Women Archives

Member Spotlight: Stephenie Foster

Q: What was the path that brought your attention specifically to Afghanistan, and to Afghan women in particular?

A: Afghanistan was always on my radar. I went to Afghanistan in 2011, for IFES, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, for a project that focused on an analysis of what had happened in the recent elections in Afghanistan with respect to outreach to women. The reason I wanted to do that project was because I had followed, obviously, what had gone on during the Taliban, and then what had happened from 2001 on. I had also spoken to some groups of Afghan women who had come to Washington on the International Visitor Leadership Program and had done a project with Vital Voices with a group of Afghan women parliamentarians in Istanbul. I was really struck by how dogged they were in trying to figure out how to move forward.

I’ve always had the view, because I’ve worked in a lot of countries, that we all face very different challenges; women in all these different countries, based on the culture and the context; but there is a lot of similarity. It always strikes me that, for all the differences, it all kind of comes down to the fact that we are working in structures that are developed by men and really for men. The question is how to help women break through that and try to get a place in those structures to change them. In some ways, Afghanistan is ground zero for thinking about how to really rebuild a society in a way that can be more gender-equal.

Q: What did your work with IFES in Afghanistan involve?

A: We were looking at how the election commission was structured in terms of its outreach to women as voters, and trying to ensure it had a plan to have enough female poll administrators, women to actually work at the polls, and enough security for female voters, and a whole range of issues around the ability of women to fully participate in the political system.

We were also looking at things like, where were women’s polling places situated? As you know, in Afghanistan, women and men tend to vote in different parts of the building, or actually, in different buildings entirely! I had worked in other places where women’s polling stations were very difficult to get to, and men’s polling stations were not. So, it was a really wide-ranging analysis of where the election commission could see places to improve, where they had done well, all around the issues of addressing Afghan women’s ability to participate in the electoral process.

Q: And after that you were at the US Embassy in Kabul?

A: Yes, I went to Kabul in 2012. I was there for about a year and a half and focused on outreach to women in civil society. As part of that, I was able to travel in Kabul, quite a bit, and around the country, meeting and talking with women who were active in politics, women who were building businesses and the Afghan Women’s Chamber of Commerce, women in higher education — most particularly at the American University of Afghanistan, and also at Kabul University — and women who were engaged in developing NGOs to provide services, such as in response to gender-based violence, or for needs in education and training.

As part of that, also, as I travelled and talked to people, I identified individuals who ought to meet with the Ambassador or others at the Embassy, or high-level visitors. We had a lot of those: we had the Secretary of State come, and we had several senators come fairly regularly. Part of what I was able to do was to ensure that as these people, very important decision-makers, were learning about the country, that they were also listening to women, who are actively building Afghan society.

Q: What impressed you the most as you were doing this?

A: A lot of the women were exceptionally inspiring. One thing I worked on when I was there, which Secretary Kerry talked about all the time when he talked about Afghanistan, was a sort of mini-bazaar that we would put on at the Embassy on the compound, comprised of eight woman-owned businesses or NGOs that were reflective of the work going on in the country. These were people who were dealing in a broad range of sectors, everything from trucking, to computer science, to import-export, to clothing manufacture and design, to light manufacturing. There were women making great strides in politics and education as well, not only in places like Kabul or other cities, but around the country.

Q: What did you do after that?

A: After I left Afghanistan, I went to the Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues at the State Department, and worked for Ambassador Cathy Russell. I did oversee some of our work in Afghanistan, but also worked on women and politics more broadly: women and economic empowerment, women and security, and in regions in Africa, the Western hemisphere, and Europe. I worked on a broad range of issues and represented the US at multilateral forums such as ASEAN or the G7. It was a lot of different things, whether it was addressing sexual violence in conflict and looking to strengthen legal systems around that issue in countries that had been through conflict, or other things like the Equal Futures Partnership, which was a group of thirty countries that had committed to work on legal reform that could increase women’s political and economic participation in their countries. So, it was an opportunity to not only work on Afghanistan, but also to bring a lot of those other issues into the foreign policy discussion at the State Department.

Q: And what inspired you to launch Smash Strategies?

A: My business partner and I were both appointees in the Obama Administration, and, even before the election, we’d thought about pursuing a business model where we could really utilize the knowledge that we’d developed both within the U.S. government and also for many years before that, to advise companies and large non-profits on gender equality and women’s leadership. So, we launched the business in March of 2017. And we’ve been able to have a broad range of clients. We do a lot of different things for them depending on what they need. It can be anything from corporate social responsibility around women’s empowerment to how to get more women-owned businesses in their supply chains, to a more general strategy around reaching as customers. It’s also how to think about your workforce and ensuring that you have consistent values both internally and externally. Most of our clients — all of them I would say — have some global or regional impact; they are not, for the most part, just in the United States. So we are able to use the experience that we have gained globally to be able to better inform and give advice to these clients. I think what we have seen is that there is a tremendous appetite in both business and the non-profit and foundation sectors to really focus on gender equality and women’s leadership.

Q: What is your top wish or hope for Afghan women in 2020?

I hope that as Afghanistan engages in negotiations with the Taliban, or negotiations in any way, that women are fully at the table. That they are able to participate, to have their views heard, and to have a big impact, in order to really continue to protect the rights that they have, and to expand their ability to participate in Afghan society.

