UCMUN 2013 Commission on the Status of Women Committee
Introductory Letter
Hey delegates!
The conference is fast approaching and I cannot wait to meet all of you! I think we are going
to have an amazing committee.
To tell you a little about myself. I am originally from Cromwell, Connecticut. I am a junior at
UConn majoring in Women’s Studies and History. I am additionally minoring in Political Science
and Human Rights. My high school did not have a Model United Nations Team, so I have never
participated in a conference as a delegate. Two years ago, I had the privilege of acting as an Assistant
Director at UCMUN 2011 on the International Atomic Energy Agency, and last year I acted as the
Director of the Girl-Up Foundation at UCMUN 2012. I am thrilled to bring the Commission on the
Status of Women to UCMUN 2013. I think that while much work is being done to help the lives of
women globally, there are still many inequalities present. The problem of pay inequity and violence
towards women are discussed, but not enough policies have been passed to address those issues, so
hopefully you can all make great resolutions regarding them.
Although I did not compete in Model UN conferences, I have always been very active in the
debate community. I competed on the Connecticut Debate Association in high school and have
since become the UConn Debate Society Captain. Additionally, I am an Equal Opportunity
Facilitator and a member of the Alumni Committee on the American Parliamentary Debate
Association. Also in the political science realm, I am a Research Assistant in the Political Science
Department, researching Obama’s political theory. Additionally, two summers ago I interned at the
Rhode Island Commission on Human Rights, participating in legal investigation. This past summer I
interned at the Connecticut Women’s Education and Legal Fund doing legal consulting for
underprivileged women.
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UCMUN 2013 Commission on the Status of Women Committee
Introductory Letter
In my spare time, I enjoy reading, attending alternative rock concerts, and watching MTV.
Regarding your roles within the committee, I would encourage all of you to explore the
topics discussed in your preparation guides. It is critical that you all comprehend the complexities of
the topics proposed and that you understand your nations’ particular positions on the issues. The
conference will only be as beneficial as the work you are willing to put into it. I think we have some
really interesting topics to discuss, so your research should be fun!
I hope I was able to tell you all a little about me and was able to give you information about
our committee! Please feel free to contact me if you should have any questions about the
conference.
Lisa Vickers
UCMUN 2013 CSW Committee Director
Lisa.Vickers@uconn.edu
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UCMUN 2013 Commission on the Status of Women Committee
Committee History
Committee History
The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is a functional commission of the United
Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). At the time of its inception, the international
community perceived a need for a body that would support the progression of women’s rights. This
desire culminated in the ECOSOC resolution 11(II) on June 21st of 1946, which established the
Commission on the Status of Women with the purpose of “promoting women’s rights in political,
economic, civil, social, and educational fields”. The Commission also makes recommendations to
the Council on urgent problems requiring immediate attention in the field of women’s rights.”
The Commission’s role has expanded in 1987 by the United Nations Economic and Social
Council (ECOSOC) to promote “the objectives of equality, development and peace, monitoring the
implementation of measures for the advancement of women, and reviewing and appraising progress
made at the national, sub-regional, regional and global levels.” In 1996 their mission was expanded,
yet again, to allow the CSW to partake in advocacy work to the benefit of women and girls.
CSW’s membership is made up of forty-five Member States. These Member states are
appointed by the ECOSOC and are distributed based on geography. Therefore, there are always
members from Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as Western Europe and
Eastern Europe. These members are elected for four year terms, and they convene annually for a
period of ten business days at the United Nations, located in New York City. CSW has a working
Bureau. Members of the Bureau serve for two year terms. Additionally, UN Women, an umbrella
branch of the United Nations, work to support CSW in its endeavors to have more participating
representatives and they work in the coordination of events.
Every year the CSW agrees upon “conclusions” of themes to set for discussion for the
following year. From these topics, possible solutions are discussed, and recommendations are sent to
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UCMUN 2013 Commission on the Status of Women Committee
Committee History
governments in order for laws to be passed on national, state, and local levels. Once these
recommendations are made, a report is sent to the ESOSOC where policies are presented for
adoption. These “agreed conclusions” range in content every year. However, some notable ones
include the topics of the status of women in armed conflicts, prevention of HIV and AIDS in girls,
and the issue of freedom of religion for women.
CSW plays a crucial role in creating opportunities for women and girls. Their work is far
from done, as there are gender disparities still present across the globe. Without CSW, there would
be less of a focus put on the importance of gender equality in United Nations policies.
Works Cited
"Commission on the Status of Women-Follow-up to Beijing and Beijing 5." UN News Center. UN,
n.d.
Commission on the Status of Women. “Overview: About the Commission.” 2013. UN Women.
un.org. Women Watch.
Commission on the Status of Women. “The History of the Commission on the Status of
Women.” 2012. UN Women. un.org. Women Watch.
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UCMUN 2013 Commission on the Status of Women Committee
Committee Simulation
Committee Simulation
In the Commission on the Status of Women, the topics being brought to debate are Pay
Equity and Violence Against Women. While much work is being done to help the lives of women
across the globe, not enough focus has been on policy changes to create gender equality. Pay
inequity and violence against women are extremely under addressed topics, so as a committee, the
goal is to reach as many well thought-out resolutions as possible.
