50 Years of UNCSW
Celebrating the Years Past...
and the Years to Come
by Matthew Davies for ENS
Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW), a forum sponsored by Anglican Women's Empowerment (AWE) was held March 4 at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City, where Anglican women shared their hopes and concerns for a world in which Christian faith calls them to action.
Abagail Nelson, vice president of Episcopal Relief and Development, led a lively conversation with three Anglican delegates to the UNCSW on the theme "Transforming Vision into Action."
The panelists - Lisbeth Barahona of the Diocese of El Salvador; the Rev. Joyce Kariuki of the Anglican Church of Kenya; and Dr.
Jenny Te Paa, dean of the Anglican Theological College in Auckland,
New Zealand - brought perspectives from their individual contexts and highlighted some of the challenges of living in patriarchal societies.
Phoebe Griswold, founding member of AWE and wife of Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold, delivered a powerful address for which she received a standing ovation.
The Anglican delegation is the largest NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) at the United Nations this year, Griswold announced.
"What a small group of women saw in 2002 by attending this meeting was an unmatched opportunity for resourcing women's empowerment around the world," she said. "There is no better resource of intelligent research [and] articulate conversation than the gathering of women at this meeting and to bring our dear, dear sisters from around the world to learn and to take things back to their own ministries is an unparalleled opportunity."
Archdeacon Taimalelagi Fagamalama Tuatagaloa-Matalavea, Anglican Observer at the United Nations, welcomed the delegates on behalf of Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, president of the Anglican Consultative Council, and the 38 provinces and primates of the Anglican Communion.
In her role as Anglican Observer, Samoan-born TuatagaloaMatalavea is committed to sustainable development, global economic security, disarmament, freedom of faith and religion and environment, as well as peace in the Middle East, Sudan and other parts of the world.She has been instrumental in ensuring the fullest participation at the UNCSW this year.
Tuatagaloa-Matalavea explained that she works very closely with ecumenical partners at the UN "because we need ... to have a stronger voice in what we are trying to promote."
Women's issues are a priority because "if you empower women, you empower a family, you empower a community, you empower your country and you empower the world," she said.
Barbara O'Sullivan from Jamaica, an executive member of the Mother's Union, read a prepared statement from Angela King, former assistant secretary general of the UN and special advisor on gender issues and the advancement of women, in the statement King said that it is "a time of celebration and a time of forward-looking strategies." King was unable to attend for health reasons.
The UNCSW has been instrumental in setting international standards, King's statement said, highlighting CEDAW, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, which was adopted by the UN general assembly in 1979. "It is often called the international bill of women's rights," she said.
The commission has also been able to create an enabling environment for women's advancement,
the statement continued, "by gathering and analyzing data on which to base public policy, by offering workshops and training and by paying attention to urgent issues...such as HIV/ AIDS."
King's statement said that the UNCSW has brought the principal and perspective of gender equality into every sector and program, as well as other bodies within the UN. "It has also made the public more aware of the need of women to fully participate in all aspects of society if gender equality, peace and development are to be lasting."
Finally, her statement urged all delegates of the UNCSW to make a commitment "to initiate and carry through at least one project to strengthen women's access to roles in the fields of education, health or employment, or one campaign to get women into positions of leadership or eradicate violence against women."
The Very Rev. James A. Kowalski, dean of the Cathedral, said that the Diocese of New York was honored to welcome the UNCSW delegation "as you claim the vision for all people that we be empowered for service to others and to the life of the world, and especially as you transform that vision into reality."
"If you empower women, you empower a family, you empower a community,you empower your country and you empower the world,"
Closing the conversation, Margaret Rose, director of women's ministries at the Episcopal Church Center, gave thanks for all the women who have participated in the UNCSW event and urged them to have the courage "to speak publicly in all the places we are, then we can begin to transform the vision that is within each of us into action that will claim women and men and abundant life for the world."
Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold and Bishop Mark Sisk of New York also attended the event. Other distinguished guests included Carolyn Hannan, director of the division for the advancement of women at the United Nations, Dr. Marcella Maxwell, former chair of the NYC Commission on Human Rights and on the Status of Women, and representatives of the United Nations and NGOs.
