Women "To date, we have heard of no opposition by member states to strengthening the gender equality architecture," she added. "However, we do understand that countries have questions and want more information on a number of issues, including about how the new entity will operate, particularly at the national level, and where the
new resources will come from." In a letter to the secretary-general, the coalition of over 140 NGOs said: "We call upon UN member states and the secretarygeneral to take swift actions to initiate and support efforts to strengthen the architecture for women's equality in the General Assembly deliberations during its (current) 61st session," which ends in early September. The coalition says that the upgrading of women's equality work within the UN system is long overdue. "It is imperative at this critical juncture that member states and the UN system take bold action - and provide the leadership and resources required - to make these recommendations a reality," the groups said. Support
The 140 NGOs, spanning all of the continents, included Asia Pacific Women's
Watch, Canadian Federation of University Women, Centre for Women's Global Leadership, European Women's Lobby, African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies, International Federation of Women's Lawyers and the World Federation of UN Associations. Charlotte Bunch of the Centre for
Just give us the space, we are able
Women's Global Leadership said that the letter signed by all of the NGOs was delivered to the secretary-general on International Women's Day. "It is our hope that this will get the process moving again among governments," she told IPS. Bunch pointed out that the coalition was also successful in getting the issue discussed at the General Assembly's special thematic session on gender, and with governments around the CSW session. "While we do not know exactly what will be the next stage in the process, the idea is gaining momentum and has been widely supported by NGOs at the CSW," she added. The letter sent to the secretary-general also calls for a commitment "to significant and sustained funding of the new women's entity and the gender equality and women's rights/empowerment work of the whole UN
"We call upon UN member states and the secretary-general to take swift actions to initiate and support efforts to strengthen the architecture for women's equality in the General Assembly deliberations during its (current) 61st session,"
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system, including gender main-streaming within all UN policies and programmes." The coalition also seeks "meaningful and ongoing civil-society participation, particularly of women's groups, in the consideration and implementation of the (HighLevel) Panel's recommendations at the national, regional and global levels."
The letter says that structures and avenues for such participation should be built into the gender equality architecture of the United Nations at all levels to ensure that women's voices, and especially those at the grassroots, are heard and that women's concerns are effectively addressed in sustained ways. Zeitlin said that the three existing women's units have a total budget of about $65 million, compared to $450 million for the UN Population Fund and about $2 billion for the UN children's agency, UNICEF. "These recommendations present the best opportunity to reduce the gap between the rhetoric on gender equality at the United Nations and the reality of women's lives," she added. She also pointed out that the panel had recommended an initial target of some $200 million for the proposed new women's agency. "We understand [that] this number was taken out (of the panel's report) because some panel members believed [that] it was far below what was needed for the United Nations to deliver on gender equality and women's empowerment." * Thalif Deen writes for the IPS from New York.