It is expected that delegates complete some research regarding their assigned countries
before the conference. This will lead to more interesting, and accurate debate. Delegates should ally
themselves with like-minded countries and try to find a common ground with other nations.
Consensus building and diplomacy will be necessary for passing resolutions. However, delegates are
expected to maintain their country’s assigned views at all times; no country should forsake their
position in attempting to come to a compromise.
UCMUN will be participating in parliamentary procedure, something that delegates should
familiarize themselves with ahead of time. Again, knowing proper procedure will make for better,
clearer debate. This will help the committee keep to time and organize themselves. You will be
writing working papers, which will later turn into resolutions that will be passed after the close of
each topic.
The role of a director should be one that facilitates debate and makes the final ruling in how
personal disputes and confusions in parliamentary procedure are handled. The director should help
keep the committee on track in its progression, as well as in pushing the debate to cover both areas
of research. Assistant directors will be present to help in orchestrating debate and answering
technical questions. If more information is needed regarding topics, the committee’s Topic Specialist
will give a presentation and the Resource Center will be accessible to all delegates.
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UCMUN 2013 Commission on the Status of Women Committee
Committee Simulation
While there will be much time for socializing at UCMUN 2013, including committee
superlatives, as well as a dance, unless a break is announced, delegates are expected to partake in
active participation and act accordingly. Notes may be passed to other nations, but they should be
regarding resolutions, alliances, etc.
Altogether, delegates each have an important role in researching and representing their
countries and parliamentary debate procedure must be adhered to. However, the Commission on
the Status of Women will be engaging, as well as fun for all delegates!
Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns! I think we are going to have a
really great committee this year!
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UCMUN 2013 Commission on the Status of Women Committee
Topic A: Global Violence against Women
Introduction
In the past year, the government of India has been forced by both domestic and
international protests to revise its rape statutes, which date from the 1860’s and have been revised
only twice since1. In India, as in much of the developing world, rape is extremely narrowly defined—
indeed, spousal rape is not even recognized—and the penal code is consumed with loopholes which
make it difficult to prosecute the crime at all. Motivated by antiquated and misogynistic social
norms, many developing nations fail to adequately address and prosecute violent crimes against
women. This has consequences even beyond the obvious injustices it causes. It is emblematic of the
continued objectification of women around the world, and the existence of the legal double-standard
regarding sexual and bodily autonomy which allows these societies to perpetuate backward views
about women more generally.2 Ultimately, until there is international pressure on these nations to
change their laws and recognize the most basic of human rights—the right to safety and bodily
autonomy—women can never truly be active in society or truly equal to men.
To that end, the United Nations has established a Trust Fund devoted to raising money and,
through that money, awareness of these issues, and has started the UNiTE program to put public
and activist pressure on governments to reform.3 In this vein, the Committee should look for
various avenues to update their legal codes to include better protections for women and to reform
the prosecution and penal processes to prevent perpetrators from escaping punishment through
loopholes or through social prejudice. Using international pressure to instigate such reforms could
Ambaraya. Gundappa and Dr. P.B. Rathod Violence Against Women in India: Preventive Measures : Indian Streams
Research Journal (MAY ; 2012)
1
Sylvia Walby. Violence and society: Introduction to an emerging field of sociology. Current Sociology March
2013 61: 95-111, first published on September 25, 2012
2
3
United Nations Secretary General Campaign to End Violence Against Women (UNiTE)
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UCMUN 2013 Commission on the Status of Women Committee
Topic A: Global Violence against Women
do much to improve the status of women in these societies as a whole. But on an even more basic
level, the Committee should attempt to gather more information from these traditionally-cloistered
nations on the actual extent of the problem, which because of poor records and social apathy tend
not to exist. The act of collecting data could by itself provide some of that pressure or at least make
governments deal with the problem in realistic and objective terms. In the end, though the problem
of impunity for violence against women is a symptom of deeply held social prejudices, reform of the
laws could go a long way to solving these social ills.
Topic History
Violence directed against women has existed for as long as human society has. In fact, for
most of human history it was largely accepted. Women were treated as second-class citizens ,or even
property. Where there were anti-rape laws, as in ancient Rome, the crime was considered a crime
against the abstract virtues of chastity and decency rather than a crime against a woman.4 Moreover,
a woman who was raped was generally considered impure, shunned from society, and considered
unmarriageable. This lack of consideration and contingent social alienation served to magnify the
psychological and physical harms inherent in rape and domestic violence. Spousal abuse, both
physical and emotional, was also widely accepted during this time. This continued for much of the
development of civil society. Indeed, the United States did not officially criminalize domestic
violence until the 1870’s and England allowed for legal corporal punishment until 1891.
This was a direct result of the socially prevalent objectification of women, as a part of which
men viewed women as property with whom they could act in any way with impunity. Indeed,
because marriage was considered akin to a contractual exchange of property, rape within marriage
4
Fineman, Martha; Thomapsen, Nancy. At the Boundaries of Law: Feminism and Legal Theory. Routledge. New
York, 2013.
