A note prepared by Devaki Jain and Shubha Chacko
September 10, 2008
The meeting that will be held in Casablanca October 24 -26, 2008 will be the third meeting of the Casablanca group, though there have been smaller interfaces of members of the group in other places at other times. This note is being circulated to reveal that there has been a long [in this case 8 years] of processes, of consultations, of pledges from a wide assorted range of people and gatherings towards such a reflection. This is not an idea that has dropped down from above but has come from the "crowd".
» Full version of the note
Excerpts:
1. The First Ripple
June 9, 2000 in New York
At the opening session of the CONGO Conference, of the Beijing +5 (or the UNGASS Session) where Devaki Jain had said half-jokingly that "while, Buotros- Buotros Ghali, a former Secretary-General of the United Nations had put together a group of ten wise men to advise them I suggest that the UN puts together a council of ten wise women. This council or forum then could turn itself and thereby the women's movement into the most powerful lobby for social justice." She proposed then that "these women should pick up the messages that are coming from the revolutions, the rebellions, the grassroots people's movement, all the wonderful knowledge and information, and the real action that is revealed by women and from that knowledge, design a document and an agenda. Then the governments and the UN should be asked to adopt this agenda; it would be our agenda and the UN and countries could respond to it." (…)
The idea was enthusiastically welcomed by the large audience of women's groups from all over the world. A few leading women from the assembly, such as Farida Allaghi of the Arab and others wanted to translate the idea into a reality, so several small meetings were called in New York at on the sides of the UNGASS as well as again in September during the Millenium Summit. (…)
2. First Milestone
Kampala on the side of the World Congress of Women 2002
Since many of the persons who were in New York were converging in Kampala at the World Women's Congress, a meeting was called in Kampala. Again Noleen Heyzer, Nafis Sadik, Hilkka Pietila, Thelma Awori, Bisi from the New York meetings were there, but some more joined of "Ten Wise Women", (this term was dropped as too presumptuous and too exclusionary) of "women who have a track record working both in international field in the world women's movement, as well as, in relation to the UN, to think about what sorts of strategies, what kind of retrospective, what kind of future alliances are needed. To think what kind of big issues we should take up and then, decide whether that is the way we will go towards a conference or it is something we need for ourselves." (From the note circulated in calling the meeting)
A small report of this meeting (http://www.choike.org/documentos/kampala%202002.pdf) as prepared and circulated at the Beijing plus 10 as well as other gatherings such as AWID , IFFAE, over the years. Some of the outcomes of those conversations were to identify the challenges. (…)
External challenges:
- changing nature of the State and
- the questions globalisation poses;
- including the attendant problems like the increasing fragmentation of societies,
- the higher rates of inequality and growing poverty.
Could women generate a world wide campaign? Reference were made to other such other campaigns like the Jubilee 2000 (on debt cancellation) or the breast-milk one (anti- Nestles). (…) Ideas that emerged for the campaign were to emphasise thinking in terms of 'personhood' and 'rights'. This seemed to be the common thread linking everything together:
- Valuing Women as full human beings with accorded complete rights.
- Powerlessness defined as not being heard, feeling invisible.
4. Second Milestone
The book "Women, Development and the United Nations: A Sixty Year Quest for Justice" - the knowledge and constituency it created and leads it gave … This book was part of a project called the intellectual history of the UN, where a series of 14 books directed by three eminent male economists were to be produced (see website www.unhistory.org). Devaki Jain, was invited to do the gender history.
One of the aspects of the book writing which differentiated it from most of the other volumes in the series (except perhaps the human rights book) is the fact that the subject was people-centric, women. The process of writing the book in itself was one that involved the vibrant and complex women's movement, in both helpful and difficulty-creating ways. (…)
However what was distressing was to notice that much of the energy of women, generally i.e. across the usual divides of north south and others, was spent in rejecting or circumventing and invalidating or overpowering the ideas that were implanted by the mainstream discourse … perceptions of what was woman, what were her own views on issues had to be fought for, in each topic chosen by the UN for highlighting, such as population, (Helvi Sippla) culture, health , environment (Bella Abzug) and of course employment and development (Devaki Jain /Noeleen Heyzer /Dawn/NAM).
