Why so few women?

At this point I will mention Clay Shirky, not as the international expert of women, but more simply, because we read his book in the course on Social Networks and Communication Technology that originated this blog.

His observations are connected with reflections on women and peace, in particular with the need for more women in leadership position and what prevents it from happening.

Here are some passages from Shirky’s blog:

I’m not concerned that women don’t engage in enough building of self-confidence or self-esteem. I’m worried about something much simpler: not enough women have what it takes to behave like arrogant self-aggrandizing jerks.

Hillary Clinton on women empowerment

More on the UN: on March 12 2010 Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton delivered a speech at the U.N. in New York  about the pivotal role of women in securing global peace and security.

(Reuters) – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Friday the United Nations needs more women in top positions as it strives to raise the profile of women’s issues and fights gender-based violence.

She identified equality for the world’s women and girls as the central challenge that will determine the peace and progress of the 21st century.

Among others she mentioned Wangari Maathai (see my post) and she spoke of the importance of empowering girls (see my post on Betty Makoni).

See the whole transcript of the speech.

Here are some passages of Hillary Clinton’s UN speech on March 12:

So as we meet here in New York, women worldwide are working hard to do their part to improve the status of women and girls. And in so doing, they are also improving the status of families, communities, and countries. They are running domestic violence shelters and fighting human trafficking. They are rescuing girls from brothels in Cambodia and campaigning for public office in Kuwait. They are healing women injured in childbirth in Ethiopia, providing legal aid to women in China, and running schools for refugees from Burma. They are rebuilding homes and re-stitching communities in the aftermath of the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile. And they are literally leaving their marks on the world. For example, thanks to the environmental movement started by Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai, 45 million trees are now standing tall across Kenya, most of them planted by women. (Applause.)

Ten Years after Resolution 1325

“Resolution 1325 (2000) holds out a promise to women across the globe that their rights will be protected and that barriers to their equal participation and full involvement in the maintenance and promotion of sustainable peace will be removed. We must uphold this promise.”

(Secretary-General’s 2004 report on women, peace and security)

The unanimous adoption of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on 31 October 2000 was a watershed in the evolution of international women’s rights and peace and security issues. Resolution 1325 was the first Security Council Resolution specifically addressing the disproportionate and unique impact of war on women and children, as well as women’s contributions to conflict resolution and sustainable peace. The Resolution expressed concern that women and children accounted for the vast majority of those adversely affected by armed conflict. As such, it urges Member States to take specific actions to ensure women’s equal and full participation as active agents in peace and security. The resolution is historic not only in that it constituted the first time the Council systematically addressed the manner in which conflict affects women and girls differently from men and boys, but also because it acknowledges the crucial link between peace, protection of women and girls during and after conflicts, and women’s equal participation and full involvement in all efforts for the maintenance and promotion of peace and security.

Recent developments (or should we call them: chronicle of inertia?):

A year ago:

UN Security Council Open Debate:
Mediation and Settlement of Disputes 
April 21, 2009

Resolutions 1325 (2000) and 1820 (2008) urge Member States and the Secretary-General to ensure increased representation of women at all levels of conflict resolution and peace processes. Yet an analysis by the United Nations Development Fund for Women shows that, in 13 major comprehensive peace processes since 2000, not one single woman has been appointed chief mediator.

We the women: Why conflict mediation is not just a job for men

An article by Antonia Potter, October 2005

On the anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325, this paper offers a cogent set of reasons as to why the impediments often cited to women’s participation at the Track One level (family, culture, security, gender identity) are largely surmountable or even irrelevant, and suggests a range of practical options to counter the discrimination and inertia the article describes (role modelling, mentoring and master classes, quotas and a range of time limited affirmative action and positive discrimination practices).

See the whole document.

This is the conclusion, by the title Just do it!

It seems that the days when women need to band together to achieve change, empowerment and recognition are not over; and equally that men can continue to be able to ignore or discount those efforts, whether through ignorance, lethargy, persistent prejudice or jealousy of power and position. In response, this paper has presented options for real and present action, and hopes to stimulate further suggestions for what should be done to turn rhetoric into reality.

So let those disproportionately represented, decision-making men hear these words not as a threat but as an invitation, and an appeal to their better nature: peace matters today more than ever. Our lives are more connected than ever, and some might say more at risk than ever. So don’t we owe it to ourselves and future generations to do everything we can to get better at ending violent conflict and building sustainable peace? Should we not constantly be on the search for new techniques, new methodologies, and new approaches to refine the profession of conflict mediation?

A simple way to start that search would be to appoint women, who suffer so disproportionately from the scourges of war, and who have proved themselves so eager and able to participate in combating them, to join forces in equal status with men as senior conflict mediators. Just do it!

A missed opportunity for peace

There are very few senior women mediators in the UN, governments, regional organizations and NGOs involved in formal, Track One peace making work.

U.N. Security Council Resolutions 1325 (2000) and 1820 (2008) urged Member States and the Secretary-General to ensure increased representation of women at all levels of conflict resolution and peace processes.

Since 2000 not a single woman has been appointed as a mediator in negotiations of comprehensive peace agreements, and only one woman is currently serving as a special representative of the Secretary-General.