A Laser Focus on Women’s Rights Is Key to Sustainable Afghan Peace

As the U.S. withdraws troops from Afghanistan, President Joe Biden has vowed to continue support for Afghan women and girls “by maintaining significant humanitarian and development assistance.” Further, on a visit to Afghanistan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken firmly stated that the U.S. will continue to advocate “for equal rights for women, including their meaningful participation in the ongoing negotiations and their equal representation throughout society.” The importance of this focus is highlighted by the recent horrific attack on a school in Kabul, killing 50 people, many of them women and girls.

The Women, Peace, and Security Act (WPS Act), enacted in 2017, commits the United States to increase the participation of women in peacekeeping and security operations, and to support the inclusion of female negotiators, meditators, and peacebuilders around the world.

The WPS Act is critical to fulfilling the U.S. commitment to women and women’s rights in Afghanistan. It is important for the United States to use all possible tools in this regard, given the difficulties and uncertainty of a lasting and equitable peace with the Taliban. That includes continued support for the four women who are part of the Afghan government delegation to peace negotiations: Habiba Sarabi, former governor of Bamiyan province; Fatima Gailani, president of the Afghan Crescent Society; Sharifa Zurmati Wardak, a journalist and former member of the Afghan Independent Election Commission; and Fawzia Koofi, a member of the Afghan Parliament. They are emblematic of women leaders and advocates in Afghanistan: smart, committed, and dedicated to building a strong future for all Afghans.

There is ample evidence that when women participate in peace talks, outcomes are more sustainable. When women are engaged in peace processes, peace agreements are 35 percent more likely to last at least 15 years.

I have seen firsthand the impact of women’s leadership across Afghan society. From 2012 to 2013, I served at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, where I focused on women and civil society, and traveled extensively to work with individuals and organizations advancing the role of women in Afghan society. I met women and girls all over the country, working to build a stronger and more equitable society. They were teachers, businesswomen, journalists, civil society activists, health care workers, students, and government employees. Afghan women have been key players in reshaping Afghan society, building on their history. These women have been advocates throughout the lengthy process of engaging with the Taliban for a ceasefire and for protecting fundamental rights.

However, the presence of the four women alone in the Afghan delegation is not enough to protect women’s rights.

Two more actions can demonstrate the seriousness of the U.S. commitment. First, officials at the highest levels must be laser-focused on the end result of peace negotiations: an agreement that preserves women’s rights. The Biden administration must ensure that any accord has strong provisions that guarantee Afghan women a role in shaping their society. Without such a framework, it is unclear how the United States and other international actors could support an agreement. This means continued diplomatic and development support for women in civil society, media, the private sector, and the public sector. It includes continuing work to ensure that legal frameworks are respected and that policies ensuring the rights of women and girls — whether about access to finance, education, or health — are implemented.

Gender Analysis

Second, every plank of a proposed agreement between the Afghan government and the Taliban must be analyzed with a gender lens. Amid a process that will reshape Afghanistan’s policy and legal framework for years to come, it is essential to understand the differential impact policies have on women and men, girls and boys.

Using a gender analysis on all aspects of any agreement is important. We often think about access to education or health as the only issues that impact women and girls, but every issue that is the subject of such a negotiation has an impact on women and girls, whether in terms of security, access to services, or demobilization of radical fighters.

Gender analysis looks at quantitative and qualitative information to identify, understand, and explain differences in impact between people because of an individual’s identity. It can examine such differences that exist (or do not) on:

access to and control over assets, resources, opportunities, and services, including education;
access to and control over technology and the internet;
constraints, opportunities, and entry points for leadership roles and decision-making;
prevalence and impact of violence; and
potential differential impacts of development policies and programs, including unintended or negative consequences.

This type of analysis takes into account how women and men live and work, how they support their families and communities, and the constraints that they are under in doing so. For example, a 2012 study by the U.S. Agency for International Development with the Afghan Women’s Capacity Building Organization found that 80 percent of Afghan women have access to a cell phone, almost half owning their own, many of them having acquired it recently and many of them younger women, indicating access was increasing rapidly. But of those who didn’t own a phone, more than half cited “lack of permission from family members as a major obstacle to acquiring one.” That means it is still harder for women to access information. According to a recent gender analysis conducted by CARE, , 45 percent of Afghan women cannot access adequate information about COVID-19, thereby reinforcing existing health disparities.

One way to ensure that this gender analysis is completed in a systematic manner is to embed at least one gender advisor in the U.S. and Afghan delegations. Gender advisors are essential to effective policy and program development. Effective gender advisors have the technical skills, competencies, and experience necessary to provide appropriate, in-depth guidance to integrate a gender lens, and a gender analysis, throughout the process of policy formulation and program development.

Afghan Women Negotiators Urge Representation and Aid Conditions

Afghan women negotiators like Fawzia Koofi and others have asked the U.S. and other international partners to vigorously pursue at least two specific objectives that could at least provide some measure of security and empowerment for women in Afghanistan’s future. First, that they press both the Afghan government and the Taliban to reserve at least 30 percent of elected seats and appointments in Afghan political institutions for women. Second, that international aid to Afghanistan be conditioned on protecting the constitutional role of women in Afghanistan’s governing institutions. Conditioning aid to the Afghan government might provide a very real incentive to ensure women’s rights are protected both on paper and in reality. These are key demands.