Despite sixty years of revealing that there were issues both negative namely subjugation and invisibility as well as creativity in fostering peace and justice; the hard rock of male supremacy has not been cracked. An additional cause for anger and distress was that none of the authors of the other volumes did consider the need to gender their reinvoking of history. Therefore the entire burden of the gendering of all themes rested with this one volume. (…)
Further, references, defining moments in History, intellectual fires flames lighthouses, were throughout identified with the North - knowledge was Eurocentric and androcentric. The fact that as the North was engaged with post war issues and the Marshall Plan, the South heard a different rhythm of liberation, socialism, and exciting experiments with government. The birth and spread of these ideas, with the naming of their origins is not given the same position in the recounting of the "mainstream" history and periodicity that set the format for most texts, sadly including the one about women. The past has to be viewed as "a contested and colonized terrain".
Another deep concern that emerged was the noticeable disjunction between the visibility, articulation, collective efforts and knowledge conduiting that the world wide women's movement have been able to achieve, a true revolution in terms of the consciousness of an issue and the building of a constituency; and the reality on the ground, and the increasing distress on the ground that women are facing, especially those caught in economic and social deprivation spaces .
This disjunction , noticed by several other feminists , needed attention, analysis and remedial measure, and this had also been the concern of the previous get to gethers since 2000 and earlier. During one such discussion on the book , Sakiko Fukuda Parr who at that time was on the faculty at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, felt the book should be followed up with a reflection on what it revealed and that the time was ripe for a brainstorming on the women and development discourse and frameworks.
5. Third milestone
Devaki's meeting Fatema Mernissi in Rabat 2003
Fatema invites Devaki to hold a meeting in Morocco, in partnership with the Synergie Civique where Africans and Asians could meet to address the serious issues of the world. She emphasised the need for building peace, and the role women have played and need to play in building peace, and so when the idea materialised, she gave a name to the process "Women Weave Peace into Globalisation" (see Fatema Mernissi's website www.mernissi.net)
Fatema Mernissi spoke of the purpose of knowledge whether in terms of the homebased workers - the Berber women who weave carpets - or the liberating impact of the internet on Arab women, and simultaneously her political stand on the overarching power of the North, and her own strong efforts in undermining those perceptions. It appeared to resonate the discomfort that had been generated during the process of writing the UN history book, on the exclusion of the presence of women, in the UN history collection, but also the overwhelming pressure of Eurcocentrism as the centre of all intellectual creativity.
Fatema was engaged in writing a book but through intense activism, on the impact of globalisation on traditional sources of livelihood, as well as on the skill and self worth and heritage of communities. Her subject were the Berber women carpet weavers who lived in the Atlas Mountains. These women are also the store house of wisdom, cultural history, spirituality knowledge. Along with a remarkable informal group called the Synergie Civique, she was engaged in recording their knowledge, while simultaneously enabling them to market their products through the modern technology of internet marketing. Synergie Civique has in it a mix of weavers, artists, activists, academics, art gallery owners, publishers and others. And Fatema's research seems to speak to the "soul wounds" that the indigenous people speak of as what 'development' has done to them. And at the same time show that it is possible to bridge the conventional divides in dialogue.
The women carpet weavers, along with intellectuals like Fatema, envisioned the kind of society they want to build, but are overwhelmed and often overpowered by the increasing mechanisation of carpet making, and the inroads into their homes by the ethic of money making, the enticement of the so-called modern world. (…)
6. Fourth Milestone
The round table in Casablanca, January 12th to 15th 2007
Twelve women from different countries including India, South Africa, the Philippines, Turkey, Zimbabwe, and Morocco, plus invited observers from several countries met at Casablanca, 12 -15 January 2007. One of the major advantages or characteristics of this particular meeting was its location - not only in North Africa and in a country that is part of what is called the "Arab and Islamic world" which is a misnomer, but also the association with Fatema Mernissi and the informal network Synergie Civique.
Starting the journey from Morocco, could shift the perceptions about the region, as being tormented by female exclusion, fundamentalism, with preoccupations with the veil and the fatwa, into being perceived as the intellectual fountainhead for the international women's movement.
