{"id":2908,"date":"2015-10-27T12:10:47","date_gmt":"2015-10-27T16:10:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/diplomacy\/?p=2908"},"modified":"2016-02-20T12:40:54","modified_gmt":"2016-02-20T17:40:54","slug":"gender-inequality-whos-that-lady","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/journalofdiplomacy\/2015\/10\/gender-inequality-whos-that-lady\/","title":{"rendered":"Gender Equality: Who&#8217;s that Lady?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>On November 3, <a href=\"https:\/\/roundtown.com\/event\/20006498\/A-Day-in-The-Life-of-a-Girl-South-Orange-NJ\">Seton Hall University<\/a> will be hosting Julie Willing, the grassroots organizer of Girl UP, a United Nations Foundation campaign.\u00a0 The event will be focused on the issues facing adolescent girls around the world.\u00a0 The <a href=\"http:\/\/asiasociety.org\/blog\/asia\/malala-her-father-and-roots-extraordinary-life\">Asia Society<\/a> recently hosted Malala Yousafzai, the 18-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner, where she spoke about her personal experiences and advocacy for education for young girls.\u00a0 The <a href=\"http:\/\/beijing20.unwomen.org\/en\/news-and-events\/~\/media\/Field%20Office%20Beijing%20Plus\/Attachments\/Events\/B20_ScheduleofEvents.pdf\">United Nations<\/a> (UN) hosts a multitude of events each year promoting various women\u2019s topics using their UN Women and Beijing+20 platforms.\u00a0 Women, gender inequality and female inclusion have become hot button issues and it\u2019s about time.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.un.org\/apps\/news\/story.asp?NewsID=50341#.VQiGHxDF93U\">Gender inequality<\/a> has been on the agenda since it was included in a \u00a0\u201ccomprehensive global blueprint for gender equality and women\u2019s empowerment\u201d 20 years ago in Beijing. \u00a0But the world still has a long way to go.\u00a0 Achieving the goal of gender equality remains \u201chumanity\u2019s biggest project,\u201d according to senior United Nations official, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.un.org\/apps\/news\/story.asp?NewsID=50341#.VQiGHxDF93U\">Lakshmi Puri<\/a>. \u00a0As we move forward we must take active steps in making gender inequality nonexistent.\u00a0Women make up <a href=\"http:\/\/wdi.worldbank.org\/table\/1.5\">49.6%<\/a> of the global population. It is important to no longer disqualify and devalue half of the world.\u00a0 The global community should be looking towards a more inclusive environment.\u00a0 The time to give prominence and importance to issues relating to women continues to be now.<\/p>\n<p>It is important to understand that gender inequality is not just a women\u2019s issue.\u00a0 Women need men to stand alongside them, for their mothers, sisters, daughters and friends.\u00a0 UN Women Goodwill Ambassador <a href=\"http:\/\/www.unwomen.org\/en\/news\/stories\/2014\/9\/emma-watson-gender-equality-is-your-issue-too\">Emma Watson<\/a>, has helped push this issue forward and gained momentum, especially through the HeForShe campaign. Watson has also extended a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.unwomen.org\/en\/news\/stories\/2014\/9\/emma-watson-gender-equality-is-your-issue-too\">formal invitation<\/a> to men to participate in the gender equality movement with women. The HeForShe campaign has been gaining exposure and is popular on many social media platforms such as Facebook and Tumblr and has also targeted prominent <a href=\"http:\/\/www.un.org\/apps\/news\/story.asp?NewsID=50341#.VQiGHxDF93U\">heads of state<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Q0Dg226G2Z8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h1><\/h1>\n<p>Women\u2019s rights affect a great deal of the global community, not just because women occupy half the population but also because these issues affect the future of humanity itself.\u00a0 The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pdhre.org\/rights\/women_and_violence.html\">human right<\/a> for respect, dignity and freedom from violence is a universal one and one that should begin to be seriously implemented.\u00a0 The culture of the world must continue to be challenged, as women are an obvious key piece to the future. Women are also the key to peacemaking processes.\u00a0 In the ever-turbulent world we live in, a new perspective is key to calming violent conflicts, civil war and post-conflict reconstruction that dominate the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cfr.org\/global\/global-conflict-tracker\/p32137#!\/\">global south<\/a>.\u00a0 Global instability can be seen throughout the Middle East and northern Africa\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-europe-34131911\">refugee crisis\u2019<\/a> and the global migration from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.prb.org\/Publications\/Reports\/2013\/global-migration.aspx\">south to north<\/a>.\u00a0 Women are at the forefront of these conflicts and it is crucial that they are incorporated in peacekeeping processes, discussions, and campaigns.<\/p>\n<p>From 1957 to 1989, only <a href=\"http:\/\/www.betterworldcampaign.org\/un-peacekeeping\/get-involved\/women-in-peacekeeping.html?referrer=https:\/\/www.google.com\/\">twenty women<\/a> have served as uniformed United Nations peacekeepers.