Sustainability and Rural Women in the UK

Research announced by my university this week had some good and bad news - whilst they say that high carbon emissions are not a requirement of high life expectancy (citing Costa Rica and other nations), low carbon emissions pretty much always correlate with poor life expectancy etc.

The sustainability issue is the focus of the Rio+20 summit later this year, but I can't help but think it will be raised at the CSW as I see it as intricately tied to the livelihoods of rural women in all countries. Whilst my previous post touched on how the environment is key to women in African nations, environmental issues are definitely important for rural women in the UK to.

In a time of funding cuts, it's difficult for a rural woman in the UK to prioritise sustainable transportation methods as bus services are reduced. Less buses (and more expensive tickets) not only impacts on carbon emissions, but also on the employment and social opportunities of rural women. The council in the above example say they targetted evening and weekend services - clearly with the premise of the working week running 9-5 Monday to Friday - but women in the UK are more likely to be part-time employment which often requires working outside of the usual 9-5. Women are also more likely to be in insecure work (and make up a greater proportion of those claiming job-seekers allowance) with the gap between women and men growing since 2008.

These statitics are reiterated for rural women across europe and this same report highlights the importance of women in the process of sustainable development. The male dominated rural networks can exclude women from decision making processes simply by being places that they don't want to be. Rural women need to be given a voice for sustainable development in their communities.

Thoughts on the Rural Environment

"The world’s population is going to stop at nine billion and go down. It’s an enormous achievement. And it’s largely an achievement of women, and particularly poor women who have been able to get hold of contraceptives or say, 'No'. Literacy is the best predictor of this. As soon as you see tiny improvements in female literacy, women gain more control of their own lives and you see dramatic falls in fertility." - Danny Dorling,  2010

Women in rural areas, in most countries, often face more barriers in getting an education, in getting access to contraception and thus controlling the size of their families. I'm simplifying here, but the basic human geography mode suggests that without education, the labour value of people is their main asset, and so the more children you have the more labour your family work force can do. So there may be little impetus to overcome these barriers.

But what sort of labour are these families doing? In Kenya, where I did my fieldwork, and in Ghana, where I taught English a few years ago, the vast majority of families were reliant on agriculture for their subsistence. So much so that in Ghana we wold be covering lessons for Ghanaian teachers because they had gone to tend their farms that day. In Kenya, labour has a strong gender divide: men are in charge of the animals (though women sometimes took charge of chickens and goats) and women do the majority of the agricultural labour. In terms of how these contribute to feeding the family, it's fair to say the majority of the food came from the women's efforts. And it is those who depend on agriculture for daily living that are hit hardest by a changing environment. The whole East Africa region has suffered with drought, and when the rains do come the soil is degraded and large gulleys form, dividing up the village.

These environmental issues have some similarities and some difference to those faced by rural populations in the UK...

56th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women

After lying dormant for a while I will be picking up this blog once again - this week I heard the fantastic news that this spring, I will be once again going with WAGGGS (World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts) to UNHQ in New York! This time I will be taking on a mentor and training role within the delegation, and I'm excited for a trip to London this Tuesdey to discuss the event.

The priority theme for CSW 56  will be:
"The empowerment of rural women and their role in poverty and hunger eradication, development and current challenges"

Doing a research project in a rural Keyan village back in March 2011, and then spending June through to September living in a small village in the Norfolk countryside has given me a flavour of the impact of geography (particularly rural v urban) on achieving gender equality.

One such issue is gender based violence and whilst a WI study in the UK, has shown that the amount of violence against women is comparable in rural and urban areas (though other studies have shown certain types of violence to be higher in urban areas) there is a distinct lack of relevant services in rural areas shown by the Map of Gaps project. The area I lived in over the summer has 0 such services.

In Kenya, violence against women is arguably even more of a concern. This 2003 report on progress towards UN goals in the Convention on the Elimination of Violence Against Women (CEDAW) demonstrates that pervasive cultural norms are a significant barrier to easy implementation of such aims. Female Genital Cutting has been outlawed in the country since 2003, but in rural areas the enforcement of such laws is difficult - and often not a priority.

And it is here where the environment and sustainability is a becoming an increasing concern...till the next post.

Videos

Just stumbled across these 4 videos of the side event with Soroptomists International. Doesn't include the WAGGGS part, but is a good taster of the session.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAeYNDJF92Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=331rwAJ3XEg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjQ84CZndvw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XNXSYjW-uQ

6 Weeks Later

Since returning from the Comission on the Status of Women you will have seen additions to this site and to out facebook page.

You can see the highlights of the trip and what other delegates have been up to since at http://bit.ly/eogiP3

Back in the UK

The journey back was relatively smooth and i have just about caught up on sleep. Now I just need to work through what I have learnt and process how I a going to go forward.

WATCH THIS SPACE!

Thursday and Friday

Again, yesterday was so busy that I did not get a chance to write a blog entry.

Starting with a UK NGO briefing at 9am, I then attended a number of side events on education before "Girls Speak Out About Violence Against Girls" which was an amazing event run by the Salvation Army. Three teenage girls each gave a story on what they knew and had learnt about violence against girls, before offering a creative contribution - throguh dance or music. It was a very moving event and the three young women were clearly very passionate.