In the United States, there is a bipartisan commitment on Capitol Hill to protect the hard-fought gains that women and girls have made since the fall of the Taliban government 20 years ago. Senators Menendez (D-NJ) and Risch (R-ID), the leaders of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, both expressed their concerns about the impact of the U.S. decision to withdraw on women and girls.

Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Joni Ernst (R-IA) just introduced a bill to protect Afghan women and girls after the U.S. military withdraws. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), the only woman on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has consistently raised the impact of U.S. policy on Afghan women and girls. She was instrumental in the declassification of a National Intelligence Council memo that sets out concerns about the continued rigidity of the Taliban’s views of the role of women and girls, though it also suggests possible opportunities for internal and external pressure that might moderate its policies.

As the process of U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan continues over the coming months, it is essential that the Biden administration ensures that Afghan women are part of the peace process and that every issue in the negotiations is analyzed with an eye towards gender equality and women’s rights.

This column originally appeared in Just Security.

Driving Meaningful Impact out of International Women’s Day

Successful companies not only meet their customers’ needs, they invest in innovation and new markets, build communities, and ensure they have a diverse staff. In today’s marketplace, companies play a critical role as corporate citizens and can be trusted partners with the public sector. A focus on gender equality, diversity, and women’s leadership is not just a philanthropic goal, it is central to business success and must be integrated into business operations.

Companies that are committed to equality and sustainability — both internally and externally — can expand market share, and burnish their reputation as good citizens, as consumers look for products reflecting their values. Globally, almost two-thirds of consumers prefer to buy from companies that reflect their personal values and beliefs.

Diverse teams increase profitability, innovation, and the ability to identify new markets and opportunities. A McKinsey and Co study found that companies in the top 25 percent for gender diverse executive teams were over 20 percent more likely to exceed average profitability. Diverse teams help companies benefit from different viewpoints and avoid missteps, such as Gucci’s launch of a sweater during Black History Month that reinforced racial stereotypes and Apple’s programming of Siri to respond inappropriately to user questions about sexual harassment.

There are other concrete steps that companies can make to achieve meaningful success through their equity strategies. Companies should buy more goods and services from women-led and other diverse businesses. Companies should identify barriers in their own systems, such as cumbersome and lengthy application processes, that prevent diversity in supply chains. For example, Walmart leverages its size and scale to source more from women-owned businesses, but this type of supply chain diversification doesn’t have to be limited to large organizations.

Companies can also partner with the public sector to develop strong enabling and legal environments critical to women’s success, including skill development and laws that make it easier for women to access quality education, child care, and health care. Legal frameworks that ensure non-discrimination, and protect against sexual harassment, assault and violence are good for business as they help attract and retain talent.

Enhancing enterprise-wide equality and diversity are not only the right thing for organizations to prioritize, but this effort is foundational to business success.

Robust Gender Analysis Will Be Key to Effective US Policy Development

As the Biden-Harris administration begins to develop and implement gender-focused policies across the federal government, it is a good time to deepen commitments to gender equality in policymaking, and fully empower the White House Gender Policy Council. In foreign policy and national security, this means both implementing existing requirements for gender analysis across the relevant agencies and ensuring that those requirements apply to all government decision-making.

Current Legal Framework for Gender Analysis

There are currently three laws that mandate gender analysis as part of foreign and/or development policy. These laws, however, are agency- or issue-specific, and do not provide an overall government requirement to use gender analysis. The laws are:

The Women Peace and Security Act of 2017 (WPS Act) ensures that the U.S. promotes the meaningful participation of women in mediation and negotiation processes seeking to prevent, mitigate, or resolve violent conflict. To accomplish this, among other things, the WPS Act mandates the use of gender analysis to improve program design in four key national security and foreign policy institutions: the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.)
The Women’s Entrepreneurship and Economic Empowerment Act of 2018 (WEEE Act) mandates that U.S. international development-cooperation policy shall be gender-focused, and affirms women’s right to own and control land and property, to live free of violence, and to access the financial tools they need to start and grow businesses. It also requires that all international development work done by the U.S. government (with a focus on USAID) is subject to a gender analysis from planning and project design to measurement and evaluation.
The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (NDAA) references the gender analysis requirements of both the WPS Act and the WEEE Act. It also mandates the participation of women in the capacity-building activities of security-cooperation programs in several ways, including incorporating gender analysis and women, peace, and security priorities into educational and training programs, and integrating gender analysis into security sector policy, planning, and training for national security forces involved in such partnerships. With regard to post-conflict engagement on human rights in Afghanistan, the NDAA further mandates that activities use gender analysis and rigorous monitoring and evaluation methodologies.

While these laws provide guidance to departments with regard to specific activities — gender and conflict, gender and economic opportunity, and gender and development — they are far from an overarching mandate to employ gender analysis across all national security and foreign policy agencies in the U.S. government, and they have yet to be fully implemented.

What is Gender Analysis?

Gender analysis is a socioeconomic analysis of quantitative and qualitative information to identify, understand, and explain differences in access, opportunity, and impact between people because of an individual’s identity. Such an analysis includes looking at a variety of factors, including gender, sex, race, ethnicity, sexuality, religion, age, economic status, education level, ability, and other factors.

In the context of foreign and/or development policy, a gender analysis examines the differences that exist (or do not) between women, men, girls, and boys in terms of:

access to and control over assets, resources, education, opportunities, and services;
access to and control over technology and the internet;
norms on how people divide their time between paid and unpaid work;
constraints, opportunities, and entry points for leadership roles and decision-making;
prevalence and impact of violence; and
potential differential impacts of development policies and programs, including unintended or negative consequences.

