NOT WEAKER SEX

Galina Petriashvili
Svobodnaya Gruzia n/p, 20 June, 2003

Strong sex discussed its problems at the conference “Participation of women in social and economic life”, which was held May 13-15 in Warsaw

Outlines of the reporter

The event was organized by the Bureau of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the OSCE. Discussion about the role of women within society and gender issues is considered to be vital for this type of organization. The model of the gender subordination which is spread in the society threatens security and democratic stability issues. This thesis is the backbone of the discussion which took place in Warsaw.

Existing Reality from Sweden to Uzbekistan

Almost 50 governmental and non – governmental delegations were presented at the conference, European Council, UN and their committees and commission as well as other international organizations and various institutions within OSCE. The event of this scale is a kind of “time check”, moment of situation analyses, which is present in various parts of the world. At the same time, the conference was an evaluation of the job performed by OSCE regarding gender related issues. Situation of women, which is highlighted in the headline of the conference, seems to be quite problematic around the globe. In Scandinavia or Central Asia, in Caucasus or in South Europe – everywhere - problems of the women are alike.  The most frequent example of discrimination is when top level education does not necessarily equal top level job. Random appearance of women in politics and in real economic power is due to the strong prejudice against women on influential governmental positions. A great attention was paid to the report made by representative from Sweden – a country of successful feminism. Describing the success of Swedish women, she outlined that this success was due to daily resistance against male dominance within society. If we give up for a second we will lose everything… “Exact calculation of prospect is vital for the women movement. Fifteen years ago we had only 13 % women in parliament. We worked out a plan of action to reach 30% by the year 1992 and we did it. By the year 1995 we decided to reach 40% and achieved it. Afterwards we set a goal to reach 50%, which ha snot been achieved yet; we stopped at 47%...” Women share in various governing councils in Sweden comprises of 37%. Both male and female representatives are presented on announced vacancy due to the existing legislature. Equality is strictly followed; however in number of councils when there is only one vacancy, male candidates are preferred.

Wish we had the same problems – one could read this in the eyes of many participants. Of course it is true that these problems are realistic at a certain level. But for majority of counties participating in the conference the aforementioned level laid long ahead, which referred mainly to the soviet states. In majority of these countries a dramatic deterioration and decline of women’s rights is denoted, which nowadays is even below the mark line in comparison to how the situation was during the soviet times.

However, there is still something hopeful going on. Delegates from Russia talked about the obstacles their encountered while preceding a federal law project “About State guarantees for equal rights, freedoms, and equal opportunities for men and women”. Although it is accepted by “Duma” for the first hearing, good reasons for success can be foreseen. If the project will succeed then it will become a good example for other post soviet states.

Talking about post soviet states, Russia speaking interpreters had a great work to do. Delegates from Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Russia and Moldova were very active during discussions and very thorough during submitting recommendations. (However, during the conference women from Belarus kept silent… on my way back home through Minsk I discovered many things, which affected me emotionally – enormous, empty airport and a total ambiguity in the eyes of airport staff…). It seemed that the post soviet woman woke up and realized how much she lost by obtaining “independence”. One of the departments, dealing with the gender equality issues (conference organizer), of Bureau of International Institutions and Human Right helped me a lot to realize this. The aforementioned department has been carrying out number of long term programs during the last three years specifically for the Caucasus and Central Asia.

If you do not deal with politics – politics will deal with you

This notion is true. Politics are really overwhelming us. Though Soviet quotas were quite formal, they are gone and nowadays authorities have become colder. Social programs are being cancelled. Criminal flourishes. What are we supposed to do? Nothing but involving ourselves in politics. If we take a glimpse of the past, we can see that after the First World War we (women) became electorate. After the end of the Second World War we occupied working places. In 60-ies we entered universities. It seems so that the test we have to pass today, especially for countries in transition, pushes us towards politics. In Croatia for example, one can already notice these tends. Croatian women have 22% in local legislative branch. They achieved this result impetuously and they are not going to decrease abortion.

Representative of Macedonia: “A critical group of women is needed to participate in politics. We have 30% of quotas, if this amount is not followed; consequently the party lists are not accepted.”

