UN-NGLS: What were your impressions of the discussions on the theme “Promoting equality, including social equity, gender equality and women’s empowerment” held during the eighth session of the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals?
Saraswathi Menon: We were very heartened by the recent discussions at the Open Working Group. There was a chorus of support across countries for addressing gender equality, women’s rights and women’s empowerment as a priority in the SDGs as well as for clearly tackling different forms of inequalities in addition to gender inequality. Member States observed that people suffer from multiple inequalities and the resulting discrimination is more deeply entrenched and difficult to overcome as in the case of women who are disabled, or who are poor and live in remote areas.
Many speakers were keen on addressing the structural underpinning of gender inequality and mentioned issues such as ending violence against women and girls, sexual and reproductive health and rights, access to productive assets such as land and finance, and participation and voice in decision making in all arenas. The debate at the OWG reflected the recognition of human rights and the importance of achieving meaningful or substantive equality for women and girls.
UN-NGLS: From UN Women’s perspective, do you sense substantial support for the “twin-track” approach of a standalone goal on gender equality, women’s rights and women’s empowerment and gender-specific targets under other relevant goals?
Saraswathi Menon: We certainly saw this at the OWG. There was widespread support for a single goal on gender equality and women’s rights that addressed essential structural issues and universal support for ensuring that all goals included targets and indicators that addressed the critical gender equality issues relevant to that goal. We must note, however, that in previous OWG thematic discussions there was not always adequate attention given to critical gender issues in the themes being discussed. There will need to be more discussion and expert advice on targets and indicators to zero in on those barriers to gender equality that hold back the achievement of other goals.
UN-NGLS: What are UN Women’s priorities for the negotiations phase of the OWG? What concepts would you expect to see reflected in the OWG draft report?
Saraswathi Menon:The post-2015 framework needs to be universal; it needs to be based on human rights; it needs to capture equality and sustainability in all its dimensions; and needs to be transformational. Only then will it address the structural causes of gender inequality. This is why we need a strong goal on gender equality, women’s rights and women’s empowerment that covers critical areas such as violence, sexual and reproductive health and rights, valuing and sharing unpaid care work, capabilities and resources and voice and participation.
This also means that specific gender dimensions of other goals have to be addressed through indicators and targets. For example, a future goal on employment must include targets on women’s access to decent work and the gender pay gap; a sustainable energy goal should include targets on access to sustainable energy for women’s economic empowerment; an education goal should include targets that monitor girls’ completion of a quality education at all levels.
We would also like to see the concept of accountability addressed more fully in the negotiations. We would like to see the involvement of civil society, including women’s organisations, in any accountability mechanism; public access to information; and national ownership and understanding of targets and indicators so that citizens can see their aspirations reflected in progress.
UN-NGLS: How do you envision the upcoming 58th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW58) contributing to the ongoing discussions on the post-2015 development agenda? Are there interlinkages between the agreed conclusion of CSW57 and the “freedom from violence” target area of the UN Women proposal on a standalone goal?
Saraswathi Menon: By reflecting on the lessons learnt from the MDGs from a gender perspective, this year’s CSW is well placed to lay a strong foundation for the reflection of gender equality, women’s rights and women’s empowerment in the post-2015 development agenda. The discussions will take stock of what worked well with the MDGs from a gender perspective and what are the remaining gaps and challenges, thus flagging the priorities for accelerating progress to achieve the MDGs in the short time left and the post-2015 development agenda.
Indeed there are strong linkages between last year’s CSW and the proposal to include freedom from violence in UN-Women’s proposal for a gender equality, women’s rights and women’s empowerment goal. CSW57 focused on prevention and response to violence against women and girls and brought out what universal scourge violence continues to be. This was one of the critical missing elements in the MDGs. Today there is no excuse for leaving it out. And today with the advances made by the UN Statistical Commission we have standardized indicators to measure violence. Data is not yet available for all countries but the possibility is within reach. So no longer can it be said that violence against women and girls is too difficult to measure so it is best to leave it out. This is the approach that has to be taken with all critical issues. The UN Statistical Commission has now established 52 critical indicators on gender equality, including unpaid work, assets and other “difficult” areas. So now there is no excuse for not addressing gender equality centrally in the new framework.
UN-NGLS: What are your predictions for the political atmosphere at CSW58? What is your opinion on the zero draft of agreed conclusions?
Saraswathi Menon:The negotiations are yet to start and governments are currently reviewing the draft Agreed Conclusions distributed by the Bureau of CSW. All countries have lived with and through the MDGs. I think they are all well placed to learn the lessons of the MDGs, build on the positive and address the missing, structural pieces by drawing on their own experience.
UN-NGLS: What would be your advice to civil society organizations, particularly feminist groups, pushing for progressive language regarding women’s human rights and gender equality in both CSW58 and the SDGs/post-2015 process? What do you envision as being the most politically difficult issues in the upcoming processes, towards which civil society organizations should direct their attention?
Saraswathi Menon: Looking ahead to CSW 58 and the post-2015 development agenda, civil society organizations and feminist groups have a very important role in engaging with governments at home and during the negotiations. Many delegations to CSW include civil society organisations and they contribute directly to the negotiations. Even when they can only advise their delegations, they can make an important contribution to the effective participation of their governments in CSW by providing evidence, ideas and language that resonates with women in their countries. Civil society can also encourage dialogue and the alliance and bridge building across countries and regions.
On the politically difficult issues, it is important to stress that many issues are controversial and sensitive and issues that may seem non-controversial have the potential to become so very easily. It is important therefore that all of us focus on what is important to transform the lives of women and girls for the better.
Saraswathi Menon is currently the Director of the Policy Division in UN Women, the new United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. She was formerly Director of the Evaluation Office in the United Nations Development Programme and the elected Chair of the United Nations Evaluations Group that brings together the heads of evaluation of all UN organizations. She was a member of the team of authors who wrote the first six Human Development Reports. Subsequently she worked on UNDP programmes as Deputy Chief of the Regional Programme in the Regional Bureau of Asia and the Pacific, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in Nepal (1999-2000) and as UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Mongolia (2000-2003). Prior to joining UNDP she taught sociology in Madras University in India. She has a Ph.D. in Sociology from Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. Her Ph.D. dissertation was on caste and land control in Thanjavur district during the nineteenth century, and she continues to be interested in multi-dimensional issues of poverty.
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