More Than A Magazine, A Movement
In the midst of an uncontrolled pandemic, instead of focusing on policies to prevent death and disease, the Trump administration is pushing forward with its dangerous expansion of the global gag rule (GGR), which is a threat to health in so many countries.
We have a long way to go to ensure that the U.S. regains its position as a leader in global health.
Sexual and reproductive health advocates need to hold the Biden-Harris administration and congressional lawmakers accountable to undo the harms of the last four years, push for progressive and equitable policies, and make 2021 a turning point for sexual and reproductive health, rights and justice.
Here’s how.
Last month, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo signed the Geneva Consensus Declaration, a U.S.-led document that fired yet another shot across the bow at reproductive freedom and bodily autonomy. The signing ceremony was touted as a watershed moment in the fight against an international movement to declare a right to abortion at the expense of traditional family values.
The only problem? There very much is an international right to abortion.
Twenty-five years ago, the Beijing Declaration put a flag in the sand for gender equality. But key unfulfilled promises remain.
Globally, we must do more—and we actually have the answer.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to hold the world hostage, global leaders will gather at the largest annual inter-governmental meeting for the first time ever in a virtual session. The 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 75) will open on 15 September, and its General Debate will focus on how to respond to the pandemic and confront its challenges through multilateral action.
A set of side-events supported by UN Women in the lead up to the High-Level Meeting will put a spotlight on the need to place women front and centre of the response against COVID-19.
Adopted in 1995, the U.N.’s Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action shaped aspirations for women’s equality in the 21st century—and no amount of resistance or repression since has been able to reverse its momentum.
Kelly Currie’s job is to ensure that global women’s issues are prioritized, but the Trump administration limits much action.
In adopting a feminist foreign policy, Mexico joins conversations on gender equality that are usually monopolized by wealthy nations in Scandinavia and Western Europe. Yet Mexico’s track record of promoting women in politics domestically means it belongs in that rarefied club—and puts to shame the so-called advanced democracies that have fallen behind.
“Human history has been driven by the male drive for physical security.”
Ms. had the chance to speak with Valerie Hudson, director of the Program on Women, Peace and Security at Texas A&M University. In the new book The First Political Order, which she coauthored, Hudson makes a compelling argument for placing women’s rights and representation at the core of foreign policy and national security—because what happens to half the population is obviously going to affect the health, the wealth and the security of a nation.
As Mexico launches a feminist foreign policy, it’s worth considering what such an approach would look like in the U.S.