Representative of Kazakhstan: “OSCE has to take into account that democracy is limited in Kazakhstan. Women share in politics is declining. We don’t even hope to benefit from that small group of women in politics as majority of them do not even represent our interests. We have to take some concrete measures and these measures have to be initiated by international organizations”.

Representative of Serbia: “Balkans is a separate topic for many international organizations. They think that, while there is no killing and bloodshed any more in Balkans nothing else matters. They somehow forget that gender equality, especially in politics, is a solution to many problems whether it is female, male, military or ecological…” 

Delegate of the USA who was against quotas was quite careful in her critics saying: “women quotas can bring damage to democracy”. In response to her critics a very logical argument was given: the thing is not about women quotas but fair and equal representation of both sexes. Who knows, maybe in the nearest future men will be “positively discriminated”? Anyway, in a number of countries such as Kazakhstan and Mongolia women are more educated than men.

Small feminine tricks

From time to time we used to say: while talking about women problems we won’t forget men’s problems. It is the whole gender that matters.

Many believe that only through bringing up men’s issues can women’s problems be solved. These small feminine tricks work well. In the list of authors of the aforementioned Russian draft law only male names were left (though the whole draft law exists thanks to women), which was done on purpose. One may ask why women did so. This fact is a brilliant example of how to decrease pressure and aggression from the part of other masculine representatives of governing bodies. Another example of feminine trick, which proved to work, was during a talk show on one of the Russian channels on the 8th of March when the same Russian ladies started to talk about how men need support what kind of problems they face in politics. The whole situation turned out to be profitable for women because after several minutes’ male representatives of society – MPs, journalists, etc. came out and started to prove the opposite. Saying: “No sisters, it is you who need help”. The trick worked well again.  And finally, I have to mention the “White Ribbon” – a huge PR campaign, which ought to be a brilliant example for everyone.

Number of men attended the conference, mainly from governmental sector and international organizations. Many women representatives welcomed this fact and considered it as a positive trait. (Male representatives of two developed countries sat in front of me in the conference room. One had to see how they whispered something to each other during the whole plenary session. They discussed something that surely was not in the agenda. I would not be surprised if one of them had taken out a powder blush).

Future practical activities

Discussions were topic oriented, in a practical format. Conference recommendations will serve as steps towards further work of OSCE and its member states. A great attention was paid to raising awareness of women in their rights; building up a dialogue with men, strengthening NGOs, developing integrating approach, creating regional and international networks – experience of the Caucasus and manly Georgia in this respect was highly appreciated and recommended for further enhancement to reinforce a struggle versus violence against women.  To activate political influence from the part of OSCE on local governments in order to make them more gender sensitive. To recommend creation of committees on the bases of equal opportunities at local government levels. To develop strong ties with different political parties in order to lobby quotas. The conference recommended OSCE to support women promotion on high positions within the organization itself. (Conference criticized OSCE for not being an example for gender equality). Special attention was paid to developing mass media, raising their gender sensitivity and to fight against patriarchal stereotypes.

In short, number of practical recommendations has been introduced and these recommendations are not only on the paper – promise is given by forthcoming activities of gender department. Their strategic rationale was approved by EC, UN, national governments and non-governmental sector.

Self motivation as a moving power of gender progress

The conference was accurately organized. Everything went on according the agenda. We had a feeling that a whole team worked for organizing the conference in the best possible way. It turned out that the whole event was organized by two female staff members. How do they manage to organize the events of such importance simultaneously in several countries? A puzzle but I think I have an answer, which lays in personal motivation of individuals. As the saying goes “we can if we desire”. This kind of personal motivation: when one accepts his/her duties as a personal matter is quite rare in everyday life and especially in case of international organizations.

Number of international standards is being prepared; gender equality issues are gaining more attention annually. However, any one working in the field knows how hard it is to carry out this job. The work of Bureau of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the OSCE deserves a great appreciation as they surprise us and make us optimistic about the gender equality.

Warsaw – Tbilisi

http://www.owl.ru/content/openpages/p52541.shtml