This type of analysis takes into account how women and men live and work, what they do to support their families and communities, and the constraints that they are under in doing so. Gender analysis should also include conclusions and recommendations to inform national security policies and interventions to 1) narrow these differences based on gender, 2) increase gender equality, and 3) improve the lives of women and girls.

Next Steps

While these mandates for gender analysis exist, and the White House announced the formation of the White House Gender Policy Council, it’s unclear how gender analysis will inform U.S. government policies. In order to ensure impact, we recommend the Biden-Harris administration take the following steps:

Empower and fund the White House Gender Policy Council: While previous iterations have focused on domestic issues and departments, the new council needs to ensure a partial focus on foreign policy and, more importantly, ensure that the United States is consistent across domestic and international policies regarding women, girls, and gender equality. U.S. values at home must match the values we promote across the globe, whether it is preventing gender-based violence or providing access to comprehensive reproductive health care or economic opportunity.
Embed gender expertise in each department at the highest level: All departments should ensure responsibility for the gender portfolio and agenda at the highest possible level by designating a full-time point person on these issues, reporting to the secretary or agency head. These gender advisors should play a critical role in effective policy and program development and should have gender expertise. While the White House Gender Policy Council is a great first step, this is not enough to develop and implement government-wide, gender-focused policies.
Ensure gender training for all staff: All national security and foreign policy entities should create at least one entry-level course on gender analysis for staff. In addition, a gender focus should be integrated into all courses at the Foreign Service Institute, USAID University, and military schools and academies. This includes training for incoming Foreign Service officers. Additional, ongoing gender training should be available by sector, in the field, and online. This is in addition to the requirement of the WPS Act that “appropriate” personnel receive training in conflict prevention, protecting civilians, and international human rights law.
Require gender analysis: The president should mandate gender analysis in every decision memo that comes to him and that goes to the heads of foreign policy and national security entities. The President’s Daily Brief should include a gender analysis of each issue presented. Further, gender analysis should be used to analyze the impact of government funding and resources, policy frameworks, and their implementation. There must be new ways to measure accountability regarding the participation of women in security, political, and economic processes, and to track U.S. government budget expenditures, as well as measure outcomes. Further, all relevant entities should collect sex-disaggregated data about program implementation and impact and make it available publicly.

This is a critical time for the U.S. government to focus on gender equality, as well as the rights of girls and women in the United States and around the world. As the Biden-Harris administration prioritizes issues such as COVID-19 recovery, economic relief, climate change, and racial equity, a strong White House Gender Policy Council and gender analysis will be key to ensuring the policy solutions are effective and have an impact.

This column originally appeared in Just Security.

Women Entrepreneurs in the Year of COVID

While COVID has upended everyone’s lives, women have borne the brunt of the pandemic in so many ways. COVID-19 has exposed and exacerbated gender inequalities and many of women’s economic gains have come to a standstill. Women business owners and entrepreneurs have suffered more than their male colleagues, as have women workers who have absorbed 54 percent of job loss despite comprising 39 percent of the global workforce. The public sector, private sector and civil society can all act to halt these losses. This article focuses on the impact COVID has had on women entrepreneurs and policies to address these issues.

Globally, the over 250 million women entrepreneurs drive growth, creating jobs and economic opportunity. In the U.S., more than 25 percent of small businesses have closed since December. Among those still operating, many fear for their futures, with only half saying they could survive another year under current economic conditions. Women are more likely than men to own businesses in sectors hard-hit, such as restaurants, personal services, and retail. Further, women and people of color often lack the same access to capital as White men whose businesses are more established.

According to a survey by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, only 47 percent of American women business owners rated their business health as “good,” while 62 percent of male owners said the same. Just 49 percent of these women expect revenues to increase in early 2021, a 14 point decrease from earlier in 2020. Only 32 percent of women-owned small businesses plan to increase investments in the coming year, compared to 39 percent of their male counterparts.

Similarly, Babson College’s Diana International Research Institute conducted a series of surveys to understand the business challenges faced by women entrepreneurs during the pandemic. The surveys found 67 percent said revenue had dropped; 23 percent closed down their businesses permanently, while 26 percent reduced employees’ hours and 38 percent preferred low interest federal loans to assist their businesses.

Findings were similar globally. A Cherie Blair Foundation survey of women in entrepreneurship mentoring programs reflected that 93 percent were negatively impacted by COVID, with 43 percent reporting reduced or no access to customers. WEConnect International, a global network connecting women-owned businesses to qualified buyers, also surveyed its members. That survey found 82 percent negatively impacted by the pandemic between April and June 2020, with 84 percent reporting decreased sales/revenue. And similar to U.S. women business owners, these entrepreneurs reduced the amount of time spent on work due to increased caregiving responsibilities (25%).

Government programs to address COVID-related financial stresses did not reach firms owned by women and men equally. While women own 40 percent of U.S. businesses, just 16 percent of firms receiving Paycheck Protection Program loans are female-owned. Similarly, 24 percent of the women surveyed by WeConnect said they were unable to access needed additional resources.

But, despite these daunting statistics, entrepreneurship is up. As of December 2020, there were more than 1.5 million new business applications in the U.S., up 82 percent. Many of these businesses are being started by women, whether out of necessity or because entrepreneurship gives them more control.