In the U.N. there are 61 individuals each with critical roles in making and building peace, which include ensuring appropriate responses in terms of humanitarian provision and attention to human rights.

How many of them are women?

4 (2 in top jobs, and 2 deputies) in 2005

In 2000 there were NO women.

In the E.U. there are 9 current, 11 former Special Representatives.

How many women?

0

In the Peace and Security Council of the African Union

How many women?

0

In Track “One and a half” mediation processes, namely NGOs.

How many women leaders in mediation teams?

0

Wangari Maathai

It’s Earth Day!

On this occasion of Earth Day, I send you greetings and best wishes. It is appropriate for us to call ourselves to action wherever we are and whatever we are engaged in. Each one of us can make small changes in our lives to better the Earth. Together we can make a huge impact. Wangari Maathai http://www.greenbeltmovement.org/

Let’s celebrate Professor Wangari Maathai, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her “contribution to sustainable development, democracy, and peace.”

“Peace on earth depends on our ability to secure our living environment” said Ole Danbolt Mjoes, the head of the Norwegian Nobel  Committee.

Dr. Wangari Muta Maathai, was born in Kenya. She was the first woman to earn a doctoral degree in East and central Africa. She has been active for decades for democracy, human rights and environmental conservation.  She was the chairperson of the National Council of Women of Kenya from 1981 to 1987. She stood up against the former oppressive regme in Kenya, which was From 2003 to 2007 Professor Maathai served as Assistant Minister for Environment and Natural Resources in Kenya’s ninth parliament.  She founded the Green Belt Movement, a grass-root organization that fights poverty and promotes environmental conservation through tree planting.

She believes that ordinary people can make a difference realizing that the power is in each of us.

In the course of history, there comes a time when humanity is called to shift to a new level of consciousness, to reach a higher moral ground. A time when we have to shed our fear and give hope to each other. That time is now.

She said in her acceptance speech at the Noble prize ceremony.

Through education, family planning, nutrition and the fight against corruption, the Green Belt movement has paved the way for development at grassroot level.

Regarding the differences between men and women, that African men referred to in order to maintain women under their dominance, she said:

Just use the anatomy that matters right now, from the neck up!

By now women of GBM have planted more than 40 million trees on community lands. See the story of the Green belt Movement:

Betty Makoni, fighting against a silent genocide

The true worth of a nation must be measured by the empowerment of its girls!

Hazviperi Betty Makoni is a beautiful radiant woman with powerful eyes, which can be full of compassion and fierce with indignation and determination.I meet her two weeks ago on Thursday April 8^th at the Soka Gakkai Culture Center in New York at a lecture where she spoke about her life and she presented the organization, the Girl Child Network, started in 1998, of which she is the director and founder. On Sunday April 10^th she held a meeting with women at the same location, that I had the privilege to attend and I appreciated even more her amazing energy, compassion and intelligence.

See her in a video, appropriately called Tapestry of Hope:

Betty Makoni is from Zimbabwe, a country where human rights are systematically violated and aids is rampant.  Betty pointed out the disturbing belief that the blood of a virgin prevents and cures aids, which is sadly diffused in sub-Saharan Africa, and is responsible for infant rape. In addition sexual terror is a common practice in the Mugabe’s regime.

Betty herself was raped by a local shopkeeper when she was six. At the age of nine, she saw her mother beaten to death by her father at nine.

It was not only my mother or I who suffered, but virtually every girl and woman who saw abuse perpetrated against her swept under the carpet. It was the norm.

Betty earned a university degree and became a secondary school teacher. She could see the relentless abuse young girls went through and experienced the frustration of seeing her students drop out of school every new season. In 1998 she organized a girls’ club to share stories, ideas, and to find solace and solution to their problems.

Today, there are 500 girls’ clubs in 49 of Zimbabwe’s 58 districts and a full-blown Girl Child Network (GCN) that serves 30,000 girls, raises community awareness and lobbies government to protect girls. Our goal is to dismantle the link between culture and violence against the girls and enable them to take charge of their own destiny.

Ten girls per day report rape cases. Most of the time they also get infected with hiv. Betty has helped thousands of girls and taught them to believe in themselves. She wants them all to become future leaders.

Girls coming together in solidarity to build the spaces where they can be valued… this is how we transform victims into survivors.

See the site of GCN

After having been arrested several times in Zimbabwe, Betty now lives in exile in London, with her husband and three sons (“I don’t hate men any more”, she joked). She has received numerous prizes for her activity, and she is indefatigable in her work to protect girls and children and to help them feel valuable and become future leaders.

So each time a girl smiles I actually score a point emotionally myself and I tell myself that it is getting better so I also heal through the girls and I enjoy doing it.

Hwæt! An erudite post.

I know. This might look unappealing and possibly boring to some people. Or snobbish. But this is not the only blog containing the Old English word Hwæt!, which is the first word of the poem Beowulf. In spite of all, I’m going to reflect about peace and women, which is the original inspiration of this blog.

