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11 March 2010: Diane Elson and the Casablanca Dreamers
CRESI's Prof. Diane Elson's work featured recently in two panel sessions at the United Nations as part of the 54th Annual UN Commission on the Status of Women (March 1-12, 2010).
The first, "Vision for A Better World: From Economic Crisis to Equality" centred on the contributions of the Casablanca Dreamers, an international group of female activists and thinkers established in 2007 with the aim of empowering women in the developing world in order to help them overcome poverty.
Speaking to MediaGlobal, Diane who is a member of the Casablanca Dreamers criticised the response of many governments to the current economic crisis saying “We don’t think that the normal that they’re trying to get back to is one that promoted equality and human rights. And we argue for the creation of a different kind of development that will be based around equality: gender equality, also class equality, regional equality, and equality between different ethnic groups.”
Other speakers at the panel included Ana Isabel Morales, Minister of the Interior of Nicaragua, Suzanne Clément Coordinator/ Head of Agency for Status of Women Canada, Devaki Jain, convenor of the Casablanca dreamers and Rawwida Baksh, Program Leader of Women’s Rights and Citizenship for the IDRC.
The second, "Counting the costs! Financing for gender equality in economic crisis and recovery" focused on analysing progress progress towards achieving the Beijing Platform for Action and the Millennium Development Goals. The panelists noted that countries are still locked in multiple and interlinked crises of international finance, food, climate and energy. While these crises pose a particular threat to the achievement of gender equality and women's rights, the panelists also discussed the unique opportunities they bring to put forward alternative economic policies centered on social justice and gender equality.
Speakers at this panel included Cecilia Alemany, Strategic Initiative Manager, AWID, WWG-FfD; Letty Chiwara, Regional Programme Manager, UNIFEM and Elizabeth Salguero, Chair, Parliament of Bolivia, Human Rights Commission.