The agenda was to move beyond the Beijing Platform for Action and the Millennium Development Goals. While understanding that these two international documents have played a critical role in making the issue of gender visible and offering frameworks to gauge progress; the fact also is that the globe has changed in significant ways - in its politics and its economics, its landscapes of institutions and laws, and its approaches and ideologies to transformation since Beijing (1995) and more dramatically since the opening of this 21st century.
Therefore the brief at the Casablanca meeting was to take note of the current scenario and develop a new framework
The questions that were addressed were
- If we are to replace the headlines or format for programming and for monitoring from the BPFA 10 points or the MDG, what would they be Can we capture an idea, something like Gandhiji's fistful of salt( The Salt Satyagraha of 1930 was a non-violent struggle for freedom from colonial rule, on a countrywide scale. The mode was a long march on foot to the sea front where salt is manufactured, where Gandhi picked up a fistful of salt , to rebel against the salt tax , symbolic of civil disobedience , a form of rebellion) which turned around imperialism, that is a pole to unite around - to show that the women's movement stands for something, i. e. a purpose, a preoccupation, an agenda that could be a challenge to global politics from a global voice, that of women?
One of the frameworks that emerged after the two day meeting in Casablanca, was to hang the facts and analysis and evaluation, under the broad themes of
Women, Water and Wealth: Getting the Fundamentals Right shifting away from goals such as gender equality, mainstreaming gender etc.
Entry points for these Headings or Poles:
- Women's work and macroeconomics: To make women's contribution to the economies visible, how to re-shift the risk from the poor women's shoulders, how to change macroeconomic decisions in favour for women's well-being. To build the women's movement, into the principal actor, the global political force .
- The privatisation of basic needs worldwide: For example of water, was one of the punishing aspects of the new economics. So Water became a symbol for assessing and replacing the idea of privatization of basics. Water privatisation in less developed countries is spreading with disastrous effects on the life of women. Could such policies be seen as a crime against humanity? And taken to the International Criminal Court?
- Wealth captures many elements of the economic domain - the rising inequality in wealth and incomes in the world, the ownership of assets, the corporate power replacing the state … and focuses on inequality
At the meeting we launched a website www.casablanca-dream.net as a tool that will facilitate follow-up, participation, consolidation and resource sharing.
In designing the preparation for future conferences (women's and others), to draw upon the knowledge on women workers in export oriented areas, be they, special export oriented industrial estates or even outsourcing, BPO's and migration, thus taking note of the current location of woman in the political economy of the globe, the nature of their work, the conditions of their work, the contribution of their work and then consider international legal covenants, which will enable them to avail of the opportunity without being in any way 'injured'.
To give value to women's non monetised work. Developing measures which would bring in women's "real" contribution. Giving visibility to women's contribution was an important suggestion and therefore again, a proposal that the UN system of national accounts needs to be recast.
The new increasing female migration has been highlighted by many documents, but as argued in Devaki Jain's paper for the NAM Summit, it would be a pioneering step and an important one for the South countries to consider drafting a self governing covenant between the South countries, which would offer a certain kind of protection to women and girls who are migrating from one South country to another.
Regarding Institutional spaces Some consideration could be given to the following two institutions.
One, the Bureaus of Women Affairs. These bureaucratic structures which include several other institutions allied to them, like Commissions on Women, have to some extent, been overtaken by the overall thrust of the global political economy. They are still engaged with protective legislation under the welfaristic mode, while their constituency, namely women, have moved from being objects of welfare, even though that still persists, into becoming major economic agents, but vulnerable. There is need to reconstruct the "women support" spaces, with more emphasis on self generated collective voice, as done eg by SAWID (South African Women In Dialogue http://www.sawid.co.za/)
To see how far international law, especially since the setting up of the International Criminal Court; could also be used to in some sense, to 'call attention or punish crimes against humanity, including crimes against the poor and crimes against the environment'. A build up can be made just as the South countries made a build up into WTO the Doha round etc. to see how far corporates and governments which are targeting environment and within it those who are impoverished can be brought to book under crimes against humanity..
Regarding fashioning new spaces
To follow a similar process in negotiating the relationship between women workers and the multinationals corporations as is done in the case of the bargaining and negotiations between countries, for regional cooperation or trade agreements or political agendas, or which is undertaken for agricultural products and other issues. It is important for the South countries to form a consolidated front, in dealing with MNCs -rather than that they deal with individual countries. A broad based front would prevent exploitation and enhances opportunities.
