Overcoming Legal Hurdles to Women's Economic Empowerment in a Climate of Insecurity | UN CSW 66

The 66th session of the Commission on the Status of Women is convened to address the priority theme of Achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls in the context of climate change and environmental and disaster risk reduction policies and programs. Moreover, the CSW 66 review theme is Women’s economic empowerment in the changing world of work. Both of these themes emphasize the importance and necessity of women’s voices, agency, participation, and leadership in securing the solutions for the challenges women face.

We have found that one of the most salient and timely threats to women and girls’ economic empowerment is the climate of insecurity, which is fostered by discriminatory laws that deny women basic human rights. One year ago, Jubilee Campaign held a UN Human Rights Council side event, “No One Left Behind: Stemming abductions and forced conversion and marriages of religious minority girls and women”, in which we highlighted the interwoven dimensions of religious persecution and gender discrimination, as in nations such as Nigeria, Pakistan, and Egypt, girls belonging to faith minority communities are dually vulnerable to kidnapping and forced marriages. In the conclusions of the 61st session of Commission on the Status of Women, it was noted that violence against women – including child, early, and forced marriages – are major impediments to the achievement of women’s social and economic empowerment.

This event will focus on the intersection of persecution on the basis of faith and discrimination on the basis of gender, and we will also address both the priority review themes by discussing women’s economic empowerment in the changing world of work and climate of insecurity.

0:00:00
0:00:08 - Introduction - Sydney Kochan (Jubilee Campaign)
0:03:09 - Hélène Fisher (Open Doors)
0:11:44 - Fatima Njoku (Stefanos Foundation)
0:26:32 - Mariam Ibraheem (Sudanese activist)
0:37:27 - Barrister Yakubu Bawa (Jos Branch, Nigeria Bar Association)
0:49:27 - Joseph Jansen (Voice for Justice)
0:57:50 - Dr. Janet Epp Buckingham (World Evangelical Alliance)
1:06:30 - Question & Answer