By Anwarul K. Chowdhury
Ambassador Chowdhury is a former Under-Secretary-General and High Representative of the UN.
NEW YORK (IDN) — This year’s International Women’s Day is being observed as two major wars are making their vicious attacks on the aspirations of peaceful peoples of the world for a safer, saner and sustainable planet.
A stark and inexplicable reality of today’s world is that patriarchy and misogyny continue to thrive as scourges that pull us all back from our desire to live in a world of equality, peace, and justice. Secretary-General António Guterres lamented that everywhere, we still have a male-dominated culture. We need to confront those vicious and obstinate negative forces with all our energy, determination, and persistence.
It is a reality that politics, more so security, is a man’s world. Empowered women bring important and different skills and perspectives to the policy making table in comparison to their male counterparts.
The slogan of the Global Campaign on Women, Peace and Security, which we launched in London in June 2014, reiterates, “If we are serious about peace, we must take women seriously”.
My own experience during my different responsibilities—more so during past twenty plus years—has shown that the participation of women in peacemaking, peacekeeping and peacebuilding assures that their experiences, priorities, and solutions contribute to lasting stability, good governance, and sustainable peace. That is the core message of UNSCR 1325 (2000) on “Women and Peace and Security”.
Women’s equality and empowerment are not only issues concerning women; those are relevant for humanity as a whole—for all of us. This crucial point needs to be internalized by every one of us.
On this momentous day, let us emphasize again that feminism is not about women against men or men against women. It is about smart policy which is inclusive, uses all potentials and leaves no one behind.
A challenged world is an alert world. And from challenge comes change. We need to understand that “Feminism isn’t about making women strong. Women are already strong. It is about changing the way the world perceives that strength.”
I am proud to be a feminist. All of us need to be. That is how we make our planet a better place to live for all.
We, all of us— women and men, particularly men, should always remember that without peace, development is impossible, and without development, peace is not achievable, but without women, neither peace nor development is conceivable.
Let us strive to build a gender equal world. An equal world is an enabled world in every sense. Our individual actions, conversations, and mindsets can have an impact on our larger society. Together we can make the change happen. [INPS Japan/ IDN-InDepthNews]
Photo: Beneficiaries of a UN Women’s project funded by Canada that aims to create a workplace free of Gender-Based violence in Bangladesh. UN Women/Rawyan Shayema