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	There is no democracy without Gender Equality by Maria Noel Vaeza, Michelle Muschett IPS UN Bureau   Jan. 2024   Violence against women and girls is one of the most widespread and persistent abuses of fundamental rights at a global level that, to a certain extent, derives from what we consider “normal” in our societies. In addition to firmly condemning that one in every three women in the world suffer from physical or sexual violence, we must question what we are normalizing as a society for this to happen.   Faced with this question, the Gender Social Norms Index published by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) reveals that 90% of the population has at least one fundamental prejudice against women, which ranges from believing that men are better business leaders and that they have more rights than women to take a job, to the conviction that it is okay for a man to be violent with his partner.   Gender violence is not a phenomenon that arises out of nowhere and its prevention and eradication also require each of us to be aware of our own biases.   At UN Women and UNDP, we work to reduce gender discrimination and transform sexist attitudes by promoting social norms and positive gender roles. This requires empowering girls and women and working with the entire society to remove stereotypes that promote violent masculinities.   To achieve this, at UN Women we apply the behavioral sciences to involve men and commit them to the prevention of violence against women and girls with more effective awareness campaigns that adapt to the reality of each country in the region. Social norms that limit women’s rights also harm society, they hinder the expansion of human development and increase inequality gaps.   It is no coincidence that the difficulty in achieving progress in social gender norms occurs during a human development crisis. The global Human Development Index (HDI) lost value in 2020 for the first time in history; the same thing happened the following year.   In turn, for Latin America and the Caribbean, the UNDP estimated – based on its proposal for a Multidimensional Poverty Index with a focus on women, that 27.4% of women in 10 countries in the region live in conditions of multidimensional poverty.   The impact of poverty on women varies depending on their location in the territory: in the 16 countries analyzed, 19% of those who live in urban areas are multidimensional poor, while 58% live in rural areas.   The poorest women are those who face greater inequalities, participate less in the labor market, and experience greater time poverty caused by excessive unpaid care work.   These inequality gaps, in addition to being a barrier to human development, are a threat to democracy. Latin America and the Caribbean, the third most democratic region in the world and the only emerging region that aspires to – and still has the possibility of – achieving development through democracy and respect for human rights, will not achieve it if it continues to be the most violent and dangerous region for women.   The Gender Social Norms Index (GSNI) quantifies biases against women, capturing people’s attitudes on women’s roles along four key dimensions: political, educational, economic and physical integrity. The index, covering 85 percent of the global population, reveals that close to 9 out of 10 men and women hold fundamental biases against women.   The Latinobarometro 2023 report points out a clear democratic decline in Latin America: the percentage of its population that sees democracy as the preferred form of government fell from 60% in 2000 to 48% in 2023. Women remain underrepresented in decision-making decisions and are the most dissatisfied with democracy with 70%.   At the same time, according to the latest data reported by official organizations to the Gender Equality Observatory of Latin America and the Caribbean, in 2022, at least 4,050 women saw their lives cut short. 4,004 from Latin America and 46 from the Caribbean, from 26 countries in the region, were victims of femicide or feminicide.   This is a clear sign that despite the progress in several countries in the region with the approval of specific and comprehensive legal frameworks and the establishment of specialized prosecutors and protocols to respond to gender violence, the fundamental rights of women continue to be undermined with recent actions not translating into tangible achievements.   Without effective governance and solid institutions that guarantee women and girls the full enjoyment of their rights, including the right to live a life free of violence and discrimination, it will be impossible to regain confidence in democracy in the region.   In building more peaceful, just, and inclusive societies, universal access to justice is essential to eradicate gender violence and impunity.   Girls, adolescents, and women who suffer violence do not find sufficient protection in the judicial system, and when they have the courage to report, they are often re-victimized until they give up their complaint and seek help and protection from the authorities. public institutions.   At the same time, these women have a triple workload: they face caregiver tasks, domestic work and their paid jobs, which are usually precarious, informal and low-income.   Furthermore, much of the impetus for the judicial process falls on the complainant, who must not only appear before the court on numerous occasions, but also bear the financial costs of transportation, the difficulties in organizing household responsibilities, and the fear of retaliation by the aggressor or members of their communities.   