At the Commission on the Status of Women: Snapshots of the Right

Those seeking to advance sexual and reproductive health and rights were not the only advocates in attendance at the 53rd Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) at the United Nations.  This year's session, held March 2-13, 2009, brought representatives from right-wing organizations with very different goals regarding what should be sought during the negotiations for the agreed conclusions.  Some representatives came to lobby member state delegates engaged in these negotiations, others to "educate" NGO representatives attending side events, using a wide variety of tactics. 

What follows is a snapshot of some of the right-wing organizations who were present and what they were up to over the course of the two weeks during the Commission session. 

United Families International (UFI)

United Families International was founded by Susan Roylance, who wrote Mothers and Fathers Defending Marriage and Family in the Halls of the U.N., a well known and regarded book in pro-family circles.  UFI promotes the "natural family" which - for those who are unversed in such terminology - means one man and one woman, joined in marriage with oodles of children.  

UFI has embraced new media with vigor and established a special "CSW 2009" blog with coverage of their involvement during the 53rd session.  They recounted sitting vigil outside of negotiation rooms late into the night in solidarity with delegates from "pro-family" nations like Qatar and Yemen against the "hostile forces." Their postings were rife with their disappointment in the United States delegation, and spoke to their diminished sense of pride in the United States resulting from the U.S. delegation's position. 

UFI also spoke rather disparagingly of delegates observed at the CSW: "We saw many delegates abandon the principles of their country and ... fawning over the EU and the US in an attempt to gain favor and money from them by supporting their ideas."   

Family Watch International (FWI)

Family Watch International, whose mission is to "preserve and promote the family, based on marriage between a man and a woman as the societal unit that provides the best outcome for men, women and children" has made the United Nations a central site for advocacy, so it is no surprise that they were engaged in this year's CSW.  

FWI called this year's theme "ridiculous," saying that "The equal sharing of responsibilities between women and men, including caregiving in the context of HIV/AIDS" indicated that the "UN wants to dictate how men and women share household responsibilities!"  FWI clearly missed the point on that one... 

FWI updated their base in periodic emails, and called for action in an "urgent alert" with the headline "Demand U.S. Stop Supporting Same-Sex Marriage and Worse at the UN" sent out during the final stages of negotiation for the agreed conclusions on Friday March 13th.  FWI president Sharon Slater called for their supporters to contact the United States UN Mission and the White House to express their concerns about the "anti family provisions [endorsing] a position legalizing same-sex marriage."  Within hours of that alert, FWI declared the CSW a success announcing that the "anti family" provisions had been pulled from the final draft of the agreed conclusions. 

Endeavor Forum Inc.

The Australian based group, Endeavor Forum Inc., believes that "men and women are equal but different not equal and the same" and that sexual and reproductive health and rights in the context of UN negotiations means "lesbian rights and free access to abortion on demand, contraception and sterilisation."  Endeavor played a role once again in what Endeavor's former CSW representative called the "annual feminist Mecca" and sponsored several side events including a repeat performance session on breast cancer risks and prevention, which turned out to be a foil for an anti-abortion scare-tactic rally.   

Catholic Women's League of Australia Inc. (CWLA)

CWLA has consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and attends the CSW annually.  This year they co-sponsored several side events, including a session on the promotion of the Billings method of natural family planning.  Ironically, one representative from UFI attended and later commented that even though they had hoped to enjoy the session, the ideas espoused were not quite up to par.  She expressed disappointment that "it had nothing to say about the value that there is in abstinence, and nothing to say about a pro-life stance if the method should fail... overall [she] left feeling slightly deceived."  I guess you can't please everyone.   

Perhaps most, notable about CWLA is their agreement with conservative Catholic teachings on the "theology of the body."  These teachings promote a narrow ideology of sexuality and build upon institutional Catholic Church teaching that suggests the sexes are not equal but complementary, that men and women fulfill different societal roles which further exacerbates gender inequality. 

These are just a handful of the right-wing organizations at work during this year's Commission on the Status of Women. Though they may put up the façade of fighting for family and children's rights, it is only on their terms.  While organizations like FWI and UFI may have claimed victory, their inability to embrace the fullest complexity of a human rights framework undermines the integrity of their message in the end.