A Queer Perspective on Sustainable Development

I’m sitting on the floor following negotiations on health, education and gender equality paragraphs for the Rio+20 outcome document ‘The Future We Want’. What strikes me is how what these suited people, sat round the table, relates (or completely doesn’t relate) to me.

I’m here in Rio with the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, and back home I’m also a member of the Stonewall Youth Panel – the UKs main Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual rights organisation. And I’m sat here thinking ‘I haven’t seen a single person at this event addressing gender and sexual minorities’. I know that, after many nation states walked out of a meeting addressing these issues at the Human Rights Council earlier this year, there’s unlikely to any direct reference in the formal outcome document. However, I haven’t seen a single NGO side event talking about it or an organisation working on these issues directly represented (if they’re happening please point me in the right direction!).

And, I mean, there’s plenty for them to be talking about here on the small number of topics I’m following alone.

Firstly I should say that I think the idea of ‘developed countries’ is a myth – no country is perfect and all are still developing. Countries are in different places, but this linear notion of development is misguided and any support for sustainable development needs to work for ensuring rights and access to services of populations the world over.

Health

There has been extensive discussion (and challenges) of sexual and reproductive health and rights over the last few days but in a most definitely heterocentric and binary gendered fashion – what else would you expect when the Holy See is vehemently  participating in discussions?!

Being young and queer my experience of sexual health provision in the UK has been lacking, and obviously such services are non-existent in the majority of countries. Refusal to administer certain tests for sexually transmitted infections is common – the misconception being that certain diseases can’t be passed between same-sex partners being concluded for the low rates of transmission. On several occasions I have had to assure a doctor of an opposite sex sexual partner before they’ll take my request for STI testing seriously. Heterosexuality is always presumed, with me having to tell a medical practitioner otherwise – usually with the narrow category options of heterosexual, homosexual and bisexual which simple don’t reflect the diversity of sexual minorities.

Hate crime has also had a serious impact on my health as a young person, mentally and physically, and there is no doubt that levels of economic and social development, as well as historical factors, seriously influence the likelihood and severity of such crimes. Within the UK I have faced verbal and threats of physical violence based upon my sexuality and gender identity on far too many occasions. However I have also experienced the much harsher hate violence prevalent in many other countries during a visit to Ghana. Aged 17, I was picked out based on my clothing and mannerisms amongst other things, and subjected to things that no person should ever face…Everybody has a right to live a life free from violence and this is a right denied to sexual and gender minorities on a daily basis. Violence has a dramatic cost – socially, economically and environmentally – and so any programme of sustainable development should seek to address it.

Education

I was buoyed by this article today showing that a UN agency has recognised the specific education barriers faced by gender and sexual minorities, and it makes many important points. Whilst it’s well-known that girls are forced out of school for reasons based around their gender, sexuality and gender identity forces many others out of education to. In the UK, bullying based on my sexuality and gender identity forced me to drop out of formal education at the age of 13. Sustainable development, in all countries should ensure that children can remain in education regardless of any factor of their identity.

Whilst I am heartened by the news of progress that schools who participate in Stonewall’s Diversity schools programme are making in terms of homophobic bullying – I firmly believe that non-formal education has an incredible role to play it is ability to promote shared values of diversity and equality.

Conclusions

I am incredibly frustrated by my position within a group who still don’t have their rights formally recognised within the UN system – one day I hope that gender and sexual minorities will be given the due space and consideration to productively input into international political processes.

#SaveOurSay in the #FutureWeWant

We are now into part two of the Rio+20 conference process - yesterday the Brazilian government took the text under negotiation and consolidated it. Lots of great things stayed in - like the paragraph on non-formal education that WAGGGS and the major group of children and youth campaigned for - but there were noticeable omissions.

These omissions include language around establishing a high commissioner for future generations and around ensuring the participation of civil society of the Sustainable Development Framework going forward. I am currently sat in negotiations listening to coutries views about this section of the text and there are sympathetic ears out there.

To show the wealth of support for these concepts we are taking to twitter to raise awareness of the importance of these two concepts - inevitably by using a hashtag! If you support children, youth and all members of civil society eing able to inut into this process then please join our campaign by tweeting "#SaveOurSay in the #FutureWeWant" and sharing this blog (and the many others on this topic) through Facebook and email.

Thanks for your support!

Lot's of Talk and Little Substance - We Must Not Regress!

Back-tracking and regression is the theme of these latest days of negotiations and we're working hard to ensure that rights based language - particularly that from previous UN agreements - remains throughout the text.

What we really want to see is mentions of the importance of non-formal education and the need to address violence against women in the text. To raise awareness I am supporting two hashtags on Twitter and I urge you to do the same - #EducationEverywhere along with a message about non-formal education and #SexRightsRio to highlight the need for sexual and reproductive rights to be ensured.

