partnerships”, and this again, by the nature of the game, concerns
partnerships with large corporations.
The former is related
to a general lack of consensus-oriented debate on the role of governments
vis-à-vis stakeholders, the lack of transparency regarding some stakeholders’
influence on policy-making, the need for a re-affirmation of governmental and
intergovernmental leadership, and the strengthening if the few and precious
democratic institutions (particularly internationally).
The latter is
linked to the fact that there are indeed immense power gaps between
stakeholders, at all levels.
Women’s experience
with inequity extends over eons.
Women’s experience
with inventing and using varius mechanisms to overcome inequity and inequality
is equally vast.
Their
experience with putting inequality on the table is equally impressive.
I
believe that the involvement of women lends a number of very important
resources and requirements to partnerships – multi-stakeholder processes –
collaborative stakeholder action:
Quality
–
women add particular experiences and knowledge of issue areas, eg water,
energy, consumption, waste management, traditional knowledge etc etc.
Representativeness: more often than
not, you need women at the table to be able to represent significant components
– perspectives, experiences, needs, expertise.
Credibility: any partnership
will, in its development and practice, gain credibility if it is an effort of
groups and organisations that do not represent the same interests. People know
that collaborating across interests groups is difficult, the result of
identifying the common ground and building trust, often the result of
compromise. All of that, if done in an equitable, transparent and democratic
manner, will create results that gain respect and are more likely to be seen as
legitimate than efforts, work programmes, and projects that are undertaken by
one group.
Handling
inequality: I have mentioned women's experience with dealing with inequity and
inequality. Among women, you will find many who are willing and able to analyse
inequities and address them openly and constructively.
Outreach: women’s networks
extend to all places in the world, women are connected more than any major
group, in all cultures.
Therefore, I
believe that women should continue their multiple approach to change:
Maybe a dual
approach - with many facets – will serve us well here as it does elsewhere:
1.
being on the inside: participating in policy-making, rising to the ranks
of decision-making, playing a significant role in partnerships for the
implementation of sustainable development agreements
2.
being on the outside: unpicking the current discourse, outlining the
fundamental injustice in our global society as much as within individual
societies
In short, I
believe that women will not only participate. They will lead.
They will have to
lead. And smart are those who acknowledge, welcome and further women’s leadership.
Thank you.