Key Steps to Support Women Entrepreneurs

The Public Sector plays a unique role developing legal frameworks and setting policy.

Because of this role, the leadership (and membership) of all government bodies and teams focused on COVID-19 response, recovery and future preparedness must be gender-balanced. This is fundamental to an economic recovery that is effective, inclusive and responsive to the needs of women and men, particularly those from marginalized backgrounds. Women’s organizations, often at the forefront of community response, must be consulted in this process.

Since women face a disproportionate burden of caregiving, governments develop a stronger policy infrastructure for caregiving, including equitable parental leave, quality and affordable care for children and other family members, and policies promoting equal participation of men and domestic partners in unpaid care and domestic work. Government can also promote investment in the care economy, including increased quality of care jobs. The European Union, for example, directs its Member States to grant maternity leave of at least 14 weeks to self-employed women workers.

Governments need to support closing both the gender and rural/urban digital divides by investing in needed infrastructure and enhancing digital skills development. The pandemic has accentuated the urgent need for connectivity and digital literacy for women entrepreneurs. Those lacking access to the Internet, smartphones and other vital technologies are falling further behind.

With a tailored and gender-responsive approach, governments can also buy more goods and services from women-owned businesses through procurement of goods and services. Kenya’s public procurement policy, for example, reserves 30 percent of government contracts for women, youth and persons with disabilities.

The Private Sector can address challenges faced by women starting and running businesses in terms of access to financial and investment products as well as supply chains.

Access to credit, including credit guarantees, is important for women entrepreneurs who are more likely to see substantially reduced revenue. Moreover, financial services companies can support COVID response and recovery by streamlining access to new financing for women entrepreneurs. The Tory Burch Foundation, in partnership with Bank of America, provides women entrepreneurs in the U.S. the opportunity to access affordable loans through community lenders.

Like the public sector, corporations can commit to buying more goods and services from women-led businesses, and encourage the production of goods and services from the same. The private sector can identify barriers in their own systems, such as cumbersome and lengthy application processes, that prevent diversity in supply chains. For example, Walmart leverages its size and scale to source more from women-owned businesses, seeing this as the “right thing to do” and foundational to providing products and services their customers need. When buying from women-owned businesses is not an option, companies can source from companies offering fair pay and benefits for women employees.

Civil society non-profit and advocacy organizations, academia, business associations and program implementers can foster policy change through the use of research-driven and evidence-based insights and advocacy.

Civil society can underscore the need for the private and public sectors to create a more enabling environment for women entrepreneurs. Where discriminatory laws remain, it can advocate for legal reforms regarding business ownership, access to capital, and non-discrimination. For example, WE EMPOWER, a project of the European Union, UN Women and the International Labour Organization advocated for sustainable, inclusive and equitable policies around women’s economic empowerment in the public and private sectors in G7 countries.

Civil society organizations, business associations and academia can identify the needs of women business owners, create opportunities for sharing useful practices, and provide skills training. Women’s business networks can provide peer-to-peer learning and assist women entrepreneurs as they seek markets for their goods and services. WEConnect enhances the capabilities of women entrepreneurs to transact business globally, and has worked with the Royal Bank of Scotland to develop a supplier diversity code of conduct and concrete plan to increase gender diversity in supply chains.

Across All Sectors and initiatives, it remains important to collect and report data disaggregated by sex, age, ethnicity and race to inform policy. This intersectional data helps ensure that resources are provided to those that need it most. This data should include information about access to finance, access to networks, and ability to compete for both public and private sector procurement opportunities.

This article originally appeared on the Diana International Research Institute (DIRI) at Babson College membership platform.

Reviving the US Commitment to Women’s Rights and Gender Equality: The UN Commission on the Status of Women

President-elect Joe Biden has a history of advocating on behalf of women and girls in the United States and around the world. In 1994, then-Senator Biden co-authored and advocated for the passage of the Violence Against Women Act, landmark legislation to strengthen legal and community-based responses to domestic violence. Further, he introduced the International Violence Against Women Act, which provided a framework for the United States to address gender-based violence globally. During the campaign, the Biden/Harris ticket made strong and substantive commitments to gender equality and to the role of women as leaders. In the first 100 days, we urge the new administration to showcase this leadership at the next annual session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).

What is CSW?

CSW is the principal global intergovernmental body dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. Established in 1946, CSW meets each March in New York, and brings together representatives of the U.N. and member governments as well as civil society to promote women’s rights. CSW is an important opportunity for governments to speak to their commitments on women’s empowerment and gender equality. At CSW, governments set out their overall approach to addressing gender gaps, outline relevant accomplishments, and make commitments to future policy initiatives. For example, in 2012, the U.S. government highlighted the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI), the first comprehensive and standardized gauge to directly measure women’s empowerment and inclusion in the agricultural sector.

At each session’s conclusion, CSW issues a set of non-binding “agreed conclusions” related to pressing issues facing women and girls. Member States also submit reports tracking their progress toward the goals set out in the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. Current and emerging issues of women’s political, economic, and social rights are raised at CSW, and as such, that influences U.N. policy and national policies. CSW has provided a gender lens on many U.N. programs, including those focused on increasing property rights, ending sexual violence in conflict, and increasing access to education, health, and self-determination.

