Conference Report — UNPAC (Mb)
UN Platform for Action Committee (Manitoba)

“Girls Today, Women Tomorrow”

held in Winnipeg, Manitoba March 27 and 28, 1998

UNPAC (Manitoba) gratefully acknowledges the support of Status of Women Canada.

Conference Committee Members:

Roberta Bishop, Babs Friesen, Justine Kiwanuka, Stella LeJohn, Leonore Saunders, Muriel Smith, Irene McKenzie, Shirley Walker, Sue Irving, Susan Hancharyk, Bunny Gurvey, Stuart Hanks, Marge Pawliw

Conference Facilitators and Recorders:

Megan Glassco, Esme Stewart, Nancy Buchanan, Robby Simpson, Betty Hopkins, Louisa Loeb, Audrey McClelland, Jessica Irvine, Audrey Myers

Conference Coordinator:

Esther Tran

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CONTENTS

GIRLS TODAY, WOMEN TOMORROW CONFERENCE

  1. Introduction
  2. Conference Agenda
  3. Greeting From Chair Of UNPAC (MB)
    Coordinating Committee Esme Stewart
  4. Greeting From UNPAC Conference
    Committee Chair Justine Kiwanuka
  5. Our Sisters, Our Future: The Girl Child
    Notes On Keynote Address By Rosemary Brown
  6. The Life Of The Girl Child
    Speaker: Megan Dobchuk-Land
  7. Women Taking Action On Human Rights
    Speaker: Louise Simbandumwe
  8. Young Women And The Arts
    Speaker: Rose Namubiru-Kirumira
  9. Images Of The Goddess
    Speaker: Betty Donaldson
  10. Workshop #1
    Messages From The Mass Media: What Messages Are They Sending Us? What Can We Do About It? Resource Person: Alison Hanks
  11. Workshop #2
    Self Images Can Help Or Harm. How Are They Shaped? Resource Person: Nayyar S. Javed
  12. Workshop #3
    Community Action Workshop: Date Rape And Violence Against Women Resource Person: Gladys Marquez (AM) Ella Clark and Fatima Tavares (PM)
  13. Workshop #4
    Bridging The Generation Gap — Girls And Women, Can They Talk The Same Language? Resource Person: Estella Muyinda
  14. Workshop #5
    Cultural Bridging — Can We Make It Work For Us? Resource Persons: Natasha Mohammed And Maria Diaz
  15. Workshop #6
    Putting The "E" In Leaf — Equality Education Through Interactive Theatre Resource Person: Ellen Peterson
  16. Conference Outcome
  17. Preconference workshops
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Conference Agenda

“GIRLS TODAY, WOMEN TOMORROW CONFERENCE”
March 27 and 28, 1998

“Girls Today, Women Tomorrow”
– Friday, March 27
ScheduleEventFeaturing
6:30 –
7:00 pm:		 — Registration and Coffee —
7:00 –
7:15 pm:		 — Welcome —

Opening Remarks

UNPAC Coordinating Chair, Esme Stewart
7:15 –
7:30 pm:		 — Greetings — Rosemary Vodrey, Minister of Culture, Heritage and Citizenship / Minister responsible for Multiculturalism and Status of Women / Minister charged with the administration of The Liquor Control Act / MLA for Fort Garry
7:30 –
8:00 pm:		 — Speaker —

“Young Women and The Arts”

Rose F. Namubiru, Professor at the School of Arts, University of Makerere, Uganda
8:00 –
8:30 pm:		 — Speaker —

“The Life of the Girl Child”

 Megan Dobchuk-Land, an advocate for the International Children’s Organization “Free the Children”
8:30 –
8:45 pm:		 — Break —

refreshment break

8:45 –
10:45 pm:		 — Social —
Entertainment / Social 		Sister Dorothy and Ainsley Fiesen
“Girls Today, Women Tomorrow”
– Saturday, March 28
ScheduleEventFeaturing
8:30 –
9:00 am:		 — Registration and Coffee —
9:00 –
9:05 am:		 — Welcome —

Conference Committee Chair's Remarks

Committee Chair, Justine Kiwanuka
9:05 –
10:10 am:		 — Keynote Address —

“Our Sisters, Our Future: the Girl Child”

 Rosemary Brown
10:10 –
10:30 am:		 — Speaker —

“Women Taking Action On Human Rights”

Louise Simbandumwe
10:30 –
10:45 am:		 — Break —

refreshment break
10:45 am–
12:00 pm:		 — Workshops —

see below table, for list of workshops

 six concurrent workshops
12:00 –
12:50 pm:		 — Luncheon —
12:50 –
1:10 pm:		 — Presentation —

