International Engagement Forum and CSW61 Report Back

1. International Engagement Forum and CSW61 Report Back NGO Engagement in CSW61 Wednesday 26 April 2017, Sydney Professor Shirley Randell AO, PhD, Hon.DLitt Women Chiefs of Enterprise Economic Security for Women Alliance

2. Individual Engagement Participants took advantage of relationship building in all groups they were connected with: in my case • Delegate of Graduate Women International • Associate of Virginia Gildersleeve International Fund • Associate of Rwanda Government delegation • Member of Australian Economic Security for Women Alliance -Honorary International Member, Zonta International -Honorary Member, Australian Business & Professional Women -Member, Femmes Chefs D’Enterprises -WCEI • Participant in AustralianGovernment delegation • Interest in the Asia-Pacific and African Regional Forums SRI Public Sector Reform Pty Ltd

3. NGO Engagement: Attendance • Attendance was smaller than expected: over 8600 NGO representatives pre-registered but only 3900 attended from 580 organisations and 138 countries. • US visa restrictions played a part, an empty chair was prominent in most events recognise absentees. • 131 written submissions, 200 side events and over 400 parallel events. • Due to priority theme, trade unions, labor organizations, domestic worker alliances were well represented for the first time. SRI Public Sector Reform Pty Ltd

4. The empty chair at the front of most side and parallel sessions was placed there to remember the participants who wanted to be at CSW61 but who had been denied visas to enter the US, following President Trump’s clampdown on several countries’ visitors and immigrants SRI Public Sector Reform Pty Ltd

5. Audience parallel event on education, health, sport & economic empowerment SRI Public Sector Reform Pty Ltd

6. Speakers Parallel event, Kaz, Shirley Randell, Jaya Dantas Shirley Gibbons (NZ) SRI Public Sector Reform Pty Ltd

7. NGO Engagement: Achievements • Agreed Conclusions adopted after two weeks and more than 100 hours of intense negotiations – UN, member states and NGO delegations (13-74-17). • Progressive ground held on sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights and family-related issues. • Key aspects of the gender equality compact from previous years –CEDAW, Beijing - built on with consolidated gains and new commitments. • First Town Hall meeting with Secretary General SRI Public Sector Reform Pty Ltd

8. SRI Public Sector Reform Pty Ltd

9. Charlotte Brunch Centre for Global Women’s Leadership SRI Public Sector Reform Pty Ltd

10. Dinah Musindarwezo ED, Femnet African Women’s Development and Communication Network SRI Public Sector Reform Pty Ltd

11. LGBTIQ representatives SRI Public Sector Reform Pty Ltd

12. Agreed Conclusions - wins • Commitments to advance women’s rights and economic empowerment in the changing world of work. • Blueprint for governments to reduce and redistribute unpaid and domestic work through public services, labour and social protections, affordable childcare and other care services. • A just transition of the workforce toward low-carbon economies that deliver for women and the planet. • Gender-responsive strategies to increase women’s resilience to the economic impacts of climate change. SRI Public Sector Reform Pty Ltd

13. Agreed Conclusions - wins (cont.) • Role of trade unions, collective bargaining and social dialogue in addressing economic inequalities and the importance of strong, global labour standards to protect women’s rights in work. • End violence and harassment against women at work, strengthen and enforce laws and policies, promote re-entry of victims and survivors of violence into the labour market. • Sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights are essential for women’s economic rights, independence and empowerment. SRI Public Sector Reform Pty Ltd

14. Agreed Conclusions - wins (cont.) • Women’s rights to exercise autonomy over their bodies and lives is critical to their economic empowerment • Constructive language on families implies the reality of a diverse range of family structures. • Access to technical and vocational skills training, entrepreneurship development, job-matching and career guidance, for older women SRI Public Sector Reform Pty Ltd

15. Agreed Conclusions - wins (cont.) • Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples critical for indigenous women’s empowerment. • Governments to respect and protect indigenous women’s traditional and ancestral knowledge, and address discrimination and violence they face • Indigenous women’s financial independence and economic self-determination, e.g. by establishing Indigenous-owned businesses SRI Public Sector Reform Pty Ltd

