Trying to navigate the UN Commission on the Status of Women has been quite overwhelming, and needless to say I am quite confused.
Between the CSW62 main events, side events, and parallel events, I am having a difficult time selecting which sessions I want to attend and how to do so. It's not been made terribly clear how to go about this, and I feel more or less like a chicken with her head cut off trying to find my way around. As I was considering what to write about today, however, despite feeling this way, I was quite surprised at everything I was still able to get myself to: two morning parallel events, a side event, and a meeting of the general assembly. I am going to take a second to discuss both a parallel session and the UN side event.
1. My Bias
The two morning sessions were the Addressing Violence against Rural and Indigenous Women—Challenges and Strategies by the International Public Policy Institute, and the Opportunities and Challenges for Rural Women in the Global Community by ourselves: the Canadian Federation of University Women. Both were outstanding. However, I am going to take a second to address my first session of the day, as it opened my eyes to my own biases with a simple one minute excessive.
In this session I had to envision one scenario- a car breaking down- in two contexts: a break down in an urban setting and a break down in a rural one...the question: which made you feel more comfortable?
Which made me more comfortable? The urban one, of course. How could anyone feel safe breaking down on a rural road with not a single soul anywhere in site? This is what I thought to myself. What if the next person who comes by is not a good person? Who will hear me? What about when it gets cold? What will I do for food? What if my phone dies? How will I call for help? These are just some of the questions that ran through my mind...
The correct answer ....it depends. In the speaker's experience, from presenting but also from working with women, if you are an urban woman you'll be more comfortable in the urban setting; if you are a rural woman then you'll feel more comfortable in the rural setting.
So, why does this matter exactly? Well, it highlights a simple truth. Maybe this has no impact on some, but as a hopeful policy writer it matters a lot.
The speaker illustrated how this unconscious bias that may, and often does, go completely unnoticed had a life changing impact on her work with shelters. She found that in one community, women were traveling well over three hours to reach a shelter that was situated on the edge of town instead of commuting for 40 minutes or so to a shelter that was much closer in terms of distance, but existed in the center or a much more metropolitan area. Both shelters knew that they were resources for the local rural women, but could not understand why one saw almost no one show up.
The women, coming from a crisis, were deeply uncomfortable and quite fearful of being alone in a loud and busy city away from everything and everyone they knew. The idea of finding and going to the urban shelter caused women-whom were already in distress-more distress. The other shelter, although three hours away at the edge of the city, did not require public transit and was further removed from the commotion of the city.
The simple comparison between these two scenarios forced me to realize that my comfort zone and views are fundamentally urban and, thus, if I am designing something for rural women then I must instead design it with them and I must listen, otherwise I cannot, nor will I ever, be part of the solution.
2. I missed the SG...only in the flesh and by 5-10 minutes
Well, I did not really miss him. I still got into the meeting...more or less.
After I left the second morning session, I headed back the UN Headquarters for lunch and to see if I could get into my first main or side session. At 1:15 PM, I overheard some women mention that the Secretary-General was going to be answering questions in a town-hall in the ECOSOC Chamber.....WHAT!!! I ran upstairs to the information desk to find that they had freshly sold out of tickets and had themselves only just found out about the event a few hours earlier....
First of all- tickets for the events?? This was the first I'd heard about it and I was far from alone!
Second of all- how did the staff not even know??
Thirdly- the front desk said I may be able to get in with no ticket...so I ran!
I did not make it into the ECOSOC Chamber, but I did manage to find the overflow room downstairs. Although I was not officially in the room with the SG, it was still extremely exciting to watch!
In retrospect this incident has made hope that I will be lucky enough to come next year, because now that I know how things work I feel I would be far more capable next year of getting myself around and being able to use my time in the most effective way! If I don't make it, I will reach out to the student who does to make sure I can help them make the most of their time!
--
Although the day had its frustrations as I tried to navigate the the two apps and my booklet for events to attend, it was an amazing day full learning which I am extremely grateful for!