It's an indication of the busy nature of the conference that this is the first entry I have written whilst in Rio - however it is not indicative of the pace of negotiations. Things are going slowly and as of yet it is unclear whether quality text with strong language will make it before the ministers and heads of state next week...

In the Departure Lounge!

I'm sat at Heathrow airport, waiting for my flight to board, ready to head to Rio for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development. This is a once in a generation summit and I hope that, along with the rest of the delegation from the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, we can get serious consideration of the issues faced today and in the future by citizens of the world and how those issues differently affect people based on age and gender.

The Guardian have published the text under negotiation as it current stands and I encourage you to look at it and contact your government delegation with any points that you think it is imperative that they consider.

WAGGGS have published an article on actions that you can take for the comfort of your own home - you don't need to be in Brazil to engage with this conference!
I hope to have another update for you after my flight.

“You’re not a Guide – you talk about real issues.”

The title of this entry is the response I received from a water engineer when I spoke on an expert panel at #Yorio on Thursday. This event was a youth pre-event where participants aged 12-21 engaged in discussions around how we can create sustainable water usage before putting these ideas to Caroline Spelman, the environment minister (part of the UK government delegation to Rio).

This response was further reiterated by some of the comments on this article about the same event. Young people are frequently being underestimated in our passion, our knowledge and our capabilities, and frankly it’s just not on anymore. I’m proud to be part of a worldwide movement that engages with politics at every level, but I, and other members, know that we can’t leave all that action up to politicians. One of the other comments on the same article put it well – politicians are thinking to the next election, young people are thinking for the rest of their lifetimes!

That’s why members of Girlguiding UK and of the WAGGGS run their own projects to make a difference to their own communities – in this case around environmental sustainability. In my speech on Thursday I talked about toilets at Hautbois (the Girlguiding activity centre in Norfolk) and how some are flushed by rain water, whilst others use grey water from showers and sinks to move the sewage from ensuites to the septic tank. We launched a ‘Going Green’ challenge for local groups to take their own environmental action and raise money for further sustainable projects.

Back in March 1^st Greenisland Brownies took part in hedge planting and met with members of a local Green Gym. 1^st Marford Guides recycled clothes from friends and neighbours selling them on to raise money for their next guiding adventure and benefitting a local charity. On Thursday we also had a skype call from Miriam – part of the Girl Guides of Kenya. She spoke passionately about how they run projects to teach girls, from the slum areas of Nairobi, how to harvest rain water as a source of clean drinking water. The system at the guiding centre provides water for drinking, bathing and watering a kitchen garden – feeding the girls too! Later this month a transatlantic project (funded by ALCOA) will start, whereby girls from the east of England will partner with girls in Atlanta to think about ways they can make their communities more environmentally sustainable.

You don’t need to be a politician to help create sustainable development in your community, but that doesn’t stop you engaging with politics either. I like to think that in Rio, Caroline Spelman will effectively represent the great ideas she heard from young people this week – and I will do my best to keep her to the promise of a meeting so that she receives youth input right through the conference!  Because I am a guide, and I do talk about real issues.

Girlguiding UK Provided me with Role Models

Earlier this week Girlguiding UK launched their research Girls Attitudes Explored…Role Models – findings which highlighted the lack of positive role models from a broad spectrum of fields. This research was picked right across the media with articles in the: Telegraph, Daily Mail, BBC, Daily Star, Independent, Metro, Times of India and more.

Taking a look at these articles make me despair at the role the media plays in all this – the majority are just propagating the whole issue they are reporting on. Instead of mentioning some amazing women who are successful in their areas (and also relatively well-known already) such as Lynne Featherstone, Jessica Ennis and Karen Brady, they plaster their articles with scantily clad images of the girls from TOWIE. I’m sorry media, but if you give no coverage at all to the diverse, accomplished women that girls and young women need to know about then you are the problem and not part of the solution.

I like to think of myself of someone who does look for positive role models and avoids reality TV at all costs, but I could probably still recognise more names in a list of ex-big brother contestants than one of the England women’s football squad. That is because celebrity for fames sake permeates our lives and amazing women are still sidelined to the point they are invisible until you specifically look for them.

I draw my inspiration for who I want to be like from role models beyond celebrity, but these are actually people I have met and I think the importance of that is shown by Mums being the highest ranked role model in the research. I can say that I aspire to emulate the likes of Lynne Featherstone, Leymah Gbowee and Michelle Bachelet but few 21 year olds are in the position where they’ve spoken to all three in person.

