The first "bit" of our seminar featured Claudette Werleigh entering lively discussion with the team on the the gender-in-development issue; This summary was kindly hacked out by Stijn Snoeck from Belgium....
On the first session of Pax Christi’s transnational youth seminar Claudette Werleigh, Pax Christi International’s secretary-General and the former prime minister of Haiti, gave a presentation on gender and peacebuilding. Ms. Werleigh is a renowned expert on gender equality and helped among others to found the women’s league for women’s empowerment, which is an organization promoting the participation of women in politics.
After an introductory presentation the participants were encouraged to ask questions to Ms. Werleigh with regard to the session’s theme. Jessica Brown, the coordinator of this transnational youth seminar, opened this question and answer session with a couple of prepared questions after which the participants were given the opportunity ask more questions and to share their opinion with regard to this session’s theme. Through these questions and answers, Ms. Werleigh shared her vision on gender equality and her personal experiences as an advocate of women’s empowerment.
Ms. Wherleigh emphasised that gender equality cannot be considered as just a women’s issue. The MDG’s with regard to gender equality not only address the specific difficulties of women. As gender roles affect every aspect within a society, from its political issues through its moral values, they also influence the achievement of other MDG’s as well. She noted that the MDG’s on gender equality are even in the developed countries not achieved. However, European and especially the Scandinavian countries have set a positive example in this regard. Several European governments have made genuine efforts to move their society beyond the traditional, male dominated role patterns and devised policies to bring more equality within both their administrations as within individual families.
Some of the governmental policies which could promote gender equality can be considered as positive discrimination. Although Ms. Werleigh is not a fervent proponent of positive discrimination, she admitted that it could be a necessary tool to bring about more equality. One can also perceive a certain gap between governmental policies and the prevailing views on gender equality within a given society; issuing a law promoting gender equality is easier than effectively changing people’s minds. Ms. Werleigh underlined this fact, noting that it can take generations before the positive effects of governmental policies trickle down into general society. Initiatives aiming to empower women can only be taken serious by men if they realize that gender equality is also beneficial to them and one cannot waver in promoting this fact.
We can no longer afford to exclude the potential of half the world’s population in the pursuit of peace and development. There is an inseparable link between gender, development and peace building: true sustainable development can only be reached in societies where the gaping chasm between the sexes is overcome, only in societies where a transition is made from a system of domination to a system of more equality and shared responsibility, a lasting peace can be built.
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