It is a good week to be thinking about gender equality and women’s rights.  International Women's Day, which was on Monday, was celebrated around the world.  At the United Nations this week over 700 government officials, thousands NGO leaders, and even a few celebrities have assembled for the 54th meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women. Across town, The Daily Beast’s inaugural Women in the World conference kicks off this weekend.

With appearances at the UN by the likes of Meryl Streep and Hillary Clinton, public attention to women’s rights and gender equality has been intense. Behind the scenes, meanwhile, there is an effort underway to make sure that attention to gender issues does not wane when the stars retreat to Hollywood and top government officials return to their capitals. Indeed, many of the same government officials and civil leaders meeting in New York this week are seeking to promote gender equality and women's rights as a core UN mission, akin to universal human rights and global development.

For the past few years, governments and outside advocates have explored ways to re-calibrate the UN’s approach to gender issues. These efforts culminated in a September 2009 General Assembly resolution supporting the creation of a new UN entity dedicated to promoting global women’s rights. The resolution calls for merging the four separate UN programs that deal with gender and womens’ rights into a single directorate. This means the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the UN Division for the Advancement of Women, The Office for the Special Advisor on Gender Issues, and the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women, will be folded under the direction of a new under-secretary general.

To the outsider, this may seem like obtuse bureaucratic reshuffling. But many in the NGO community are hopeful that it could lead to tangible improvements in the lives of women around the world. “The gender architecture of the UN is very fragmented,” says Colette Tamko of the NGO Women’s Environment and Development Organization. “There has been only limited resources to work on gender programs.”Limited resources has translated into limited global progress on gender-specific issues, like the Millennium Development Goals of reducing maternal mortality and increasing girls' access to primary education.  “There is too much of a disconnect between lofty goals of the UN and a capacity to see them through,” says Kathy Hall of the UN Foundation. (Disclosure)

The proposed new UN body, currently reffered to as the “Composite Gender Entity” is meant to bridge the gap between what UN member states say are priorities for gender equality and the UN secretariat’s ability to deliver. According to NGO officials with whom I spoke, this means significantly ramping up technical assistance to help developing world countries improve womens' access to health care, education, and economic opportunity.

Still, there are some political challenges that must be overcome before the new entity can be fully established. Even though the General Assembly endorsed the idea in principal, it has been slow to formally approve the precise structure and function of the new entity. To a certain degree, the delay is a consequence of political wrangling between wealthier donor countries and the developing world that typically plays itself out at the United Nations. For donor countries, swiftly getting this new entity on its feet is a top priority. Before that happens, though, the developing world wants assurances on finance issues. 

A second hurdle is who, exactly, will lead this new entity? The original General Assembly resolution would establish a new under-secretary general to oversee the body. This is a top ranking position in the UN system. Naturally, member states are angling to promote their own candidates.

Guessing who might lead this entity has become something of a parlor game. The four most rumored candidates are Michelle Bachalet, former president of Chile; Winnie Byanyima, a Ugandan who serves as Director of the UN Development Programme Gender Team; Geeta Rao Gupta, a dual U.S.-Indian national who is President of the International Center for Research on Women; and Asha-Rose Migiro, the Deputy Secretary General and former foreign minister of Tanzania.

Beyond those four is a larger list of women rumored to be in the running for the spot. As one observer put it, these are names that “have been floating in the ether.”

Joyce Banda, Vice-President of Malawi

Alicia Bárcena Ibarra Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)

Radhika Coomaraswamy, UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict and former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women (from Sri Lanka)

Kathleen Cravero, President of the Oak Foundation; former Deputy Executive Director of UNAIDS and founder of the Global Coalition on Women and AIDS (from the United States)

Cristina Elizabet Fernández de Kirchner President of Argentina

Nilcea Freire Minister of the Special Secretariat for Policies for Women  (Brazil)

Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir Former Minister for Foreign Affairs of Iceland

Nyaradzai Gumbonzvanda Secretary General of the World YWCA; former Regional Director for the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) (from Zimbabwe)

Tarja Halonen President of Finland

Ameera Haq UN Special Representative in Timor-Leste and Head of the UN Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste; (Bangladesh)

Musimbi Kanyoro Director of the Population Program at the Packard Foundation; former Secretary General of the World YWCA (from Kenya)

Asma Khader Coordinator of Sisterhood Is Global Institute/Jordan; (from Jordan)

Irene Khan Former Secretary General of Amnesty International (Bangladesh)

Moushira Khattab Egypt’s State Minister for Family and Population Affairs and member of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child

Rachel Kyte Current VP for Business Advisory Services at IFC – World Bank (UK)

Cecilia Lopez Senator from Columbia and former Minister of Planning, Minister of Agriculture, Minister of the Environment and Minister in Charge of National Policies for Women's Equity.

