After getting my UN pass I missed my first meeting and instead went to the Opening of the CSW.
50 countries would be presenting their reviews at the Commission. In her opening address, Excellency Ms. María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés said, " the world will not be better if we cut out 1/2 of the world's population." A year before the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration an integrated action approach is called for to reach gender equity. Yes, it is all connected. I agree.
Meet Bathylle Missika - holding our VOW banner in the photo above. She is a Senior Counsellor to the Director and Head of Partnerships and Networks Unit at the OECD Development Centre. A clear thinker and communicator, I felt an immediate connection, and because there were so many well wishers and connectors vying for her smile I managed a thank you and a photo. I thank you for your inspiration!
To be honest, her world is on a different cloud than mine. I had to read the information about what she does several times on the OECD website. OECD is the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development . It is an intergovernmental economic organisation with 36 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade. In my language this might be a money think tank, and a deep well at that.
There is a language to the work of "development' and UN. It is very unique and it is not always accessible, nor meant to be. Here is some of the terminology from Bathylle's OECD website. This is language that has a particular flavour for me. Power comes to mind, maybe privilege but also the sheer energy of using a language to pay a very high stakes game.
I did find something on the OECD website that seems very useful. They look at issues that directly affect daily life. How much do people pay in taxes and in social security? How much leisure time can they take? They compare school systems analyzing how they are preparing young people for modern life and they compare pension systems etc. Our systems are so large that they have grown beyond oversight. Specialists are required to make sense of it. This seems to be symptomatic of a modern age that is crying for a radical shift. We could live without large sweeping organizations at one time in human history, and remote communities still have those skills.
Meet Bathylle Missika - holding our VOW banner in the photo above. She is a Senior Counsellor to the Director and Head of Partnerships and Networks Unit at the OECD Development Centre. A clear thinker and communicator, I felt an immediate connection, and because there were so many well wishers and connectors vying for her smile I managed a thank you and a photo. I thank you for your inspiration!
To be honest, her world is on a different cloud than mine. I had to read the information about what she does several times on the OECD website. OECD is the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development . It is an intergovernmental economic organisation with 36 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade. In my language this might be a money think tank, and a deep well at that.
There is a language to the work of "development' and UN. It is very unique and it is not always accessible, nor meant to be. Here is some of the terminology from Bathylle's OECD website. This is language that has a particular flavour for me. Power comes to mind, maybe privilege but also the sheer energy of using a language to pay a very high stakes game.
- development narrative. stakeholders. non-state actors (foundations, MNEs)
- development stakeholders (Heads of communication form development agencies/Ministries).
- post-conflict countries,fragile countries,governance state fragility,basic service delivery
I did find something on the OECD website that seems very useful. They look at issues that directly affect daily life. How much do people pay in taxes and in social security? How much leisure time can they take? They compare school systems analyzing how they are preparing young people for modern life and they compare pension systems etc. Our systems are so large that they have grown beyond oversight. Specialists are required to make sense of it. This seems to be symptomatic of a modern age that is crying for a radical shift. We could live without large sweeping organizations at one time in human history, and remote communities still have those skills.
Information is a commodity. How to use it, relate it, spin it - is it's own industry.
My argument for gender equality is so simplistic on this stage. It is wrong. It does harm. But on the 'global' stage' economic reasons fuel the necessity to close the gap. In fact, the cost to the global economy of gender discrimination is estimated to be 14 billion US. This really matters to many people, even now. Even now, in the anthropocene. It is precisely this argument for economical gain and hierarchy - having and not having, getting and spending, that has led to human activity being the dominant influence on climate and the environment.
Bathylle has written about philanthropy. Governments aren't going to meet the sustainable development goals. She suggeststhree circles of philanthropy. Look at the companies that
inhabit these circles - from Shell to Bill Gates. I am so
uneducated in these areas, but oddly enough, have some opinions. In our Zen sangha, our honourable teacher once asked the question, "Where does the shrine room start?" Is it at the door, in the cloakroom, or when you sit on your cushion. Yes, you are right. We are always in the shrine room. So, if you make a lot of money, if you are richer than those working in order for you to grow richer, there are murky lines of inequality and injustice. Then if you give a lot of money, does that make it ok? You take oil out of the ground and sell it. The fossil fuels create pollution and oil addiction. Where did the harm begin?
The pension I receive through my government includes investments with Lougheed Martin. The bus carrying 40 Yemeni children who were on a school trip was hit by a bomb.
They were all killed. The bomb's manufacturer was Lougheed Martin.
Well, we are all complicit.
But are there limits.
....and for the readers.....I am going to leave some links here:
Progress on Gender Equality is too Slow
Are we closing the gender pay gap?
A gender data portal for your viewing pleasure?
Meet SIGI - the Social Institutions and Gender Index
and Canada? Here is some of the OECD's information on Canada.
OECD is a global policy forum working with over 100 countries, the OECD is a global policy forum that promotes policies to improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.
The rose is from MOMA !
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