To this must be added both the possible lack of knowledge that many women may have about judicial or extrajudicial procedures, as well as the difficulties in accessing free services and/or ignorance of their existence. There is also little or no public information about specialized services.   For example, in the case of experiencing violence, there is usually distrust on the part of women regarding the speed and effectiveness of the judicial response to their situation and, they also often face practices of re-victimization such as being forced to tell the facts on several occasions or have their testimony called into question.   We must build more just societies for women. All people and societies can advance through education, social mobilization, the adoption of legal and political measures, advocacy for greater budgets to prevent violence, promotion of dialogue, and the search for consensus to break down biases and open passages to more peaceful, secure, fair, inclusive, and egalitarian societies as a requirement to leave no one behind on the path towards sustainable development.   * Maria Noel Vaeza is regional director of UN Women for the Americas and the Caribbean; Michelle Muschett is regional director of UNDP for Latin America and the Caribbean.   http://www.ipsnews.net/2024/01/no-democracy-without-gender-equality/ http://hdr.undp.org/content/2023-gender-social-norms-index-gsni#/indicies/GSNI http://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/investigations/2024/01/29/gender-based-violence-un-funds-services-threatened Visit the related web page
	Caring for people and the planet by UN Women, Plan International   Dec. 2023   How feminism can be a powerful tool to fight climate change. (UN Women)   By 2050, climate change may push up to 158 million more women and girls into poverty and see 236 million more face food insecurity. The climate crisis fuels increases in conflict and migration, as well as exclusionary, anti-rights political rhetoric targeting women, refugees, and other vulnerable groups.   Those dire trends—and ways to reverse them—are charted in a new report by UN Women titled “Feminist climate justice: A framework for action”.   The report shows how crises around the world, ranging from economic inequality to geopolitical gridlock, are amplified by climate change and have disproportionate impacts on women and girls. It calls for a clear vision of feminist climate justice that integrates women’s rights into the global fight against environmental catastrophe.   The vision for feminist climate justice is a world in which everyone can enjoy the full range of human rights, free from discrimination, and flourish on a planet that is healthy and sustainable. The report breaks down that vision into the four Rs:   Recognizing women's rights, labour, and knowledge   Policies must recognize that women can offer unique knowledge and expertise—including among indigenous, rural, and young populations—that can be used to support effective climate action.   Women and girls around the world have been at the forefront of climate activism and have used a variety of methods to protect the environment and push back against damaging extraction projects. Women farmers have also formed cooperatives and groups to share their workloads and increase their productivity and income.   Policies should build on these successes while also recognizing that women shoulder disproportionate care responsibilities, have fewer economic resources than men, and have lower levels of literacy and access to technology. These inequalities are exacerbated by climate change.   The existing burden of unpaid family care is worsened when food prices climb due to poor harvests, or when family members’ healthcare needs increase amid rising temperatures. Girls are more likely to drop out of school in areas prone to drought. Governments must ensure that women’s and girls’ needs and rights are integrated into policies on disaster response, gender-based violence, food production, economics, social discrimination, and other topics that intersect with the climate crisis.   Redistributing economic resources   Reversing climate change will require moving resources away from extractive and environmentally damaging activities, and towards those that prioritize care for people and the planet, the report says.   Policies must ensure that a transition to a green economy aides women’s access to employment opportunities, land, education, and technology. Publicly financed social protection systems should support women and girls’ economic and social well-being and their resilience as the climate changes.   For example, school-based food programmes are not only able to alleviate some of women’s unpaid care work by supplying children with nutritious food, but can further support feminist climate policy by sourcing meals from small-scale, environmentally friendly women farmers..   http://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/feature-story/2023/12/new-report-shows-how-feminism-can-be-a-powerful-tool-to-fight-climate-change   Nov. 2023   Unpacking the care society: Caring for people and the planet. (UN Women)   The impacts of crises are not gender-neutral. Protracted conflicts and the accelerating impacts of climate change have increased care demands on women and girls. When these demands grow, and public systems are unable to cope with increased pressure, women and girls absorb the bulk of care work.   Care work, a vital public good, underpins well-being and a thriving, sustainable economy. Sustainable Development Goal 5.4 seeks to value unpaid care and domestic work, promote shared responsibilities within households, and provide essential services and social protection. Yet, women and girls worldwide shoulder a disproportionate share of care work that is unpaid, unrecognized, and undervalued.   