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Feminism - Gender Equality - Human Rights

Bente Schjødt Feminism - Gender Equality - Human Rights January 2011

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction.......................................................................................................................3

Chapter 2 Methodology.....................................................................................................................6

Chapter 3 Feminism...........................................................................................................................9

Chapter 4 Gender Mainstreaming....................................................................................................14

Chapter 5 Human Rights Perspective...............................................................................................18

Chapter 6 Analysis............................................................................................................................20

Gender Equality................................................................................................................................20

Gender..............................................................................................................................................20

Obstacles for Gender Equality..........................................................................................................21

Gender Equality with Human Rights.................................................................................................22

Chapter 7 Conclusion with reflection to critical feminism................................................................24

Reflection on critical feminist theory...............................................................................................24

Resume of the analysis.....................................................................................................................24

Conclusion........................................................................................................................................25

Appendix 1 Participants in the Geneva Conference.........................................................................26

Appendix 2 Abbreviations................................................................................................................27

References............................................................................................................................................28

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Chapter 1 Introduction

In autumn 2010, the time came for my internship. As a single mother with two of my four children at

home, there was more to consider than just where to go. It is no secret that I preferred to go abroad,

but, as I was not able to spend more than three month on the internship, I found more closed than

open doors. My lifeline became FREIA, The Feminist Research Centre in Aalborg. From the 1 st of

September to the 6th of December 2010, I got a place to sit, a telephone and free coffee at FRIEA

under the guidance of the head of the Centre, Professor Birte Siim. FREIA is an interdisciplinary

research centre at the Institute for History, International and Social Studies at the University of

Aalborg. The approximately 10 researchers affiliated with FREIA cover the disciplines of sociology,

political science, statistics, anthropology and history. In spring 2011, the centre will be converted into

a new knowledge centre for gender, equality and diversity, and that is all I know, because I was not

invited to the meetings in the group during my internship. I am grateful for having had the

opportunity to realize my internship at the University, but it has been a lonely time with little contact

to the other people at the Institute, although, it has been exciting to follow the daily life in the

corridors of the University at the same Faculty where I am enrolled as student. At lunch break, the

employees were taking about how they felt overburden by all the lessons they had to teach.

Paradoxically, many students feel that they are getting too little lessons and too much of

independent studies.

The time at FREIA had changed my attitude towards scientists. The internship was an eye opener

where I realized, that the work of scientists and the result from researchers are useful in everyday

life. Scientist are participating in various councils connected to the Government and researchers are

making a difference by communicating there results to politicians and practicians. Everyone

participates in conferences and meetings, they produce paperwork like presentations, articles and

books and they participate in a variety of networking groups. Even though, some results from the

scientific world travels to the real world of ordinary people, my impression is that many of the

publications never leave the Campus. I have a dream of being able to work on location with issues of

global interest, and FREIA could be a good starting point because the centre holds many of the

subjects that I find interesting: gender, equality, diversity and citizenship.

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My interest is within the Human Rights tradition and my purpose was to find an assignment where I

could develop my knowledge and make a practical job. It was easier said than done. After a couple

of failed plans, I was lucky to find an invitation to a conference among the mails in my inbox. With

backup from Birte Siim, I applied for participation in the conference and went to Geneva in the

beginning of October 2010. To keep up with the tradition, I made a paper from the conference. It was

designed as a working paper directed to students to be used in connection with their future project

work and “can be used by people with special interest in gender research as an inspiration and a tool

to find interesting women for coming conferences” (FREIA 2010: 4).

The conference was held under the headline: Gender Politics in International Governance, and the

occasion was the creation of the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women,

abbreviated to UN Women. The 1st of January 2011, the new office was operational with the former

president from Chile, Michelle Bachelet, as Under-Secretary-General with direct reference to the

Secretary General, Ban-Ki-Moon. On the UN website, the main roles for UN Women are outlined

(http.un/daw 2011):

To support inter-governmental bodies, such as the CSW

To help member states to implement global standards

To assist member states with technical and financial support

To forge effective partnership with the civil society

To hold the UN system accountable for its own commitments on gender equality

On the front page of the website of UN Women, Bachelet is quoted for declaring that “Gender

Equality must become a lived reality” (http.unwomen 2011), and Gender Equality is t he discourse for

the new entity. In every society women lack access to decent work, basic education and health care,

they suffer violence and discrimination, and they are underrepresented in political and economic

decision-making processes, despite the fact that gender equality is one of the basic human rights.

The issue for UN Women is to address all the challenges, confronting women and girls, and to work

for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls, the empowerment of women, and last

but not least, the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of

development, human rights, peace and security (http.un/daw 2011).

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I came back from Geneva with new insight and new questions. Issues like Gender Mainstreaming and

Gender Equality where discussed from a gender perspective within the IR paradigm and the

theoretical framework was critical feminism. I will keep the internship project within this context and

bring the issues down to earth by asking a simple question: What is Gender Equality? How to answer

the question and the contents of this paper will be presented in the next chapter.

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Chapter 2 Methodology

It seems like every faculty at the University has its own preferred way of working, and FREIA is no

exception. I was recommended to use Carol Bacchii and her way of rethinking women’s inequality

through discovering ‘what’s the problem represented to be?’