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UCMUN 2013 Commission on the Status of Women Committee
Topic A: Global Violence against Women
was considered impossible, effectively making women nothing more than domestic and sexual
objects for their husbands. Moreover, sexual norms, which required a particularly pernicious form of
purity, made sexual violence even harder on women as it added social alienation to the already heavy
effects, both physical and mental. Much of the current underreporting of rape and sexual assault can
trace its roots back to this taboo, as victims still see themselves with shame and are hesitant to admit
that they were raped. And while western nations finally began to create legal protections for women
in the late nineteenth century, real protection did not become prevalent until the late twentieth
century. For example, the United States did not begin adopting rape shield laws (which make a
woman’s sexual history inadmissible in rape trials) until the 1970’s, and it was not until 1985 that a
woman successfully won a domestic violence case in civil court.5
The United Nations has, for the past half-century, played a role in this development around
the world. The Commission on the Status of Women was founded in 1946 and, in addition to its
own activities seeking to aid women’s equality; it organized world conferences on women for the
entire United Nations.6 The first time domestic and sexual violence was addressed at an official UN
meeting was at Copenhagen in 1980, at which the body adopted a resolution on battered women.
The language from that resolution was strengthened five years later at Nairobi. The committee
wrote: “In addition to immediate assistance to victims of violence against women in the family and
in society, Governments should undertake to increase public awareness of violence against women
as a societal problem, establish policies and legislative measures to ascertain its causes and prevent
and eliminate such violence in particular by suppressing degrading images and representations of
women in society, and finally encourage the development of educational and re-educational
5
6
Ibid.
Stop Violence Against Women. stopvaw.org. 2009.
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UCMUN 2013 Commission on the Status of Women Committee
Topic A: Global Violence against Women
measures for offenders.”7 This sentiment was reaffirmed again at the Fourth World Conference on
Women in 1995 in Beijing, China. There, the UN affirmed sexual violence as a “critical area of
concern” and highlighted that such violence often occurs within the home, where it is difficult to
detect.8
Current Status
As nations advanced, and as women gained equality in the public sphere, violence against
women became less acceptable. Developed nations, specifically in the West, have stepped up
prosecution and convictions for rapists and abusers, especially in the latter half of the twentieth
century. In the United Kingdom, for example, conviction rates for domestic abuse stand at 73%, up
from 69% just four years ago.9 However, even with increased governmental action, reporting rates
for such crimes are low. Due to the personal nature of the crimes—specifically domestic violence—
and the historical taboo against reporting, authorities never hear about many of these crimes.
Numerous support groups, both public and private, exist in much of the developed world to solve
this problem and to help with the psychological effects of sexual violence.10 Overall, while social and
legal structures in the developed world are far from perfect, they are much improved from what they
have been in the past and are improving, with significant political will for more improvement.
The same cannot be said of the world, which did not develop to the same extent as America
or the rest of the western world. Nations that have not developed economically have, largely, not
developed women’s equality as well. Such societies tend to be both, more traditional, and more
religious in nature, and hold more closely to antiquated and traditional belief structures.11 As such,
7
Ibid.
Ibid.
9
Laville, Sandra. "Domestic violence conviction rates at all-time high." The Guardian 22 July 2012.
10
Ibid.
11
Walby
8
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UCMUN 2013 Commission on the Status of Women Committee
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women often have not made advances economically or socially, face higher levels of objectification,
and thus are more subject to violence. Because the violence is more accepted, it is generally less
illegal or at least less aggressively prosecuted. Because of this history, internal reform faces strong
headwinds: opposition from traditionalist religious and political leaders, social inertia, and a lack of
strong opposition political leaders—specifically female politicians—all serve to prevent legal and
social improvement for women. The result is that the inherently destructive violence becomes more
harmful because there exists additional social harms.12
On potential exception to this lack of improvement in the developing world is a new law
passed in India in May 2013. After the country became the symbol of the developing world’s
problem with law enforcement and culture, and facing international pressure to change course, the
Indian parliament passed a law expanding the definition of sex crimes and providing for stricter
punishments. 13 Advocates for women’s rights both in India and in the international community
hailed the move as a positive one, though optimism was qualified given the country’s history of not
prosecuting crimes—even those which were technically illegal.14 But even with this potential hope,
life continues to be difficult for women in developing countries, especially with regards to domestic
and sexual violence.
There has been, then, a role for international actors—specifically the United Nations—to
intervene and attempt to rectify some of these ills. Particularly in the past two decades, the UN has
taken an active interest in trying to prevent increased violence against women. In 1996, it established
12
Fineman et al.
Nessman, Ravi. "India Rape Law: Parliament Passes Strict Sexual Violence Legislation." Huffington Post 21 March
2013.
13
14
ibid
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UCMUN 2013 Commission on the Status of Women Committee
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the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women15, a fund-raising entity that raises money for
private organizations that work towards improved outcomes for women. Its goals are to empower
individuals to escape and transcend their societies, to expand access to support services for sexual
and domestic violence victims, and to make governments more responsive to the rights of women.