Luncheon presentation on Women's Spirituality

Betty Donaldson
1:10 –
1:35 pm:		 — Video —

Video Presentation

 “Images of the Goddess”
1:35 –
1:50 pm:		 — Discussion — “Images of the Goddess” discussion
2:00 –
3:15 pm:		 — Workshops —

see below table, for list

 repeat of six concurrent workshops
3:15 –
3:30 pm:		 — Break —

Refreshment Break
3:30 –
4:00 pm:		 — Plenary —
4:00 –
5:00 pm:		 — AGM —

All are Welcome

 UNPAC'S Annual General Meeting

Concurrent Workshops

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INTRODUCTION

In Canada violence against girls cuts across class, racial and economic boundaries. It includes prenatal sex selection, infanticide, incest, genital mutilation, sexual abuse, harassment, assault, battering, murder, rape, forced marriage, child prostitution, pornography, exploitation and neglect.

These issues along with other topics relating to the girl child were approached at the conference from many different angles. Experienced activist, writer and lecturer Rosemary Brown gave a powerful keynote presentation:

In the 60’s and 70’s, when the women’s movement and feminism were born, women didn’t believe they could help themselves, let alone their daughters. They too often accepted blame for "misbehavior" when they or their daughters were raped, beaten, sexually harassed or were victims of incest.

Through workshops like today’s we can help ourselves become empowered. The work must start at home, but the struggle is worldwide.

Conference participants also heard from Megan Dobchuk-Land, Louise Simbandumwe, and Rose Namubiru-Kirumira. Megan, a sixteen year old woman who has actively been involved with the international children’s rights organization Free the Children, recently returned from an international conference in Toronto entitled Girls! Stories Worth Telling.

In order to improve the lives of girls all over the world, governments, non-government organizations, media, boys, men, women and girls must take immediate action on five main issues. Gender Equity, Health, Violence, Labour Exploitation and Education.

Louise Simbandumwe , a founding Member of the Burundi Action Committee who immigrated from Burundi in 1979, shared some of her experiences and some of the human rights violations occurring in Burundi today:

It is sheer luck that my parents are still alive today. If they had been killed, I would have been an orphan in a country that has been very cruel to its girl children. This knowledge has been a driving force behind my efforts to find out more about human rights violations in Burundi and in other countries.

Rose F. Namubiru-Kirumira, a professor at the School of Arts at the University of Makerere in Uganda spoke about women’s central role in African traditional artforms as well as contemporary art in Uganda:

It should be noted that most of the activities that involved the making of these items, especially those that were to be used in the homes were always made by the women and these women always made it a point to make them as beautiful as possible and to pass on their techniques to their daughters.

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PRE-CONFERENCE

The Pre-conference activities were successfully implemented by two of the strategic committees — Manitoba Outreach and Community Action.

MANITOBA OUTREACH — The focus was on Rural and Northern communities. The Take Action Project continued, and individuals, organizations, and communities were provided with funds up to 500,000, for initiated projects, that planned to educate and take action in their local communities, on issues related to the 12 critical areas. The funds covered resource materials, expenses for guest speaker or theatre groups, or venue rental cost for an event. Written reports were submitted on completion of each project.

Nine projects were funded:

CommunityProject Description
Lake St. Martin Health Services: Community Kitchen and Family Violence
Carman: Substance Abuse and Chemical Dependency
Ebb and Flow First Nation:  Family Communication About Sexuality
Watermen First Nation: Sexual Assault and Safer Sex- Grade 5-9
Lakeshore Resource Centre: Taking Care of Me
Snow Lake Centre on Family Violence: Four Week Group on Self-esteem
Brandon: Child and Youth Exploitation
O-chi-chak-ko-si-pi- First Nation: Taking Care of Our Own

WORKSHOPS

Several workshops were held to generate information that described local women’s needs and concerns as they relate to the 12 critical areas, and action plans implemented.

COMMUNITY ACTION COMMITTEE —

Representatives conducted information sessions/focus groups meetings with young women to learn about their interests and concerns, and to inform them about the UN Platform for Action. This totaled 53 young women and 2 men, ranging in ages 17-24 years old, from the following groups:

The findings from the discussions varied according to the particular context and needs of the young women. Some of the areas of concern identified were: violence and or rape; the portrayal of women in the media; and the impact on their self-esteem. These ideas were included and reflected in the Conference format e.g. workshop topics, youth keynote speakers and resource personnel, and special meeting area. The youth were an integral part of the Conference and participated in all areas.

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Greeting from Chair of UNPAC (MB) Coordinating Committee

Esme Stewart

The Honourable Rosemary Vodrey, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, it is indeed an honour and a privilege to welcome you on behalf of UNPAC, to our Annual Conference. Your presence is greatly appreciated. I know that many of you have traveled a long distance to be with us this evening, to you I say a special thank you.

The UNPAC Platform for Action Committee (MB) is an Association of Manitoba women dedicated to seeking equality for women through the implementation of the Platform for Action. This document was agreed to by Canada at the fourth World Conference on Women. Although 2 years have passed since the Beijing Conference, the inspiration it generated has remained with many up to today.