According to Bacchii, any explanation of a problem is an interpretation, and interpretations involve

judgement and choices. The method is called the WPR approach (What’s the problem presented to

be?) and the focus on interpretation means a focus on discourse, defined as concepts, categories and

language employed to frame an issue (1999: 2). In line with Foucault, we are reflecting on how

specific regulations and practices affect our lives and how they are justified (Bacchii 2010: 4). An

example is the universal human rights and the women’s rights in particular. The core of the WPR

approach is questions. The main question “What is the problem presented to be?” is followed by six

sub-questions that deeply interrogate the topic and frame the scientific work.

I have decided to use Bacchii in a light version by keeping the main question and include her

interpretational attitude in the Feminist Fractured Foundationalism approach (FFF), presented by Sue

Wise and Liz Stanley (Wise 2006). The ontological grounding is based in the assumption that social

life is constructed, which means that talking about women as a natural category is nonsense. At the

epistemologically level, knowledge has a double edge in the sense that it is to be found within

everyday practices but also in what the feminist researchers work out. In the FFF approach, the

knowledge has to be transparent, produced through non-exploitative means and must produce open

accounts of findings and conclusions. Consequently, the reader should be able to validate the data

by herself and be empowered to “bite back” (Wise 2006).

In a scientific work, the chosen method depends on the context of use, including the theoretical

concerns and epistemological assumptions of the researcher, and how reality is seen by the people in

the social contexts being investigated. Within FFF, a wide range of methods are accepted depending

on the purpose. In this paper, the method is the raw collection of qualitative data by using an mp3

recorder. Judith Buber Agassi calls this method “oral history” and opposes it to the male bias in social

science where researchers claim objectivity by non-involvement and by distancing themselves from

the human subjects of their research (http.tau 2011).

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The methodology is the mode of investigation in which method, operational procedures, and theory

are interlinked. The Conference in Geneva is the case and bedrock in this internship project together

with the working paper that I created, based on the recorded speeches and discussions. The main

issue, discussed at the Conference, was Gender Mainstreaming and it was linked to critical feminist

theory from a gender and human rights perspective. Therefore, it seems natural to answer the

question from the Introduction: “What is Gender Equality” by using these scientific tools.

The structure and syntax of the internship project are as follows: The feminist scholars from the

Geneva Conference, used as references in the text, are listed in Appendix 1 and the Geneva

Conference will be referred to as “the Conference”. Throughout the paper, I use abbreviations and

they are explained in Appendix 2. References to the Internet are shortened but can be found in full

length in the Reference section. During the project, I will use the personal pronoun “we”, meaning

that I consider myself part of the feminist community. The chapters are balanced in a way that gives

more pages to the concept Feminism and Gender Mainstreaming, than to the other chapters. The

purpose is to show a detailed interpretation of the concepts that have had an important impact on

my internship.

Chapter 3 Feminism: Existentialism with the constructed gender, Socialism with focus on the relation

between capitalism and the patriarchate, and Radical Feminism with its declared hostility to

masculine hegemony are shortly mentioned to sharpen the profile of Critical Feminism. To

understand the present we need to know our past and feminism is explained in three waves. The first

period, before WWI, was dominated by equal rights claims with the right to vote as the main

demand, the second period, the 60s and 70s, was characterized by a variety of discourses and

movements within the feminist paradigm, and the third and contemporary period is characterized by

an awareness of diversity in a global world. What it means to be a feminist is listed in 8 points where

no. 6 says “we should try to make the community where we live and the world in general a better

place to live for everyone”. Finally, Critical Feminism is defined as the theory that uncovers the fact

that historical and contemporary political systems contribute to the oppression and exploitation of

women.

Chapter 4 Gender Mainstreaming: The concept was fully illuminated at the Conference and the

chapter contains diverse interpretations of GM. In short, Gender Mainstreaming is a strategy for

making women’s and men’s concerns and integral part of the policies in all aspects of the society.

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Chapter 5 Human Rights Perspective: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights from 1948 marks

the start of a wave of Human Rights treaties. CEDAW is the women’s bill of rights and the legal

framework for UN Women. To choose the human rights perspective means working on the basis of

the UDHR.

Chapter 6 Analysis: The four sections in the analysis will be summarized in the conclusion, and the

Conclusion with reflection to critical feminism is to be found in chapter 7.

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Chapter 3 Feminism

Feminism is a network of feminist practice, according to Joan Wallach Scott in Women’s Studies on

the Edge from 2008 where she describes the practice as a triangle of women’s studies, feminist

theory and women’s liberation movements (141f). To make a comprehensive introduction to the

topic, I have decided to start with a short overview of the main feminist theories and continue with a

historical review of the three waves of feminism in which the women’s liberation movement plays a

leading role. Finally, there is a prescription of what it means to be a feminist followed by some facts

on critical feminist theory, formulated by Seyla Benhabib.

In Modern Sociological Theory from 2007, George Ritzer explains some of the most common theories

in sociology and politics and combines them with feminism. I have selected three of the theories that

have some elements in common with Critical Feminism:

Existentialism: We have to create a culture and a consciousness without a male bias. Simone de

Beauvoir expressed that we are not born as girls we are becoming girls & women under the influence

of the culture we are brought up in. Socialism: With reference to Marx, the problem is to be found in

the relationship between capitalism and the patriarchate. The women are overburdened with work

both outside and inside the family and the unequal social structures have to be revealed and

changed. Radical feminism: The enemy is the patriarchate. Men have an interest in keeping women

in a subordinate position and the suppression is universal. Women shall fight for equal universal

rights. The patriarchate is inacceptable and ought to be eliminated by all means (323ff).