I most definitely have Girlguiding UK and the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts to thanks for the role models they have provided me with – not only politicians, but also the leaders who supported and guided me growing up and those who gave me the responsibilities which ultimately stretched my ambitions. Sod the media – this movement has the potential to deliver strong, positive female role models to girls and young women every week. This is the thought behind our next exhibition project – ‘Made of Stars’

Aiming to focus on women who have contributed to science, technology, engineering and maths, ‘Made of Stars’ will bring lots of unknown women to the attention of today’s girls and young women. I want to show people the range of women already achieving in this field, how it can be fun, and how it contributes to so many different career paths. I’m not saying that every girl should go out and become an aeronautical engineer, but rather that every young person needs to realise that they can achieve whatever they set their mind to, and need not limit themselves only to the jobs that are stereotyped as gender appropriate.

Real Carbon Offsetting

Last year, as part of a university course, I was introduced to www.cheatneutral.com - a parody website which aims to highlight the irelevance of the carbon offsetting industry. Their video gives a great overview of the logic behind their parody campaign.


I throughly agree with the premise that paying somebody else to install low energy lightbulbs does very little to reduce the total amount of carbon emissions worldwide, and that the biggest gains in carbon emission reduction can be made through the political process and setting targets which affect industry.

However, I do believe still that there is a need to still consider action at an individual level. If people take a concerted interest in changing their behaviours to have a lower carbon lifestyle then ultimately this can become a transformative green pressure for other entities. The greening of the economy has to be bottom up as well as top down.

Now we come to my dilema. Rio+20, the sustainable development summit which I will be attending this summer on behalf of WAGGGS, will see tens of thousands of people fly to Brazil to talk about issues including the green economy. There is a fair amount of irony in the amount of carbon emitted in the processes of attempting to reduce it.

As an individual I have used a simple online calculator to figure that my return flight will emit around 2 tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere (though the damage this figure is questionable in relation the the damage flying does compared to other types of carbon emissions). I do feel guilt about the impact I am having on the environment - but I won't be giving a donation of my money to a carbon neutralising company to offset it.
Instead I plan to take personal action through my food consumption and everyday transportation usage to offset my carbon on an individual basis.

Howstuffworks.com uses data based on a University of Chicago study to suggest how much carbon is offset by a vegetarian (1 tonne) or vegan (2 tonnes) diet. Norfolk County Council - where I currently live - suggest that UK diets vary between 0.2 and 5 tonnes of carbon emissions depending on the amount of meat, dairy, processed and imported by air products you consume.

Due to food intolerances I already cut dairy and egg out of my diet, along with gluten - which means that my diet already has less of an enviromental impact that the UK average and it is trickier to find areas to cut down on. I can however pledge to cut down on food miles and red meat - both of which are major causes of emissions. From now onwards I am going to make a concerted effort to buy the majority of fresh produce that has grown in the UK (or southern Europe in the case of tomatoes etc) and cut down my red meat intake replacing it with fish and vegetarian alternatives wherever possible.

I live approximately 15 minutes by bike or 30 minutes walking from both the university where I study and work and the centre of Norwich. As such travel to either of these destinations by any other method is really unnecessary. I will reserve bus travel for journey's longer than this and car sharing for journeys which couldn't be done on public transport.

I'm not sure if the maths of these reductions add up - indeed there are many researchers who have spent years looking int carbon emissions and still are sure of the precise comparison of different impact on the environment - but it is better than nothing.

These are small changes which may actually save me money as well as carbon emissions, but putting thought into these decisions will have a positive impact on the environment - if we all make a small change it adds up to something really big.
 
Going back to Rio+20, yes it is a phenomenal environmental imapct of getting so many people together in one place for discussions. However if targets and policies cna be established which will ensure the growth of a green economy, then I am certain that the conference will be 'offset' by future sustainable growth.

Maybe soon in the future we can also find a way to do global conferences sustainably too!

Could The Olympics Cause Domestic Violence?

On Saturday a friend of mine, a fellow rugby fan, asked me if I'd seen the domestic violence awareness ads that ran during the Men's Rugby World Cup last autumn. I'm currently starting a piece of research for my Masters looking at museums responses to the issue of domestic violence and so it's interesting to hear about campaigns which have linked into other recreational activities.

I admitted that I hadn't seen that particular campaign (which was specific to Northamptonshire) and was shocked to hear the message it promoted. With a little bit of internet searching I've found a photo of one of the posters on the back of a bus:

"Don't get beaten during the rugby world cup". Whilst I think raising awareness of domestic violence is a great idea, I find this particular campaign to be problematic.

Firstly "Don't get beaten" implies that it's inevitable that the perpetrator will be violent; that this is somehow a threat waiting out there for potential victims; and that somehow a victim is letting themselves get beaten. Secondly the image, to me, shows a passive woman who unfortunately didnt do enough to avoid getting beaten. This, I think, is an extremely poor campaign that does nothing to challenge the stereotypes and pressures that are the underlying cause of domestic violence in the UK.