More recently, Secretary General Ban Ki Moon launched the UNiTE initiative, which seeks to raise
awareness of the issue of sexual violence, put pressure on governments, and collect comprehensive
global data on the issue.16 Each of these initiatives represents an important step towards solving the
problem of violence against women, though it is far from clear how much progress either has made
in the short time since their implementation.
Bloc Positions
On the issue of violence against women, nations break down into blocs along developmental
and cultural lines. In the first place, most developed, especially Western and secular nations, largely
already comply with UN standards for violence against women in terms of legal infrastructure and
information gathering.17 As such, they generally do not oppose initiatives meant to increase the
stature of women in society and increase enforcement of violence laws. Indeed, these kinds of
nations—for example, the United States and European nations—often lead efforts at strengthening
protections around the world. They have very little to lose from such measures and, inasmuch as
they tend to value equality as a founding principle, they support the sentiments of such laws. The
same can be said of less developed nations which are more culturally inclusive of women, which
15
Stop Violence Against Women
UNiTE
17
Fineman et al
16
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UCMUN 2013 Commission on the Status of Women Committee
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tend to be more modern, secular democracies with more heterodox cultures and less influence from
tradition or conservative religion.18
The stances of other nations tend to be more complicated. In general, it is difficult to
publicly oppose measures aimed at ending violence—particularly against a traditionally oppressed
group—on the world stage. However, the nations whose laws and cultures would be affected by
international measures aimed at curbing domestic and sexual violence often feel as though their
cultures are being attacked or criticized by a broadly Western group of nations and resent such laws
as attempts to enforce Western values onto them19. Moreover, inasmuch as they desire to maintain
their traditional cultures (this is especially true of religiously based cultures, like those in the Middle
East), they oppose such measures as violations of national and cultural sovereignty. Even those
nations who, like India, are broadly democratic and open to some reforms, often resent such
measures, even if they do not openly oppose them20. Overall, more traditionalist nations (like India,
Pakistan, and much of Africa and the Middle East) must walk a fine line between desiring cultural
and political sovereignty and maintaining legitimacy as actors on the world stage. They also tend not
to admit that rights or equality abuses happen systematically in their countries, and thus are wary of
new data collection, though this opposition poses the same problem as opposition to other such
proposals.21
Committee Mission
In general, the Commission on the Status of Women operates as a subdivision of the United
Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), and serves as the UN’s principle policy and
directional body with regards to women’s equality around the world. It has organized general
18
Ibid.
Ibid.
20
Ambaraya
21
Fineman et al.
19
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UCMUN 2013 Commission on the Status of Women Committee
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conferences on women in Mexico (1975), Copenhagen (1980), Nairobi (1985), and Beijing (1995).22
At each conference, the Commission assessed the work done since the last meeting, set new goals,
and highlighted emerging problems and potential solutions for the UN to address. Additionally, its
members meet yearly in New York to assess the progress of women globally. Its mandate, modified
most recently in 1996, requires that it do five things: (a) assist the UN writ large in assessing the
progress of women on issues first raised at the Beijing meeting, (b) make gender issues mainstream
in the UN and in countries around the world, (c) identify areas where systematic changes to the UN
are necessary, (d) identify emerging issues on which strides towards equality are possible and find
solutions, and (e) enhance public awareness and compliance with the Platform for Action, formed at
the Beijing meeting23. Members represent forty-five UN member states, distributed proportionally
across regions: thirteen from Africa, eleven from Asia, nine from Latin America and the Caribbean,
eight from Western Europe and related nations, and four from Eastern Europe24.
As such, the mission of the Commission is at base the promotion of women’s equality both
through intra-UN measures and through interactions with nations themselves. Specifically, its goal is
to ensure compliance with issues already set forth in the various meetings it has organized while also
finding new issues and solutions to focus on. On multiple previous occasions, it has mentioned
violence against women specifically as an obstacle to gender equality and called on both individual
nations and the United Nations generally to proactively address the issue. The mission, then, is at
base to continue the work it has already done in increasing global awareness of the problem and
creating political will both within and without the UN to find real solutions. This could include
strengthening data collection, putting diplomatic pressure on potentially problematic nations, or
22
United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW)
23
Ibid
Ibid
24
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UCMUN 2013 Commission on the Status of Women Committee
Topic A: Global Violence against Women
simply lobbying the General Assembly to take certain actions. But, moreover, the Commission can
act in new ways to deal with specifically new problems or changes in context to the issue of ending
domestic and sexual violence. It must operate in a world in which the issue is of increasingly high
profile—as evidenced by the recent publicity and subsequent policy change in India—and in which
Western powers are increasingly engaged in the issue. Ultimately, the Commission’s goal is twofold:
to understand and implement (or, as the case may be, amend) its past resolutions and
recommendations, and to create new ones, potentially better suited to the modern world.
This ties into the Commission’s broader goal of increasing women’s equality generally for
obvious reasons. As long as women can be treated as physical property and can be abused with
impunity, other kinds of equality are impossible, be they political or social. Stopping violence against
women and the perception that females can be treated as objects is an important step towards
ensuring that gender equality becomes a reality around the world. It is thus imperative for the
Commission to continue to act decisively to make sure that legal and social protections exist in every
nation, regardless of geography, cultural context, or development.
