World Pulse – Letter to UN Women Director – Support ALL Women
Author: Womens UN Report Network
Date: July 22, 2005
WUNRN
LETTER TO UN WOMEN EXECUTIVE
DIRECTOR VIA WORLD PULSE
Link on How to Participate in
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_____________________________________________________________________
CALL FOR UN WOMEN SUPPORT FOR ALL
WOMEN, ALL “CLASSES,”
BROAD FEMININE DIVERSITY OF NEEDS,
ISSUES, OPPORTUNITIES
Fungai
Machirori | January 25, 2011
Zimbabwean writer Fungai Machirori makes the case that
gender development isn’t just for the poor. She challenges new UN Women
executive director Michelle Bachelet to support leadership opportunities for
women at all income levels.
“By nurturing positive examples of women in the developing world, we
debunk negative stereotypes and give women and girls hope that they too may
rise up one day to assume positions of authority.”
To the UN Women Executive Director, Michelle Bachelet,
I am not rural.
I am not illiterate.
But still, as a woman from the Global South, I have needs. Sadly, these
needs continue to slip through the cracks of gender discourse because for so
long, the focus of women’s development initiatives has been on addressing the
needs of the rural, illiterate, and direly poor.
I do not argue against the fact that these women’s needs are urgent and
immediate. I know that they are and I welcome every single cent in development
assistance that is channelled towards their needs. In fact, I demand that more
be done to understand the complexity of their predicament. As your sister
agency, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), has realized, poverty
is multi-dimensional and rooted in various deprivations that must be addressed
with diligence and determination. I commend this realization and urge that UN
Women find imaginative, representative, and progressive ways of working with
the UNDP to understand more fully the gendered aspects of the dimensions of
poverty.
But now I return to my own disgruntlement.
I am a 26-year-old Zimbabwean woman who has enjoyed privileges that many of
my countrywomen have not. I have received a good education and have had the
chance to work and be self-sustaining. Nothing has ever been handed to me
ready-made on a plate. I have succeeded through hard work, perseverance, and
the support of an incredible social network that includes parents who never
made me feel incompetent or incapable because I am female.
But as a writer, poet, and journalist, I recognize the various unaddressed
challenges faced by Zimbabwean women who choose this path.
A 2009 report on gender and the media in southern Africa, entitled ‘Glass
Ceilings: Women and Men in Southern African Newsrooms’ showed that the average
proportion of women in the media in southern
41%. When
was excluded, the proportion plummeted to 32%, or just one third of the total.
Because of their marginal status, these women were said to be experiencing
discouraging working conditions, such as sexual harassment, and relegation to
‘soft’ news beats like fashion and lifestyle, as opposed to the male reserves
of politics and business.
Yes, there are local institutions that support women in the media, but their
operations have been severely curtailed by a lack of consistent funding and
technical support. No matter how many proposals are written or funding streams
sought, there is an emphatically negative response from donors who consistently
state that nurturing women in the media is not a development priority area.
Well, I must roundly object. As important as it is to afford the most
marginal of the marginal their share of support, we must not forget that by
nurturing positive examples of women in the developing world, we help to debunk
negative stereotypes and give many women and girls the hope that they too may
rise up one day to assume positions of authority—in the spheres of health,
politics, the media, environment, or any other area they wish to pursue.
But as prominent Zimbabwean feminist Everjoice Win once noted,“… the
middle-class woman [in
work. She is constantly reminded that development is about eradicating poverty and
so it focuses on those defined as ‘the poor’ (read as resource-poor). Therefore
her story and her experiences are not part of the narrative. In essence, this
means women’s lives are put in a kind of league table and it is those that
qualify who get addressed.”
Beyond advocating for increased funding for women in leadership, I want to
also note that the same issues that affect our rural poor women affect
city-dwelling contemporary women too. Contrary to what donor funding suggests,
gender-based violence and HIV do not only affect the most marginalized groups
in society. Women of affluence contract HIV too. But where should they turn to
for assistance if all the social support systems make it clear they are not the
target of initiatives? Are counsellors trained in providing services for all
women, or just the women they always expect to encounter?
I know of one woman who lived in a middle class suburb in
who could never tell anyone that her husband was beating her up every week of
her life, simply because of the shame that she felt about this. It isn’t
anything new to note that a beating often elicits feelings of shame. But
consider how much more difficult it can be for a woman deemed by society to
‘have it all’ to open up about the vulnerabilities that are so often—and
incorrectly—associated with certain social groups.
Please consider how difficult it would be for these women to open up about
their HIV status, their inability to negotiate the use of condoms or
contraceptives within their relationships, and their realisation that a sound
education and a good job do not eradicate patriarchy.
I am not rural.
I am not illiterate.
But I am a woman whose needs deserve to be addressed with the same respect
as any other woman’s.
I hope that through UN Women, we might begin to better understand that ‘
World
have needs that should be acknowledged through development assistance, capacity
building, and representative development monitoring and evaluation.
We experience similar situations but our needs vary. Don’t disregard us. We
matter too in this long struggle toward equity and gender justice.
I thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Fungai Rufaro
Harare
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