Anthony Giddens follows the Radical Feminists by saying that men have power and authority in the

society and they do have a profound interest in keeping those privileges (Giddens 2004: 839). At the

Conference, both Carol Cohn and Hillary Charlesworth emphasized that men do not want to share

decision-making power, and Cohn noted, that it is heartbreaking to watch how women in the

organisations and movements are struggling for change (FREIA 2010: 34ff).

This struggle refers back to France and the transformation from kingdom to republic and from

absolute monarchy to democracy. The Age of Enlightenment was the beginning of an uprising. The

French women in the late 18th century accused the Revolution and the Republic for betraying the

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universal principles of liberty, equality and fraternity by denying citizenship to women (Scott 1996:

11).

Feminism is explained in three waves, where the first covers two centuries. In the late eighteenth

century, the French suffragette Olympe de Gouges (1745-1793) argued that she had the capacity to

represent herself. The motto from the nineteenth-century French feminist movement “Woman has

the right to mount the scaffold; she ought equally to have the right to mount the tribune” was her

words that came to be fulfilled, partially, when she was sent to the guillotine in 1793 for her thoughts

(Scott 1996: 55). During the 1848 Revolution, Jeanne Deroin (1805-1894), another French feminist

and socialist, were campaigning for women’s rights and against exploitation of children, she talked

about absolute autonomy of the sexes, cut her hair and were dressed in suits (Scott 1996: 14-15).

Together with Eugenie Niboyet (1799-1883), Deroin founded the Feminist Press in France and the

principal newspapers that promoted women's civil, social, and economic demands were the Voix des

femmes, the Politique des femmes, and the Opinion des femmes (http.niboyet 2011).

On the other side of the Channel, John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) read the newspaper Voix des femmes

when the 1848 Revolution broke out and he inspired his future wife, Harriet Taylor Mill (1807-1858),

to carry on in her writings on the enfranchisement of women (http.mill 2011). Emmeline Pankhurst

(1858-1928) was born in the same year as Harriet Taylor died. She was one of the founders of the

WSPU and is associated with the fight for women’s emancipation in the period up to WWI. She was

the mother of Sylvia and Christabel Pankhurst who took up the inheritance after their mother and

became active feminists (http.spartacus 2011).

They were all from the first wave of feminists to whom the right to vote was essential. In Denmark,

women were granted the right to vote in 1915 and the occasion was celebrated on Constitution Day,

the 5th of June, where a declaration was handed in to the leader of parliament. Deliberately, the

women did not use the word “Thanks” in the declaration because they wanted to emphasize that

parliamentary enfranchisement was a civil right (http.kvinfo 2011). The politician, Fredrik Bajer, from

the liberal party “Venstre” was the person who, for the first time, raised the question of woman

suffrage in the Danish Parliament in 1886.

The second wave of feminism came in the 1960s and 70s and were inspired by the civil rights

movements around the world. It was a time dominated by movements against the Vietnam War and

10


the World Bank and movements supporting the freedom fighters on the African Continent and the

political prisoners on the American Continent. The picture of the perfect housewife of the 1950s

faded away, and women began to address “pervasive gendered inequalities” (Grewal 2006: 259). In

1971, Juliet Mitchell wrote in Women’s Estate: “The problem of the subordination of women and the

need for their liberation was recognized by all the great socialist thinkers in the nineteenth century. It

is part of the classical heritage of the revolutionary movement” (http.mitchell 2011). This

subordination was expressed by segregation in work and discrimination in education and sports; lack

of reproductive rights and choices, and lack of legal remedies for rape and domestic violence (Grewal

2006: 259). By claiming “the personal is political”, the second wave redefined politics to include

issues from the private realm like violence against women, birth control and sexuality. Autonomous

feminist organizations flourished without mainstream hierarchical structures and with principles of

participatory decision-making (Desai 2006).

The third wave of feminism came in the 1980s where the agenda were extended to issues of race

and sexuality in a broader sense, and the information technology transferred feminism to the global

scene and made it transnational (Grewal 2006: 257). Not in political parties but in movements and at

the academic level the political discourse was gendered and transformed to transnational feminism

with help from the UN decade for women (1976 - 1985) and the world conferences for women in

Mexico (1975), Copenhagen (1980), Nairobi (1985), and Beijing (1995) (Desai 2006). On the global

scene, dissatisfaction emerged from women who were not white, who were not belonging to the

middle or upper class, and who were not educated. In the year of CEDAW (1979), the African-

American poet Audre Lorde put it this way at an international feminist conference in New York:

“If white American feminist theory need not deal with the differences between us, and the resulting difference in our

oppressions, then how do you deal with the fact that the women who clean your houses and tend your children while you

attend conferences on feminist theory are, for the most part, poor women and women of color? What is the theory behind

racist feminism?”

(Scott ed. 1996: 6).

