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UN Women USA: senior content writer
Photo by: https://sdg.lamayor.org/2021VLR
Los Angeles and its Ongoing Fight Towards Gender Parity
Implementing new policy, legislative accountability, and motivating civic action within the community.
The goal for global gender parity has a long way to go. As we stand today 1 in 5 women, ages 15 to 49, report experiencing physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner, within a 12-month span. Women today represent 1 in 4 members of Parliament worldwide and only 34% are elected into local governments. 1 in 3 of the world’s managers/supervisors is a woman. In addition, extreme poverty amongst women and girls continues to be on the rise, and is estimated to hit 383 million by the end of 2022, in comparison to 368 million men and boys. Gender parity is at a critical crossroads.
There have been a variety of complications that have come between our global goals on equity, COVID-19 being one of the main. Sima Bahous, UN Women’s Executive Director, referred to this time as a tipping point, “it is critical that we rally now to invest in women and girls to reclaim and accelerate progress. The data show undeniable regressions in their lives made worse by the global crises—in incomes, safety, education, and health. The longer we take to reverse this trend, the more it will cost us all.” Local action, civic engagement, social justice efforts, and connective resources have become imperative. The more we dig into this research, the clearer it is that it starts with community and local neighborhoods. So let’s take a closer look at ours, Los Angeles.
Los Angeles was one of the first cities to embrace the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women Act (CEDAW), in 2005. In 2015, more changes were pushed forward in the fight for gender equity when Mayor Eric Garceetti immediately enacted Executive Directive NO. 11. This directive was created in response to a recent report on the status of women and girls within L.A., the results were “measurably disadvantaged.” Economically, professionally, and socially, women and girls were still facing much inequity within the city. So a few reformations were made, not only in policy but also on how gender would be defined and diversity acknowledged. Achieving true gender equity means looking past the traditional gender binary construct, such as the LGBTQIA+ community, within new systems, policy, or laws.
Another way in which Los Angeles has committed to reform is in accounting for all of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs were originally established in 2012. The purpose behind them was to establish specific actions towards global issues such as poverty, equity, and threats to the environment. All of the SDGs are colorfully categorized and displayed within the L.A. Mayor website, where their own digital subsections are just a click away. There are 17 goals in total, the fifth being that of gender equity. These goals are all sewn together through a common thread, that in order to make progress in one, all 17 must be accounted for. It’s even proudly stated within, “in L.A., we organize our SDG actions in three ways: we measure progress through data reporting; we mobilize new projects and build capacity for the Goals; and we connect with partners, while centering our commitment to leave no one behind.”
L.A. SDG Timeline, local review and website: https://sdg.lamayor.org/2021VLR
L.A.’s first Voluntary Local Review on the city’s progress towards these SDGs began in 2019. They were the second city to begin conducting, analyzing, and posting these reviews, New York being the first. The reviews aim to bring focus to a specific set of data. For the fifth SDG, that data would be categorized to reflect the current state of gender-based violence, descrimination, forced marriage, leadership, reproductive rights, health, economic resources, exposure to technology, and the promotion of policy. The most recent categories to be added to this list are the gender pay gap, access to child care, and LGBTIA+ inclusivity. Each category is defined by a target and an indicator, where you can then click over to the current report and its statistics. Because COVID-19 hit early in 2020, the review came to a brief halt but then resumed in 2021. If ever you wish to see where L.A. stands in relation to the SDGs and gender equity, keep your eye on these reports.
L.A. continues their efforts in these various reviews and are diligent about facing accountability for the systems that aren’t working. They create change or new tactics where they see weakness. Additional changes that have been made are through programs such as The Innovation Team, a team of diverse individuals that support the Mayor in creating solutions in justice, equity, and the overall lives of Los Angeles citizens. MyVoiceLA was created for City employees who are seeking additional information on employee rights, laws, harassment, or discrimination. Complaints or violations can also be immediately filed via phone, email, fax, mail, or in person. L.A. has also joined the City Hub and Network on Gender Equity (CHANGE), a groundbreaking international coalition of cities committed to achieving gender equity.