Again, the debtor's forum which was proposed by the South Commission as a form of offering a front, a club which can be built on solidarity for negotiating debt - can be recalled on other issues . Similarly, there can be a South-centred club for negotiating the movement of the international capital for the creation of products and services.
For the South countries to together pressure global institutions that have direct influence on national decision-making on vital issues such as privatization of water .
To provide unencumbered, non institutional space for local women's groups to engage with each other in dialogue across difference, in order to propose a unified set of advise and advisories to national governments. The institutionalization of what is called the civil society into registered NGOs, international NGOs, the NGO as an actor, was examined critically by the group. Dialogue across difference, spaces for grassroots women to engage with others and create a solidarity front where the consensus emerges through dialogue was seen as one more shift from the traditional separation of institutions into government and non-government. This would make way for the 'women's movement' to be involved in all the major conferences, critically, on behalf of their less privileged sisters, whether trapped in poverty or trapped in conflict situations.
To institute, a women's advisory check rather like the like the environmental clearance that is now mandatory for major projects, but the women's check has to be very specifically from the point of view of women in deprivation. In other words, the social category has to be identified, since women were not homogenous category.
As we left Casablanca all the participants pledged that they would carry the ideas wherever possible through papers, lectures etc.
7. The Fifth Milestone
Istanbul 20th and 26th July 2007
The intersection of the Casablanca group with the Gender and Macro International Working Group (GEM-IWG) at the 8th International Conference on Engendering Macroeconomics and International Economics. (…)
The issues that the conference revolved around were wide ranging - from employment-guarantee schemes to time-use studies to gender budgeting. The presentations and intervention too were mixed - from broad overviews, to case studies, to experience of practitioners. Networks shared information about themselves, and NGOs spoke on their work at the grassroots.
There was one panel devoted exclusively to the Casablanca vision under the theme of Towards a Humane and Just World. Here we argued that what we need are world class ideas. New formulations. We argued that given the shifts in the scenario we need to shift our way of thinking from action following theory, to theory arising out of action, what we have learnt.
(…)
The group would attempt to build a or arrive at what could be called a feminist sustainable development model drawing on women's knowledge (gained from their life experiences and produced form their standpoint) to save the world:
- Reimagining modernisation
Moving from expansion of private consumption to expansion of sustainable social consumption, through varities of social investment and better finance development and wider fiscal space. - Reimagining measures
Integrating unpaid work into national accounts Deprivation and poverty - Reimagining knowledge
Validating and liberating indigenous knowledge - it now captured and appropriate - Reimagining work including reconciliation of Productive and Reproductive and Labour Standards - Cambodia as an example
- Reimagining Distrubution and Redistribution
- Reimagining social protections
- Reimagining the State
Also in light of issues of global governance and building democratic institutions at all levels - Reimagining Justice
To reemphasise economic and social rights and include poverty as a violation by the state of their Obligation to Human Rights - Reimagining Identity
- Reimagining of Security
Moving the message forward :
Subsequently the thinking has been flagged into various arenas. These include
1. Multilateral spaces such as the Non-Aligned Movement, the NAM Institute for the Empowerment of Women,( http://www.niew.gov.my/) United National Development Programme,(www.undp.org) India-Brazil- South Africa (IBSA) (www.ibsa-trilateral.org) and South Centre (www.southcentre.org) and Inter Parliamentary Union (www.ipu.org/)
2. NGO networks such as Society for International Development (www.sidint.org) and the World Congress of Rural Women. (www.nda.agric.za/docs/WCRW)
3. Other networks such as The International Working Group on Gender, Macroeconomics and International Economics- GEM-IWG,(www.econ.utah.edu/genmac) The African Women's Millennium Initiative on Poverty and Human Rights AWOMI (www.awomi.org) and South African Women In Dialogue (SAWID) are partners in this endeavour
Casablanca III then is the culmination or one step more in a long process that started in 2000, and whose quest and responses have been resonated in several large and small spaces.
Annexes about participants, activities and further meetings: see the full version.
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