History of U.S. Participation with the Commission

Both Democratic and Republican administrations have used CSW as a platform to signal their approach to gender policies and programs and to announce new initiatives for women and girls. In addition, the U.S. delegation has highlighted individuals and organizations from outside government whom the administration sees as important allies in shaping those initiatives.

At the CSW annual meeting in 2010, for example, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reaffirmed U.S. leadership on women’s rights and gave a major address on gender equality and women’s rights, with examples of how this approach would be incorporated into Obama administration initiatives on global health, food security, and climate change. In addition to Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice, Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues Melanne Verveer, and senior White House and administration officials, the U.S. delegation included leaders from the private sector and civil society.

The Trump administration, however, utilized CSW to step back from global leadership on gender equality, which otherwise would ensure that everyone has equal opportunity and access to resources. In 2019, for example, acting Deputy Ambassador to the U.N. Cherith Norman Chalet led the delegation and stated, “Let’s be clear – we are not about gender jargon. Today, here at the Commission on the Status of Women, we are about women. Women and girls.” According to news reports, during negotiations on the agreed conclusions, the U.S. sought to prevent the word “gender” being used as a substitute for “women and girls,” haggled over the definition of the word “family,” and tried to restrict wording on migration, technology, and climate change. The U.S. delegation included administration officials from the Department of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Department of Health and Human Services, but no list of public delegates was released.

The Biden Administration

The Biden administration should use CSW65 this March to reaffirm the importance of women’s leadership and gender equality to its foreign policy agenda. According to incoming National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Biden has asked his national security team to “reimagine” national security to address global crises, including inequality in all forms.

As a first step, the 2020 U.S. delegation to CSW should be led by senior administration officials, such as Vice President Kamala Harris or the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield (assuming she has been confirmed). The delegation should also include executive and legislative leaders, and representatives of like-minded partners from the private sector and civil society.

CSW speeches and events should be used to highlight policy or program announcements that reflect a commitment to gender equality at home and abroad. Such announcements should include the creation of a White House Council on Gender Equality, as the Biden-Harris campaign pledged to do, and the designation of key appointments across the government with responsibility for integrating a focus on gender equality into policymaking.

This includes the ambassador-at-large for Global Women’s Issues at the State Department and the senior gender coordinator at USAID. These are more than personnel announcements. These individuals spearhead and guide the work to embed and advance gender equality and women’s leadership across U.S. foreign and development policy. At the Department of State, the Office of the Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues has a mandate to promote the rights and empowerment of women and girls through U.S. foreign policy and leads these efforts in U.S. diplomacy, partnerships, and programs. At USAID, the senior gender coordinator provides guidance on a range of complex government programs and policies to the USAID administrator and other leadership, serves as a liaison internally between the Office of the Administrator and USAID bureaus, missions, and independent offices, and represents the agency both internally and externally regarding gender issues.

CSW is also an ideal backdrop for the United States to reaffirm Biden’s commitment to pursue ratification of the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which has been ratified by 189 countries. CEDAW is often described as the international bill of rights for women, but while President Jimmy Carter signed CEDAW in 1980, the U.S. Senate did not ratify it. Only the United States, the Holy See, Iran, Palau, Somalia, Sudan, and Tonga have not ratified CEDAW.

In the U.S., ratification requires consideration and recommendation of the document by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) and the support of two-thirds of the full U.S. Senate. The last time CEDAW’s ratification was recommended to the full Senate in 2002, then-Senator Biden chaired the SFRC. While ratification is likely an uphill battle, the landscape of women’s political and economic participation (and the U.S. Senate) has changed a great deal since 2002.

Taken together with campaign statements and recent Cabinet-level and senior staff appointments, these actions will demonstrate the U.S. government’s renewed commitment to meaningfully engage with other governments, multilateral institutions, and civil society organizations to further gender equality and women’s leadership.

Foreign policy congressional committees need to call more women experts

It is imperative that those who make U.S. foreign policy reflect who we are as Americans. Today, most foreign policy and national security decisions are made in centralized and closely held processes. This is true across institutions. We recently reviewed the list of experts called to testify in Congress on foreign policy from 2017-2020 and found that most of them are men.

There are now discussions about what a feminist foreign policy would look like in the United States. Most recommendations have focused on the executive branch and, among other things, call for greater representation of women in the relevant institutions and decision-making processes. Yet, the legislative branch has a key role to play. As part of its constitutional responsibility, Congress holds hearings that include both government officials and outside experts.

In order to ascertain who is called upon for foreign policy expertise, we looked at 1,143 witnesses who testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) and the House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC) in the 115th and 116th Congresses (between January 2017 and June 2020).

Overall, more men than women are called as non-government witnesses to testify about foreign policy. However, we are heartened by recent HFAC numbers outlined below and we expect that HFAC will continue to call witnesses at this rate. Further, SFRC should call at least this percentage of women to testify as experts going forward.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee: During both the 115th and 116th Congresses, the SFRC consisted of 22 men (96 percent) and one woman (4 percent). Of the 352 witnesses the committee called, 77 percent were men. Of the non-government witnesses, 75 percent of the experts were men and 25 percent were women.

House Foreign Affairs Committee: In the 115th Congress (2017-2019), the House of Representatives was controlled by the Republican Party; HFAC consisted of 38 men (81 percent) and nine women (19 percent). Since control of the House changed in January 2019, HFAC consists of 40 men (85 percent) and seven women (15 percent).

