• 21 March 2017

June Butler represents Mothers’ Union at UN’s Commission on the Status of Women

Diocesan President of the Mother’s Union, June Butler is among a delegation of Mothers’ Union representatives from across the world at the UN’s Commission on the Status of Women in New York.

They will be calling for governments to prohibit any form of discrimination against women and enshrine in law equal rights in the workplace, including the right to employment, equal pay and freedom from discrimination which prevents the appointment of women to senior positions.

June Butler has been posting daily updates from the event to the Mothers’ Union Website.  The following is an extract from her thoughts on Day Five.

“The day started with the briefing and it was noticeable that there were so few of us compared with last week. A fact that was commented upon by the Chair who stated that most of the important negotiations were conducted in week two so it would be up to us to spearhead influencing the delegates in preparing the final agreed conclusions. No pressure then!

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After we had established that the delegates had worked late into the night on the next draft, which had not yet been issued (lots of frustration here as it is unusual for the process to move so slowly!), discussion focused on the key areas to advocate. Gradually a list emerged coming from many quarters and varying NGO interests. The principal areas were: 

  • how to translate high–minded ideals into local law to bring about change
  • the need for higher priority to be given to data collection to provide empirical evidence to support arguments
  • how women can be moved to entrepreneurship
  • the need for better social protection for women and girls
  • the need for clearer and better strategies for the employment of care workers – for those caring for both the young and the elderly
  • the need for better flexible working arrangements for women
  • the importance of working with local politicians so that each NGO’s voice can  be brought to many political tables
  • The need for decent work for refugee women.

Two speakers from the stage particularly impressed me – a politician from New Zealand and a senior officer from the International Labour Organisation (ILO). The former asked that the focus in taking forward the draft agreement should be fivefold– human rights, women and girls with disabilities, the inclusion of girls in good quality education worldwide, the importance of equality for indigenous women, and the need for comprehensive  and relevant data collection. There was also lots of discussion about the process of implementing the agreed conclusions and how they should set an agenda for each country to enable them to clarify the future direction of their policy.  That session was an amazing start to the week and a great learning curve for me.”

For more information on the Mothers’ Union at the UN’s Commission on the Status of Women go to www.themothersunion.org/mu–uncsw