Judith Butler discusses the problem in Gender Trouble and underlines the paradox that women’s

trouble is defined to be universal and cross-cultural in opposition to a universal and hegemonic

structure of patriarchy while gender oppression mediates differently depending on the cultural

context. She continues by saying that “the urgency of feminism to establish a universal status for

patriarchy in order to strengthen the appearance of feminism’s own claims to be representative has

11


occasionally motivated the shortcut to a categorical or fictive universality of the structure of

dominations, held to produce women’s common subjugated experience.” (Butler 2006: 5).

The three waves of feminism are characterized by equality, difference and diversity, respectively,

meaning that the first period was dominated by equal rights claims with the right to vote as the main

demand, the second period was characterized by a variety of discourses and movements within the

feminist paradigm, and the third period, the contemporary period, is characterized by an awareness

of diversity in a global world both at the local, national, regional and international level (Squires

1999: 115).

How is it to be a feminist? It is easier becoming a feminist than being a feminist and technically

speaking it is not possible to live as a feminist as long as inequality and oppression exist. “While there

are many social forces that keep most men and women from ever considering becoming a feminist,

there are perhaps even more powerful societal mechanisms in place that directly contest anyone

from ever consistently being a feminist”, written by the only male scholar in this paper (Schacht

2004: 119). Both men and woman can become and be Feminists, although it requires more courage

from the man who, usually, has been broad up with values that differ from the values of feminism.

The following eight commandments is one way of expressing what it takes to be a feminist:

It is better to help than hurt people, especially those less fortunate, such as the poor, the

elderly, the sick, and children.

People are more important than things. Everyone should be treated with respect and never

as a thing or an object.

Violence is never an acceptable way to solve problems.

Getting along with others, cooperatively working together, and sharing are better than

competition, conflict, and trying to get and keep everything for yourself.

Everybody should get a turn, equally have a say in decisions, and get their fair share.

We should try to make the community where we live and the world in general a better place

to live for everyone.

We should treat the land with reverence and act kindly toward nature.

Equality, fairness, and justice for all are morally right, while dominance, exploitation, and

oppression are morally wrong.

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From Feminism with Men by Steven P. Schacht and Doris W. Ewing, page 16.

The above commandments are not only guiding rules for acceptable behavior but can also be used

within the framework of critical feminist theory. Seyla Benhabib, a feminist scholar with Turkish

heritage, defines feminist critical theory as the theory that uncovers the fact that historical and

contemporary political systems contribute to the oppression and exploitation of women. The theory

is characterized by being reflective and by supporting women in their struggles to overcome

oppression and exploitation. The theory analyses women’s oppression across history, cultures and

societies, articulates an anticipatory-utopian critique of the norms and values of our current society

and culture, and suggests new models of togetherness. The first aspect requires critical, social-

scientific research while the second is primarily normative and philosophical (http.benhabib 2011).

According to the feminist scholars at the Conference, critical feminist theory considers the capitalist

system for being exclusive, polarizing and exploitative and the structures in the society for having a

male bias. They emphasize the importance in working for a human rights regime with gender

equality.

New concepts have emerged to broaden the discussion of how we achieve gender equality. Gender

Mainstreaming is one of the concepts and will be explained in the next chapter.

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Chapter 4 Gender Mainstreaming

Carolyn Hannan came with this short explanation at the Conference: Gender Mainstreaming is an

important strategy without a clear definition. The Council of Europe gives a definition of GM that

brings us closer to the meaning of the concept:

“Gender mainstreaming is the (re)organisation, improvement, development and evaluation of policy processes, so that a

gender equality perspective is incorporated in all policies at all levels and at all stages, by the actors normally involved in

policy-making. Gender mainstreaming cannot replace specific policies which aim to redress situations resulting from gender

inequality. Specific gender equality policies and gender mainstreaming are dual and complementary strategies and must go

hand in hand to reach the goal of gender equality.” (www.coe.int).

In a development perspective, it could be of interest to visit the website of UNDP to look for a global

understanding of GM. The link http://www.undp.org/women/mainstream/ leads to four manuals:

1. Gender Mainstreaming Learning Manual has seven entry points, the Overview covers 13

pages and the chapter “Gender Mainstreaming” covers 70 pages, the other entries were not

checked.

2. Transforming the Mainstream: Gender in UNDP. 46 pages.

3. Gender Mainstreaming in Practice. A Toolkit. 450 pages.

4. How to Prepare a Gender Strategy for a Country Office. 208 pages.

In short, UNDP gives these explanations of relevant concepts: Gender is a social construction and

refers to the determined roles of men and women as well as the relationship between them in a

given society at a specific time and place. Gender Mainstreaming is defined by ECOSOC in 1997 as “a

strategy for making women’s as well as men’s concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the

design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of the policies and programmes in all political,

economic and societal spheres so that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not

perpetuated” (www.undp.org Whatis).

Returning back to the conference in Geneva, I want to highlight the works done by some of the

researchers. Andrea Schneiker considers GM a goal, a strategy or a process. As she explains, the goal

could be transformation of the society, the strategy could be a perspective of equal treatment and

14


equal opportunities for men and women, finally, GM could be a process where special expertise is

needed to push the policy-making process forward in the society (FREIA 2010: 29).

