Gray Panthers on the prowl
Few people know how to be old.
-- maggie kuhn, founder
| United Nations - Gender Equity Reform |
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GEAR UP for Gender Equity Reform at the United Nations: Building a United Nations that Really Works for All Women March, 2008 The Gray Panthers is proud to be an NGO (Not-for-Profit Governmental Organization) partner at the United Nations. Our delegation in New York City along with the Gray Panther National Office has been active in the past few years in fighting for the rights of women around the world. One of the issues that has come up repeatedly is how women's rights can be best moved forward in the United Nations. The process to reform the United Nations has been under way for a few years now. Given the importance of the UN in advancing human rights, global security, sustainable development and women's empowerment, how can we be sure that the fast -paced reforms on the table will really protect and promote women's rights? Women's rights and gender equality advocates have to ensure that accountability to women's human rights is an integral part of the Reform process. The phrase, gender architecture is used to define the changes the UN should take to ensure that an effective mechanism exists with adequate resources to implement the commitments to women's rights for action made in various UN world conferences on women's rights. The UN currently lacks an effective mechanism to deliver on these promises: an independent, women-specific agency with adequate stature, resources, operational capacity, and a mandate to drive this agenda. A lead women's agency is needed along with well-resourced, effective mainstreaming efforts. Currently, the UN has several small under-resourced units focused exclusively on women's issues; other larger agencies sometimes do important work on gender equality, but it is a small part of their mandate, and often receives low priority. Source: United Nations Department of Economic & Social Affairs. Gray Panthers has signed on in support of the GEAR Campaign to ensure that the needs of women around the world are heard and effectively acted on. |