Canadian Federation of University Women
Submitted
A year ago, American women looked north to Canada as an example of equal rights. Today, it is even more so. That was the feeling of a Prince Albert delegate to the United Nations’ Commission on the Status of Women forum, ongoing in New York City.
Barb Gustafson, president of the local Canadian Federation of University Women club and national vice president for the Prairies, attended the annual UN forum this past week in New York as a delegate for the organization. The forum is the world’s largest conference on women and draws about 15,000 women from around the world, including more than 150 from Canadian government and non-governmental organizations, to have input on UN policy and share both issues and solutions.
CFUW VP International Grace Hollett of St. John’s, Nfld, addresses a question to UN Secretary General António Guterres in a General Assembly townhall session. He urged women’s groups to remember that “power is never given, it must be taken” through continued advocacy.
Gustafson, who also attended the forum last year, said the tone was very different.
“The changes in U.S. government, especially by the president, have frightened people,” she said. “Talking with American women, they are trying to protect rights and access that Canadian women take for granted, to a large extent. And for women from other countries, they are still fighting to establish equal rights, to gain education for girls, to get access to reproductive health and to financial services for business development.
“As Canadians, we know that our systems are not perfect, but it makes you feel very grateful for them,” said Gustafson. “At the same time, we have work to do, especially around the tragedy of missing and murdered Indigenous women and being more inclusive.”
As well as admiration for Canadian health care and human rights, there was widespread sympathy for Canada in regard to trade and sovereignty.
“The stereotype is that Canadians say ‘I’m sorry’ all the time,” Gustafson said. “Every time you would introduce yourself to an American and say ‘I’m from Canada,’ almost without fail they would say ‘I’m sorry.’ We need to remember that many, many Americans respect Canada and are embarrassed by the threats coming from their president.”
The theme of this year’s forum was Beijing +30, a look at the progress made since the 1995 forum and declaration, which is often remembered for then First Lady Hillary Clinton’s speech that stated “human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights.” Both challenges and opportunities have arisen in those 30 years, including technology and artificial intelligence. Technology is bringing education to girls in rural areas of Africa, and opening doors to financial services for women entrepreneurs throughout the world, but it also is being used for abuse.
Having more women involved in the development of technology and apps can make it more suited to their needs in health care and other services and help stop online abuse. How the algorithms are set establishes what is allowed or not allowed, said Gustafson.
“If women are not part of the development, it will reflect only the viewpoint of the men involved and that can be very harmful.”
While there were no physical demonstrations or protests reported during the first week of the forum, a few sessions were hacked with offensive content that was quickly shut down.
“It’s disappointing and a little scary, but it makes you realize there is still work to be done,” said Gustafson.