Jacqui True has the opinion that GM is the best strategy, we have. The basic argument is, that “as a

feminist I am interested in processes of economic, political and social normalization”. GM, as a policy

norm, is often based on a dominant understanding of gender, embodied gender norms. For instance,

violence against women is one of the norms we, as feminists, are trying to change. Continuing to the

question: What is Gender Equality? It is dynamic, changes over time and is often contradictive.

Norms are not just good things. How they emerge and how they evolve reflect the meaning of the

powerful in the society. GM is under-theorized and under-conceptualized by feminists. The ideal,

that all policies should be analyzed in a way that reveals, how they affect men and women, are not

realistic. GM can be used as an argument for improving conditions for women. In research, there is

often a single gender perspective, all women are the same. The policy-makers want it simple and

wish to put GM on their checklist as a thing that can be done and ticked off. But women are not

always just mothers; they are migrant workers with no rights, sex-workers, entrepreneurs, etc.

Maternal mortality is in focus, but there is more to GM than saving mothers and their children. There

is no doubt that mothers and girls hold the key to prosperity for the family and for the community,

but what about women themselves? We have this gender discourse that women and children always

go together. From a feminist perspective that is not mandatory. It is important to acknowledge

gender differences and not look at women as victims but look at the structures that reinforce gender

inequality. What would be meaningful Gender Equality outcome? As gender become more central to

global policy, feminist scholars must investigate where the norms come from and unpack the

meaning of GM (FREIA 2010: 17ff).

Madeleine Rees points out, that GM is important. It has to be forced into work; we need a gender-

training tick box together with a legal and normative framework. There exist discrimination in

election laws and we have to consider introducing quotas. And she finished her speech with an

appeal to the Civil Service: “Don’t lose Gender Mainstreaming” (FREIA 2011: 12).

Gülay Çağlar has been looking at the GM strategy in economics and points out that the feminist

scholars are criticising the decision makers for focusing on male-dominated industries and for making

budget-cuts that effect the poorest most, among them the jobless alone mothers. In 1996, a new

network challenged mainstream neo-classical economists. Heterodox economists turned the strategy

15


to knowledge based advocacy for gender sensitive macroeconomic policies and intersectionality

between gender and macroeconomic issues. Gender aware macro-economic models should

transform theory into practice and political suggestions. Mainstream economics forget women’s

reproductive work. We need to rethink the whole economy with non-marked indicators and social

compensatory measures (FREIA 2010: 13)

Laura Parisi has expertise in GM in Human Rights and Development NGO’s. When asking people in

the organizations what GM means, they often answer by saying, that it is all about integration but

can also be understood as an acceptance of gender differences. The CSW has the opinion that GM is

not just about the empowerment of women but emphasizes the importance of looking at gender and

not sex; by putting women at the centre state and neglecting the men, the projects can have a male-

deficit. On the other hand, the empowerment of women can contribute to GM by reshaping gender

relations. The transformational model is sensitive to diversity and requires a change not only in

structure but also in culture. Intersectional analysis is used in the field, but there is a risk that gender

will be used as an add-on to class and other forms of identity. According to NGOs in Sub-Saharan

countries, success in GM can be achieved by talking to local people instead of using “the one size fits

all” strategy. NGOs with a Human Rights approach are using this strategy. It is important, that the

NGOs understand their mandate and puts more diversity into the GM strategy, according to Laura

Parisi (FREIA 2010: 20).

Ilse Lenz is one of the pioneers in gender studies. She emphasizes that GM is a top down approach

that helps the reflection on gender through contextualising. Reflexivity sharpens GM and reveals

social power structures. We have to avoid stereotyping and cooperate with the Civil Society, because

NGOs are like truffle finders, creative and helpful in the transformation to GM. She was a discussant

on the subject, Gender Mainstreaming and ends her speech with a question: What is the future of

GM? (FREIA 2010: 24).

Janice Førde combines GM with human rights and states that both GM and HR frameworks are

accepted and incorporated in the UN reform process, that means, a group of UN agencies have come

to a common understanding on a HR based approach in development issues, going from a basic

needs approach to the HR approach, where duty bearers, usually the governments, are responsible

for keeping the Human Rights, and the right holders, the Civil Society, are helping fulfilling these

rights (FREIA 2010: 25).

16


Finally, I want to finish this chapter with an example of a contextualising of GM from the work of

Kristin Valasek. In her fieldwork, she takes the point of departure in the 1997 definition from

ECOSOC, because it tends to hold most of the international norms when it comes to GM. There are

two parts in the strategy, integrating gender in the needs and concerns for both women and men in

the security sector and working for equal representation of women and men in these processes.

There is a tendency to focus on percentage of women, but it is more important to focus on policy

protocols and laws. Do you have gender units? Do you have gender focus points? Gender issues have

to be integrated in training programs. The realist assumption is that if you really affect participatory,

comprehensive targeted Gender Mainstreaming initiatives within the different areas, you are ideally

going to have a transformation of the security sector institution into one that embodies Gender

Equality. The South-Africa defence reform process in the 90s is often used as an example. The Armed

Forces were seen as an expression of white oppression and apartheid. They went through a radical

transformation and turned into an institution that followed the UNs Human Rights directions of non-

racism and non-sexism. Kristin Valasek calls for more research to be centred round the questions:

What is the impact of these gender mainstream initiatives? Have the attitude and behaviour of men

and women changed or have they not changed? (FREIA 2010: 32f).

