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WILPF US CSW62 Reflection: Is This What Feminist Movement Building Looks Like?

This year, the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women brought together more than 4000 women activists from across the globe to strategise around “challenges and opportunities in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls”. It is the second time in its 62-year history that rural women and their struggles have been prioritised.

Image credit: WILPF
  • 4 min
Melissa Torres
24 March 2018

By Dr. Melissa Torres, WILPF US Section Representative to the International Board

It is the year 2018,  and representation remains an issue.

This year, the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) brought together more than 4000 women activists from across the globe to strategise around “challenges and opportunities in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls”. It is the second time in its 62-year history that rural women and their struggles have been prioritised.

In an annual event, where on-the-ground and grassroots experiences of civil society come together with multilateral mechanisms, those most affected by war and its root causes still did not have their fair share of the discussion and decision-making processes.

WILPF US 2018 CSW delegation including UN Practicum in Advocacy students, Local2Global participants and program coordinators (Photo: Metra Mehran)

WILPF’s section in the United States (WILPF US) specifically worked on building inclusive and diverse young leadership for feminist action that shifts from militarism towards human security and gender justice through its UN Practicum Programme. During the CSW62, WILPF US provided capacity building training for participants in non-violence and feminist peace and enabled space for them to explore areas of their interests and connect with professionals in the field.

In 2017, WILPF International brought attention to the need to overturn long-standing obstacles to women’s access and meaningful participation at the United Nations, including visa denials and restrictions, as well as tokenisation and sidelining to project funding. This year, WILPF US expanded this discussion by putting a spotlight on historical challenges to inclusivity from the US experience.

If women’s rights are human rights, then feminist peace should be peace for all. If transformative change for peace is the goal, and women’s meaningful participation is the means, then true feminist peacebuilding should address gendered power across race, class, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, gender identity, age and the like.

At the CSW, the women who are statistically most at risk of victimisation, oppression and injustices we discuss on panels are still limited in presence and spoken for. LBTQIA-identifying women under oppressive governments, indigenous women fighting colonisation, sex workers, incarcerated women and women in detention, trans women of color, women with visible and invisible disabilities, remain invisible in discussions yet continue to be spoken for at multilateral forums.

Practicum participants (from left to right) Erin Prejean, Julissa Corona and Metra Mehran with UN Women Executive Director, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka. (Photo: Metra Mehran)

Ensuring women’s meaningful participation in the United Nations system means first ensuring that women’s participation is meaningful in their own communities. In order for intersectional feminist peacebuilding to move forward, those who have led historically should step aside and share leadership with those who have the most to gain in the fight. Civil society – non-governmental organisations (NGOs) with and without consultative status – can do their part by advocating, creating, and funding space for those experiencing intersecting oppressions. According to the Association for Women’s Rights in Development, intersectionality itself is a feminist tool for analysis, advocacy and policy development.

This framework helps us understand and respond to the varying ways in which gender can intersect with other identities and how these intersecting identities contribute to unique experiences of both oppression and privilege. Applying this framework as both a lens and a tool can serve NGOs well in their aim of including and centering diverse expertise.

Bringing underrepresented women to the table is not enough when it only serves to appease optics of diversity. Sharing leadership with women who have historically been missing in feminist peace movements means not just sitting with them, but listening to and trusting their expertise, valuing their perspective and the way in which it is delivered. Above all, it means recognising that whatever possible discomfort this brings is the breaking down of privilege and disruption of a status quo which has not considered their presence.

Women challenging oppressive and Western systems, those who are redefining labor, family, reproduction and basic rights, those who appropriate and reverse oppressive systems for their own empowerment, and those who refuse to work within assumed and hierarchical structures in order to win their own liberation need not only to be supported, but to lead. Northern feminist peace movements have historically benefited from the backs of these women. The time for them to lead the way – and be credited for such – is long overdue.

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Melissa Torres

Prior to being elected Vice-President, Melissa Torres was the WILPF US International Board Member from 2015 to 2018. Of Mexican descent, born on the US and Mexican border, and raised between the two countries, Melissa is mostly concerned with the protection of displaced Latinxs in the Americas. She also contributes to WILPF’s emerging work on the topic of displacement and migration.