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UCMUN 2013 Commission on the Status of Women Committee
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Works Cited
Laville, Sandra. "Domestic violence conviction rates at all-time high." The Guardian 22 July 2012.
Nessman, Ravi. "India Rape Law: Parliament Passes Strict Sexual Violence Legislation." Huffington
Post 21 March 2013.
Stop Violence Against Women. stopvaw.org. 2009.
United Nations Secretary General Campaign to End Violence Against Women (UNiTE).
United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW)
Sylvia Walby. Violence and society: Introduction to an emerging field of sociology. Current
Sociology March 2013 61: 95-111, first published on September 25, 2012
Ambaraya. Gundappa and Dr. P.B. Rathod. Violence Against Women in India: Preventive Measures
: Indian Streams Research Journal (MAY ; 2012).
Fineman, Martha; Thomapsen, Nancy. At the Boundaries of Law: Feminism and Legal Theory. Routledge.
New York, 2013.
16
UCMUN 2013 Commission on the Status of Women Committee
Topic B: Global Gender Economic Equality
Introduction
In order for anyone to be self-sufficient in the world, one must have access to the economic
means of supporting oneself. In order for anyone to be able to exist independently of others, a job
with a reasonable wage and adequate conditions is required. And, as the potential for self-reliance is
requisite for any individual or group to have a chance at social, legal, and economic equality, the
issue of equal access to employment and good wages has large impacts on other aspects of
advancement.
In both the developed and developing nations this reality is true of women specifically. In
many places there are legal, or at least social, prohibitions against women working, as more
traditionally-minded societies continue to view women as purely domestic partners, or even as
property to be controlled by men25. Within these communities, women can never be equal to men
because they can never support themselves. But the same is true, to a lesser extent, all around the
world. In the developed world, even if there are more protections giving women access to the
workplace, and despite weaker social norms keeping them inside the house, women often face
discrimination in hiring, lower wages across the board, and hostile and misogynistic work
environments26. Like most problems of gender inequality, economic stratification has its root in the
traditional view of women as domestic beings, and disappears only as societal economics become
more liberal.
International actors, like the United Nations, can play a major role in bringing countries
closer to the ideal of economic equality for women. Given the political and social resistance in many,
26
Manuela Barreto, Michelle Ryan, Michael Schmitt. The glass ceiling in the 21st century: Understanding barriers to
gender equality. Washington: American Psychological Association, 2009.
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UCMUN 2013 Commission on the Status of Women Committee
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if not most, nations to legislation towards this goal—indeed, even in the United States, fair pay laws
are controversial and often fail to pass Congress27—international bodies can provide pressure and
leverage to move nations in the right direction on this issue. To that end, the Commission on the
Status of Women first pursued economic inequality in 1997, and it has become an area of agreement
that it membership has decided to focus on since then28. Like other facets of the United Nations, the
Commission acts by putting diplomatic pressure on constituent states to reform their laws, and in
doing so, change the structure of society. In theory, making laws conducive to women’s equality
allows society to change by forcing people to acknowledge that women can in fact be self-sufficient.
Besides acting on its own, though, the Commission also serves to guide the General Assembly on
issues related to women’s rights. Even if its own ability to pressure governments is limited, the
Commission can hold sway in the UN more generally, and can use this sway to influence outcomes.
The Commission, then, has options in litigating this important issue.
Economic inequality is detrimental to international society. It is wrong on a basic moral level
to give a person unequal compensation for the same work provided. Additionally, when women as a
class are denied certain rights, they cannot reach their fullest potentials. This harms women
emotionally, as well as economically, as females are not able to sustain themselves the same way men
can when they are thriving on different incomes. This causes female dependence on men, at times
causing precarious situations for them. It is critical for delegates to work together to find solutions
for this issue in order to create better societies for women around the world.
Topic History
27
28
Barreto
United Nations Commission on the Status of Women
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Topic B: Global Gender Economic Equality
For most of recorded history, the idea of economic rights for women—indeed, the idea of
women operating outside the house in general—was inconceivable. In general, women were thought
of as objects to be controlled by their husbands—almost as a kind of property29. Consequently, their
role was considered to be a purely domestic one: bearing and raising children, cooking, maintaining
the house, etc. There were virtually no laws protecting a woman’s right to work, and huge social
pressures forced women to stay in their homes and be dependent on their husbands. This system
was ultimately self-reinforcing. As women stayed dependent on men, there was no impetus for social
change because women still harbored the belief that self-sufficiency was impossible. Moreover,
without the means of supporting themselves, it was more difficult for women to organize
cohesively. It was also difficult for them to fight for employment rights in addition to a broader role
in society more generally. The failure to allow women into the workplace, then, played a role in
delaying women’s rights movements.
By the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, there was some chance for women to work
outside of the home, at least in late pre-industrial and early industrial Western Europe. Initially,
women worked for pay in businesses that were somehow connected to the men in their lives: that is,
they would work in the family operation and receive some of the proceeds from it (though the
amount received depended on the husband).30 This was seen as the most secure form of women’s
employment at the time, as it was difficult to fire a member of one’s own family from a job.
