International Women’s Day, 8 March 2007:
Men will never be free until women enjoy full gender equality
Release Date: 28 February 2007
By Kumi Naidoo, CIVICUS Secretary-General
On Saturday, my 14 year old daughter, Naomi and I joined a peace march and rally in Glasgow, Scotland organized by a broad coalition of churches, trade unions, NGOs and social movements. The purpose of the march was to raise concerns about the ongoing human carnage in Iraq and to protest against the upgrading of Trident, the UK nuclear missile capability based in Scotland. In his speech, the leader of the Scottish Council of Churches asked a simple question:
“What legitimacy have governments that are raising the biggest concerns about development of nuclear energy in Iran, if they themselves are brazenly going ahead to upgrade their nuclear weapons?”
Other speakers asked why billions of dollars are raised for nuclear weapons and other weaponry seemingly overnight, while by comparison relatively small sums of money are offered to take action against poverty and inequality. Between banners and flags, I was struck by two women in their seventies carrying a small poster that read: No peace without gender equality. Another remarkable feature was the large number of women, both young and old, that were present in the march. This was a powerful reminder that we are on the eve of perhaps the most important day of global observance, International Women’s Day.
A feminist activist friend of mine once said: “Given that men have ruled the world for so long and have mainly given us war, conflict and injustice, it would be great to give women a chance. How much worse can they do?” At the time of the remark, the feminist activist friend was a young man in his late twenties working on the role of men in tackling gender based violence. A feminist man was an oddity then, but today it might just not be any less rare. This lack of male involvement is more than just unfortunate: it is blocking gender equality.
Like all social challenges the struggle for gender equality must be equally shared by men and women. I and all fellow men, will have to decide whether we are part of the problem or part of the solution. However, the leadership role of women in the fight for gender equality must be recognized and asserted at all times. Just as it would be impossible for someone who has not experienced racism to fully understand the totality of racial oppression, so too while men can be supportive of the struggle for gender equality, men can never understand the totality of gender injustice. For men and women alike it is important to recognise that we are all products of intense gender socialisation. Once we accept this, only then can it become clear that it takes more than a great effort to understand how we men have been socialised in a predominantly sexist world. Consequently, it will take men a lifetime to fully understand the impact of gender inequality let alone dealing with it.
Gender equality is central to meeting the various challenges that humanity faces. Thus the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP, www.whiteband.org), whose global secretariat is hosted by CIVICUS, is rightfully linking poverty and gender equality much stronger. Members of the GCAP Feminist Task Force met in Nairobi, Kenya, prior to the last World Social Forum to develop a mobilisation strategy for GCAP days of mobilisation in 2007. GCAP’s first mobilisation in 2007 will be on March 8th, International Women’s Day. The March 8th campaign will be global in scope with national and regional specific demands to apply pressure on national and local governments. The Task Force will continue to lead after International Women’s Day in providing content to GCAP partners and other interested organisations to infuse all with the key message: “Gender Equality to End Poverty.” The key message to get out there is that the inclusion of gender equality is essential for meaningful social development.
One of the most important slogans to emerge from the feminist movement was: “The personal is political”. On that note, I would like to strongly encourage everyone to visit www.whiteband.org to see the suggestions GCAP’s Feminist task force has made for action. There you can find a wide range of actions you can do in your home, at your workplaces and in organisations that you are part of. Some of the most tangible recommended actions, you can find printed underneath this column.
From my part, on the eve of this years’ International Women’s Day, I would like to pay tribute to the incredible women that are part of the board and staff of CIVICUS, I pay tribute to their commitment and active participation in working for a just world. In particular, I would like to pay tribute to Aruna Rao, the Chair of the Board of CIVICUS, who heads up an organisation called Gender at Work for her dedication, guidance and support. Likewise, CIVICUS is privileged to engage with inspiring, committed and courageous women, be they members, be they partners of CIVICUS, who enrich our work and inspire us to do the best we can, and better, to promote a just world.
My mother, who passed away when I was fifteen years old, used to say that it is more important to try and fail than to fail to try. Her relatively short life and experience, taught me that gender equality is a challenge to all men and women who want to create a just world. During the struggle against apartheid we learnt that white people will never be free until black people are free. Similarly, men will not enjoy full freedom if women do not enjoy full gender equality.
Please share your thoughts and ideas on gender equality with e-CIVICUS by sending your comments and suggestions to editor@civicus.org.
Warmest regards,
Kumi Naidoo
E-MAIL A FRIEND ON THE IMPORTANCE OF INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY
In realising the value of International Women’s Day, e-CIVICUS would like to encourage subscribers to participate in the importance of gender equality messaging.
1. Develop your own message about your commitment to gender equality and send this as an e-mail or as an SMS to your contacts.
2. Postcards and letter writing: send messages about the importance of gender equality to your daughters, sons, fathers and mothers.
3. You and your colleagues could hang out a banner on International Women’s Day at your place of work popularising the importance of gender equality.
4. Website postings and links: There are a range of women’s organisations doing incredible work under difficult conditions with limited resources During International Women’s Day; you could put a link from your website to local, national, regional and international organisations. Based on your focus and approach this can be an important way to encourage your constituencies to learn more about the great efforts being made by women’s organisations.
5. Other actions recommended are Videos, films, Rallies, demonstrations, public actions, policy panels and forums and cultural events. Some of these activities are already being organised by organizations that generally use International Women’s Day to highlight the centrality of gender equality for a range of organisations.
6. If you would like to specifically make the connection between gender inequality and poverty, you are encouraged to use the white band symbol of Global Call to Action against poverty (GCAP) - www.whiteband.org.
Below you will find all previous columns published within e-CIVICUS editions.