Berit Aasen

Europe Alternate Regional Representative

Berit Aasen is a sociologist by training and has worked at the OsloMet Metropolitan University on Oslo. She has 40 years of experience in research and consultancy in development studies, including women, peace, and security, and in later years in asylum and refugee studies. Berit Aasen joined WILPF Norway five years ago. She is an alternate member of the National Board of WILPF Norway, and representing WILPF Norway in the UN Association of Norway, the Norwegian 1325 network and the Norwegian Women’s Lobby. Berit Aasen has been active in the WILPF European Liaison group and is committed to strengthening WILPF sections and membership both in Europe and relations across continents.

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Melissa Torres

VICE-PRESIDENT

Prior to being elected Vice-President, Melissa Torres was the WILPF US International Board Member from 2015 to 2018. Melissa joined WILPF in 2011 when she was selected as a Delegate to the Commission on the Status of Women as part of the WILPF US’ Practicum in Advocacy Programme at the United Nations, which she later led. She holds a PhD in Social Work and is a professor and Global Health Scholar at Baylor College of Medicine and research lead at BCM Anti-Human Trafficking Program. Of Mexican descent and a native of the US/Mexico border, Melissa is mostly concerned with the protection of displaced Latinxs in the Americas. Her work includes training, research, and service provision with the American Red Cross, the National Human Trafficking Training and Technical Assistance Centre, and refugee resettlement programs in the U.S. Some of her goals as Vice-President are to highlight intersectionality and increase diversity by fostering inclusive spaces for mentorship and leadership. She also contributes to WILPF’s emerging work on the topic of displacement and migration.

Jamila Afghani

VICE-PRESIDENT

Jamila Afghani is the President of WILPF Afghanistan which she started in 2015. She is also an active member and founder of several organisations including the Noor Educational and Capacity Development Organisation (NECDO). Elected in 2018 as South Asia Regional Representative to WILPF’s International Board, WILPF benefits from Jamila’s work experience in education, migration, gender, including gender-based violence and democratic governance in post-conflict and transitional countries.

A woman in a blue, black, and white dress smiles radiantly in front of a leafy green background.

Sylvie Jacqueline Ndongmo

PRESIDENT

Sylvie Jacqueline NDONGMO is a human rights and peace leader with over 27 years experience including ten within WILPF. She has a multi-disciplinary background with a track record of multiple socio-economic development projects implemented to improve policies, practices and peace-oriented actions. Sylvie is the founder of WILPF Cameroon and was the Section’s president until 2022. She co-coordinated the African Working Group before her election as Africa Representative to WILPF’s International Board in 2018. A teacher by profession and an African Union Trainer in peace support operations, Sylvie has extensive experience advocating for the political and social rights of women in Africa and worldwide.

WILPF Afghanistan

In response to the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban and its targeted attacks on civil society members, WILPF Afghanistan issued several statements calling on the international community to stand in solidarity with Afghan people and ensure that their rights be upheld, including access to aid. The Section also published 100 Untold Stories of War and Peace, a compilation of true stories that highlight the effects of war and militarisation on the region. 

IPB Congress Barcelona

WILPF Germany (+Young WILPF network), WILPF Spain and MENA Regional Representative

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Demilitarisation

WILPF uses feminist analysis to argue that militarisation is a counter-productive and ill-conceived response to establishing security in the world. The more society becomes militarised, the more violence and injustice are likely to grow locally and worldwide.

Sixteen states are believed to have supplied weapons to Afghanistan from 2001 to 2020 with the US supplying 74 % of weapons, followed by Russia. Much of this equipment was left behind by the US military and is being used to inflate Taliban’s arsenal. WILPF is calling for better oversight on arms movement, for compensating affected Afghan people and for an end to all militarised systems.

Militarised masculinity

Mobilising men and boys around feminist peace has been one way of deconstructing and redefining masculinities. WILPF shares a feminist analysis on the links between militarism, masculinities, peace and security. We explore opportunities for strengthening activists’ action to build equal partnerships among women and men for gender equality.

WILPF has been working on challenging the prevailing notion of masculinity based on men’s physical and social superiority to, and dominance of, women in Afghanistan. It recognizes that these notions are not representative of all Afghan men, contrary to the publicly prevailing notion.

Feminist peace​

In WILPF’s view, any process towards establishing peace that has not been partly designed by women remains deficient. Beyond bringing perspectives that encapsulate the views of half of the society and unlike the men only designed processes, women’s true and meaningful participation allows the situation to improve.

In Afghanistan, WILPF has been demanding that women occupy the front seats at the negotiating tables. The experience of the past 20 has shown that women’s presence produces more sustainable solutions when they are empowered and enabled to play a role.

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