From January 2017 to June 2020, HFAC called 791 witnesses; 68 percent were men and 32 percent women. Of the non-government witnesses, 69 percent of the experts were men and 31 percent women. In the 115th Congress (2017-19), 76 percent of HFAC non-governmental witnesses were men and 24 percent were women. To date in the 116th Congress (2019-20), 58 percent of HFAC non-governmental witnesses were men and 42 percent were women.

In an effort to close this clear gap in representation, we recommend that the Senate and House leadership require a gender balance in witnesses called to testify. Informally, committee leaders should call equal numbers of male and female witnesses. At the same time, foreign policy experts who are often called to testify could pledge not to serve on a panel of three or more witnesses when no women are included.

Further, these committees must examine hearing topics with a gender lens and choose witnesses to include that point of view. Such an analysis will broaden and deepen an understanding of the policy landscape and the solutions considered. The committees must call more women to testify as foreign policy experts, on all subjects not just those related to gender. Policymakers need to understand that even “traditional” security issues, like force readiness, can be analyzed with a gender lens. Such an analysis will show how men and women are impacted differently by U.S. foreign policy interventions.

While increasing the number of women experts testifying doesn’t ensure a full gender analysis on foreign policy topics, it would be a great start to better ensure that policy is formulated and debated by a more diverse group of experts and policymakers with a broader range of expertise.

Molly Opinsky is an intern at Smash Strategies and a rising senior at Tulane University studying international relations and economics. She contributed to the research of this piece.

COVID-19 Demands We Rethink Gender Roles

Analysis of the COVID-19 pandemic is bringing the role of gender in society sharply into focus. As we look at the impact of the pandemic in subjects as diverse as political leadership, violence in the home, caregiving and what constitutes “essential” work, we are confronting the role that gender plays across the world. As a point of reference, gender is the socially defined set of roles, rights, responsibilities, entitlements, and obligations of females and males in societies. While many gender norms have shifted, these norms still inform our actions and roles every day. These norms translate into women being viewed primarily as caregivers, while men are viewed as leaders. In most of our societies, we see family violence is a private matter, but COVID-19 is bringing these issues to the forefront as our public and private lives have become more intertwined.

We’re able to discuss gender differently during this global crisis because gender impacts are being discussed in “real time”—as they are happening—rather than analyzed months or years after the fact. Advocates and practitioners have been working to include this type of gender analysis for years but topics like foreign policy, crisis response, and trade have traditionally—and wrongly—been seen as gender blind or gender neutral. This new focus on real-time analysis of gender impacts provides us an opportunity to create lasting change.

Women’s Unseen, Essential Role in Labor

According to a recent New York Times article, one in three jobs held by women has been designated as essential, and nonwhite women are more likely to be doing essential jobs than anyone else. These women are core to a part of the labor force which keeps the country running and takes care of those most in need, pandemic or not. In health care, 77% of essential workers are women and in essential retail, 53% are women. According to the New York Times, 83% of those in health care jobs paying under $30,000 are women. We know that women are paid less than men, and this is more pronounced for women of color. In the U.S., women overall earn 81 cents for every dollar a white man earns, while African American, Hispanic and Native American women earn 75 cents. We must use this window to address the twin issues of pay disparity and how we value certain jobs and types of work.

Successful Women’s Leadership During Catastrophe

Women leaders like Prime Minister Jacinda Arden of New Zealand, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, and President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan are taking bold action to stem the impact of COVID-19. They are praised as “voices of reason” for their clear and effective communication, decisiveness and empathy in the face of this pandemic. We need more leaders like them. As of January 2020, women serve as heads of state in only 10 out of 152 countries (6.6%) and women serve as heads of government in 12 out of 193 countries (6.2%). Women hold about 25% of the seats in parliaments globally and 24% of those in the U.S. Congress. This is a time to rethink the way we view leadership and the traits we value in leaders. These women demonstrate that a leader should be both decisive and empathetic.

Domestic Violence Spikes Amid the Pandemic

With 90 countries in lockdown because of COVID-19, billions of people are now sheltering at home. While this has kept many people safe from the virus, it has put many women at risk of violent behavior behind closed doors. Stay-at-home orders put those in violent relationships in close proximity of their abusers, with little ability to leave home or reach out for help. In Argentina, Canada, France, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the U.S., sharp spikes in the incidence of domestic violence and concurrent heightened demand for emergency shelter have been raised by government authorities, women’s rights activists and civil society organizations. It is critical that countries make the prevention and redress of gender-based violence a key part of national response plans.

Shelter-at-Home Highlights Need for Caregiving Infrastructure

Finally, COVID-19 has laid bare the reality that most caregiving is still done by women. Even when both parents work full-time, women do the majority of the childcare and housework. Recent calls to build an infrastructure of care in the U.S. have gone unanswered. But now, with schools closed and large numbers of family members at home, or when people with school-aged kids or dependent parents have to go to work, it is clearer how much care and household work is needed and who does that work. Before COVID-19, many families relied on others (often women) to formally or informally care for children or other dependents, clean their homes or cook meals. Now, many of those workers are unable to continue these roles. Once again, it is important that organizations and governments recognize that many workers have a full-time job outside the office.

Make no mistake, we are facing a global crisis. But, we can use this as an opportunity to reimagine a different future, one that values gender equality, women’s participation and women’s leadership. Women must be part of COVID-19 response and recovery planning and decision making. We must value work the unseen work done by women. We must use every tool possible to restructure caregiving systems and address the causes of domestic violence. We can do this, using everyone’s talent, skill and experience to inform our choices.