The campaign's local media coverage cites the fact that "During the Football World Cup incidents of reported domestic violence increased by 30 per cent". Other media sources quote similar statistics, and research by Dr Catherine Palmer at Durham University has found links between sporting events (with the Football World Cup being the most highlighted example) and rises in violence against women. The research indicates that male athletes (particularly in contact and team sports), when compared to other men, are more likely to commit acts of violence against women. Competitve tensions and alcohol consumption could lead to an increase in intimate partner violence from spectators at larger sporting events.

In light of this the End Violence Against Women Coalition has set out recommendations for addressing this rise during the Olympics in London this summer - I sincerely hope this challenges the underlying causes of domestic violence (and other forms of violence against women) in a more effective way than that of the Northamptonshire campaign last autumn. From the research by Dr Catherine Palmer trafficking, prostitution, sexual exploitation and sexual assault may be more affected by this type of event - although there still could be a rise in domestic violence incidents.

However, an event like the Olympics has a lot of potential for reducing the underlying causes of domestic violence in the long run. This is because violence against women and so much domestic violence is underpinned by the stereotypes created about what it means to be a man and what it means to be a woman.

I believe the men's football world cup and men's rugby world cup are and have been seen as flashpoints for domestic violence because they reinforce the epitome of these sterotypes. They are all about male athletes idolised as successful through agression and physical exersion whilst any consideration of women is the wives and girlfriends only discussed for how they look and other sexual attributes. There has been a lot of good work done with these two sports in particular - mostly latching onto the idea of a male athlete as the height of masculinity and using famous individuals to say that these real men don't commit violence against women. The White Ribbon Campaign have some good examples of working with sports clubs to get men involved in ending domestic violence.

In contrast, the olympics involves both male and female athletes. It's yet to be seen whether they will receive equal coverage but I think some of Britains best medal hopes are women. This gives a great opportunity for challenging the stereotypes underpinning violence against women. Women, for once, may be celebrated widely for their sporting success - something which the England women's football and rugby union teams rarely see in wide circulation media despite their regular achievements. This celebration of women beyond how they look when watching their husbands do sport could create dozens, if not hundreds, of positive role models for girls and young women as well as doing a little bit to challenge the perceptions of female peers amongst boys and young men.

This sort of effect probably won't be felt overnight, but I think the Olympics can prove an invaluable step to creating women who know they deserve respect ,and men who know they don't need to be violent to assert their masculinity.

The Power of Video

Video is a powerful medium and one of the fastest growing types of content accessed on the web. YouTube's press statistics reckon over 4 billion videos are viewed every day. As such there are lots of inspirational videos from around the world - many combining animation with instrumental music to make thier point. This genre is perhaps best know for the Girl Effect.

If your looking for a little bit of inspiration for what you can achieve, take a look at a few of my favourite lesser known examples.

Be Remarkable

Create The Future You Imagine

Five

The One Book

They Really Are Listening!

When I got the opportunity to deliver an oral intervention (delivered as comments and questions rather than a statement) at the United Nations on behalf of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts last month, I was worried that my lack of experience would count against me. I thought maybe my comments would be disregarded as I didn't know how to speak the lingo and the style of my presentation was nothing like that of the people who had clearly been doing it for years.

I need not have worried. During the speech itself the chair and the panel were visibly attentive to what I was saying - reinforced by the fact the panellist each answered at least one of my questions in their replies (a great achievement considering there had been around 20 others making points). It helped that the other young speaker, from the Working Group of Girls, made similar points and a united youth voice is every so much stronger! Our points about stronger youth representation and inclusion in UN processes got mentioned at an NGO briefing meeting the next day - we clearly made a strong impression to those who had been in the panel!

However yesterday I came across a news article that made my realise that what I had said, and what Caroline from the Working Group on Girls had said, had really been listened to and recorded. The article can be found here and, whilst they've got a little confused about what organisations we were representing, it's clear that what we had to say has had a contribution to the wider debate around including young people in the processes of the UN.

I am now starting preparations for being part of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts delegation to Rio+20 and we had our first skype call last week. I will be taking on responsibilities around the gender aspects of our work at the conference and I hope that we can make an even bigger impact than we managed last month in New York!

Today is the final celebration day for a triennium of centenary celebrations for WAGGGS (don't ask, I don't understand how a centenary can be marked for 3 years either!) and they have launched a new campaign for marketing guiding and girl scouting around the world. You can see the branding on their facebook page or more of the elements of it on their website. I think the campaign does a very good job of summing up what the movement is about. 'Imagine more' is all about how guiding and scouting is more than a lot of people think it is, and how with a little bit of encouragement girls and young women can achieve more than is expected thanks to those who imagine a better world for them.
Our presence at the UN , and especially at Rio this June, is about more than me or you. It's time to imagine the future we want to see!