One hypothesis is that Gender Mainstreaming leads to Gender Equality, and some are saying that

Feminism is a theory with Gender Equality as the only topic. To answer the question “What is Gender

Equality” we have the concept and the theory in place but before doing the analysis, I want to

present the Human Rights perspective as a necessary companion to Critical Feminist Theory and

Gender Mainstreaming.

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Chapter 5 Human Rights Perspective

To choose the human rights perspective means working on the basis of the UDHR as discursive

framework. "In 1948 the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted, for the first time in

history acknowledging human rights as a global responsibility” (UNDP 1990: 1). A human rights

approach means to look at the world as one global community with equal rights for all citizens. In a

world of saints, rights would be widely respected, rarely asserted, and almost never enforced; in a

Hobbesian state of nature, rights would never be respected; at best, disinterest or self-interest would

lead duty-bearers not to deny the right-holder the object of her right (Donnelly 2003: 9). Another

interpretation of the concept of rights is based on the belief that, despite their apparent peculiarities

and diversity, human beings and societies share certain fundamental interests, concerns, qualities,

traits, and values that can be identified and articulated as the framework for a common culture of

universal human rights (Goodale 2009: 70). The UN represents the international community and the

UDHR was the starting point of a global human rights discourse and a wave of declarations and

covenants with The International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced

Disappearance as the latest, agreed upon the 20 th of December 2006 and entered into force the 23th

of December 2010 (http.treaties 2011). From the beginning, there was an awareness of the need for

special attention to women´s issues. DAW, the first UN-office for women, was established in 1946

and others followed as illustrated below.

DAW 1946

UNIFEM 1976

INSTRAW 1976

OSAGI 1997

UN-Women 2011

Despite the good intensions, some claim that the universal human rights are the universal men’s

rights and during the past sixty years the feminist movements have struggled for bringing women’s

issues to center stage. The efforts, done by grass-roots organizations on the local level and NGOs on

the international level, have resulted in the adoption of a number of conventions regarding the

prohibition of all forms of discrimination against women; the most important is CEDAW from 1979.

Under the slogan “women’s rights as human rights”, the global feminist network collected

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information and ideas from the local level and regional representatives brought it to international

conferences. The strategy was to use narratives to illustrate the topic and to use ordinary

communication channels to explain the message combined with conventional lobby politics (Agosín

2001: 19, Stoltz 2010: 78).

One of the few former female presidents in the world, Mary Robinson, has spent most of her life as a

human rights advocate. In the foreword to Where Human Rights Begin she underlines the

importance of the three international UN conferences in Vienna 1993, Cairo 1994 and Beijing 1995

and calls them landmark conferences by which the human rights and particularly the women’s rights

got a place on the international agenda. She continues by referring to Eleanor Roosevelt, who said

that some of the most important rights in the lives of women are also some of the most intimate,

from the right to be free from violence in one’s home to the right to control one’s own sexual and

reproductive choices (Chavkin 2005: xi). More than a decade before the landmark conferences, we

got the international bill of rights for women in 1979; a visionary document with the official title

“Convention to Eliminate All Forms of Discrimination against Women”, in short CEDAW. Already in

1946, the British Federation of Business and Professional Women suggested that a UN convention on

discrimination against women should be in order. The political process started in 1963 and

developed during the 1960s via the second wave of feminist movements (Agosín 2001: 45ff). Erika

Kvapilova from UNIFEM in Bratislava refers to the UN as a big animal where transitions are going

slow; at the Geneva Conference she diplomatically expressed that “things are not happen very

quickly” (FREIA 2010: 11). CEDAW is an example of a slow process.

Susanne Zwingel is doing research on Human Rights from a gender perspective in particular CEDAW.

At the Conference she said in her speech that CEDAW in global discourse translation has undergone a

remarkable development since the creation in 1979; starting as a weak tool in the international

monitoring body, it has now become a pretty well supported instrument. In a broader context,

CEDAW is part of a global awareness and acceptance of gender norms. The UN framework on Human

Rights and Women’s Rights is no longer unknown, and CEDAW is now picked up by other kinds of UN

agencies and Civil Society organizations, and there is recognition from governments (FREIA 2010: 36).

“There is nothing as practical as a good theory”, said by Hillary Charlesworth at the Conference. By

these words I will analyse the question “What is Gender Equality” in the environment of Human

Rights, Critical Feminist Theory and Gender Mainstreaming.

19


20


Chapter 6 Analysis

If we follow Bacchii the problem presented is the blurred understanding of the concept Gender

Equality. Jacqui True ties these attributes to Gender Equality: dynamic, contradictive and changes

over time. How can we achieve equality with a contradictive concept? Is it gender, that gives the

trouble or is it equality, maybe the combination of the two words? If Gender Equality must become a

lived reality, as Bachelet declares on the UN Women webpage, we have to know what we are talking

about.

Building on the understanding that gender is social construction and knowledge is to be found within

the society and in the work of researchers, I want to form this analysis out of the many valuable

inputs from the Geneva Conference. Together, they represent many years of experience and

research and, therefore, give a reliable amount of data to work with.