Between the CSW62 main events, side events, and parallel events, I am having a difficult time selecting which sessions I want to attend and how to do so. It's not been made terribly clear how to go about this, and I feel more or less like a chicken with her head cut off trying to find my way around. As I was considering what to write about today, however, despite feeling this way, I was quite surprised at everything I was still able to get myself to: two morning parallel events, a side event, and a meeting of the general assembly. I am going to take a second to discuss both a parallel session and the UN side event.
1. My Bias
The two morning sessions were the Addressing Violence against Rural and Indigenous Women—Challenges and Strategies by the International Public Policy Institute, and the Opportunities and Challenges for Rural Women in the Global Community by ourselves: the Canadian Federation of University Women. Both were outstanding. However, I am going to take a second to address my first session of the day, as it opened my eyes to my own biases with a simple one minute excessive.
In this session I had to envision one scenario- a car breaking down- in two contexts: a break down in an urban setting and a break down in a rural one...the question: which made you feel more comfortable?
Which made me more comfortable? The urban one, of course. How could anyone feel safe breaking down on a rural road with not a single soul anywhere in site? This is what I thought to myself. What if the next person who comes by is not a good person? Who will hear me? What about when it gets cold? What will I do for food? What if my phone dies? How will I call for help? These are just some of the questions that ran through my mind...
The correct answer ....it depends. In the speaker's experience, from presenting but also from working with women, if you are an urban woman you'll be more comfortable in the urban setting; if you are a rural woman then you'll feel more comfortable in the rural setting.
So, why does this matter exactly? Well, it highlights a simple truth. Maybe this has no impact on some, but as a hopeful policy writer it matters a lot.
The speaker illustrated how this unconscious bias that may, and often does, go completely unnoticed had a life changing impact on her work with shelters. She found that in one community, women were traveling well over three hours to reach a shelter that was situated on the edge of town instead of commuting for 40 minutes or so to a shelter that was much closer in terms of distance, but existed in the center or a much more metropolitan area. Both shelters knew that they were resources for the local rural women, but could not understand why one saw almost no one show up.
The women, coming from a crisis, were deeply uncomfortable and quite fearful of being alone in a loud and busy city away from everything and everyone they knew. The idea of finding and going to the urban shelter caused women-whom were already in distress-more distress. The other shelter, although three hours away at the edge of the city, did not require public transit and was further removed from the commotion of the city.
The simple comparison between these two scenarios forced me to realize that my comfort zone and views are fundamentally urban and, thus, if I am designing something for rural women then I must instead design it with them and I must listen, otherwise I cannot, nor will I ever, be part of the solution.
2. I missed the SG...only in the flesh and by 5-10 minutes
Well, I did not really miss him. I still got into the meeting...more or less.
After I left the second morning session, I headed back the UN Headquarters for lunch and to see if I could get into my first main or side session. At 1:15 PM, I overheard some women mention that the Secretary-General was going to be answering questions in a town-hall in the ECOSOC Chamber.....WHAT!!! I ran upstairs to the information desk to find that they had freshly sold out of tickets and had themselves only just found out about the event a few hours earlier....
First of all- tickets for the events?? This was the first I'd heard about it and I was far from alone!
Second of all- how did the staff not even know??
Thirdly- the front desk said I may be able to get in with no ticket...so I ran!
I did not make it into the ECOSOC Chamber, but I did manage to find the overflow room downstairs. Although I was not officially in the room with the SG, it was still extremely exciting to watch!
In retrospect this incident has made hope that I will be lucky enough to come next year, because now that I know how things work I feel I would be far more capable next year of getting myself around and being able to use my time in the most effective way! If I don't make it, I will reach out to the student who does to make sure I can help them make the most of their time!
--
Although the day had its frustrations as I tried to navigate the the two apps and my booklet for events to attend, it was an amazing day full learning which I am extremely grateful for!
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