\u00a0 Women have <a href=\"http:\/\/www.un.org\/en\/globalissues\/women\/peace.shtml\">only represented<\/a> 8% of participants and fewer than 3% of signatories in recent peace negotiations.\u00a0 When <a href=\"http:\/\/www.un.org\/en\/globalissues\/women\/peace.shtml\">90%<\/a> of casualties during conflicts are women and children, it is unjustifiable to have failed to include women in the conversation for so long. Women have to suffer the consequences of these male dominated regimes.\u00a0 War and violence <a href=\"http:\/\/www.unwomen.org\/en\/what-we-do\/peace-and-security\/facts-and-figures\">impact women<\/a> differently than it does men, yet women are not given a single line in a peace agreement.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cWhile women remain a minority of combatants and perpetrators of war, they increasingly <a href=\"http:\/\/www.un.org\/en\/globalissues\/women\/peace.shtml\">suffer<\/a> the greatest harm.\u201d Female peacekeepers have been recognized as a key to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.un.org\/press\/en\/2012\/sc10840.doc.htm\">peace<\/a> by the UN, and have recently been deployed in all areas of peacekeeping operations (including police, military and civilian forces).\u00a0 Female inclusion is critical to building peace and protecting the rights of women and girls in regions of conflict.\u00a0 \u201cWhen women participate in the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.betterworldcampaign.org\/un-peacekeeping\/get-involved\/women-in-peacekeeping.html?referrer=https:\/\/www.google.com\/\">peace process<\/a>, it not only promotes gender equality, but also provides strong female role models in regions torn apart by war \u2014 where all too often those two critical elements are missing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, women have been excluded from peacemaking and peacekeeping and continue to be viewed as second-class citizens.\u00a0 Women exhibit great wisdom and perspective that must no longer be ignored.\u00a0 As the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.unfpa.org\/gender-equality\">United Nations Population Fund<\/a> states, empowered and confident women are key to advancing development and reducing poverty worldwide. \u00a0Women who are empowered &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.unfpa.org\/gender-equality\">contribute<\/a> to the health and productivity of whole families and communities, and they improve prospects for the next generation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&#8212;<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Dominique Di Marzio<\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> is the Executive Editor for the Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations. She is in her final year of pursuing a dual MA in Diplomacy &amp; International Relations and Strategic Communications at Seton Hall University. \u00a0Her specializations include global negotiation &amp; conflict management and post-conflict reconstruction.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Follow Dominique on Twitter:<a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/dimarz32\" target=\"_blank\">@dimarz32<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow the Journal of Diplomacy on Twitter:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JournalofDiplo?lang=en%20\">@JournalofDiplo<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Image Source: Brett Ferin<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; On November 3, Seton Hall University will be hosting Julie Willing, the grassroots organizer of Girl UP, a United<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2940,"featured_media":2909,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[304],"tags":[337,178,236,63],"class_list":["post-2908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-united-nations","tag-gender-inequality","tag-peacekeeping","tag-peacemaking","tag-united-nations"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/journalofdiplomacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/journalofdiplomacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/journalofdiplomacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/journalofdiplomacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2940"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/journalofdiplomacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2908"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/journalofdiplomacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2908\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3216,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/journalofdiplomacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2908\/revisions\/3216"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/journalofdiplomacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/journalofdiplomacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/journalofdiplomacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/journalofdiplomacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}