Gender EqualityGender Equality has as many meanings as countries in the UN which means 192. The comment came

from Carolyn Hannan, who was head of DAW from 2001 until recently. Since Beijing 1995 it has been

difficult to work with Gender Equality; it is a very sensitive issue. UN Women is called a western

initiative and the Scandinavian baby, because the western countries support Gender Equality issues.

All parts of the UN should work with Gender Equality. UN Women can draw up visions for Gender

Equality, keep the pressure on and facilitate geographical integration, not least, demand

accountability from stakeholders. The focus on the national level is critical and the question is: How

can we use the resources for the benefit of the women on the ground? Erika Kvapilova has been

committed to Gender Equality for about 20 years, and the GEAR campaign, represented by Rachel

Harris, has 300 member organisations working on global focal points committed to Gender Equality.

With all these efforts to create Gender Equality, it seems like a good idea to look for some kind of

understanding of the concept.

Gender In Beijing 1995, there were huge problems explaining “gender”. Some talked about five genders. In a

UN context, all know what gender is without a definition, said Carolyn Hannan. According to Viviene

Taylor in A Quick Guide to Gender Mainstreaming in Development Planning, gender is more nuanced

21


and refers to the web of cultural symbols, normative concepts and institutional structures which

define masculine and feminine roles and articulate these roles within power relationships (Taylor

1999: 37).

The feminist scholar, Carol Cohn, emphasize that we need a much better understanding of gender.

Gender offers the key of ideas, meanings, metaphors and assumptions through which power is

expressed and constituted. If we are trying to get women into the Police or the Military, it is

important that we know, how these institutions think about gender, in particular about masculinity.

Two areas, where gender has a hard time, are Finance and Trade. Brigitte Young has been working

with the finance sector for many years and she firmly declared that there is no gender in finance.

Women’s work in finance has nothing to do with gender. There is absolutely no connection between

finance and Gender Mainstreaming. In trade, the scenario looks the same. A woman, representing

The Africa Progress Panel told that women in trade are also technicians, and they maintain that

gender has nothing to do with trade. For them it is a philosophical issue. Another feminist scholar,

the lawyer Hilary Charlesworth, expressed concern about discrimination. Sex and gender always

refer to women when it comes to law; gender articulates something distinct from mainstream and

distinct from men’s life and, in that context, we have to be aware of discrimination. The notion

“gender based violence” is crucial in stigmatizing women. The sexual violence will continue a s long as

the woman’s body is incorporated in gender and raping of women is equivalent to sending signals to

men. We have to deal with gender in a structural way and as a set of meanings and we need a

transformation of gender relationship, according to Carol Cohn.

Obstacles for Gender EqualityThe following data is an extract from the Conference. They illustrate the obstacles for Gender

Equality and cover the input from many of the feminists present.

Only three percent of the global funds are lead by women.

In the Basel Committee on Banking Standards, there are no women.

Women’s representation in the UN peace-keeping system is low, despite the resolutions

have been translated to the actors in the field, among others the military staff.

We see stereotyping, victimizing and exclusion of women.

The basic principles of equality between women and men have not travelled at all.

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When sex and gender norms are incorporated in national legal rights, they are often

challenged by local male culture.

CEDAW is well understood, but in Afghanistan it is a symbol of western imperialism.

The intergovernmental organizations use the same definitions and the same tools to explain

Gender Equality, but it is not working.

It is a paradox and a problematic point that we copy the behaviour of the men’s world.

Gender Equality is not mainstream.

Gender Equality with Human RightsArticle 1 in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights from 1948 says that all human beings are born

free and equal and they should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood (http.udhr 2011).

The last word could give the impression that all human beings are considered to be men.

The CEDAW convention is a broad definition of equality that includes equality in finance. The

Convention provides the basis for realizing equality between women and men (http.cedaw 2011).

Unfortunately, the convention has been widely disregarded in many ways. The 186 treaty countries

have reservations in connection to the ratification based on cultural and religious exceptions, and

there are no sanctions or international pressure to force countries to withdraw their reservations.

Algeria has reservations towards seven articles out of 30. Other countries are allowed to complain to

the Secretary-General when countries make reservations and, in the case of Algeria, Sweden,

Portugal, and Denmark complained, with no effect, except for some diplomatic activity in the

corridors of the UN. Paradoxically, there is no difference between a treaty that is ratified and one

that is not. The US has not ratified CEDAW but has a representative in the executive board of UN

Women that uses CEDAW as legal framework.

As the last superpower in the world, it has significance what The US say and do. Hillary Clinton has

declared, that the stability in the world is dependent on the treatment of women in terms of equal

rights and opportunities, she said in a speech in Afghanistan: “A cornerstone in our policy is the

women; not because it is the right thing to do, but because it is the smart thing to do.”

To make progress in gender equality, we need the right people in the rights places, and it is not

always women. Today, we have the Tea-Party Movement in the US with Sarah Palin as the leader,

23


and we have a disappointing Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton; we also have our own Danish

Minister for equality, Lykke Friis. Those examples give inspiration to look for male feminists as

preferred persons to work for gender equality because it is the right thing to do.

Despite the dark clouds, CEDAW makes a difference as a legal framework and a tool for the Civil

Society, the social movements and the NGOs in their work for making countries change behaviour

and implement Gender Equality.

