UNODC Topic BJuvenile Justice ReformUNWOMEN Topic AThe Economic Empowerment of Women

PacificMUN 2020Backgrounder

Dare to Speak

Letter from the Director Dear Delegates, My name is Helia Zeinoddini, and I am beyond ecstatic to serve as the Director of United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) at PacificMUN 2020. Currently, I am a grade 12 IB student at Carson Graham Secondary, and in the future, I hope to be a UN diplomat or serve as a news reporter in conflict zones. Aside from MUN, I enjoy writing, sketching, and participating in STEM-related extracurricular activities. Occasionally, I also enjoy a good game of chess. Alongside me are my wonderful colleagues Eric Birzneck, our Chair, and Alishba Irfan, our Assistant Director. During the conference, we, as your Dais team, are ready to support you as we discuss our two topics: the economic empowerment of women, and the reproductive rights of women. The two topics chosen for this committee carry weight with them because these are socio-economic issues that affect women everywhere. This weekend will be an opportunity to educate ourselves about the happenings of the international community, as well as the nuanced workings of our community. While Model UN is a competitive activity, it is also an educational experience and an opportunity for growth. I encourage you to truly immerse yourself in the debate, and place the prospect of winning awards secondary to the issues you will discuss. Model UN is a unique experience that cannot be recreated, so make the most of it and have fun. Above anything else, my goal is to create an environment in the committee room where all delegates feel safe, respected, and comfortable in sharing their voice. I hope that the fruits of your journey through this year’s PacificMUN- from the research to the closing ceremony- will stay with you long after the conference has ended. If at any point you have any questions about the conference or the research process, please do not hesitate to contact me at unwomen@pacificmun.org. Sincerely, Helia Zeinoddini Director of UN Women PacificMUN 2020

    

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Committee Overview  Established in 2 July 2010, the United Nations Entity for Empowerment and Equality of Women (UN Women), is a UN body whose agenda focuses on the rights, treatment, and representation of women around the world.

The creation of UN Women marked a historic step in the world’s commitment to achieving gender equality. Prior to its formation, all UN activities pertaining to the wellbeing of women were split between four different offices. Merging these responsibilities under one greater body signalled that the world was ready to take significant steps in the fight to close the gender gap.

The goals of the committee are similar to the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly Goal 5, which is to achieve gender equality. UN Women tries to 1

tackle this problem by breaking it down to six main areas of focus: Leadership and Political Participation, Economic Empowerment, Ending Violence Against Women, Peace and Security, Humanitarian Action, and Governance and National Planning. It also has offices in all major 2

regions of the globe, namely Africa, the Americas, Latin America, the Middle East, Central Asia, Southeast Asia and Europe. 3

UN Women is the largest agency in the world that is dedicated to the empowerment of women. Thus, it often works in close collaboration with other UN agencies, civil organizations and governments in order to guide, draft, and execute policies that protect and empower women in their communities. With permission, UN Women’s largest contribution in the welfare of women 4

is the implementation and patronage of programs around the world that provide educational, social, economic and leadership opportunities. Within its own jurisdiction, UN Women regularly performs surveys, studies, and evaluations of the progress on gender equality in different regions of the world. It aims to educate and raise awareness about the treatment of women, as well as 5

the benefits of empowering women in the global community. It also works with and provides support to other NGOs and women’s empowerment groups via trust funds, grants, and resources. Every year, UN Women brings the world one step closer to bridging the gender gap. The committee remains one of the most prominent and active UN bodies in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals for 2030, and its presence is critical to the preservation of women's rights.