The afternoon was spent filming messages and getting others to give messages for a number of WAGGGS video projects.

Today I managed to attend a panel on education delivered in Portuguese (muddling through with a powerpoint in English to guide me) before an extremely informative session on new technologies and free technologies which may be useful to women's organisations and other NGOs.

This left time to grab some lunch and book a table for a delegation meal out this evening before the second WAGGGS side event on violence against girls. We partnered with Soroptimists International, World YWCA and UN Women to deliver an interesting session combining case studies, questions and policy outcomes. During the session I took lots of notes in preparation for a blog I then typed up to go on the UN Women website. Other members of the delegation filmed the speeches and I was also able to put together a short video - also to be put on the UN Women website.

We finished the day with a delegation meal out - though Fiona from New Zealand sneaked off to a Bon Jovi concert instead.

Tommorrow we have a day of debriefing before I will depart for the airport in order to get a flight to the UK. My time here has gone so fast and I have so many ideas of what I want to advocate to change!

Wednesday at the UN

Today I went to many sessions - lots outlining specific situations in certain countries. This morning I attended a session on Ghana, the impact of violence against girls on their life chances and also the impact of climate change.

Then I went to the UNICEF building where there was a panel on the use of technology for educating girls and women. They provided an excellent lunch, and this was followed by an very insightful panel with speakers from Plan International and CISCO. I was intrigued by the statistic that by 2014 the majority of internet traffic will be through video, and also the affirmation that the radio and flash drives shouldn't be overlooked in distributing information to rural populations.

We then went for a look around the UN building - finding our way to the very old school library with a card index.

This afternoon I attended a panel at the Finnish Consulate featuring the Nordic Ministers and they presented the situation on equality, education and employment in Iceland, Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. They raised several interesting points including the priority of childcare and men taking on domestic responsibilities for getting women into employment.

In then briefly called into the Soroptomist International reception to say hello before rushing to the UK mission to attend their briefing on their position on UN Women. I finally made it to an event on homophobia and how that relates to gender inequality before heading back to the hotel for a debrief on the day.

At some point I hope to give more details on the content of the sessions - perhaps once I'm home and not rushing from place to place!

Happy World Thinking Day (for yesterday)

Yesterday was so busy that I dind't get a chance to publish an update (or rather I started one on my computer and then promptly fell asleep!).

The day started at 8am with a trip to the UN building to pick up the passes necessary to access main sessions. We then had time for a little more side event preparation before I went to take notes on the opening session of the CSW at 10am. Nothing earth-shattering wasw said, though a strong emphasis was placed on the need to tackle gender stereotypes and provide positive role models for girls - particularly in the areas of science and technology.

Quickly grabbing lunch from a lovely shop called the Amish Market, I headed to a side event run by Plan International. The panel of girls from 6 different countries gave presentations through video and then answered questions on how technology effects their lives. I asked the girls if they thought the positives outweighed the negative aspects of technology and the answers they gave stressed an importance of teaching girls how to use technology safely and creating an expectation of responsibility when using them. The ability to communicate at speed over long distnces and share impformation obviously has a tremendous impact on education and employment opportunities.

Then came our side event, run in partnership with Soroptomist International. It looked at case studies for formal and non-formal education run by the two associations across the entire lifecourse, and one key message from the event was to promote intergenerational dialogue so that organisations and individuals can learn from each other. They published updates during the session on their twitter and facebook accounts, and have since put blog entries on their website: http://www.soroptimistinternational.org/blog Shortly, our own blog of the event will be avaliable at http://www.wagggsworld.org/en/CSW.

After the session I continued to the UK Mission Reception where I had a chance to network with others coming from the UK and speak to members of the official UK Delegation as well as MIssion Staff members. I made a lot of contacts and the delegates were receptive to the ideas which WAGGGS wants to see included in the agreed conclusions at the end of the CSW.

Finally it was back to the hotel for a debrief and some food before bed! Today I have made a more leisurely start with my first event at 10am, but it again promises to be a pack day of events, information, and networking. Better get dressed.

Girls Stand Up! Orientation Day

Today started with an early morning and leaving the hotel at 7am, however it was very much worth it for a fantastic orientation day held at PACE university and run by the Working Group on Girls. It opened with a speech from Michelle Bacheret (Head of UN Women and former president of Chile).

From there we went upstairs and myself and the other members of the WAGGGS delegation facilitated sessions on the theme of the CSW - education, training and employment particularly relating to science, technology, engineering and maths.
Over lunch we talked to the Ambassador of Kenya - herself a former girl guide - and she seemed very interested in what we had to say.

Back upstairs we facilitated more sessions, this time on violence against girls, before attending sessions on how to advocate during the UN commission this week.

The day ended with a truly inspirational speech from Leymah Gbowee - a peace activist from Liberia. This was emotional for me as I had an opportunity toi thank her for the inspiration she gave me at the Young Women's World Forum in October and she urged me to continue with me project and achieve more. She issued many calls to action and told us to fight for what we believe in: "It's time to stop being pretty and start being active".