COVID-19 and Gender

Like almost everything, the current coronavirus pandemic has a gender angle. Why? Because the gender roles that each of us play – the socially defined set of roles, rights, responsibilities, entitlements, and obligations of females and males – impact and are impacted by this crisis.

While it seems that men are more likely to die of this and other viruses because of genetics and chromosomes. But men may also be more susceptible because of gender norms that cause greater stress, higher rates of tobacco consumption and a reluctance to seek medical care. When we look back, research will give us a better picture of the outcomes for all of those affected and how it was divided by sex, gender, age and race.

At the same time, women are also bearing the brunt of much of the crisis. An April 3 U.S. Department of Labor report, shows the same unemployment rate (4 percent) for adult men and women. But, according to the National Restaurant Association, women account for 71 percent of all servers nationwide. Restaurants have been among the hardest hit by the coronavirus. We will see in the coming weeks if a gender gap appears in the numbers due to the different kinds of jobs men and women hold.

The combination of economic and social stresses brought on by COVID-19, as well as restrictions on movement, have dramatically increased the numbers of women and girls facing gender-based violence, in almost all countries. United Nations chief António Guterres put out a video statement on April 6 focused on the worldwide issue and the strains that institutions that often mitigate GBV – healthcare workers, police and support groups – are under.

Importantly, issues that are rarely part of a mainstream conversation, such as the issue of caregiving (for older family members and children) are being discussed. While women have traditionally taken care of the majority of care and other chores within the home, it has remained largely invisible. Calls from some like Anne-Marie Slaughter to build an infrastructure of care in the U.S. have gone unanswered. But now, with schools closed and large numbers of family members at home, or when people with school-aged kids or dependent parents have to go to work, it is becoming clearer how much care and household work is needed and who does that work. Once again, we will see how U.S. companies respond to the realization that many workers carry a full-time job away from the office.

COVID-19 has caused many parts of the U.S. and the world to slow down and take a look at our society. It has allowed us to examine what we value and what we have forgotten to value in our lives. After we get through the next uncertain and unhappy weeks and months, I hope the business, academic and advocacy communities, as well as individuals, take the opportunity to rebuild our institutions, like work and healthcare, in a way that is more equitable and remembers those things we valued during these dark days.

UNSCR 1325: Lessons from Practitioners

This year is the 20th Anniversary of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, which reflects the global commitment to the importance of women in building peace and security, and strong, inclusive societies. UNSCR 1325, and the nine UN resolutions that follow, recognize women’s central role in peace, security and stability; women’s right to be included in negotiations around war, peace and conflict resolution; and the importance of addressing the different needs of women and men in relief, recovery and post-conflict efforts.

Over the last several weeks, I met with several groups of international leaders visiting the U.S., all working in post-conflict countries to build peace and strengthen their countries’ institutions. Some of the participants were from urban areas; some from rural areas. Some are in government; some in civil society. These women and men — and many more like them — are key to efforts across the globe to make peace and security real in communities. Every day, they translate the rhetoric of the U.N. and governments to the lives of women, men, girls and boys. Their work defines and reflects the on-the-ground reality of this work.

Here are some key takeaways:

Every issue is relevant to women’s lives: Despite the global commitment of UNSCR 1325, we often hear that “women’s issues” will be dealt with once there is a peace agreement. That approach doesn’t work.When women are included in discussions and peace talks, women bring a broad set of issues and solutions to the table, and agreements last longer. The women I met over brought both policy expertise and knowledge of their communities. They were experts in criminal justice reform, environment and sustainability, and election systems. Their expertise, and the perspectives they bring, matters in terms of strong policy solutions and ensuring that everyone’s views are being considered.
Bringing women together who work on these issues is critically important. There are many lessons that women can learn from each other, from how to be an effective negotiator, how to represent community interests without being seen as partisan in peace negotiations, and how to engage men as part of these processes. It’s important that from various parts of the women, peace and security “ecosystem” understand how they complement each other’s roles: women in civil society raising issues and women in government drafting policies that bring those concerns and proposals to life.
Women doing this work to build peace don’t always see the connections to work elsewhere. The UNSCR resolutions around women, peace and security provide a global and local framework for thinking about these complex issues and for analyzing progress. But women on the ground don’t always see their work as connected to that framework, or see what they do as part of a global movement. Ensuring that their work is chronicled and captured helps them see these connections and helps international actors understand the connections as well.
Supporting peace builders is essential and we must listen to what these peace builders need from us. Local context and local leadership matters. It’s critical to listen to, and support, local leaders. Women and men engaged in peacebuilding and conflict resolution take many risks. They live in conflict zones and communities that have often been torn apart. They put their lives on the line, and they also push boundaries around about what is possible to resolve a conflict. Members of the international community need to support what they do, in whatever ways peacebuilders identify. In some cases, it may be highlighting their work publicly; in some cases not.
We ignore engaging men at our peril. Just as women are central to peace building and building strong post-conflict institutions, so are men. Many of the women I met with talked about what contributions they were making, but also how they work with men in their communities and countries to support women’s inclusion. Men need to be engaged so that they understand how communities can be rebuilt in a more equitable way following conflict.

As we mark these last 20 years, and recommit to engaging women in peace and security, we need to keep learning from those who make this work real every day. They bring international commitments and resolutions to life.

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