16. Shirley, Minister Hon Michaelia Cash and HE Ambassador Gillian Bird reception SRI Public Sector Reform Pty Ltd

17. SRI Public Sector Reform Pty Ltd Leanne Wilson, Shirley, Kate Jenkins, Sex Discrimination Commissioner

18. South Pacific Forum Dixie Link-Gordon and Lily from PNG Dr Alice Pollard Solomon Islands SRI Public Sector Reform Pty Ltd

19. Agreed Conclusions - concerns • Governments unwilling to fundamentally change the global economic, financial and trade structures that exacerbate inequalities within and between countries or to address the harmful impacts of globalization that result in the exploitation of women workers. • Governments unwilling to name specific groups of people who are marginalized - ethnicity, caste, class, disability, age, HIV status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression or sex characteristics • Human rights defenders under attack globally – need to expand spaces for NGOs in all countries SRI Public Sector Reform Pty Ltd

20. Agreed Conclusions – concerns (cont) • A lack of agreement on unpaid work and the role of member states • Vocational training needs more attention • Critical need for more quality data collection and dissemination for implementation of Agreed Conclusions and Sustainable Development Goals SRI Public Sector Reform Pty Ltd

21. Data Statistics wins • Measure the value of unpaid care and domestic work through periodic time-use surveys • Increase the availability of data on the gender pay gap • Strengthen national statistical capacity to improve the collection, analysis and dissemination of gender statistics and data on the formal and informal economy • Support developing countries to systematically design, collect and ensure access to high-quality, reliable and timely data, disaggregated by sex, age, income and other characteristics relevant in national contexts SRI Public Sector Reform Pty Ltd

22. Data Statistics concerns (cont) • Only 13 percent of countries collecting finance gender statistics • 80 percent of the indicators for gender equality across the SDGs are lacking data • Include data from civil society with national statistics and surveys • More transparent and accessible data for users • Develop statistical literacy to improve data collection, particularly in developing countries SRI Public Sector Reform Pty Ltd

23. Negotiations on Agreed Conclusions SRI Public Sector Reform Pty Ltd

24. SRI Public Sector Reform Pty Ltd Dr Sima Samar, Chair, Human Rights Commission, Afghanistan

25. Agreed Conclusions – concerns (cont) Paragraph 40 provides ‘let-outs' for governments and other agencies • “The Commission urges governments at all levels and, as appropriate, with the relevant entities of the United Nations system and international and regional organizations, within their respective mandates and bearing in mind national priorities, and invites civil society, the private sector, employer organizations and trade unions, as applicable, to take the following actions:”  SRI Public Sector Reform Pty Ltd

26. Other Challenges • Indigenous people must be present when Indigenous issues are being discussed – must push to be at the table of negotiations • More attention is needed for people with disabilities e.g. captions for hearing- challenged • Young people must be part of the delegations and be included in negotiations • More information should be provided to first-time attendees SRI Public Sector Reform Pty Ltd

27. Other Challenges (cont) • Widows of all ages face discrimination and data on marital status is needed in member states • Men working with women as agents of change • Data on the number of civil society members in delegations is needed to increase the number of voices having access to officials who will be negotiating • Ireland will chair CSW 62 –rural people will be on the agenda SRI Public Sector Reform Pty Ltd

28. The Weather SRI Public Sector Reform Pty Ltd

29. Snowstorm at UN SRI Public Sector Reform Pty Ltd

30. Impact of NGOs at CSW61 • NGOs do make some impact but mostly at home and through their own delegations and by what they do. • In the case of eS4W, by advocacy for economic empowerment, in the case of GWI by standing up for education, in the case of VGIF by its grants to grassroots women. SRI Public Sector Reform Pty Ltd

31. We all have the opportunity through CSW, UN Women, the Australian Government and our agencies to influence global policy and shape the future of the world for all girls and women SRI Public Sector Reform Pty Ltd

32. Please contact me if you want to discuss further Prof. Shirley Randell AO, PhD, Hon.Dlitt 1102 Hyde Park Plaza, 38 College St, Sydney, NSW 2000 Mob: +614 19005936 • mail@shirleyrandell.com.auwww.shirleyrandell.com • https://www.facebook.com/shirleykayerandellpage/ • LinkedinandTwitter:@ShirleyRandell SRI Public Sector Reform Pty Ltd