Ruth Jacoby Current Ambassador of Sweden to Germany

Hina Jilani, Former United Nations Special Representative on Human Rights Defenders (Pakistan)

Hilde Johnson Deputy Director of United Nations Children's Fund; former Development Minister of Norway

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Current Managing Director of the World Bank; former Minister of Finance and Foreign Affairs of Nigeria

Rachel Mayanja Current Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women (Uganda)

Sonia Montaño Current Chief of Women and Development Unit, Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) Bolivia

Thoraya Ahmed Obaid Executive Director of United Nations Population Fund Saudi Arabia

Joy Phumaphi Vice President of Human Development at World Bank (Botswana)

Mamphela Ramphele Executive Chair of Circle Capital Ventures; former Managing Director of the World Bank (South Africa)

Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) Tanzania

The appointment is ultimately the Secretary General’s to make, but he is said to be consulting widely with various stakeholders. Precisely when the new under0secretary general will be named -- and when the General Assembly will take its final vote -- is still in question. That said, experience shows that the closer the United Nations gets to its annual summit in September, the likelihood of resolving outstanding reform issues tends to increase. As Colette Tamko of the NGO Women’s Environment and Development Organization told me, “the issue is not whether the new gender entity will be created. But when?“

Image: Flickr user Leitza

Happy International Women's Day! Here on UN Dispatch we are celebrating by asking our friends and readers to compile a list of their favorite books, articles, and blogs that touch on the themes of women’s rights and human rights.  What do you think should be required reading for International Women's Day? 

Linda Hirshman: (author “Get to Work: A Manifesto for Women of the World”) "Michelle Goldberg's The Means of Reproduction: Sex Power and the Future of the World" is an amazingly thorough, historical survey and contemporary analysis of the way in which the global movement to control reproduction, and its crucial element, women, explains the past and predicts the future. Goldberg’s stories of the lengths women will go to to control their own reproductive fate would move a heart of stone.”

Alanna Shaikh: "The Wisdom of Whores, by Elizabeth Pisani is a  truly exceptional book. To investigate the spread of HIV in the developing world, she talked to the people who know most about it – sex workers and drug users. Her street level view of HIV transmission will give you new respect for the women at ground zero for HIV infection.

Vanessa Valenti: Feminisms Without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity,  by Chandra Talpade Mohanty. "This book is an exceptional analysis of critical issues that exist within contemporary feminism, particularly concerning women's global issues. Mohanty raises questions around the conflict of globalization, the practice of reclaiming language, the crossing of boundaries between “third-world” and “first-world” women, and international feminist mobilizing by using key concepts that helps the reader better understand the complexity of these issues. By the end of the book, Mohanty forms a very comprehensive and very possible solution to these obstacles, which is rare in books tackling problems of such depth."

Michael Kazin: "Christine Stansell has a great new history of feminism --- The Feminist Promise, 1792 to the Present -- coming out next month. And Ruth Rosen's The World Split Open is the best history of the "second wave.""

Carolyne Petri: "Why This World: A Biography of Clarice Lispector. She's the most famous Brazilian novelist (they sell her books in vending machines) unknown nearly everywhere else until this book, which I'm fanatical about. Clarice was also was the wife of a diplomat, traveled the world. Born to a syphilitic mother out of the pogroms of Ukraine, she emigrated to Brazil at 6 months and led an incredibly mysterious, feminist, and thoughtful life. The book's up for the National Book Critics Circle award in biography. Author Ben Moser is Harper's New Books columnist."

"Also, this one's rather wonky, but...The Mathematics of Sex: How Biology and Society Conspire to Limit Talented Women and Girls."