Of course, alongside all of these city-wide actions has been our UN Women USA L.A. chapter, which has also worked hard to establish local projects that enforce the SDGs. Projects such as “Safe Cities and Safe Public Spaces,” “Belonging and Displacement: Uniting Heads, Hearts, and Hands,” and in creating a series of self defense classes for women that were accessible throughout L.A.
The “Safe Cities and Safe Public Spaces for Women and Girls” initiative was formed by UN Women for the purpose of affecting change, encouraging better systems for safety for women and girls in our global cities. Our L.A. chapter immediately took on this initiative with the intention for it to be an open, ongoing conversation regarding future projects, work, and goals. The idea was to work towards gender parity collectively, with the community and within the city of L.A. The L.A. Safe Cities Self Defense classes came in 2017 as the decision was made to help equip women with tools for defense. These classes were held at 2 different locations, at opposite ends of L.A. Nine were held in total.
Our “Belonging and Displacement: Uniting Heads, Hearts, and Hands,” was a platform that came to L.A. in 2019, designed to connect residents with women who have experienced displacement, as refugees, immigrants, or the unhoused. This event allowed speakers to share their perspective with hundreds of other Angelinos and was shaped around the single theme of belonging, how we can all take part in creating and encouraging a greater sense of belonging, not only locally but globally as well.
Los Angeles as a whole has done much in the last 10 years to improve upon its tactics towards gender parity. In fact, in 2022 they hit their first huge milestone, achieving full gender parity on its 41 boards and commissions. Women were now holding more than 50% of those positions. It’s a huge accomplishment but there’s still so much more to achieve. In all of this, L.A. seems to have devised a working system that starts at the local level. It starts within our own backyards and community, our own outreach, connective groups, and hard work. As Mayor Garcetti phrased it in his 2020 American Leadership speech, “what we do in our neighborhoods ripples far beyond our municipal borders. Our global goals come to life when we understand them as local goals. When they’re rooted in our communities”
On December 10, 2022 our UN Women USA LA chapter will celebrate all that has been accomplished within our community. We will be launching a very special event to celebrate past chapter platforms, events, and our most memorable moments. We’ll also be holding a discussion on what’s to come for the future. We could not have done any of this work without our members, activists, speakers, board, donors, and volunteers, in other words the peacebuilders, activists, and changemakers who collectively seek to make the world a better place. Our celebration will look to them specifically, celebrating them through community, connection, and storytelling.
The Effects of Climate Change And Why it Hits Women Hardest
It’s no secret, the effects of climate change are upon us. We’ve recently watched it unfold with extreme flooding in Pakistan, heat waves in California, and severe droughts in China and Europe. Temperatures are steadily rising. The issue is commonly addressed by politicians and scientists as they scramble to gather and compare data on a yearly basis. Data such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report and the Emissions Gap Report. These reports aid in providing scientific data to International governments in an effort to form new strategies and give insight in relation to the goals of the Paris Agreement, which was formed in 2015.
The primary goal set by the Paris Agreement was to slow global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. It’s 2022 and we have yet to reach those levels. Upon the launch of the third IPCC report, Secretary-General António Guterres stated plainly, in order “to keep the 1.5-degree limit within reach, we need to cut global emissions by 45 percent this decade.” The latest reports show that greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, and while the wealthiest countries are showing to be more responsible for the increase, developing countries are incurring more of its damaging effects. In fact, the 2021 Emissions Gap Report showed a 2.7 degree Celsius rise in global temperature by the end of the century. Their summary of this recent data… “2021 has been a fraught year for the planet.”
It’s ironic that the hardest hit is not only our environment, which we often refer to as “her,” i.e. mother nature/mother earth, but women in general. Women are 14 times more likely to die in natural disasters than men. Barabara Lee, the Democratic Representative for California’s 13th congressional district, boldly stated when introducing bill H.R. 260, “the effects of climate change are not gender-neutral. Research shows that across the globe, structural inequality and discrimination mean women will feel the impacts of climate change more severely than men.” Mother nature isn’t discriminatory nor is climate change but our systemic structures are, and once a natural disaster or crisis is laid upon that, it’s women that suffer the most.
