Hands Up for Gender Equality!

The 61st Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW61) is coming up next month!

Held at the United Nations in New York City, CSW61 is one of the most important international forums for the United Nations, governments, and NGOs from around the world to come together for advocacy and movement building for gender equality, human rights, and sustainable development.

This year’s Commission will focus on women’s economic empowerment in the changing world of work and the empowerment of Indigenous women.

We’re really proud that Next Gen Men was part of the first-ever Youth Forum at CSW60, held last March, and we’re looking forward to everything that’s coming together for this year’s Youth Forum at CSW61. Young people and youth-led organizations are not always meaningfully included at the United Nations and other policy-making forums, so creating space and opportunities for youth participation is an important step in the right direction.

Last year, we helped facilitate an incredibly rich discussion at the Youth Forum, with the Man Up Campaign and the MenEngage Alliance on the role and responsibility on boys and young men in gender equality. It was really great to share the work that we’re doing with Next Gen Men, but also so interesting and eye-opening to learn about how other youth organizations are tackling these issues in different communities and contexts around the world.

We also contributed to writing the first-ever Youth Declaration, which was presented to the chair of the CSW, Ambassador Patriota of Brazil. The sections from the Youth Declaration that we are particularly proud of recognize that gender is a spectrum, not a binary, promote an intersectional approach to gender equality, and provide guidance on engaging men and boys in solidarity work for gender equality.

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Here is the first section that refers to the diversity of gender identities and expressions:

Recognize that ‘gender’ refers to a socially constructed system of classification that ascribes qualities of masculinity and femininity, that gender characteristics can change over time and are different between cultures, and that this is how individuals perceive their identity as male, female, both or neither, regardless of our physical bodies.

 

Recognize that gender is separate from biological sex which is also socially constructed and that genders include Trans, gender non-conforming, agender, genderqueer, women and men (based on Yogyakarta Principles Article 3B).

And here is the section on engaging men and boys in solidarity work for gender equality:

Recognize that young men and boys can use and share their power and privilege to end patriarchy, shift socio-cultural norms, and adopt, promote and respect an intersectional approach to gender equality that recognizes the intersecting nature of racism, sexism, colonialism, patriarchy, ableism and gender inequality in order to achieve gender equality, social justice, and the human rights of all young women and girls.

 

Encourage young men and boys to take joint responsibility for and participate fully in all actions towards gender equality including changing social norms to achieve shared power and responsibility between people of all genders at home, in the community, in the workplace and in the wider national and international communities (based on CSW48, para 1).

 

Support and resource formal, non-formal, and informal education that supports all young men and boys to act in solidarity to achieve gender equality and all human rights of all young women and girls, to practice healthy relationships based on consent and end gender-based and sexual violence in all its forms, and to promote positive masculinities and femininities. Take the example from youth-led and feminist organizations that are doing this work and ensure meaningful mentorship for young men and boys who are engaged in solidarity work for gender equality.

 

Create safe spaces beginning in early childhood for young men and boys to learn about and engage deeply in the work of promoting, respecting and supporting efforts to achieve gender equality and the rights of young women and girls.

As you can see, this is all really aligned with what we are doing and what we want to be doing with Next Gen Men! Although it is a bit of a strange process for high-level discussions at the United Nations to trickle down to grassroots, community-level work around the world, at the end of the day, we are all working towards a shared vision through our various channels, and it is pretty cool for Next Gen Men to be a part of it.

This year, we will be involved again with some of the consultations leading up to the Youth Forum, and the discussions and sessions taking place at the Youth Forum. 

From February 22 – 28, there is an online consultation on the topic of ‘Partnerships with Young Men in Gender Equality’ taking place on UN Women’s Empower Women’s website. Young people between the ages of 18-35, of all genders, are especially encouraged to participate in this discussion! The consultation will inform the discussions and the declaration for this year’s Youth Forum. There are also discussions taking place on the themes of young women’s leadershipyoung women’s economic empowerment, and intergenerational partnerships for gender equality, all leading up to the Youth Forum on March 11 – 12.

You can join in on the discussion, right here: https://www.empowerwomen.org/en/community/discussions/2017/02/online-consultation-for-the-youth-forum-at-csw61-on-partnerships-with-young-men-in-gender-equality

Keep on eye on #YouthCSW61 and we’ll keep the updates coming!

— Jason