    1 http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/about-un-women 2 https://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do 3 https://www.unwomen.org/en/where-we-are 4 https://www.unwomen.org/en/partnerships 5 https://www.unwomen.org/en/how-we-work

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Topic A: The Economic Empowerment of Women Introduction  From toiling in the Mesopotamian fields to spinning cotton in factories during the Industrial Revolution, women have always been an important part of the global workforce. Despite that, they continue to represent a small population of the global workforce, and they struggle to attain equal rights and financial treatment. The economic empowerment of women is comprised of several key components: the right to

work, the right to safe working conditions, the right to equal pay, the right to own and manage financial assets and properties, and the right to participate in fiscal decisions. While the majority 6

of countries around the world have made progress in making these rights a reality, the World Bank reports that to this date that 104 countries prohibit women’s full access to jobs. It also 7

noted that no country in the world achieved 100% gender parity in the economic sector. This 8

inequality is particularly prominent in less economically developed regions, such as Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and Sub-Saharan Africa.8 It also persists in countries like Russia and China, where cultural barriers and oppressive regimes stunt gender equality.8 The impacts of female economic involvement on the global economy and local communities are intrinsically positive. Not only would local economies thrive and avoid stagnation, but the quality of life, health, and mortality rates would improve in households and the community at large. According to the Mckinsey Global Institute, if the participation of women in the global economy was identical to that of men, there would also be an estimated $12 trillion USD growth in the global GDP by 2025. 9

However, cultural, systemic, and physical barriers, lack of education, training, and support continue to impede progress in closing the gender equality gap. Thus, delegates should approach the topic holistically and with cultural sensitivity as they find new ways to accelerate the empowerment of women across the globe.

6 UN Women, An Empowered Future 7https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/08/104-countries-have-laws-that-prevent-women-from-working-in-some-jobs/ 8 https://www.cfr.org/blog/new-interactive-reports-womens-economic-empowerment 9 Mckinsey Global Institute, The Power of Parity: How Advancing Women's Equality Can Add $12 Trillion To Global Growth, page VI

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Timeline   3100 BCE- Recorded as the oldest instance of women’s economic empowerment, women in Egypt have equal financial footing as men as they are able to work, own property and manage it autonomously. 1100s AD- The concept of ‘coverture’ emerges in English Common Law, which suspends a woman’s legal status under her husband’s, stripping her of her right to own property. June 21, 1946- United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), the principal UN body of advocacy for gender equality, is formed. December 10, 1948- Article 22 of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights, which states that all persons have an equal right to economic opportunities, is adopted.

June 19, 1975- The First World Conference on Women was held in Mexico City, Mexico, where women’s economic rights were discussed along with social and political rights.. September 18, 1979- Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) addresses discriminatory barriers in women’s economic empowerment.

July 14, 1980- Second World Conference on Women in Copenhagen, Denmark further expanded on issues discussed in the 1975 Conference. July 15, 1985- Third World Conference on Women in Nairobi, Kenya, produces a final document outlining the strategies to target discrimination against women for the rest of the century.

September 15, 1995- The Beijing Conference on Women adopts the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, and the document "Women in a Changing Economy: 1994 World Survey on the Role of Women in Development”. Both are still used today. July 2, 2010- UN Women is established and takes over as a primary body in advancing and overseeing women’s rights.

September, 2013- UN Women launches the online Global Knowledge Platform for economic empowerment to spread awareness of good women’s economic rights practices. December, 2015- UN Women grants USD 7.3 million for implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.

    

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Historical Analysis  Early Years Throughout history, the status of women’s rights has fluctuated dramatically, sometimes within the span of a century. In terms of women’s economic rights, they started on even grounds with men in civilizations like Ancient Egypt, but became constricted around 1100 AD. During this time, the concept of ‘coverture,’ the ideology that a married man and woman are one financial unit, stripped women’s autonomy over their financial resources. This was the start of modern 10

discriminatory laws that promote a patriarchal approach to economic resources and decision-making. The lack of autonomy over resources and the right of inheritance was the status quo, with no significant changes in the global community until 1850. In 1850, Iceland became the first nation to constitutionally declare equal rights of inheritance for both men and women. This was a 11

remarkable step in starting the re-establishment of equal economic rights. Many Western liberal nations began to follow suite. New Zealand became the first country to establish a national minimum wage law, which also pertained to women. This was a crucial 12

step towards bridging the gap gender gap, as it stopped employers from exploiting women’s services in minimum wage jobs. In the US, pro-women laws regarding property ownership broke through in states such as Maine, New York, and Pennsylvania.10 The actions taken by influential countries such as the United Kingdom, United States, and Australia encouraged other nations such as France and Japan to take similar measures. United Nations Conferences In December 1946, the United Nations acknowledged that gender inequality is a global problem with dire impacts on the health of communities and the international economy. It created the 13

Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), which is an intergovernmental body that oversees and evaluates the UN’s progress on stopping gender inequality. The CSW remains active today and plays a key role in assessing work related to women’s rights that any UN body undertakes.13

10 https://www.thoughtco.com/coverture-in-english-american-law-3529483 11 www.theguardian.com/money/us-money-blog/2014/aug/11/women-rights-money-timeline-history#img-5 12 https://bebusinessed.com/history/history-of-minimum-wage/ 13 Gender Equality UN Conference And You :Timeline

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After that, from 1975 to 1995, the United Nations hosted four major conferences dedicated to discussion about women’s rights and the challenges women around the world face in achieving equality. Though the conferences acknowledged economic empowerment as one of the key areas of equality, they did not particularly focus on it. The fourth and final conference, The Beijing Platform for Action, yielded some of the most important work on women’s rights out of any other international commitments, and also produced "Women in a Changing Economy: 1994 World Survey on the Role of Women in Development”. The conference set out a comprehensive action plan to tackle global gender inequality by creating a list of 12 critical concern areas, and the strategies countries could use to eliminate them. It remains a reference for any UN body 14

aiming to perform work on women’s rights today. In 2010, the UN created UN Women as main agency spearheading women’s equality projects, and also established the Fund for Gender Equality a year before that. 15

Since 2010, UN women has been actively making changes to the state of women around the world. It has initiated over 120 programs that have changed women’s lives. 16

14beijing20.unwomen.org/en/about 15www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2018/6/fund-for-gender-equality-independent-evaluation-2009-2017 16 Ibid

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Current Situation  Gender inequality in the economic sector is not just reserved for developing nations; barriers to women’s economic empowerment persist in every country around the world. While their effects are felt to varying degrees, the presence of economic inequality feeds a dangerous cycle of poverty, discrimination, poor health, violence, and an overall disconnect between women and society. Even though women make up half the global labour force, they only earn 10% of the global income, and represent 70% of the world’s poor population. Despite slow progress in 17

closing this gap, the global outlook for women’s economic empowerment is bleak. A recent study by the World Economic Forum (WEF) estimates that if the current trend in closing the economic gender gap continues, it would take about 200 years to achieve full global gender parity in economic participation and opportunity. This data includes inequalities in regions 18

where legislative and systemic barriers impede women’s abilities to work, as well as more subtle social and cultural barriers women face in developed countries. Systematic and Legislative Oppression When cultural beliefs solidify into laws, change becomes harder and more necessary than ever. Before any supplementary action can take place to improve the economic rights of women, those rights must first be acknowledged in legislature. Under UN Women’s definition, women’s economic empowerment includes their ability to participate equally in the labour market, their right to safe and stable jobs with social benefits, freedom to distribute time between work and domestic life, right to own and control resources, and the right to make economic decisions for themselves and their household. 19

Thus, the presence of restrictive laws or the absence of protective ones regarding any of the above mentioned components would be considered systematic barriers in achieving full economic empowerment for women. The World Bank has outlined in detail, the seven main areas in which national laws can hamper economic participation for women: accessing institutions, building credit, getting a job, going to court, protecting women from violence, providing incentives to work, and using property. In sum, women's access to financial 20

institutions and the ability to build credit gives them financial autonomy. This means that they will be able to invest, take out loans, and manage a bank account. Women must also be able to get a job free of gender-based discrimination, gender-defined wage gaps, and gender-based violence. Jobs should also provide women the opportunity to cultivate their domestic life without compromising their economic status by offering incentives like insurance, maternity leave and child benefits. Lastly, women should also have the legal right to own and use property and to defend that right in court.