Many women in developing countries already experience hardship from gender bias or inequality. They can be held back from leadership roles, education, voting, or from having any kind of influence within government, and therefore don’t have much control over matters concerning climate change either. In poor rural communities, the gap in poverty rates by sex are widest for women and men, between the ages of 25–34, when they are most likely to have children and women are commonly more dependent on local natural resources, their land is their livelihood. In a climate crisis or natural disaster, the land is one of the first and most prominent after-effects, leaving the family without the ability to eat or financially survive.
In addition, the top 1% of global income earners are predominantly male. So in a crisis, women are one of the first to consider leaving the workplace, largely due to having a lesser household income. In the U.S., during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, nearly 2.2 million women left the workforce in order to take care of family or childcare responsibilities.
Gender-based violence also statistically rises in the aftermath of a natural disaster. Study’s conducted over the years have documented this rise in the form of domestic violence, sexual violence, manipulation or coercion, rape, trafficking, and femicide. A 2021 ”As She Rises” interview with Colette Pichon Battleon, a human rights climate lawyer, illuminated what the solution was for her in recovering from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, it’s in speaking to the survivors, “the strongest, most knowledgeable people are the ones that our capitalist society values the least, but if we’re gonna survive this climate crisis, we’re gonna have to value them the most.” She specifies that “in disaster recovery, it is women that are doing the work here and I want to honor that. Sometimes, because we don’t work within structures that people recognize, we are silenced… If there’s any inclination to pray or support or send good vibes, think about the women here, who are on the frontlines of the greatest battle we’ll see in our time.”
In January 2021 Congresswoman Barabara Lee introduced Bill H.R. 260, a bill that would “lead the global effort to mitigate the effects of climate change on women and girls around the world by establishing coordinated and comprehensive strategies.” The bill was then reintroduced on International Women’s Day, March 08, 2022. Within the closing statements was this, “The United Nations has recognized, as one of the central organizing principles for its work, that ‘no enduring solution to society’s most threatening social, economic and political problems can be found without the full participation, and the full empowerment, of the world’s women.’”
There is still time to face this, fight it, and educate others on solutions. The next move might be in placing small progressive steps forward within your household, business, or community, reaching out to marginalized communities, women’s groups or grassroots organizations in your area. Maybe your next move is to simply vote, call a Senator or two, or cheer on Bill H.R. 260 and any policy that reflects a similar understanding. Whatever your next moves are in this collective conversation, one thing’s for sure, there should be women present at the table.
Photo By: Jennifer Castle
Gender Equality is Your Issue Too
“Men—I would like to take this opportunity to extend your formal invitation. Gender equality is your issue too.” -Emma Watson, UN Global Goodwill Ambassador, HeForShe
The 21st Century fight for gender parity has become an ongoing uphill battle. Women today represent 1 in 4 members of Parliament worldwide and only 34% are elected into local governments. They make up less than 10% of the heads of state and approximately 100 countries have never experienced a woman executive. It’s been estimated that at the pace we are currently moving, gender equality will take another 135 years to accomplish. The original goal in 1995, at the Beijing Platform for Action, the Fourth World Conference on Women, was to achieve complete 50/50 parity by 2030. We are far behind that original goal.
So in 2014, in an effort to promote civic action towards this issue, UN Global Goodwill Ambassador Emma Watson and Director Elizabeth Nyamayaro decided to create the platform HeForShe. Their approach would be collective and communal because in order to end gender inequality, everyone must be involved. In other words, men and boys need to be included in this fight.
Photo By: Jennifer Castle
At the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action, Hilary Clinton alluded to this by making the statement, “If there is one message that echoes forth from this, let it be that human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights, once and for all.” During Emma Watson’s first address for HeForShe, she chose to reflect again on that statement, taking it a step further, “Sadly,” she lamented, “many of the things she wanted to change are still a reality today. But what stood out the most was that only 30 percent of her audience were male.” She then paused for the next question, “How can we affect change in the world when only half of it is invited?” To the men directly she added, “I would like to take this opportunity to extend your formal invitation. Gender equality is your issue too.” Women’s rights are human rights.