A while ago I wrote  a dissertation on Beowulf. Beowulf is an epic poem written in Old English some time between the sixth and tenth centuries. It tells the story of a Scandinavian warrior, Beowulf. It come to us in only one manuscript from the tenth century, the Cotton Vitellius A. xv manuscript (British Museum). It is unknown who originally wrote, or sang, the poem, when, where, and even how. We don’t know if it was composed by a single author or by several, if it is the result of a combination of different ballads, or if it had various subsequent versions.

Women  in Beowulf, and other Anglo-Saxon texts, are called freoþuwebbe, Old English for “peaceweavers”. The queen Wealhþeow, wife of Hroðgar, king of the Danes, is called friþu-sibb folca (peace-pledge of the nations). According to a common interpretation the term indicated a woman married into a group from another, as a way to try to ensure peace among the two peoples. But the fascinating term ‘peaceweaver’ has somewhat negative implications. It can make us think of women as a commodity, exchanged in order to ensure some suspension of belligerence. Women as freoþuwebbe were indeed daring diplomats, willing to join a tribe perceived as hostile, to dedicate their life to this mission, which required remarkable talents and courage.

In  the poem Queen Wealhþeow is the cup-bearer. She acts as a hostess  offering the cup to  the host, Beowulf. She is characterized  as ”mindful of  customs” (613), ”of  excellent heart” (624;  this can also be  translated as ”mature  of mind”), and  “sure of speech”  (624). She  speaks to the king  and to Beowulf   in a confident way.   She is a weaver of peace in an  active way.  She tells to the warriors, and specifically to the hero Beowulf: “Listen, and obey” (1231), or as in the translation provided below: “The warriors
are united, the men drink deep, and they do my biding.”

Larry  M. Sklute, in his  analysis of the women  in Beowulf, says about freoþuwebbe: “Rather it is a poetic metaphor referring to the person whose function it seems to be to perform openly the action of making peace by weaving to the best of her art a tapestry of friendship and amnesty.” According to Stacy Klein the  role of queens in  early Germania was to  foster “social harmony  through active diplomacy  and conciliation.”

The  women in Beowulf – the powerful women; there is no mention of common women in Beowulf, only of queens and monsters – aren’t marginalized, they act with knowledge and grace. They have opinions and know how to express them and how to act diplomatically. They are elegant, eloquent, poised, authoritative, and contribute to peace in an active way.

Therefore, thinking of women as  peaceweavers is not  reductive; rather, it  is inspired by the  figures of ancient queens  depicted in such works as Beowulf, and it also an evocative image of the patience and skill and care the weaving of peace requires.
Wealtheow

Adaptation from the Old English version of Beowulf by Dr. David Breeden

The men laughed, the din
resounding, and the words
turned friendly.
Wealhtheow, Hrothgar’s queen,
came forth, mindful of kin,
adorned in gold to greet the men.
First she gave the cup
to the country’s guardian,
that one dear to his people,
biding joy in his beer drinking.
That king famous for victories
happily took the feast cup.
Then that woman of the Helmings
went round to each, young and old,
sharing the precious cup.
In proper time that ring-adorned
queen excellent in mind
brought the mead cup to Beowulf.
She greeted him, thanking
God that her wish had
been fulfilled, that finally
a hero had come who
she could count on
to stop Grendel’s crimes.

…

Spoke then the queen of the Danes:
“Receive this cup,
my dear lord,
giver of treasure.
Be in joy,
gold friend of men,
and speak to these Geats
with kind words
as men should do.
Be gracious to the Geats
and mindful of the gifts
you have from near and far.
A man said to me
that he would have
this warrior for a son.
Herot, the bright ring hall,
is purged. Give while you can
many rewards and leave
to your kin people and land
when you must go
to learn fate’s decree.
I know my nephew Hrothulf
will keep his honor
if you, king of the Danes,
leave this world earlier that he.
I know Hruthulf will remember
what we two wish
and the kindness we showed
when he was a child.”

Wealhtheow turned then
to the bench where her sons
were, Hrethric and Hrothmund,
children of warriors,
the youth together.
There the good ones sat,
Beowulf of the Geats
and the two brothers.
To him the cup was carried
and friendship offered in words.
Wound gold was kindly bestowed:
two arm ornaments, shirts
of mail, rings, and the largest
neck ring I have heard
tell of on the earth.

…

Music filled the hall. Wealhtheow
spoke before the company:
“Enjoy this neck-ring,
beloved Beowulf, young hero,
and use this armor, these
treasures of the people.
Thrive well, be known
for valor, and give kind
instruction to these two boys.
I will remember your deeds.
You have earned forever

the praise of men,
from near and far,
even to the home of the winds
and the walls of the sea.
Be blessed while you live, prince!
I wish you well with the treasures.
Be gentle, joyful one, to my sons.

In this place is each warrior
true to the other, mild
in spirit, an d faithful
to his king. The warriors
are united, the men drink

deep, and they do my biding.”

She went to her seat.
There was a choice feast,

men drank wine.
They did not know
that grim fate
would come to many nobles
after evening fell
and powerful Hrothgar
went to his house to rest.

(Chapters IX and XVII)

http://www.lone-star.net/literature/beowulf/beowulf5.htm