How climate change intensifies the care crisis for women   Environmental degradation and the global climate emergency are intensifying the global care crisis. People with fewer resources, Indigenous women, ethnic minorities, those living with disabilities and with HIV, women of African descent, persons in developing and Small Island Developing States among many others can be hit especially hard by these compounding crises.   Women and girls already spend on average three times more on care work than men and boys. Climate change further amplifies women's and girls' unequal load of unpaid care and household chores.   Women and girls, especially those living in rural areas, who are responsible for managing resources and running households, are particularly vulnerable to climate shocks.   Women and girls bear the brunt of providing drinking, cooking, and sanitation water for their families. Some 1.8 billion people worldwide rely on drinking water from supplies that are off premises and women and girls are responsible for collecting water in seven out of ten households without water on premises.   Climate change is having a significant impact on water resources worldwide. Droughts are becoming more frequent and severe, while rainfall patterns are becoming increasingly unpredictable. Ten per cent of the world’s female population, some 380 million women and girls, live in areas facing high or critical water stress, a figure that is expected to reach 647 million by 2050.   During droughts, women and girls stand in long queues and walk long distances to collect water for their families. In Iraq, women spend up to three hours a day collecting water. In India, women and girls spend more than 50 minutes a day collecting water compared to men and boys’ four minutes.   Women also face greater food insecurity than men. When there is food scarcity, it is common for men and boys to be fed first with women eating last and least. Droughts force many women and girls into subsistence farming and activities which increases their workloads as they grapple to secure sufficient food provisions for their families.   Climate shocks increase unpaid health care work for women and girls   A rise in diseases linked to the climate crisis is disproportionately impacting the care-load for women and girls. A study in Delhi, India, and Dhaka, Bangladesh, showed that women spent on average an additional hour per day on care work when a member of their family had a climate-related illness, such as a water-borne disease from torrential rains.   Pregnant women face an increased risk of complications, including pregnancy loss, linked to drought and food scarcity.   Historically, women and girls have shouldered climate mitigation activities such as waste management, reforestation, and land rehabilitation. As climate crises continue to swell, the burden of environmental care has spiked further gender inequalities, and the number of hours women and girls spend on caring for the planet.   Women are at the forefront of climate justice and sustainability efforts, in part because access to a safe, clean, healthy, and sustainable environment is a matter of life and death for their families. Many women engage in climate action because they consider it essential to fulfill their role as the primary caretakers of their communities.   Despite the key role of women in tackling the impacts of climate change, women environmental human rights defenders are facing an uptick in gender-based violence and femicides. In 2022, at least 401 human rights defenders were killed, most in Latin America, and 17 per cent were women. Women also face resistance within their communities who accuse them of wasting time on activism and face defamation, threats and physical attacks.   The world is facing two seemingly distinct yet deeply intertwined crises, whose links are often overlooked in climate discussions.   The first crisis centers around the unnoticed and unequal distribution of unpaid care work, primarily borne by women and girls. The second is the looming climate emergency, characterized by rising temperatures and the urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. While these crises may appear unrelated, they are inextricably linked, demanding our collective attention and action.   Remarkably, just 11 per cent of Nationally Determined Contributions—the measures and actions that parties of the Paris Agreement plan to adopt to reduce greenhouse gas emissions—mention the unpaid care work of women and girls.   The sixty-sixth Commission on the Status of Women has sounded the alarm warning that “natural resources and ecosystems and women’s labour are treated as infinite and are undervalued in the current metrics of economic growth, such as GDP, despite being essential to all economies and the well-being of present and future generations and the planet”.   Within this complex snapshot, the concept of a care society emerges as a pressing alternative to the current economic and development model based on the extraction and exploitation of natural resources, fossil fuels, and human lives. It emphasizes the crucial role of both caring for people and the planet. Recognizing the irreplaceable value of care is essential, as is addressing the unequal care burden that women and girls currently bear, and increasingly so amid the climate emergency. The provision of care should be a shared responsibility involving the state, markets, communities, and families.   http://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/explainer/2023/11/unpacking-the-care-society-caring-for-people-and-the-planet http://plan-international.org/publications/cop28-policy-advocacy-brief/ http://www.unfpa.org/press/global-climate-crisis-putting-women-and-girls-extreme-danger-unfpa-warns-new-data http://www.unfpa.org/stories/5-things-women-and-girls-demand-cop28-climate-summit
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