ECOSOC promotes female empowerment in politics

The Economic and Social Council has passed a resolution concerning its second topic, political equality and representation for women. Resolution 2.1 is a “comprehensive” plan sponsored by India, Belarus, Qatar, Iraq, Japan, the U.S., and the U.K. intended to increase women’s political participation.

In its Millennium Development Goals, the U.N. included a focus on achieving gender equality and empowerment for women. To accomplish this purpose, the Commission on the Status of Women was created under the jurisdiction of ECOSOC. Delegates were therefore asked to promote the goals of the Commission; specifically, preventing acts of violence against women and dealing with its aftermath through medical attention or counseling.

“We’re trying to take a very all-encompassing approach to better represent women in local, regional, an national legislatures,” said Indian delegate Caroline Osborn. “We want to empower [women] to take more opportunities to be involved in politics an address issues in education, economics, violence and other laws that affect them.”

Delegates from Mexico, Brazil, and Germany discuss a friendly amendment to Resolution 2.1.

The resolution, which passed by a vote of 27-2-2, advocated more involvement of women in politics through efforts such as granting women the right to vote and educating women to give them the opportunity to run for public office. “[We] believe that to involve more women in politics, women must have equal rights,” said Turkish delegate C. J. Cole.

The resolution further encouraged governments to pass laws that “reserve a substantial percentage of seats in local, regional, and national legislature for women.” The delegate from India proposed a model that worked in her nation. “Our Parliament recently passed a law that allows local governments to reserve 30 percent of its seas for women and that has recently been raised to 50 percent,” said Caroline Osborn.

Resolution 2.1 also suggested the economic empowerment of women through “gender budgeting” in the allocation of funds by individual nations. The council considered expanding forms of micro-financing, which would initiate business ventures taken by women, and increasing the number of women in the workforce internationally.

Education was another key point. Resolution 2.1 proposed public awareness campaigns to promote female education and recommended that women be given increased access to early childhood, primary, and secondary education. “I would like to emphasize that that a good foundation for women in politics is education,” stated the delegate from Nicaragua, Paulo Claudio.

Another aspect of the resolution dealt with reducing violence and harassment toward women through measures such as accommodation for female members of national law enforcement bodies, the worldwide criminalization of rape and domestic violence, and the creation of help centers that “encourage women to speak up against violence.” But, adds Farhan Rawsar, the delegate from Belarus: “[This resolution] will only be as successful as national governments want it to be successful.”