However, it failed to weaken the dependence of women on their husbands and fathers insofar as a
woman’s independent livelihood still depended on the beneficence of the men in her life. But still,
women began to work in other places: they could be maids, seamstresses, dressmakers, cooks, and,
later, teachers or nurses. These traditionally “female” professions opened some limited opportunity
29
30
Hufton
Hufton
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UCMUN 2013 Commission on the Status of Women Committee
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for women to leave the house and pursue employment.31 But it was considered an insecure living.
Since there were no legal protections for such workers, and little room for them to educate
themselves (indeed, education was unavailable to almost all women) or gain skills, there was little
opportunity for advancement or job security. Such professional activity by women was seen as,
socially, potentially negative —the stigma against women working still existed—and risky, since they
could be fired easily and earned very little money.
The stigma that many people believed is that women were not capable of working. Men
believed that women’s “femininity” did not allow them to be good workers, as they were considered
weak in most aspects of their lives. Many women were not considered smart enough to enter into
the workforce because they had not historically done so in the past.32 Conversely, if a woman was
“domineering” in the workplace, she was seen as too aggressive. This made women feel inadequate,
and unable to reach their goals and highest potentials.
This rational began, incrementally, to change during World War I. Though many feminists
opposed the war on the grounds that war is an inherently male-dominated activity, the War
ultimately advanced the cause of women’s equality in a few important ways. Most directly, it allowed
women to join the workforce in unprecedented numbers and in a variety of roles. In industrialized
societies which required a large workforce to function productively, the War created additional
demand for goods while taking away most of the adult male workforce to fight.33 Women, then,
became indispensible in filling the place of men in factories and other jobs throughout Europe and
31
Ibid
Rosen, Ruth. The World Split Open: How the Modern Women's Movement Changed America. New York: Penguin
Books. (2006)
32
33
Kennedy, David. Over Here. Oxford University Press, 2004.
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the United States. This coincided with the success of suffrage movements throughout the Western
world.34 In many places, including the U.S. and United Kingdom, women gained the right to vote
concurrently with expanded rights and opportunities in the workplace. These gains have largely
continued since, as women have progressively received more education and more access to highranking and prestigious positions, including high places in government. However, women still face
endemic social double standards and widespread wage inequality, so there is still some level of
unfairness.
Fewer gains have been made in the less developed world, though, even there, societies are
more open to women’s progress than they once were. Without the impetus of industrialization
creating openings for larger and more diverse workforces, there was never a positive incentive for
many traditionalist cultures to become open, and as a consequence status improvement has been
slower. But the influence of changes in the West has had some effect.35 Women are more able than
more likely than ever to join the workforce—if generally in limited capacities—and some have
gained enough skill and education to rise to the higher levels of society and government. For
example, both India and Pakistan have elected female leaders in the past fifty years.36 These gains
have in turn strengthened women’s movements more generally in these parts of the world. But they
are still controversial and still considered socially wrong by many influential parts of global society.
While it can be very unclear as to why people do not approve of women’s equal pay, there
are actually many reasons for why progress is being held back. There are some people, both men and
women, who still have archaic mindsets in that they believe women should not be working full-time,
and, therefore, do not deserve the pay of someone who works full-time. There are still wide-spread
34
Ibid
Pulla, Rao D. "Ethics of sex equality: A case of women deprivation in education and employment in India."
PhilMan Quest (2012)
36
Pulla
35
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patriarchal notions that women could never possibly work as hard as men do, which is why they
cannot receive the same payment. Additionally, in many democracies, conservatives believe that
employers have the rights to hire, fire, and pay people the way they deem fit.37
Current Status
Relative to the status of the status of workplace inequality one hundred, even fifty years ago
women’s access to the workplace has generally improved, but is far from perfect. Even in the United
States and other Western, liberally-governed countries with protections against discrimination,
women earn an estimated 77 cents for every dollar earned by a man in an equivalent position that
requires equal amounts of training.38 It is unclear how much of this pay gap is due to outright
discrimination, social factors, or other economic reasons, but nonetheless this gap is significant. Any
arbitrary factor which would force women to earn less than their actual value in a given job hurts
women’s ability to provide for themselves and their families, and discourages women from entering
the workplace. Moreover, it is unclear how effective nations have been in combatting this inequality.
For example, in the United States, Congress passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in 2009
mandating equal pay for equivalent work for women, but it is unclear how effective it can actually be
in enforcing its requirements, due to the subjective nature of work equivalence and the vast number
of cases it must police.39 The same is true of all other governmental attempts to mandate equal pay:
as long as there are countervailing social pressures, it is difficult to perfectly enforce equality
mandates, even if they can make some differences at the margin.
37
38
39
Barrett, Ted. “Senate Republicans Block Pay Equity Bill.” CNN. 6 June 2012.
Pulla
Pulla
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The scope of women not being paid equal amounts to men is large. Although the statistic
that 77 cents per dollar women make to men, what is most telling is that this statistic is only true for
white women. African American women only make 61 cents to every dollar that African American
men make, and Latina women only make 52 cents to every dollar that Latino men make.40 On
average, this leads to women losing $443,360 every forty years that they could have retained.41 The
money is important because women are increasingly becoming breadwinners of families, given the
international recession, and the money could potentially increase women’s social standing in society.