Steven Teles:  "Where political science is concerned, two books worth reading are Anna Harvey's Votes Without Leverage, and Suzanne Mettler's Dividing Citizens: Gender And Federalism In New Deal Public Policy."

Heather Hurlburt: "Lili Mansour’s essay: Iranian Women Poised to Benefit from Crisis, An an iranian journalist on women and the green movement."

Kathleen Greier: "Marilyn Waring's Counting for Nothing (also known as If Women Counted) is an oldy but goodie. First published in 1988 and republished in a new edition 11 years later, this book by a New Zealand economist is a groundbreaking work that looks at how national accounting schemes systematically exclude the unpaid labor of women, and the devastating impact fo women that these exclusions can have on public policy and the distribution of economic benefits. It got rave reviews from John Kenneth Galbraith (among others), and is very readable and completely accessible even to non-specialists. It's a great illustration of the powerful ways that economic theories can have concrete, real-life impact."

"I would also like to strongly recommend The Penguin Atlas of Women in the World. First published in 1989, its most recent edition, the 4th, came out last year. Written by geographer Joni Seager, it's a feminist nerd's delight -- chockfull of fascinating maps, charts, and statistics about women around the world, Topics covered range from the average number of hours per week women around the world spend fetching water, to what countries are the world's biggest markets for cosmetics, to male literacy rates in various countries, to the status of lesbian rights across the globe.

I was particularly struck by the stats on violence against women. Some

examples:

-- In Russia, 70% of adult women say they have experienced physical abuse by a male partner or intimate.

-- In Bangladesh in 2002, 68% of women who were physically abused say they never told family or officials about their abuse.

-- In the U.S., between 22% and 35% of women who visit the emergency room do so because of domestic violence.

-- In Japan, out of 104 gang rapes that were reported in 2005, there were only 5 convictions.-- In the U.K., the rate of criminal convictions on rape charges is 7%."

And some picks from our friends at the United Nations Foundation:

Kathy Calvin: Tatterhood and Other Tales, Ethel Johnston Phelps; The Fun Of It: Random Records Of My Own Flying And Of Women In Aviation, Amelia Earhart;

The Blue Sweater, Jacqueline Novogratz

Gillian Sorenson: The Little House on the Prairie series, Laura Ingalls Wilder

Jenna Sauber: Stones into Schools, Greg Mortenson;  The Means of Reproduction: Sex, Power, and the Future of the World, Michelle Goldberg; From Outrage to Courage: Women Taking Action for Health and Justice, Anne Firth Murray; Women Who Light the Dark, Paola Gianturco

Tamara Kreinin: Half the Sky, Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn; Girls’ Night Out, Tamara Kreinin and Barbara Camens

Tieneke Van Lonkhuyzen:  Three Cups of Tea, Greg Mortenson; I Am An Emotional Creature, Eve Ensler; Population, Nature, and What Women Want, Robert Engelman

Kathy Hall: Women Lead The Way: Your Guide to Stepping Up to Leadership and Changing the World, Linda Tarr-Whelan

Phoebe Lee: A Pivotal Moment: Population, Justice, and Environmental Challenge, Laurie Mazur

Julia Rocchi: Reading Lolita in Tehran, Azar Nafisi;  Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi; A Room of One’s Own, Virginia Woolf; The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros

Yolanda Johnny Taylor: Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston; In My Place, Charlayne Hunter-Gault; Baby in the Family, Tina McElroy Ansa

Via Twitter (Follow @unfoundation and @undispatch) 

Unbowed, Wangaari Mathaai (@epi_tales)

The Same Sweet Girls, Cassandra King (@kickyfeet)

A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini (@epi_tales)

Because I Am a Girl: State of the World’s Girls 2009, Plan USA report (@planusa)

The Diary of Anne Frank, Anne Frank (@tiaratuik 

The Lonely Soldier by Helen Benedict: amazing book and A World Made New- Eleanor Roosevelt and The UDHR (@GSPGH)

This recent story from Burkina Faso and this from Iraq (@NDI)

And some friends via Facebook

The Red Tent, Anite Diamante (Tammy Michniuk)

Pure Lust or Gyn/Ecology, Mary Daly (Maja Rejonovich)

Move into Life, Anat Baniel (Maja Rejonovich)