17 borgenproject.org/developing-nations-need-womens-empowerment/ 18 The World Economic Forum, The Global Gender Gap Report 19 UN Women, An Empowered Future 20 www.cfr.org/interactive/legal-barriers/barriers

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According to the World Bank, there are 104 countries around the world that stall economic gender equality through the enforcement of national laws pertaining to one of these areas. This figure brings about an estimate of 2.7 billion women who do not have access to the same jobs and economic resources as men due to legislative barriers. 21

Unpaid Care Work and Domestic Life Another one of the most persistent barriers that stops women in both developed and developing nations from fully accessing the economy is the obligation of providing and sustaining a household. Traditionally, in nearly all parts of the world, women’s role in society was designated as the caretaker, while the male figures in the household were wage-earners and economic decision-makers. Thus, depending on the community, working outside domestic duties could have been seen as culturally taboo, neglectful, or simply not feasible. Although this patriarchal designation of economic roles has started to die down in developed economies and western democracies, it remains very extreme in poverty-stricken regions such as MENA and Southeast Asia. The two regions rank lowest for male involvement in unpaid care work, with less than 1/5th of men contributing equally. The result of this inequality is that 22

women are expected to housekeep and may gravitate towards part-time jobs or not working at all. This reduces their economic decision-making power in the household, which research has shown can have negative effects on the health and livelihoods on the family members in their care.18 Combined with discrimination in the workplace, these women are likely to suffer mentally, emotionally, physically, and financially. Even in developed regions, the percentage of men that contribute equally to domestic care work is just above 50%; this means on average, only half the male population take equal part in domestic work along their female partners. Even in countries with gender equal legislature, at least half of the male population believes care work is women’s work.21

          

21 www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/economic-empowerment/facts-and-figures 22 UNHLP, Leave No One Behind: A Call to Action for Gender Equality and Women's Economic Empowerment

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United Nations Involvement  Since its first major conference revolving around women’s welfare in 1975, the United Nations has been actively pursuing global gender equality. Notable international commitments since that point include the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) ratified by 189 states in 1979, and the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action which serves as a comprehensive blueprint to achieving full gender equality in 1995. However, 23

the economic empowerment of women has only recently become a distinct focus area for the UN upon realizing its importance in achieving gender equality and fulfilling the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. Because of that, efforts in this field are still in their early stages, and UN Women is experimenting to find the best framework for combining individual economies and unique cultures to redefine women’s role in their communities. General actions the committee 24

continuously takes is conducting studies and evaluations to track the progress of gender parity globally and regionally. UN Women has offices in Africa and North Africa, Americas and the Caribbean, Europe, and Asia, which allows for regular reports and investigations of the status of women in these regions. More specifically, UN Women collaborates closely with governments, 25

NGOs, and civil organisations in these regions to support female-specific economic programs that are tailored to the needs, skills, and resources of each community. 26

Programs Examples of such programs include collaboration with the Lao Handicraft Association (LHA), an organization which oversees the artistic trade in the People's Democratic Republic of Lao. LHA has partnered with the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) to implement a program entitled “Lao Women’s Economic Empowerment through the Handcrafted Textile Industry.” As the name suggests, the program is funded by the UN and aims to 27

empower women in the Pakthaep village through the textile industry. The result has been employment and a self-sustaining economy for Pakthaep women who possess these skills but were not able to access the market on their own. Similar programs exists in all the regions where UN Women has a presence.25

23 United Nations, Gender Equality Conference and You: Timeline 24 UN Women, An Empowered Future 25 https://www.unwomen.org/en/where-we-are 26 https://www.unwomen.org/en/partnerships 27 www.laohandicraftassociation.com/wordpress/aboutlha/projects/unifem_en/

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Funding These initiatives are made possible by the Fund for Gender Equality (FGE), a global organization under UN Women jurisdiction which provides grants to support programs for the empowerment of women. Since its establishment in 2009, the FGE has invested $84 million USD in 121 programmes in 80 countries. The 2017 evaluation of the Fund’s effectiveness and 28

success found that it had “implemented everything it set out to do in its strategies between 2009 and 2017” and that it had “directly touched the lives of an estimated 535,800 people, benefitting millions more through policy-level impact.” 20 The functioning of the FGE is crucial to the ability of the UN to carry out the gender equality agenda. In addition to FGE, the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), which is part of UN Women and in association with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), is an organization that supports countries individually in their goals to achieve gender equality. 29

Efforts in gender equality are not just restricted to UN Women- other UN bodies also partake in levelling the grounds wherever possible. Committees such as the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the International Labour Organization (ILO), World Health Organization (WHO), and others take particular care in assessing the welfare of women in their respective jurisdictions.