Even in the developed world, women face obstacles to achieving the highest positions in
business and government due to prevailing social perceptions of women and double-standards that
exist between them and men. Specifically, women must overcome the social and often unconscious
expectation that women naturally act as caregivers and lack the competence and drive to succeed in
high-pressure environments.42 This manifests itself in the perception that a woman can be
competent and competitive, but in doing so it is almost always viewed as cold or unsocial, because
of the preexisting notion that she is uncommonly non-domestic and non-nurturing. This especially
hampers women in politics and at the highest levels of business, where both competence and a high
level of interpersonal skills are required to advance43. In order to be seen as capable, women must
interact in a way which makes them seem to society as cold or unfriendly. In order to mitigate this,
they must seem more “motherly” in a traditional sense and thus sacrifice the perception of
capability. While this is not always decisive to a woman’s chances—there are many powerful women
40
Boushey, Heather. “Families Can’t Afford the Gender Wage Gap.” American Progress. 20 April 2010.
41
Fairchild, Caroline. “Gender Wage Gap Causes Typical Woman to Miss Out on $443,360: Analysis”.
Huffington Post. 9 May 2013.
42
Janell Fetteroff, Alice Eagly. "Do Young Women Expect Gender Equality in Their Future Lives? An Answer From a
Possible Selves Experiment." Sex Roles (2011).
43
Ibid
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throughout the world—it does reflect upon the reality that most people in positions of power
globally are, as they nearly always have been, men.
The same factors exist, to a greater extent, in the developing world, where traditional ideas
about the perception of women are more common, and there are fewer employment opportunities
overall. It is reasonably common in these places for women to work in factories, specifically those
manufacturing textiles. There they work for exceedingly low wages and often in extremely poor
conditions44. Though some of these conditions are inherent in developing economies—many men
work for low pay in poor working environments as well—women are often uniquely discriminated
against and face especially bad conditions. For example, in India, women who work informal jobs
encounter, “some of the poor working conditions…which include low earnings, no access to health
care, occupational hazards, lack of social protection laws, lack of organization and representation,
and no job security.”45 The women who are put in these situations are usually the same women who
lack a formal education and
Moreover, women are much less likely to be educated in these nations than their Western
counterparts are. For example, in India, only 14% of all jobs requiring above a basic education are
filled by women.46 Even in a country which has
been led by a woman— for example, Indira
Gandhi—most women, especially in rural areas, are
illiterate and forced into either domesticity or sweat
shops. This is much less true of men, who by
44
45
46
Pulla
Apte, Poornima. “Informal Jobs in India Linked to Poor Working Conditions.” IndUS Business Journal. 15 October
2004.
Ibid.
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tradition have more access to education and thus to means to improving their situations
economically.
Above: Kassenbrock’s depiction of global ranks of gender equity
The perception of women as caregivers is also prevalent in the developing world, particularly
in those countries governed by theocracies. In many cases, the roles of women are actually codified
in law than in simple social attitudes. For example, in many Middle Eastern countries, women are
not allowed to hold jobs outside of the house because doing so would violate Islamic law.
Therefore, the double standard faced by women around the world becomes much more
pronounced: risks and social disapproval is greater where women are allowed to hold jobs47. The
same is true of education. In many places, women are not allowed access to education to the same
extent as men, thus prohibiting them from achieving advancement in society or even from forming
functional social movements.
People have protested girls’ access to education since the time of getting education being a
normative practice. For example, In Afghanistan, “Schools for girls have been burned down,
hundreds of teachers educating girls have been threatened or killed, and girls and have been
physically harmed while attending or walking to or from school.”48 Clearly it is difficult for girls to
access education without living in fear of attack.
More than there being negative social implications for women getting an education, there are
little resources for women to get an education. There are little resources for families living in poorer
nations. Those nations are the locations of where school attendance is not compulsory. It is thought
that men will use their education more productively, and use it on a long-term basis. As society
47
48
Barreto
Trust in Education. "Life as an Afghan Woman." Trust in Education. 2013.
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progresses, more women enter the work force, and it can no longer be assumed that women will not
put their education to good use.
Bloc Positions
In principle, the more liberally-minded a country is, the more accepting it will be of
international action to increase economic equality for women. That is, the less a country, and its’
constituent citizens, oppose women stepping into “nontraditional” social roles, the more likely that
country will be able to support actions by the Commission to introduce women into the workplace,
as well as workplace equality. However, there are some exceptions to this principle. While many
European countries which have embraced social democracy and more internationalist government
are less averse to outside influence in their economic activities, more traditionally market-oriented
societies, like the United States, tend to be more skeptical to such intervention. Factions of these
countries distrust international actors and fear for their sovereignty more acutely than, for instance,
Europe49. Moreover, they tend to have more confidence that markets can solve all economic
problems and thus view government action in general as harmful.
The fact that global economic powers, such as the United States, still have wage inequalities
shows that supply and demand economics do not work. Instead, it has been argued that, “the way to
catalyze any market, emerging or otherwise, is to invest in it. But somehow this message doesn’t
seem to be getting through when it comes to investing in women.”50 In other words, investing in
markets that women typically work in (such as liberal arts jobs) could lead to a more well-rounded
economy.
