Participants at a recent Women’s Human Rights Advocacy training in Geneva which is run by LWF and ecumenical partners. Photo: LWF/C. Kästner-Meyer
Follow up to Commission on the Status of Women highlights vital role of faith actors whose voices are often excluded
(LWI) - Faith-based organizations bring vital values to the work for greater gender justice. They draw on the lived experiences of millions of women and girls in their grassroots constituencies. They speak with a moral and ethical language that resonates across different countries and cultures. Yet, increasingly, their voices – along with other civil society groups - are being excluded from the spaces where crucial decision-making takes place.
On 4 May the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), the World Council of Churches (WCC) and ACT Alliance organized an event to highlight the role of faith actors at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) and other UN spaces. “Access for all: advancing equitable inclusion of women faith leaders in global policymaking and implementation’ was the title of the event that brought together faith-based women’s rights advocates and United Nations representatives to discuss obstacles such as visa restrictions or financial exclusion and discern ways of strengthening inclusive and meaningful participation at the policymaking tables.
Among the participants at the hybrid event were gender justice advocates who were denied visas to attend the 9 to 19 March CSW70 session in New York because they hold passports from countries on a list of nations whose citizens are banned or restricted by the United States government.
Without us at the table, these spaces remain incomplete.
– Sikhonzile Ndlovu, LWF Senior Advocacy Officer for Gender Justice
“As civil society, we represent millions of people and are rooted in community legitimacy and without us at the table, these spaces remain incomplete,” noted Sikhonzile Ndlovu, LWF Senior Advocacy Officer for Gender Justice, who was herself denied a U.S visa, hampering her role to help lead the LWF delegation in New York. Noting that the CSW theme this year was about ensuring access to justice for all women, she asked, “how can we push forward towards this goal if we can’t get a seat at the table? How do we influence decisions about issues that affect our lives? None of us can do this alone and we need to chart a way forward together.”
A former LWF delegate, who was also denied entry to attend CSW70 was Faustina Nilan from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania, currently serving as director for women and gender with the All Africa Conference of Churches in Kenya. She followed events online but highlighted the challenges for those seeking to participate in hybrid events in different time zones.
Bringing local experience to the global stage
Noting also the funding cuts to most women-led organizations, Nilan said in-person participation at such global events is a vital opportunity for delegates “to learn from the lived experiences” of other attendees. “This meeting is important because it allows us to bring our local experiences to the global level and then feed back the global actions and decisions to the local level,” she insisted.
Priscilla Ciesay from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of The Gambia, a member of this year’s LWF delegation in New York, spoke about the challenges facing all marginalized women in her country which has a Muslim majority. Ciesay serves as senior technical advisor to the Women’s Association for Women and Victims’ Empowerment (WAVE-Gambia).
She underlined the importance of accountability for churches and other religious communities which have often been complicit in denying women victims of gender-based violence access to justice and life-saving services. “These issues should be talked about from the pulpit,” she stressed, highlighting also the importance of LWF’s annual women’s human rights advocacy training and other platforms offering practical tools to empower women at grassroots level.
Exclusion of youth, migrants, marginalized women
Another gender justice advocate and development economist who was unable to travel to the United States this year was Zambian Paddy Siyanga Knudsen from the African Non-State Actors Platform on Migration and Development. These experiences demonstrate “the power of the penholder who gets to decide the agenda, to decide whose voices are heard, as well as what resources and finances are allocated,” she said.
Noting how hard it is for civil society leaders to participate in these decision-making processes, she added: “Imagine how difficult it is for migrant, diaspora or undocumented women to engage in advocacy, even at local level.” Faith-based organizations play a critical role in providing access to justice, services and networks where they can engage and amplify their voices,” she added.
Olivia Baro, Ecumenical Youth Engagement Coordinator at the Pacific Conference of Churches, said the experience of attending CSW was “powerful but overwhelming,” making it easy to miss opportunities to engage meaningfully with the process. Participation in the event “sharpened my understanding of how to navigate global advocacy” and taught young delegates how to position themselves “where our voices are most needed,” she said. “The Pacific is home to a vibrant and growing youth population who are too often excluded from decisions about their future,” she warned.
Power of partnerships and good preparation
Responding to concerns raised by the faith advocates were two gender justice experts renowned for their support of civil society organizations in navigating the UN system. Adriana Quinones is head of Human Rights and Development for UN Women and was in charge of developing the theme for this year’s CSW. She underlined the importance of "starting early” to prepare for such events, holding regional discussions and understanding the best entry points to engage member states in order to “generate an environment of accountability.”
Carolyn Handschin-Moser is president of the NGO Committee on the Status of Women in Geneva and has spent many years focusing on advocacy for peace, human rights, education and women’s empowerment. She praised recent efforts to “open channels of communication between civil society and UN entities,” urging faith-based organizations to work together and make themselves “indispensable” to government delegations. “The more we can speak with one voice, the more influence we will have,” she said.
Moderating the webinar, Rev. Nicole Ashwood, WCC program executive for a Just Community of Women and Men, reiterated the importance of finding “practical solutions” in a climate of economic downturn, rising conflict, displacement and declining multilateralism. Rev. Dr Elaine Neuenfeldt, head of the ACT Alliance Gender Justice program, insisted on the importance of promoting a “feminist and gender just faith actors’ perspective” that is recognized for its expertise, resources and experience. Women faith leaders can do this, she concluded, because “we bring specific values that foreground dignity, accountability, solidarity and justice.”
