NEW YORK (UMNS) — Each year, United Methodists are among those who advocate at the United Nations on behalf of the world’s women.

This year, from March 2-13, they are adding their voices to the 2,000-plus women attending the 53rd session of the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women. The 2009 session focuses on how women and men can equally share responsibilities, including caregiving in the context of HIV/AIDS.

Amory Peck of Bellingham, Wash., the lay leader of the United Methodist Pacific-Northwest Conference, represents the fact that nearly one in 10 participants at the commission meeting is part of Ecumenical Women, a coalition of women of faith that is sponsoring parallel events at the United Methodist-owned Church Center for the United Nations.

Peck is a director of the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, which always participates in the commission sessions, according to Linda Bales, a board executive. Advocating the position of the church and of Ecumenical Women with U.S. governmental representatives is “a big part of our role at CSW,” she said

Part of the United Nations Economic and Social Council, the Commission on the Status of Women prepares reports and makes recommendations to promote women’s rights. The annual commission meeting draws representatives of both governments and nongovernmental organizations. Faith-based NGOs have participated since the commission was created in 1946.

The commission also is responsible for organizing and following up on the United Nations’ world conferences on women, most recently the Beijing conference in 1995.

Focus on equality

The themes of the annual meetings always have broader implications related to equality between men and women, according to Bales. “We would be advocates of equality for all levels of church and society – in terms of access to health, leadership opportunities, family responsibilities and employment,” she said.

Linda Bales

Church and Society counts itself as an enthusiastic supporter of Ecumenical Women, which also includes United Methodist Women. “It’s like any other kind of advocacy effort,” she explained. “When you work in solidarity with others, you’re much stronger.”

Ecumenical Women used to be more loosely organized, but “now it’s really a leading force in the NGO community,” she said. “We’re led by young people.”

One of those “amazing” young women, in Bale’s opinion, is Christine Housel, a U.S. Episcopalian working for the World Student Christian Federation at its office in Geneva, Switzerland.

Part of the organizing committee for Ecumenical Women, Housel is leading a seven-member team from the federation, which is learning to integrate into partnerships related to the United Nations. “Most of us are here for the full two weeks,” she said. “We represent all denominations.”

Housel is excited about the federation’s involvement in Ecumenical Women. “It’s leading the way in showing what ecumenical partnership can be,” she added.

Hosting two events

United Methodist Women and its corporate body, the Women's Division, United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, is hosting two events for Ecumenical Women: a March 4 discussion on “HIV/AIDS Caregiving: Race and Gender” and a March 8 interfaith celebration for International Women's Day.

An important component of the Ecumenical Women program has been morning worship, according to the Rev. Kathleen Stone, the United Methodist pastor who serves as chaplain at the Church Center for the United Nations.

“This session last year taught me how important worship is to this kind of work,” she said, adding that about 150 women are attending the service each morning. “It’s thinking about policy in a theological direction.”

Amory Peck

Peck has appreciated the vitality and diversity of the worship and has learned that representatives from even the smallest countries have a place at the table.

Before she arrived in New York, she said, she had imagined the Commission on the Status of Women as a U.N.-related version of General Conference, the top legislative body of The United Methodist Church. She led the Pacific Northwest Conference’s delegation to the 2008 General Conference last spring in Fort Worth, Texas.

“In some ways, this is not dissimilar,” she said, referring to the commission’s study of issues that matter to people in different parts of the world. But the commission also seems a bit more democratic because “each country has one vote.”

U.S. briefing

Peck and Bales were among several hundred women who attended a March 4 briefing by the five-member U.S. delegation to the Commission on the Status of Women, which is led by Meryl Frank, the mayor of Highland Park, N.J. “It gave us a chance to hear where the delegation was, meet (with them) and ask any questions,” Bales said.

Frank recently was appointed by President Barack Obama as the commission’s U.S. representative, and Peck found that Obama’s election “is just buoying up this group. There is such hope and optimism about what might be done.”

Specifically, there is optimism, Peck and Bale said, that the United States will finally ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, popularly known as CEDAW. The Board of Church and Society and United Methodist Women have long supported the treaty.

“It was palpable in the room – that sense of ‘Yes, we can,’” Peck said.

Emily Davila, assistant director of the Lutheran Office for World Community, is chairperson of Ecumenical Women. The coalition has created an advocacy guide, “Faith at the U.N., Gender in the Church,” which can be downloaded from the group’s Web site at http://ecumenicalwomen.org/.

The guide provides gender-equality action strategies for congregations, theological reflections on gender equality written by women and men from around the world, and an overview on how to advocate for women’s rights at the United Nations. Stone was one of the guide’s editors.

The “Agreed Conclusions” of each year’s session of the Commission on the Status of Women includes an analysis of the priority theme and a set of specific recommendations for implementation at all levels of society. Ecumenical Women is working on its recommendations to the commission, and a short summary can be found at http://ecumenicalwomen.org/2009/03/05/summary-draft-recommendations-to-the-csw/#more-756. 

*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.

News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.

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Resources

Ecumenical Women

Commission on the Status of Women

Beijing Platform for Action