United In The Fight For International Gender Equality
Contributing editor, PhotoBook Magazine.
What defines a generation? Is it how we overcome obstacles passed down from the ones who came before us? Is it the actions and innovations we champion during our present? Or, is it the path we leave behind for generations to follow?
Exactly 25 years since the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in 1995ㅡthe largest and most comprehensive global conference to date for achieving gender equalityㅡUnited Nations Women came together on March 6th, 2020 to celebrate International Women’s Day and explore these questions. During the emboldening event, audience members heard from a diverse array of leaders who each represented an element of the past, present, or future of global gender equality. This common goal proves to unite not merely the speakers, but the generations they represent as well.
As the thirst for equality propels us towards the future, speakers of the day reminded the audience to reflect on the past. “Gender equality means finding and honoring women whose achievements were erased and ignored in their own time,” said Secretary General of the UN, Anthony Guterres. He encouraged the audience to take a step back and remember the women before us, who, despite their contribution to history, have been neglected, denied, or delayed their recognition. In “pushback against the pushback,” Guterres celebrated Tu Youyou, a Chinese pharmaceutical chemist who discovered the cure for malaria in 1972, in turn, saving millions of lives. It was not until nearly 40 years later in 2015 that Tu Youyou was recognized with a Nobel Prize. She is the first mainland Chinese scientist to be given the award, and she did so without a doctorate, a medical degree, or training abroad (The Nobel Prize, n.d.). In remembering Tu Youyou, Mr. Guterres shed light on the fact that there is continued, insufficient representation of women in history on an international scale. Further, as a leader of the UN, he validated that this exclusion has no justification.
Mr. Guterres' meaningful words echo other speakers of the day who not only paid homage to the women in history before them, but also are women who have helped shape the present world that younger activists live in. One trailblazer is Charlotte Bunch, feminist author, organizer, and Founding Director and Senior Scholar at the Center for Women's Global Leadership, Rutgers University, who brought years of experience to the conference on March 6th. She reflected on The Beijing Conference of 1995 that she took part in. “Every generation has their moment, and Beijing was the culmination of my generation,” said Bunch, as if to express that all she had fought and studied for had, in some way, led up to that conference. Bunch explained how the years surrounding such an event were the catalyst for a global feminist movement; the first time women emerged strategically as one, on the global scene, and in such numbers. The outcome was not only unprecedented global recognition that issues such as violence, economic inequality, lack of education, poverty, and the climate crisis are issues that disproportionately affect women, but promises to act against such inequality. Charlotte Bunch is an example of leadership that has helped shape the future for women. With her years of experience, she highlights how dynamic and intersectional the women’s movement is; how all women have different experiences, yet they are united by one cause that transcends “barriers” of age, race, religion, space, and time. While some are inspired to join the movement through their education or morals, manyㅡ like Liberian peace activist, Nobel Peace Prize winner, and Founder and President of the Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa, Leymah Gboweeㅡ were “pushed, forced, or placed” into the fight for women’s rights out of survival (Rashed, n.d.). Gbowee, an implementer in her own town of such promises made in the Beijing Conference, expressed how her fight came “by accident,” but she soon realized that one cannot be “gentle” in the for fight autonomy of women and girls; one must be strategic and “radical in the way you want to see change.” Leymah Gbowee is an example of how one carries on the work of women who came before her, from chemist Tu Youyou to educator and activist Charlotte Bunch. These women melt the barrier that divides generations by representing a continuous goal which connects the past to the present. Ms. Gbowee introduces her own cultural interpretation of such an idea by explaining “ubuntu,” a Liberian word meaning “we are, because of all that you have been.” Ultimately illustrating how intergenerational women’s equality truly is.
Photo by Eloise Ambursley on Unsplash.