28www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/library/publications/2016/fge_fragile_research_series_summary.pdf?la=en&vs=953 29https://www.government.se/contentassets/bdee6c78c5ee489caa50c8bc4a6524d8/the-united-nations-development-fund-for-women-unifem

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Possible Solutions 

Figure 1: Factors of women's economic empowerment, UNHLP 2016

Gender Aware Macroeconomic Policies Economies reflect and define the values, norms, and gender roles of a society. Macroeconomics refers to the large-scale framework of policies and structures that govern the economy as a whole (this can be regional, national, and global). The macroeconomic policies of a society govern all major aspects of the economy, such as the job market, taxes and interest rates, fiscal space, as well as social programs and public services. When governments create macroeconomic policies, their first focus is to improve economic activity, but the impacts of these policies on women can get lost in an effort to boost the economy. 30

For example, in a country like Angola, the agricultural sector is a major component of the nation’s GDP. It accounts for 82% of all jobs, and is one of the primary workforces that 31

absorbs women.28 However, since entering the global economy, Angola’s main export is oil, which has caused it to neglect the under-performing agricultural sector in the macroeconomic policies it creates.

30 UN Women, MACROECONOMIC POLICY AND WOMEN'S ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT

31 https://unctad.org/en/PublicationsLibrary/ditc2013d3_en.pdf

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This has a large impact on everyone who works in the agricultural sector, but women in particular; women in less economically developed countries like Angola already have a limited selection of jobs to choose from due to other cultural barriers that prevent them from getting education and training. If the nuanced relationship between macroeconomics and gender is not properly addressed, it could lead to an economy built upon harmful gender disparities.27

However, policy-makers can prevent this by examining the implications of the economic structure on men and women. For example, workplace policies should reflect crucial aspects that are important for women’s lives, such as granting paid maternity leave in developing countries. Delegates should take a close look at the ways in which the macroeconomics of their nation impedes the economic empowerment of women, and what obstacles stop these policies from changing. Microcredit Also known as microfinance, microcredit revolves around the funding of small business and economies in poverty-stricken areas to promote entrepreneurship and create a self-sustaining economy. While focusing on the macroeconomics of a nation is important and pivotal, 32

investing in microcredit programs support women that are isolated from the economy, or are not able to participate due to a lack of skills or resources. Many NGOs and governmental organizations have programs that provide small loans to individual women or communities of women to kickstart a local business. The benefit of these 33

loans are that women become self-employed and profit from a trade or craft that they specialize in. Their work can further expand into a business that involves more women, thus providing 34

jobs and income for an entire community. Another benefit of microfinance for women in rural areas is that they will not have to travel for work or leave their children; investing in their trade allows them to work close to home.

32 https://wmionline.org/aboutus/whatmicro/whatmicro.html 33https://www.forbes.com/2007/12/20/microfinance-philanthropy-credit-biz-cz_ms_1220microfinance_table.html#5e15583fb292

34 https://vittana.org/12-benefits-of-microfinance-in-developing-countries

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Gender-Responsive Budgeting All social programs and services are made possible by the distribution of government funds. Sometimes, governments may invest their funding in sectors that are damaging or regressive of the quality of life of women in their nation. These investments may be intentional, or implicit in their impact, but their presence indicates a lack of careful analysis from policy-makers. For example, if the United States were to allocate a larger portion of their budget towards educational programs in gender-segregated male private schools, they would inadvertently stall the same educational opportunities for girls and boys from middle and low income families. This shows how even developed countries with constitutionally outlined gender equality can unintentionally create socio-economic barriers for women. Gender-responsive budget does not imply setting aside a budget specifically for girls or boys. Instead, it encourages policy-makers to consider the long term impacts their mandates will have on the socio-economic balance of women and men in the community. One way they can do this is by streamlining their programs so that they are equally accessible to both women and men, and then continue to reach out to marginalized sub-groups in each gender. When evaluating the success of their initiatives and mandates, governments should also factor in the resulting gender-specific socio-economic changes, rather than narrowly focussing on the disparity between the goal and the original outcome.

