UN celebrates 'watershed day' for women

Some 65 years after it was founded, and after decades of reports on every species of sex discrimination and its wasteful effects, the United Nations has decided to set up a single, powerful body to promote equality for women around the world.

The General Assembly voted unanimously to supercharge its efforts on behalf of women. It will begin its work in January, have a high-level leader, probably twice the $250m annual budget now allocated to gender issues, and be tasked with challenging governments on discrimination. Diplomats greeted the news with spontaneous applause as the Assembly's decision was announced with a rap of its president's gavel. It was a significant noise that many hope will penetrate some of the world's hitherto unreachable corners of prejudice.

"This is truly a watershed day," said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. "Member states have created a much stronger voice for women and for gender equality at the global level. It will now be much more difficult for the world to ignore the challenges facing women and girls or to fail to take the necessary action."

And Christine McCafferty, a former Labour MP who chaired the Council of Europe's health and reproductive health and rights committee, last night said: "This finally puts women where they always should have been: at the very heart of development. Countries where women's rights are not at the heart of development are those which have developed the slowest. This new UN entity must work closely with the finance ministries of every ... country, so that everyone understands the huge economic benefits of investing in women."

Although the UN has in the last two decades gone some way to being less dominated by socially conservative men, progress has been stuttering. A 1995 agreement by 189 nations in Beijing to work towards equality put down a marker, but, in the words of UN deputy secretary-general Asha-Rose Migiro, "inequalities remain deeply entrenched in every society". Women's issues - which, in the developing world, included high rates of rape, female circumcision, low access to work, health services and education - were split between different UN agencies of varying effectiveness. Then, four years ago, a push for a UN body for women was launched as The Gear Campaign. Eventually numbering more than 300 groups, and led by the European Union, it agitated for a single, dedicated agency which would have a high-powered leader, a greatly increased budget, and some clout. This, with Friday's vote, they have now won, providing the practice matches the intent.

Harriet Harman, acting leader of the Labour Party, said yesterday: "Women are a new phenomenon in international politics and diplomacy, who can offer additional and different dimensions to conflict resolution, the economic agenda, democracy and development. UN Women is not just about protecting women victims from underdevelopment, it is about the UN helping to support and sustain women who have fought their way forward into governments across the world, and who have much to offer across every single UN agenda. The UN is a male-dominated institution which reflects patterns of the past; it has been left behind while the world changed. This new entity must be led by women if it is to bring change."

Marianne Mollmann, women's rights advocate at Human Rights Watch, said: "The creation of this agency is a testament to the resilience of women's rights activists .... So much of the promise of the new women's agency depends on finding a leader who can secure the funding and enhanced support that has been pledged."

Three names already floated to lead UN Women are former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet, Rwanda's Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo, and the UN special representative for children in armed conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy. It is believed eight names have already been submitted.

Khalida Salimi, co-founder of the Pakistani human rights NGO, Sach, said: "It is a wonderful achievement that our demands for an under secretary-general - someone with real decision-making power in the UN - has been met. The patriarchal mindset of the UN has always tried to protect patriarchal interests. This is reflected by simple things, such as the men always talked about girls and power, whereas the women talked about peace and development. But while the new entity is an encouraging step forward, it must take care not to reflect the same patriarchal scenario. UN Women must expand outreach strategies and reach out, and help strengthen, civil organisation that have for a long time, stepped in because governments have failed to protect basic human rights or provide for people's basic needs."

The role of women worldwide could change for ever with the setting up of a single, powerful body dedicated to equality. Some 65 years after the United Nations was founded and after decades of reports on every form of sex discrimination and its wasteful effects, it is launching a new organisation, UN Women.

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