In March, the United Nations hosted the 69th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW69), marking the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action to empower women and work towards achieving gender equality. The platform for action addresses poverty, education, health, violence, armed conflict, the economy, power and decision making, institutional mechanisms, human rights, media, environment, and the girl child. I joined Sister Veronica Brand, RSHM, our NGO representative, in attending several presentations during the Commission.
While there have been successes and advances, much work still needs to be done to create a more equitable and just world for women. The feminization of poverty, unemployment, climate change, continued violence against women, and the exclusion of women from leadership roles in governments and institutions of power are challenges that have yet to be overcome. We were consistently reminded, “Women’s rights are human rights.”
Sessions addressed various economic and social issues impacting women, and several advocates shared their inspirational stories of overcoming poverty, domestic violence, sexual harassmen,t and gender-based violence to become activists for women’s rights in their home countries and around the globe.
One of the most pressing issues facing women and families today is that of human trafficking. Panelists shared multinational efforts underway to bankrupt the business of human trafficking through data sciences and financial intelligence. As a highly organized criminal enterprise, human trafficking generates $236 billion annually and 27.6 million victims. Data scientists now employ artificial intelligence to track financial activity and develop predictive capabilities. This helps determine where traffickers operate, how best to disrupt the “supply chain,” and establish criteria to help identify victims of trafficking. Additionally, countries and municipalities must continue to strengthen policies and enforcement, increase the use of financial intelligence units, and continue collaboration across the globe.
While not exclusively a “women’s issue,” extractivism, or extracting raw materials for sale on the global market, often with limited processing in the region where they are extracted, places a significantly larger burden on women. Extractivism results in environmental degradation, including pollution and depletion of water resources. Women, especially in rural and indigenous communities, bear the brunt of these impacts as primary managers of their households and community water supplies. According to data from the World Health Organization, more than 1.8 billion people worldwide live in households without accessible water supplies. In Guatemala, transnational companies have depleted resources and contaminated water sources through clear-cutting forests and mining. Here, indigenous women are leading the resistance and rallying their communities to stand up for their rights, despite facing violence, displacement, criminalization, and humiliation.
Similarly, women in conflict zones suffer when water is allocated to citizens disproportionally, a situation often described as the “weaponization of water.” For example, following the 1967 Arab – Israeli War, Israel confiscated all wells and springs in Gaza and the West Bank, restricting access. Daily water allocations for individual use in drinking, cooking, bathing, and sanitation were capped at 19 gallons for Palestinians compared to the 79 gallons for Israeli settlers in the occupied territories of the West Bank. Palestinian women face additional threats as they travel farther to collect the water, negotiate checkpoints, wait in long lines, or run the risk of being harmed. Since the most recent conflict in Gaza, 90% of the water there is unfit for consumption. Of the 10% of potable water available, each of the 2.4 million people in Gaza is only permitted a daily emergency ration of 13 gallons. Despite these life-threatening circumstances, Palestinian women continue to advocate on behalf of their people.
In addition to presentations by lay NGO members, scholars, and advocates, representatives from several women’s religious communities presented a panel, “Women and Church Action for Gender Equality.” Sisters who spoke reminded attendees that women have been at the forefront of the fight for equality for many years citing role models including Mary Ward, founder of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Congregation of Jesus, who in 1617 stated, “Women are in no way inferior to the other half of the human race, namely men.”
Panelists also recognized Anna Maria Dengel, founder of the Medical Mission Sisters, for her tenacity, vision, and contributions to helping provide necessary medical care to women in the mission, particularly during childbirth. In the early 1900s vowed women religious were not permitted by canon law to practice medicine. To circumvent this, Dengel created a “pious society.” In 1936, after membership in the “society” had grown, the Church approved sisters working in medicine and recognized the women as a religious congregation.
Just as they have always done, religious sisters identify the needs of their times and meet challenges head on – creating educational and healthcare institutions, ministering to the poor, marginalized, and vulnerable, and supporting the oppressed. While today’s issues might seem daunting, sisters continue to follow in their founders’ footsteps and remain hopeful knowing that their voices, joined with those of other women around the world, will lead to solutions that are not only sustainable but also empowering to women and girls.