Organist Timothy Rumfield and singer Ana Hernandez provided musical accompaniment and a closing prayer was offered by Bishop Suffragan Catherine Roskam of New York.
The UNCSW began on February 24 and concluded on March 10. Throughout the two weeks, Anglican women attended daily worship, U.N. briefings,
plenary sessions and caucuses.
Further information about UNCSW can be found online at: www.episcopalchurch.org/uncsw.htm
The full text of Griswold's speech can be found at www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_72659_ENG_HTM.htm.
A transcript of the conversation with Anglican delegates can be found at www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_72657_ENG_HTM.htm.
Margaret Rose's Address at the UNCSW Forum
Margaret Rose, Director of Women's Ministries at the Episcopal Church Center, closed the conversation at the UNCSW forum sponsored by Anglican Women's Empowerment that was held March 4 at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City.
The full text of Rose's address:
Your conversation put me in mind of something the wonderful Bella Abzug said quite some time ago about making a difference in the world. You talked about making your faith explicit. She talked about changing the shape of the river. We began today with the river and gathering there. Here's what she said: "Women do not want to be mainstreamed into the polluted stream. We want to clean the stream and transform it into a fresh flowing body, one that moves into a new direction: a world at peace that respects human rights for all, renders economic justice and provides a sound and healthy environment."
For women of faith, water is the right metaphor. In the ever flowing stream is the stream of baptismal water, ever renewing our faith and giving us the courage to move from our private thoughts, our private vision, into public action.
That public action is not a conversation about rights. That action is not about "my piece of the pie," but as each one of these women said, about changing the nature of the whole. Our work together is grounded in baptismal respect for every human being: the Gospel promise that Jesus comes that all
might have life and have it abundantly is the faith that gives us the courage to act. All of us, gathered together with many differences, claim the bond of communion which gives us courage to change the shape of the river. Make it clean.
So how do we do it? How do we transform vision into action? A couple of thoughts:
First, we have to do the work of discernment. We have to expose those cultural norms which deny the image of God in any one of us. We have to claim that house allowance when we need it. We have to ask the question whether or not women are the only ones to carry water. We have to discover whether or not it really isn't okay for women to become chemical engineers and also supervise other people.
Second, we have to pay attention to suffering. You heard tonight about scars, you heard about struggle. Suffering and struggle are familiar conversations in our faith. At its very root is a cross.
Jesus knew a lot about the experience of suffering.
The lives and work of the people here are filled with suffering.
Whether it is the stories of rebel violence in the Congo or civil war in El Salvador or abuse in families in Warren, Rhode Island, the struggle has been there. But it is said, of course, that scar tissue is a lot stronger for the wearing. Our survival then comes out of suffering and it provides the memory, the imagination and the courage to move to action.
Thirdly, we have to claim sisterhood, rejoice in the solidarity that we have with one another in governments where we hear about five ministers being at the head. We celebrate new presidents in Liberia and Chile. We celebrate women who have come to places of power and then we create spaces for others to come beyond.
And then we have to continue to go public, to claim the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the conviction that abundant life is there for all, so that we may speak for what is good for the whole world, for women and men alike, knowing that when women's leadership comes to the center, things will change.
When women and men are at the table together, the conversation will be different and we will have countries that are filled with peace. We must know that women's leadership will be shaped by a commitment to seeking wisdom from one another rather than claiming intrigue and power and control as a way to action.
Women's leadership also could claim solidarity with one another, claim each of our differences, know the other in new ways and move to a relationship of solidarity rather than hierarchy. When we can begin to do these things, to claim the Gospel as our modus operandi. To claim the Gospel that will give us courage to speak publicly in all the places we are, then we can begin to transform the vision that is within each of us into action that will claim women and men and abundant life for the world.
I give thanks for all the women who are here at this place and especially for you who have spoken publicly today. I am grateful for that voice and know that as we send our voices forth from this place that they will make a difference in the Anglican Communion and in the world.
© 2004, The Episcopal Church, USA.