The truth is, gender parity is often more complicated in times of conflict or struggle. This could be the reasoning for the pause in action towards these goals. COVID-19, the ongoing climate crisis, and the recent revoking of women’s reproductive rights have all presented incredible conflict. It has been shown through studies that during a crisis women are more likely to lose their jobs, let go of their jobs, lack important healthcare resources, and are more consistently threatened by violence. Women are also fourteen times more likely to die during a disaster. During times of crisis, we tend to rely on pre existing systems, change gets tossed to the side, and the gender imbalance continues to grow. So yes, the years of 2020 – 2022 have presented even more undeniable challenges for equality. That being said, many of the UN platforms persist in this fight, especially that of HeForShe.
Photo By: Jennifer Castle
Photo By: Jennifer Castle
The HeForShe call is a specific one, to all men and boys. It is a call of encouragement, to give their testimonials, while inspiring hard work towards action. The mission is concisely stated on their site, it is “an invitation for men and people of all genders to stand in solidarity with women to create a bold, visible and united force for gender equality. The men of HeForShe aren’t on the sidelines. They’re working with women and with each other to build businesses, raise families, and give back to their communities.” It is also a doing away of gender stereotypes, gender-based violence, and patriarchal routines. Equality comes in many forms. So it’s important to stay current on the many different facets of this fight. Today the HeForShe platform continues to thrive, forging forward in active hope. Several celebrities and political leaders have pledged their voice as well and recently, HeForShe held another successful Summit, which can be viewed on YouTube at any time.
Photo By: Jennifer Castle
On Sunday October 1st, the Los Angeles chapter conducted their own community HeForShe celebration. It was held beside the Santa Monica Pier and arch. This street action was extended to people of all genders, to stand in solidarity with women. They were asked to write their definition of gender equality and what it means to them. Many of them also decided to speak out. The turnout and passion behind each participant was awe inspiring. It was an amazing opportunity to get to know our community and motivate action within. UN Women hopes to project that same tangible energy into all of our future events.
#HeForShe, because when we better the rights of women, we better the rights of humanity. Equality is most attainable when we work together.
Take Part in HeForShe Actions:Because men and boys make a difference – Join HeForShe.
Photo By: Jennifer Castle
Photo by: Emmanuel Ikwuegbu
The State of Our Literacy
It’s not widely talked about but the unfortunate truth is literacy rates around the world are on a continued decline. According to UNESCO’s data, there are 773 million illiterate adults world-wide, most of them being women. There are numerous reasons behind this decline but primarily if any kind of interruption to formal education occurs, literacy rates suffer. Those interruptions take on many forms – war, political strife, persecution, natural disaster, a crashing economy, or a pandemic. Crises such as these often lead to stalled development and disruption in the fundamental tools needed for ongoing education, tools like literacy and numeracy.
Our most recent pandemic, covid-19, has been a 3-year example of this. Universal response to the crisis resulted in school closures, where students were forced to learn from home, distanced. Many students have yet to return and many schools continue to remain closed. UNESCO’s recent reflection on this stated “nearly 24 million learners might never return to formal education, out of which, 11 million are projected to be girls and young women.” The 2021 State of the Global Education Crisis further explains that for low and middle-income countries, learning losses to school closures left around 70 percent of 10-year-olds unable to read or understand simple text, this was a huge increase from the 53 percent that was recorded pre-pandemic. It’s no wonder that UNESCO, UNICEF, and World Bank Report all described this pandemic as “the worst education crisis on record.”
Learning losses were observed within U.S. elementary schools as well. Kindergartens nationwide have reported losing approximately 20 percent of their students overall. The primary losses have been in the kindergarten – 2nd grade levels and have most prominently affected children of low-income families, as well as Black and Hispanic children. In Texas, only one-third of 3rd graders were able to test at or above their grade level in 2021, compared to nearly half that passed in 2019. In Virginia, the “below benchmark” rate for evaluating early literacy skills was at an all time low. Overall, the 2021 analysis from i-Ready, an online platform for reading and math that aids to inform teachers of student literacy needs, reported that students in elementary grade levels across the country have yet to catch up to their pre-pandemic literacy grade-level
performance.
