And so we have arrived. The reason I came to New York in the first place, the UN Commission on the Status of Women. At the time of writing, we've had Saturday and Sunday for orientation and the Youth Forum. Monday was the official opening and it has been an experience, to say the least.
I'll start with Saturday. The orientation for the Ecumenical women was an all day event, with worship, a panel, and a meet and greet. It was also the first time it sort of started to sink in that you were going to be spending the next week with people from all over the world around you (it didn't quite sink in totally. That happened on Saturday.) There were at least a couple hundred women at the orientation day, from a variety of Christian denominations, and it was the first glimpse I got of the colour pop the ladies from different parts of Africa were going to provide for the next week. I obviously didn't get to talk to every one, but from accents, clothes, and looks, I know there were people from Ghana, South Africa, Mexico, Guatemala, Chile, China, Japan, and numerous States, to name but a few.
Music, of course, is the great unifier. Once people had a tune down, they joined in, whether their English was perfect or otherwise. That was pretty darn cool. Also, there is something very cool about singing with that many Black American women. They are far more willing to get straight into the music, and it's infectious.
There was a panel that was quite interesting, with some very articulate speakers, and I got to hear the first of the several speeches from Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, the Executive Director of UN Women. She's pretty darned cool.
Other than that, Saturday was much like any other orientation day. That or I was tired and not appreciating things as much as I could/should have (I can't decide which one is more appropriate).
On to Sunday. Sunday, well. Sunday was very interesting. Sunday was the second day of the Youth Forum, combined with the Working Group on Girls orientation. It was held in the UN, which was rather awesome. There were some very good panels and speakers, but if I'm being honest that wasn't the main takeaway from the day for me.
This was the day where it hit home how global this was. How many people in the room were from completely different continents and from cultures with very different realities than mine and the people in my group. And yet, how similar other parts of our lives were. The sheer diversity was astounding. And there really isn't anything quite like realizing, in the middle of clapping and hollering after a particularly good talk, that the ladies from Africa are trilling and it's carrying over the rest of the noise in a high counterpoint.
Another thing that really sunk in, and this was specifically because it was the Youth Forum, was a sort of sparkling, effervescent feeling of hope. Like if there were this many of us (most of whom were under thirty) who felt this way, then maybe we weren't all as screwed as it sometimes feels like we are. There was a feeling of energy and not quite excitement that seemed to permeate everything about Sunday.
That's the good stuff. Now for the stuff that was either not so brilliant, or made me feel conflicted. The opening of the forum was, quite literally, a table full of men. One woman, and about seven men. All the men seemed like lovely people, and most of them were involved with or running organizations that are promoting women and girl's rights and freedoms, but it was still a very jarring thing to see and me twitchy. The following panel had something of the same problem. It was a He for She panel, and all the panelists had interesting things to say and were doing good work, but it was two men, one woman, and one non binary person. Also a bit jarring.
Now, the part that had me having literal mental arguments with myself at this point is something which is entirely on me and my own issue. Jacob Thomas, the non-binary person, is a lot of fun to listen to and had some very important things to say about representation of all genders, among other things. Look them up. Now for the shit that is my own. They look male, because that was the body they were born in, but they aren't. I get that. The cause of the arguments with self was when I was watching the panelists one part of my brain kept saying "that's three men and a woman, that's uncomfortably skewed one way" at which point the other part of my brain would give the first part a mental smack and say, "One woman, one non-binary, two men! Still skewed, but get it right for god's sake!" And then the worrying part of my brain would start being concerned about the fact that I kept classing them as he cause that was the wrong thing and "why do I keep doing that...?" I still haven't quite figured it out, it's still bothering me, and I have a feeling I could write a whole separate post about that topic. But I also thought I should at least mention it as it was a not insignificant part of the day.
Then there were some workshops. I liked the self defense one! http://the-purepoint.com/ though I remember feeling rather resigned when it got full. Most of the people participating were under nineteen, and most had very good questions. "What do I do if I'm being choked, what if they're a lot bigger/stronger than me, what do I do if they grab my ponytail?" It makes you sad. Very useful information though.
Last thing that happened (mostly, anyway) was the Canadians in the room were asked to head out to the all so we could all meet the Canadian Minister for Status of Women, Mariam Monsef and a few others. So we went out, most of us got to have at least a brief chat with her, (she actively sought out one of our younger group members, which was cool for A) and somewhere there is a group picture of all the Canadians with the minister. Then we went back in, there was a lot more talking and at a certain point I zoned out. It was a reaaaally long day. The last two things that stuck in my head though, were when one of the ladies speaking called up a twelve year old girl she'd been chatting with earlier to join them at the table. The twelve year old had some of the best quotes of the day.
"Love is like a doughnut. You want to share it. And if you aren't gonna eat it, what's the point of having it in your hand?"
Last but not least, A was one of the people asked to hand over the Youth declaration to the ministers present, which was rather exciting for her (and her mother).
Also, I am apparently "A's second mum" now. This is not the first time I have been mistaken as someone's parent. I should probably embrace it.
No comments:
Post a Comment