Women’s Major Group 2016: The fight for Women’s Rights continue

Happy New Year! We are excited to continue to build with such hardworking and passionate activists pushing for women’s human rights and for a just and sustainable world. This past year governments adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with language and commitments that we advocated hard for tirelessly. We know that the outcome is short of the ambition and transformation needed to really bring system change – because it was WMG members that pressed hard for real change! That’s why we are looking to 2016 in front of us.

This past year, the WMG funded participation of 107 women to attend the various monthly government negotiations for Post-2015, as well as the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), Financing for Development (FfD), High-level Political Forum (HLPF), and COP21, where members made linkages to the SDGs, led interventions, drafted positions, spoke with governments and hosted side events. By region, 24 women were from Latin America & the Caribbean; 26 from Africa; and 39 from Asia and the Pacific Islands. 85% of the funding participants came from the global South.

 

As one of the most self-organized and democratic civil society spaces, the WMG was prolific in releasing position papers and recommendation documents throughout the process, producing at least one document, and usually several, per meeting. The WMG wrote five recommendation letters, more than ten position papers, five press statements and multiple mark-ups of draft negotiating texts. Depending on capacity, documents were also translated in various languages, including Spanish, Russian, Arabic, and French, to better disseminate the information and ensure a greater understanding of the WMG positions among members, delegates, and civil society colleagues. The majority of the publications can be accessed here; publications include the 30+ interventions made on behalf of the WMG in all the IGNs to influence Member States and civil society colleagues alike. All statements and position papers are uploaded in real time, or as soon as possible, on the WMG website. The WMG also received diverse media coverage, with members providing direct quotes and insight into the process and progress for women’s human rights and gender equality within the Post-2015 sustainable development framework (click here for media references).   

 

In September 2015, alongside the UN General Assembly, the WMG held a Feminist Forum to envision what was next for our advocacy in 2016. With all of you, we are in the process of solidifying the indicators, following up at national level and influencing the HLPF. Please continue to look and share news of work related to the SDGs.

From the WMG organizing partners, thank you!