The literacy crisis was indeed worsened by the pandemic but it didn’t start there. 2019 showcased record-low reading scores on exams nationally as well as internationally and this has been an ongoing issue. The pandemic only exacerbated it by taking children out of the classrooms and away from the essential one-on-one phonetic guidance and support of their teachers. Literacy is the predominant building block towards higher education. If children miss out on this critical skill, they could have great difficulty in the rest of their educational journey; this loss in learning could affect the rest of their lives.
This is why International Literacy Day was created. It has been celebrated and organized by UNESCO since 1967, as a way of bringing focus, attention, and funding to this issue. The state of literacy amongst our communities is an important one. Literacy can often be the connector to freedoms, expression, civic action, human rights, and the strengthening of local resources. A more literate community leads to a more sustainable one. This year’s Literacy Day is specifically focused on spaces and transforming the spaces that already exist. The goal is to provide areas where learning can occur, while also encouraging a more equitable and safe environment.
So in an effort to do just that, we’d like to direct your attention to the local Angelino activists and resources listed below. These organizations are doing their best to increase literacy rates by inviting and encouraging everyone to embrace the joy of reading. They have been extremely successful in connecting communities as well as providing the materials needed to combat this issue. If you’re looking to motivate yourself towards that joy, you could start with the 10 Most Banned Books in America. This is a way to not only support the movement towards literacy but also inclusion, encouraging strength and support with those who make up the minority voice. As Lavar Burton recently stated in an interview with The View, “read the books they’re banning. That’s where the good stuff is. If they don’t want you to read it, there’s a reason why.”
Local Solutions and Resources:
The Book Truck nonprofit not only fights to provide books and book events for the community, but they also provide lit-centers for the homeless, foster care, and low-income teens. They can also be seen distributing lit-boxes (a lit-center in a box) to various neighborhoods in need.
The Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) is one of the largest nonprofit organizations for children’s literacy. They provide books, libraries, and reading resources to children, families, and educators throughout the U.S.
Reading Partners is another children’s nonprofit, based in San Francisco, but has established reading programs in 40 school districts throughout California, New York, Washington DC, Maryland, Texas, Colorado, South Carolina, Minnesota, Oklahoma, and Washington.
The Los Angeles Public Library opens up their space regularly to a series of options such as one-on-one tutoring, adult literacy classes, and family reading sessions with children. They also provide online classes or instruction by phone, through text messages.
Reading to Kids is a grassroots organization dedicated to underserved children and communities in an effort to promote a love for reading. They are best known for their reading clubs, where volunteers read aloud to small groups of children while another volunteer speaks with the parents, guiding them through the best way to encourage reading at home. It’s a dual workshop with the sole goal of literacy and everyone goes home with books.
J3 Foundation is a non-profit after-school reading program. Their approach is not only to provide literacy skills but the habits, confidence, and books as well. They strongly believe that motivation is all about finding the right book.
I Have a Dream Foundation is a nonprofit that describes itself as providing “long-term support to youth living in under-resourced communities.” The goal is to unlock and achieve each child’s full potential. They have successfully impacted approximately 11,500 individuals over the years, many of which have then chosen to come back and pay that impact forward by helping their own communities.
International Youth Day 2022: Intergenerational solidarity, Creating a World for All Ages
Ageism is defined, by the World Health Organization’s (WHO) “World Report on Aging and Health,’ as “the stereotyping of and discrimination against individuals or groups based on age,” a generalization that one is too old or too young to accomplish something. This narrow perspective can ultimately affect how we think, feel, and act towards one another, which is why (WHO) also labeled ageism as a health concern in 2016, developing a global public health campaign to help combat the issue. It’s also why the UN gave birth to International Youth Day in 2000.
International Youth Day is a day of reflection, on the work and attention younger generations bring to global issues. It is a time to encourage and connect because “solidarity across generations is key for sustainable development.” In other words, in order to move forward with our sustainable development goals, our approach could absolutely be more inclusive, equitable, and collaborative. The youth of today have a lot to say regarding old routines and pre established systems. They tend to question the “do what you’re told cause that’s the way it’s always been done,” and lean more towards the updating and improvement of them. Who are we to stand in their way?