49
50
Trust in Education
Sharma, Ritu. "A Solution for a Struggling Global Economy: Gender Equality". Forbes. 14 October 2011.
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Predictably, more traditionalist, less developed regions, such as countries in the Middle East,
Africa, and South Asia are often more opposed to such measures. Some, especially the more
religiously motivated countries, oppose policies on the grounds that women should not work
outside of the home and action to force such change is a violation both of sovereignty and the will
of their citizens, but also a breach of deeply held morality51. Some countries, however, such as India
and other developing democracies, have taken at least some steps to make society friendlier to
women and oppose such measures less dogmatically. They may oppose excessively intrusive plans
for monitoring and enforcement, but are also generally open to educational or incentive-based
programs.52
Between these two extremes, most other countries are generally supportive—at least
openly—of women’s rights and equality. Their support for specific proposals, then, is directly
proportional to their general trust in international organizations. Those who distrust other nations to
operate in their spheres of influence, especially those with colonial origins or internal problems
caused by the legacy of Western imperialism, tend to be wary of any kind of international action
which could affect them. This causes them to seek to protect themselves from more intrusive
actions. However, even among these, more benign programs like increasing education or giving
corporations incentives to hire more women are fairly noncontroversial.
Generally speaking, there are two blocks of countries participating in the wage gap that
women are facing. They are conservative groups and more liberal groups. There will be groups of
nations within the committee that are conservative, and inclined to change, and there will be nations
that are conservative, but are not inclined to change, such as Afghanistan. Within the liberal nations,
51
Ritu
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there will be groups that have already made some strides towards gender pay equity, but do not
accept global influence, such as the United States. There will also be a bloc of liberal nations that
welcome international influence, but are also very successful, such as Sweden.
Committee Mission
Overall, the Commission on the Status of Women operates as a subdivision of the United
Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), and serves as the UN’s principle policy and
directional body with regards to women’s equality around the world. It meets periodically at
conferences, located in such places as Mexico (1975), Copenhagen (1980), Nairobi (1985), and
Beijing (1995)53. At each conference, the Commission assessed the work done since the last meeting,
set new goals, and highlighted emerging problems and potential solutions for the UN toaddress.
Additionally, its members meet yearly in New York to assess the progress of women globally. Its
mandate, since 1996, requires that it do five things: (a) assist the UN General Assembly in assessing
the progress of women on issues first raised at the Beijing meeting, (b) make gender issues
mainstream in the UN and in countries around the world, (c) identify areas where systematic
changes to the UN are necessary, (d) identify emerging issues on which strides towards equality are
possible and find solutions, and (e) enhance public awareness and compliance with the Platform for
Action, formed at the Beijing meetingi. Members represent forty-five UN member states, distributed
proportionally across regions: thirteen from Africa, eleven from Asia, nine from Latin America and
the Caribbean, eight from Western Europe and related nations, and four from Eastern Europeii.
As such, the core mission of the Commission is the promotion of women’s equality both
through intra-UN measures and through interactions with nations themselves. Specifically, the
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Commission’s goal is to ensure compliance with issues already set forth in the various meetings it
has organized while also finding new issues and solutions to focus on. It first assessed the specific
issue of economic and employment equality in 1997, and concluded that economic equality was a
fundamental part of equality for women more generally. Under this mandate and agreement to
undertake this issue specifically, the Commission could pursue any number of options. It could by
itself, or through the General Assembly, put pressure on nations to introduce and enforce equal
opportunity and pay laws, and increase education globally for women—particularly in the rural
developing world— or it could provide incentives to global businesses to invest in female human
capital by training and hiring more women. Through any of these direct and indirect methods, the
Commission could play a major role in helping ensure economic equality for women.
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Works Cited
Apte, Poornima. “Informal Jobs in India Linked to Poor Working Conditions.” IndUS Business
Journal. 15 October 2004.
Barrett, Ted. “Senate Republicans Block Pay Equity Bill.” CNN. 6 June 2012.
Boushey, Heather. “Families Can’t Afford the Gender Wage Gap.” American Progress. 20 April
2010.
Fairchild, Caroline. “Gender Wage Gap Causes Typical Woman to Miss Out on $443,360:
Analysis”. Huffington Post. 9 May 2013.
Hufton, O. (2011). The Prospect Before Her: A History of Women in Western Europe, 1500 - 1800. Random
House.
Janell Fetteroff, A. E. (2011). Do Young Women Expect Gender Equality in Their Future Lives? An
Answer From a Possible Selves Experiment. Sex Roles .
Kennedy, D. (2004). Over Here. Oxford University Press.
Manuela Barreto, M. R. (2009). The glass ceiling in the 21st century: Understanding barriers to gender equality.
Washington: American Psychological Association.
Pulla, R. D. (2012). Ethics of sex equality: A case of women deprivation in education and
employment in India. PhilMan Quest .
Sheppard, C. (2011). Multiple Discrimination in the World of Work. Working Paper .
United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. (n.d.).
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31