 Maternal Thinking, Sara Ruddick (Maja Rejonovic)

Lady's Hands, Lion's Heart, Carol Leonard (Maja Rejonovich)

Notes from the Cracked Ceiling, Anne Kornblut (Maja Rejonovich)

Three Guineas, Virginia Woolf (Maja Rejonovich)

Manhattan, Helene Cixous (Maja Rejonovich)

When Things Fall Apart, Pema Chodron (Maja Rejonovich)

Silent Spring, Rachael Carson (Maja Rejonovich)

Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert (Shivani Naido)

Little Women, Louisa May Alcott (Donna Bennett)

Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen (Ekaterina Ilieva)

Les Liaisons dangereuses, Pierre Choderlos de Laclos (Ekaterina Ilieva)

First Love, Ivan Turgenev (Ekaterina Ilieva)

Asya, Ivan Turgenev (Ekaterina Ilieva)

The Song of Triumphant Love, Ivan Turgenev (Ekaterina Ilieva)

Shibil, Jordan Jovkov (Bulgarian writer) (Ekaterina Ilieva)

Let Go, Sheila Walsh (Jeanine Manzano)

O Pioneers, Willa Cather (Frank Flores)

Anne of Green Gables, L.M. Montgomery (Carla Davis)

Fifth Chinese Daughter, Jade Snow Wong (Carla Davis)

In My Mother's House, Kim Chernin (Carla Davis)

The Kitchen God's Wife, Amy Tan (Carla Davis)

Woman Warrior, Maxine Hong Kingston (Carla Davis)

Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad, Ann Petry (Carla Davis)

Delusions of Grandma, Carrie Fisher (Carla Davis)

To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee (Carla Davis)

The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kid (Megan Penn)

Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte (Megan Penn)

Girl, Interrupted, Susanna Kaysen (Megan Penn)

The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan (Pat Biswanger)

Fried Green Tomatoes, Fannie Flagg (Pat Biswanger)

Lucky, Alice Sebold ((Maura Donlan)

Infidel, A.H. Ali (Maura Donlan )

A Map of Hope, Majorie Agonsin,  "77 stories about how women writers have spoken out about human rights."  (Victoria Baxter)

Brida, Paulo Coehlo (Mariella N G)

What else do you think we should include?  Add your suggestions in the comments. 

(Photo: flickr)

This week marks the kickoff of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), a 2-week, woman-focused conference that takes place annually at the United Nations (UN). Basically, this means that for the next two weeks, THE principal global policy-making body will be dedicating itself exclusively to the pursuit of gender equality and the advancement of women. Pretty exciting stuff, right?!?!?

*Cricket Chirp* *Cricket Chirp*

Wait....what? You're not falling over in your chair with excitement about this event? Come to think of it, where's the buzz around the domestic U.S. feminist blogosphere? Shouldn't we all be as excited about this as we are about, say, Lady Gaga? Can't help but pull a Hanson here and ask..."Where's the love"??? (for C-S-dubs?)

Although it's disappointing, I'm not too surprised when I hear folks express apathy/cynicism towards the UN in general and the CSW in particular, especially since I myself have harbored those same kinds of feelings towards the UN in the past. It can seem like with all the acronyms and jargon being used, many delegates don't want members of civil society to get involved, or that they are creating a deliberate barrier for non-UN folks to get to the content. It can also sometimes feel like the progress being made there isn't real or important, since things. move. so. slowlyyyyyyy. sometimes.

But I'm one U.S.-based domestic feminist who is now sold on the importance of these two weeks, and I've worked with many international advocates who are as well.

Here's why.

Continue reading on Feministing.

Dilma Rousseff, Brazilian President Lula de Silva's chief of staff, was nominated today to represent the Worker's Party in the upcoming presidential election.  She is known as the "iron lady."  Lula is term-limited.  

Rousseff's candidacy continues the rise of women in Latin American politics. If elected, Latin America will have more female heads of government than Europe. Her victory would be significant both in quantity and quality. Brazil has the largest economy in the region.  

However, despite Lula's popularity, Rousseff's victory is far from certain.  She trails conservative governor Jose Serra by over 5 points, though she has gained ground since November. We'll be following the campaign here on UN Dispatch.