October 31, 2009 - At the NGO CSW Roundtable meeting on the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) review of the 15^th anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action women gathered to develop recommendations that reflected the needs and experiences of women in the region. The two day NGO meeting took place in Geneva from October 30-31, 2009 and focused on “the challenges of gender equality in the context of the economic and financial crisis.”

One of the panels focused on the new United Nations gender equality entity. Participants included June Zeitlin, GEAR Campaign consultant; Margot Baruch, Center for Women’s Global Leadership (CWGL); Cecile Greboval, European Women’s Lobby (EWL); Susi Snyder, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF); and Nyaradzai Gumbonzvanda, World YWCA.

Susi Snyder began the panel with an overview of the GEAR Campaign and shared anecdotes of women’s history in the United Nations. The GEAR Campaign is a network of over 300 organizations worldwide spanning 80 countries. The Campaign has been advocating for the new gender entity since 2006 following a report by the High Level Panel on Systemwide Coherence submitted to then Secreary-General Kofi Annan. Ms. Snyder further explained that we are calling for not just the same siloed programs in one agency, but rather for the sum of the new entity to be larger than its parts.

Nyaradzai Gumbonzvanda, formerly worked for UNIFEM as a regional coordinator in the Horn of Africa. She asked the audience rhetorically why we need a new gender entity. She reiterated how coherence around gender equality and women’s empowerment programming at the UN and stronger policy engagement are two areas that needed to be strengthened. The UN must have a stronger voice on women’s issues that supports countries to enhance and advance the lives of women and girls everywhere. Ms. Gumbonzvanda stated that the new women’s entity will influence intergovernmental processes which will allow for more systematic engagement from “institution to institution at the multilateral level and thus impact the national level.”

June Zeitlin gave an in-depth update about where the process is now and how the GEAR Campaign plans to move forward. She noted that on September 14, 2009, the General Assembly adopted a resolution endorsing the creation of the new gender equality entity to be headed by a new Under Secretary General (USG).[1] The resolution has three paragraphs focusing on the consolidation of the four women specific entities, the appointment of an Under Secretary General, and asks that the Secretary General provide more information regarding organizational structure and other details in a report that is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2009.[2] In the past, it has been difficult to raise gender equality issues because women do not have a seat at the decision-making table either at headquarters or at the country level. The new Under Secretary General position will for the first time be a high level authoritative position. The GEAR Campaign has developed criteria for the appointment and is urging consultation with civil society. The Campaign urges the appointment of the new USG by the March 2010 meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women. The GEAR Campaign has not yet endorsed any candidates for the USG position. Zeitlin declared that the success of the new entity depends on whether or not it will deliver effectively for women at the country level. The new entity must have visionary leadership and transformative programming that will move beyond the status quo. The consolidation of the new gender entity is, “not about just moving boxes around in an organizational chart, but rather having a vision to and capacity to deliver real progress for women on the ground.”

Margot Baruch, who manages GEAR Campaign communications, highlighted how the Campaign continues to frame vital discussions and conceptual thinking of how activists can participate in UN reform process to ensure that governments are accountable to women everywhere. She explained that the GEAR Campaign working group includes global and regional focal points, and a New York Lobbying Group as well as a network of over 300 organizations. [3] The working group determines overall strategic directions of the GEAR Campaign including broad policy decisions and maps out a comprehensive advocacy strategy and develops responses to major new developments.

The European focal point for the GEAR Campaign, Cecile Greboval, presented advocacy that NGO’s in the region have accomplished. The GEAR Campaign in Europe is constantly working to influence the European member states. Greboval asked that NGO participants in the ECE meeting actively seek out their government representatives and visibly illustrate the need for civil society systematic input as well as an ambitiously funded entity. She referenced the website they had developed that can facilitate communications with government officials.[4]

The GEAR Campaign advocates for a stronger agency that provides critical leadership for gender mainstreaming in the UN. Just as UNICEF is the driver for children’s rights and UNDP is in the lead for development, the new women’s entity will have the strategic mandate to empower and advance women’s rights and listen to women’s voices on the ground. All UN agencies must be held accountable to promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment.

The UN charter begins with “we the people”. No matter how long the process takes or what bargaining chips governments will claim, women and civil society will continue to play a crucial role in the development of the new gender entity.

human rights, inequality, U.N. reform, United Nations