Kevin Munger. Writer behind the book “Generation Gap,” boldly states that “the American dream is no longer true in the way it was for more than a hundred years: the average Millennial will earn less money than their parents. Generational legitimacy through progress has faltered. Young people are creating their own worlds using smartphones and the internet…. The reputations of once-revered institutions- everything from universities to the Supreme Court-are crumbling. Even the pantheon of the American civil religion is beginning to crack. It feels like the cusp of a revolution–a
new world waiting to be born. And yet. Boomers still control both major political parties, the center of electoral power, all of the major institutions (except tech companies), the mass media, the majority of wealth, and huge amounts of real estate.” By letting this happen we are stifling creative solutions and communal solidarity; we’re stifling our own sustainable development.
I’m sure we’re all familiar with the ongoing feud regarding millennials vs. boomers. This feud only succeeds in creating unnecessary conflict within communities. When we allow ageism to occur, there is disconnect within the collective. It disrupts routines, resources, communications infrastructure, and any established engagement toward civic action. Currently, the age gap is wide and extends further with the progression of tech, politics, education, culture, rights, sexual identity, health, and overall equality. Ageism continues to be an aggressive force and disrupter. It might be best then to put our differences aside for the moment and take a hard look within. Maybe once we take that time, we can then embrace our youth, their ideas, and the new-found perspectives they might have.
Immediately when I think of the influential youths of today, my mind jumps to Greta Thunberg and Malala Yousafzai. These two women embody grace and courage within their movement. They also have an insatiable passion for change. There are thousands of others however, all over the world, who are also doing their best to serve and educate. We have several examples within the U.S., with activists like Emma Gonzalez for better gun control laws, Mari Copeny who found her voice during the Flint water crisis, Jazz Jennings who speaks out against trans hate, and Katie Eder who took the “March for our Lives” and added “50 Miles More.” There are several examples. In fact if you have more you’d like to add, please list and link them in the comments below. We’d love to highlight and celebrate all of them.
It’s also important that we each take a closer look at the activists within our own cities and communities, which is why we’ve listed a few for our LA chapter. If you’re a local Angelino, please take the time to connect with your fellow youth activists, maybe wish them a happy International Youth Day.
We start our local list with individuals like Nalleli Cobo, LA resident and climate activist against big oil. She created the grassroots movement “People Not Pozos” and recently received the Goldman Environmental Prize for her work. Atlakatl Ce Tochtli Orozco, a 23 year-old activist whose work has entailed evictions and homelessness in LA, as well as climate change. He is deeply involved with LA Youth Uprising and is a board member for Future Coalition’s Youth Direct Action Fund.
We’d also like to give attention to the many movements and groups that are created by and for younger generations and the issues they face. Groups like the Youth Justice Coalition, “working to build a youth, family, and formerly and currently incarcerated people’s movement to challenge America’s addiction to incarceration and race, gender and class discrimination in Los Angeles County’s, California’s and the nation’s juvenile and criminal injustice systems.” LA Youth Uprising, a Los Angeles coalition, established in 2016 to help push systemic change through the power of youth leadership. Their primary focus is to move Los Angeles “away from a system that punishes and incarcerates young people, to a model that is committed to healing, restorative/transformative justice and youth development.” Las Photos Project, an LA movement that strives to unlock story through the art of photography, “to elevate the voices of teenage girls & gender-expansive youth from communities of color through photography and mentoring, empowering them to channel their creativity for the benefit of themselves, their community, and future careers.”
Finally the “Youth in Action” page, located within the LA Mayor’s website, is a great way to keep up-to-date on the actions of our younger LA leaders, “young people across Los Angeles are taking action today to address climate change and build a better future for their communities. You can find out about the work they are doing and learn how you can make a difference.”
Our youth can help in observing our past mistakes and in reflecting a stronger path for our tomorrow. We did it before them, our parents did it before us. It’s their turn now. They’ve been birthed into an extremely polarized world but I believe they’re up for the fight, especially with the wide variety of digital media tools and online platforms that now exist. Of course they won’t be alone, we’ll be here for any questions or doubts they may have. We’ll also be here to cheer them on. Let’s give them the conch (Boomer book reference) and start listening…. Here’s to our youth, here’s to International Youth Day.
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