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Bloc Positions 

MENA, Sub-Saharan Africa, and East Asia and the Pacific Intuitively, it makes sense that the regions where women’s rights lag the most are developing countries. Developing countries face the challenge of having to reform multiple fundamental facets of the nation at the same time with a low-income, resistant cultural barriers, and possible environmental threats. When deciding where to invest their resources towards growth, women’s economic empowerment may not be the most feasible or urgent priority in these countries. In particular, nations in MENA, Sub-Saharan Africa, and East Asia and the Pacific have the longest way to go.

Women in these regions are at greater risk of economic exploitation because they are prone to warfare, political corruption, food and water insecurity, and austere religious beliefs and gender norms. Culturally, nations in this bloc are patriarchal in nature, which encourages discriminatory and dangerous practices against women that threaten not just their economic rights, but their basic human rights as well. Collectively, the three regions are composed mostly of low-to-middle income countries, and also house the countries that rank lowest on the Women’s Workforce Equality index (WWE). Yemen, located in the Middle-East, is the lowest-ranked country, scoring 24.2 on the index.

Delegates representing developing countries must consider where the biggest impediments in women’s economic empowerment comes from within their nations: legislature, social practices, or poor governance. Likely, they will also have to research other sectors which lack in gender equality, such as education, as they play a fundamental role in achieving economic equality. Liberal Democracies Liberal democracies cover countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, France, and Germany. These nations ensure constitutional equality for women, and are actively taking steps to empower women economically. While these countries closely follow ILO and UN Women mandates in achieving gender equality in the workplace and score high on the WWE index, there is still room for improvement. Many developed nations face resistance in the form of social discrimination and broad policies that do not prevent gender bias in the workplace. Delegates representing these countries must take a closer look at the underlying social discrimination and bias that in turn affect the actions of governments and policy makers.

In comparison to the MENA block, this bloc will have an easier time investing in the economic empowerment of women due to their greater wealth and resources. As such, their main goal during this conference must be to act as models and support developing nations in creating a resolution that promotes the economic empowerment of women while respecting morally relative cultural beliefs.

    

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Discussion Questions  

1. How can your country benefit from the economic empowerment and involvement of women?

2. What programs, policies, and resources does your country have in place to aid the economic empowerment of women?

3. What barriers (legal, physical, religious, cultural) exist in your country that prevent the full participation of women in the economy?

4. What cultural obligations impede women’s full participation in the economy?

5. What local and global initiatives has your country supported or partaken in to empower women economically?

6. Do efforts to empower women economically in your country also target marginalized groups of women (e.g migrant workers, disabled women, etc)?

7. In what sector are women in your country most economically active?

Further Reading   A comprehensive database of statistics regarding the economic status of women in all countries around the world. https://www.cfr.org/interactive/legal-barriers/ A publication from UN Women analyzing the role of macroeconomic practices in gender equality. https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/library/publications/2019/gender-equality-and-inclusive-growth-en.pdf?la=en&vs=3753 A website with statistics on the treatment of women in the workplace in the Middle East. https://www.pwc.com/m1/en/publications/women-in-work-index.html A thorough paper on the concept of women’s economic empowerment through different lenses, with examples from different nations. https://www.idrc.ca/sites/default/files/sp/Documents%20EN/NK-WEE-Concept-Paper.pdf An example of a large-scale program that targets both women and young girls to participate in the economy. https://www.ilo.org/empent/areas/value-chain-development-vcd/facet/WCMS_622394/lang--en/index.htm 

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