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UN-INSTRAW News / Noticias del UN-INSTRAW / Nouvelles de UN-INSTRAW
E-Newsletter - October 2007
Current UN-INSTRAW work/activities
Gender, Governance and Women’s Political Participation Programme
From 8 to 31 October 2007, UN-INSTRAW hosted the Virtual Forum “Women
and the Debating Community” within the framework of its project
“Strengthening Governance with a Gender Perspective and the Political
Participation of Women at the Local Level,” which is financed by the
Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (AECI). The project aims
to
analyze governance processes, the obstacles encountered by women
exercising political power and the strategies used to overcome them.
The
Virtual Forum debates focused on three interlinked themes: Gender
Equality Laws, Quota Laws and Laws Against Harassment and Political
Violence, which are among the wide range of norms protecting and
regulating women’s participation in politics. The participants in this
Forum expressed their concern about the creation of governing bodies
that will regulate women’s participation in positions of power and in
the electoral system, recognizing that the Quota Law cannot work
independently. Unanimously, the women participating in this event
agreed
that it is necessary to legislate against harassment and political
violence, therefore making these issues public, since within the
judicial system there is no authority or mechanism that legislates to
make these actions punishable.
Read more
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Gender, Migration and Remittances Programme
UN-INSTRAW was invited to present the results of its research focusing
on the gender aspect of remittances at an event organized by the
International Organization for Migration (IOM) on 4 October 2007 in
Guatemala. The main objective of the meeting was to make known the
results of the IOM Survey on Remittances for the year 2007. Under an
agreement signed with IOM-Guatemala, UN-INSTRAW collaborated on the
inclusion of the gender perspective in the design of the questionnaire
that IOM-Guatemala used in its survey on remittances for the year 2007.
UN-INSTRAW provided its Theoretical Framework on the integration of the
gender dimensions in remittances and also made recommendations for
highlighting the economic, social and political role of women migrants.
The IOM report for 2007 presents the analysis of the migratory
phenomenon, highlighting issues such as statistics on the volume of
remittances, beneficiaries, mechanisms for money transfers, frequency,
destiny and the extent to which banking institutions are used for the
receipt of remittances. The recommendations formulated by UN-INSTRAW
focus primarily on certain aspects which should be taken into
consideration when analyzing the impacts of remittances sent by women
migrants to Guatemala, such as migrant women’s new economic, social and
political roles, the collection of data disaggregated by sex, the
development of new indicators that will reflect the different needs of
men and women migrants, how the flow of remittances is conditioned to
women's access to the labour market and their income, and how migration
and labour policies impact women’s labour insertion.
Read more
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Gender, Peace and Security Programme
Preventing and Confronting Disasters with a Gender Focus - UN-INSTRAW,
the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Office of the
National Administrator of European Development Funds (Oficina del
Ordenador Nacional para los Fondos Europeos de Desarrollo -ONFED) and
the European Union Delegation in the Dominican Republic organized a
gender training workshop under the framework of the Programme
”Prevention and Preparation to Confront Disasters” which took place at
the headquarters of the National Emergency Commission, on 24 October
2007, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The Programme is an initiative
of the Dominican Government, financed by the European Union and
coordinated by the UNDP. The workshop aimed at reducing the Dominican
Republic’s vulnerability by, incorporating women’s participation and
decision-making in managing, evaluating, alerting, and disseminating
information when facing the impact of natural disasters. UN-INSTRAW
will
offer training with a gender perspective to Dominican governmental
institutions associated to the Programme, so that women and men may
give
a more adequate response to all citizens affected by natural disasters.
Read more
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Argentina Elects its First Woman President
UN-INSTRAW is honoured to congratulate Ms. Cristina Fernández de
Kirchner, on her election as the first elected female head of State of
Argentina. Ms. Fernández won the elections with almost 45% of the vote,
surpassing her rivals Elisa Carrió of the Civic Coalition and Roberto
Lavagna, former Economy Minister, who received 23% and 17% of the vote,
respectively. Ms Fernández, who has received significant support from
the working and poorer classes in Argentina, will have to address the
challenge of gender inequality and the demands of Argentinean women for
improved reproductive and health services, prevention and attention to
domestic violence and greater support to women who face decreasing
salaries and rising inflation. UN-INSTRAW works to support women in
politics and achieve gender parity in political representation. The
election of Cristina Fernández to the presidency is another step
towards
increasing women’s participation in strategic political positions. Read
Press Release ……………………………………………………
Global Gender News
Economic and Political Institute for Women
In 2008 The Network of East-West Women/Polska (NEWW) will initiate a
two-year project called "Women’s Economic and Political Institute"
aimed
at contributing towards expanding an underdeveloped area of economic
justice for women in Central and Eastern Europe and the
Newly-Independent States (CEE/NIS). The overarching objectives of the
Institute are to articulate regional and country-level economic justice
strategies to improve women’s situation, build the capacity of women
NGO
activists and politicians at regional and national levels, provide
support to ongoing projects in CEE/NIS on the issue of economic justice
and to facilitate strategic relationships among women’s groups involved
in economic justice projects in the region. Read more
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Increase Women’s Role in Peace and Security
In a meeting held by the United Nations Security Council on 23 October
2007 the importance of women’s participation in decision-making and
formal peace processes was highlighted and recommendations made on
specific steps to protect women and girls from gender-based violence
during conflicts. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon referred to the
importance of “…giving women equal participation and full involvement
in
peace and security matters and the need to increase their role in
decision-making,” and “appointing more women in leadership positions in
UN peace operations”. He also urged the Security Council to establish a
mechanism for monitoring violence against women and girls. Among other
steps suggested by participants on combating gender-based violence in
conflict situations were: encouraging local women to participate in the
development of national protection systems, the approval of “laws that
incorporate women’s rights and judicial systems accessible to victims
of
sexual violence,” women’s participation in post-conflict
reconstruction,
and better protection of women and girls in conflict zones. Read more
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Evaluating Police Response to Rape and Sexual Assault
The Women’s Justice Center has published a Form for Evaluating Police
Response to Rape and Sexual Assault, designed for use by victims of
rape
and sexual assault, advocates, and law enforcement. The form is
intended
to help victims in evaluating the police response to their individual
rape or sexual assault case, and as a means to provide feedback to
their
police department and their communities on how police response to rape
and sexual assault can be improved. This form can be photocopied and
distributed freely, as long as the text is kept intact and credit is
given to the source: Copyright © Marie De Santis, Women's Justice
Center
Read more - Also available in Spanish
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Events
Center for Asia Pacific Women in Politics (CAPWIP) Institute for
Gender,
Governance & Leadership – Making Governance Gender Responsive (MGGR),
12-19 November 2007, Manila, Philippines. Objectives: Enhance
understanding of Gender and Development and Governance Concepts;
Identification of gender biases in Governance; Acquisition of skills in
identifying and analyzing gender biases and concerns; Identification
and
formulation of gender biases in Governance.
Read more
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European Feminist Forum 2008
The Forum will be held on 13-15 June 2008 in Warsaw, Poland. The three
important issue areas will provide the basis for discussions at the
Forum:
a) Economic change in Europe: changes in the economy, the labour
market,
migration and feminist alternatives; b) Women’s physical and sexual
integrity: women’s bodies, abortion and the politics of ending violence
against women; c) Our movement: feminist resource mobilisation and
building political power. Read more
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The Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) - 11th
International Forum on Women's Rights and Development - The Power of
Movements - will be held November 14-17, 2008, in Cape Town, South
Africa.
Read more - Call for Proposals
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