24


Chapter 7 Conclusion with reflection to critical feminism

Reflection on critical feminist theoryKeywords in critical feminist theory are equality, fairness, and justice for all. Violence is never an

acceptable way to solve problems and people are more important than things. It is an obligation to

help people, especially those less fortunate, such as the poor, the elderly, and the children. The

theory questions the mainstream economy and mainstream structures. The capitalist marked is

exclusive, polarizing and exploitative and the patriarchate together with the masculine hegemony in

transnational organizations has the same characteristics. The theory analyses oppression and

exploitation in a gender perspective, not limited to gender in the narrow binary sense, but all kinds of

gender that experience oppression. The theory pays special attention to multiplied identities,

diversity mainstream, minority populations, race related organizations, and gender movements. One

of the focal points is the hierarchy of power in the society; this special form of intersectionality is

important to analyze, to be able to decide which persons are suitable to get in place, and it will never

ever be one of the blue feminists. The theory is reflective and has a sceptical attitude towards the

norms and values in the society. One of the suggested models for change is social aware

management with an eye for the social, social reproduction, unpaid work and care claims from

below.

Resume of the analysisGender Equality is a concept that draws attention from both local and global organisations. The UN is

working with the concept and the GEAR campaign has 300 organisations working on global focal

points committed to Gender Equality. Gender is part of the concept and is defined as a social

construction that refers to the indicators that decide masculine and feminine roles in the society.

Gender should be a natural part of everyday life, but it’s not. In the finance and trade sector, gender

is not recognized as significant. When it comes to law, gender always refers to women and the notion

“gender based violence” incorporates the woman’s body in gender; identifications that can lead to

discrimination and rape. We have to define new gender relationships. One statement from the

Conference expresses it clearly: We see stereotyping, victimizing and exclusion of women. The

Human Rights should prevent inequality and injustice but they are week instruments with no

sanctions and the international pressure is not a sufficient threat when countries violate the treaties.

25


Conclusion

I asked the question “What is Gender Equality” because it is not as simple as it sound. The definition

from the European Council comes close by saying that gender equality policies and gender

mainstreaming are dual and complementary strategies and must go hand in hand to reach the goal of

gender equality.

As long as many girls and women still meet discrimination in education and sports, lack reproductive

rights, lack remedies for rape and domestic violence, get the jobs with lowest wages and are

overburden with domestic work, just to mention some of the inequities, I accept the binary

conception of gender and the focus on women in the critical feminist theory. Later on, the concept

and the theory ought to be extended to include a diversity of genders.

In a western context, the gender gap is acceptable compared to the gap in developing countries and

in countries with repressive laws directed towards woman through religion. The Millennium

Development Goal no. 3: Promote gender equality and empower women is crucial for millions of

women around the Globe, and the international society and UN Women in particular should keep

this as a heading.

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Appendix 1 Participants in the Geneva Conference

Alison Woodward, from the Free University of Brussels.

Andrea Schneiker, from Leibniz University Hannover, Institute of Political Science in Germany and

newly graduated.

Anne Jenichen, from the University of Bremen.

Bineta Diop, from Senegal, representing the organization “Femmes Africa Solidarité”

Brigitte Young, since 1999 Professor in International/Comparative Political Economy at the Institute

of Political Science, the University of Münster in Germany.

Carol Cohn, from the Boston Consortium on Gender, Security, and Human Rights, USA.

Carolyn Hannan, former head of DAW in New York.

Claudia von Braunmühl, from the Free University of Berlin, Germany.

Elizabeth Prügl, from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Switzerland.

Erika Kvapilova, employee at UNIFEM in Bratislava since 2005.

Gülay Çağlar, from the Humboldt University - Faculty of Agriculture and Horticulture, Germany.

Helen M. Kinsella, since 2005 assistant professor at the department of political science at the

University of Wisconsin, USA.

Hilary Charlesworth, lawyer and from the Australian National University.

Ilse Lenz, from University of Bochum.

Jacqui True, from the University of Auckland, New Zealand.

Janice Førde, chairperson of the development organization “Kvindernes U-lands Udvalg” K.U.L.U.,

Women and Development, Denmark.

Kate Bedford, from the University of Kent, UK.

Kristin Valasek, from the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces, Switzerland.

Laura Parisi, from the University of Victoria, Canada.

Madeleine Rees, lawyer and Secretary General of the Women’s International League for Peace and

Freedom in Geneva.

Rachel Harris, representing Women’s Environment and Development Organization in New York.

Rita Sabat, Assistant professor at the Notre Dame University, Louaize, Lebanon working in the U.S.

Shahra Razavi, from the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, Switzerland.

Susanne Zwingel, from the State University of New York, Potsdam, USA.

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Appendix 2 Abbreviations

CEDAW - The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women

CSW - The Commission on the Status of Women

DAW - The Division of the Advancement of Women

ECOSOC - The United Nations Economic and Social Council

GEAR - Gender Equality Architecture Reform, The GEAR campaign

GM - Gender Mainstreaming

HR - Human Rights

IO - International Organization

IR - International Relations

INSTRAW - The International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women

MDG - Millennium Development Goals

OSAGI - The Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women

UN - The United Nations

UN-Women - The UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women

UNDP - The United Nations Development Programme

UNIFEM - The United Nations Development Fund for Women

WSPU - Woman's Social and Political Union

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