When one honors the past, it allows for more meaningful understanding and appreciation of the present. Sana Marin is that present. At 34 years old she is Finland’s acting Prime Minister, making her the youngest serving female state leader in the world. Marin is evidence that gender equality is not merely a dream for the future, it is happening right now. As keynote speaker, she used her authority to highlight current threats to gender equality today and provided the framework for a more equal future. While women are the majority of the global population, they constitute only 25% of the members of world parliaments. Of the 193 UN member states, 21 heads of states are women, or approximately 10%. And, while 75% of the world’s wealth is created by the work of women, women still earn 78 cents to every dollar a man makes, with 93% of Fortune 500 CEOs being male. The numbers simply do not add up. Due to this unequal balance of power, the issues that affect women’s safety and livelihood are still not being taken seriously on a global scale. For example, UN Women states that “Women commonly face higher risks and greater burdens from the impacts of the climate [crisis]…” Furthermore, women, “...play a critical role in the response to climate change due to their local knowledge of and leadership in sustainable resource management and/or leading sustainable practices at the household and community level” (United Nations Climate Change, n.d.). Despite these facts, 70% of world climate negotiators are men. How can this change? Prime Minister Marin states in definite, “The best way to get more international gender equality is to have more women in high-level decision-making positions.” With Finland coined as a “global champion” of such equality, Marin’s female-lead parliament has implemented policies, from health to economics, that live up to Finland’s reputation; for example, paid maternity leave for mothers. Many of these policies go beyond the effects of now, “what girls are learning today must reflect the jobs of tomorrow,” she says, referring to women’s potential in coding and tech careers. Marin provides impactful evidence of the problems facing women today and her exemplary country holds many of the solutions. Finland defies antiquated standards of international relations that have limited the status of women for years, proving that gender equality is achievable and there is no time to waste, for the future of women depends on it.
Photo by Laëtitia Buscaylet on Unsplash.
It is young women like 14-year-old climate activist, Alexandria Villaseñor, and 18-year-old model and face of representation for marginalized groups, Aaron Philip, who hold the future of equality in the palm of their hands. They look towards leaders of the present like Sona Marin for inspiration, then they take bold action to shape the social and political systems of tomorrow. Although Villaseñor’s journey has just begun, she has already built a legacy of her own by leading the September 2019 Global Climate Strike, a 12-million-person catalyst for change. Similarly, Aaron Philip has jolted progress in international gender equality by being the first transgender, woman of color, with cerebral palsy signed to a major modeling agency, in turn, inspiring young girls everywhere who are not represented in media.
The path ahead for Villaseñor and Philip is not an easy one. As voices like Sana Marin and Antonio Guterres have pointed out, systematic underrepresentation still plagues world governments today and many women in history, like Tu Youyou, have been delayed or denied credit for the contributions they make towards human progress. Despite this, these youthful leaders will not walk alone. They must remember ubuntu, that “they are because of all of those who have been.” The footsteps of thousands of women who came before them in the fight for gender equality lie embedded in their trail. While time may separate women physically, each generation of activists holds one goal. The powerful words and actions of speakers of the United Nations Observance of International Women's Day on March 6th, 2020, remind us of this goal. Together they point out that, while it is crucial not to overlook the substantial work still to be done, we are all more interconnected in the fight for gender equality than we may think. From Secretary General of the UN Antonio Guterres to 14-year-old American climate activist Alexandria Villaseñor, the fight to achieve gender equality does not simply define generations, rather it unites them.
Want to Learn More or Get Involved in the Global Fight for Gender Equality? Connect with UN Women.
Photo by Suhyeon Choi on Unsplash.
Written by Elizabeth Lemonick, Contributing Editor, PhotoBook Magazine.
*Resources
The Nobel Prize. (n.d.). The Nobel Prize | Women who changed science | Tu Youyou. Retrieved March 8, 2020, from https://www.nobelprize.org/womenwhochangedscience/stories/tu-youyou
Rashed, H. (n.d.). Nobel Prizes 2011 | Leymah Gbowee Biographical. Retrieved March 8, 2020, from https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2011/gbowee/biographical/
United Nation Climate Change. (n.d.). Introduction to Gender and Climate Change. Retrieved March 12, 2020, from https://unfccc.int/gender
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