The work of UNPAC is facilitated by action oriented committees namely;

Some of the initiatives include:

The Conference this weekend, was planned by the Conference Committee. The theme, "Girls Today Women Tomorrow," is very significant. The Take Action for Equality, Development and Peace, a document produced by the Beijing Facilitating committee states that, "girl children have particular barriers to overcome if they are to participate equally with boys and men in today’s society, developing their skills and reaching their potential as workers and decision makers.

Although, since Beijing, significant gains have occurred in some countries, many obstacles still exist locally, nationally and internationally. Recent attacks in our own city, as reported in the print and electronic media, and the stories told by young girls attending a Conference in Toronto sponsored by four international children’s rights advocacy groups, attest to this. These situations reinforce the tenet that, "the rights of girls need to be recognized because of the significance in the advancement of women."

The Conference provides an opportunity for open communication between girls and women. It provides an opportunity for both groups to identify issues and concerns, and to work co-operatively to plan actions, being cognizant that, gender issues are human rights issues that affect all ages, and all socio-economic groups.

The Conference Committee, has put together a team of motivating speakers and presenters who will add their expertise and knowledge, to facilitate the cross fertilization of ideas. It is our hope that, you will enjoy the conference, that you benefit from the networking contacts and fellowships which will take place over the weekend. It is also, our hope that, you will listen, and learn, think and ponder, grow and develop; and take hold of, and grasp the future, to achieve a more balanced and just society for women.

As we face the new millennium, let us go forward with renewed strength and commitment to work diligently, to overcome the barriers to peace, development and equity. Thanks to the Status of Women for their financial support. Thanks to the Conference coordinator, the committee, and other individuals who helped the conference reach fruition. Thanks to you, the participants for being here. Please have a productive conference.

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Greetings from UNPAC Conference Committee Chair

Justine Kiwanuka

It is with great pleasure that I welcome you all this morning to the United Nations Platform for Action (UNPAC) (MB) Conference entitled "Girls Today Women Tomorrow".

First, on behalf of the UNPAC Conference Committee and UNPAC at large, I would like to thank Status of Women Canada, especially, Krystyna Hnatiw for the funding and the support provided for this conference; UNPAC’s Community Outreach Committee, the Communications Committee and the MB Outreach Committee; the University of Winnipeg Women’s Studies; Esther Tran, our Conference Coordinator; and MATCH International Committee for your tireless effort that has made this conference possible.

The goal for this year’s conference is to look at some issues that affect girls and women, to provide a forum for girls and women of all ages, and to identify ways we can work together for personal growth, equality of life and the creation of a more equitable community. This Conference is a great opportunity for us all girls, young women, seniors, the in-between ages, disabled and able-bodied women. It is an opportunity to look at the transitions in our lives, and to appreciate what we have. The Conference will help us to recognize the trends in the girl child’s life: to acknowledge the past; to work and transform the present; and to mould the future for the girls of sharing, empowering, supporting, educating, improving, listening and working together on implementing what will make life worth living for our girls today, and tomorrow’s leaders.

The theme for this year’s Conference "Girls Today Women Tomorrow" comes as a result of one of the 12 Critical Areas of Concern that were developed by the NGOs from around the world and were adopted at the 1995 Beijing World Conference on Women by the UN member states. This year in March, the Girl Child was one of the four critical areas of concern that the UN Commission on Status of Women (CSW) took into consideration at the meeting which I just attended in New York. The other three critical areas of concern taken into consideration by CSW this year were: Violence Against Women; Human Rights of Women, and Women and Armed Conflict. Also the Optional Protocol to the convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) was also debated.

As Karin Sham Poo, the Deputy Executive director of UNICEF, pointed out, "half of the world’s children are girls. "Today’s girl is tomorrow’s woman, and progress for women must encompass progress for girls". UNICEF also noted that of the 130 million children in the developing countries without access to education, 81 million are girls, and nearly two thirds of the world’s almost 1 billion illiterate adults are women. (Beijing and Beyond; Journalists Look at Women’s Issues into the 21st Century). If half of the world’s children are denied the equal rights and opportunities, and their social and economic progress is restricted, then their future development and advancement in life are hindered.

Through UNPAC we have been trying to "bring Beijing home" as we work together to implement the Beijing Platform for Action, as well as influence our governments to take action on commitments they made in 1995. We are also working on a process of including all women and connecting with local NGOs, institutions, and schools to share the outcome of the Beijing Fourth World Conference on Women. UNPAC has produced booklets on some of the 12 critical areas of concern, namely: Health, Education, and Violence. These booklets are user-friendly and they analyze in detail the critical areas of concern. We have samples of these booklets on the UNPAC display table; please take a look at them.

Today, we have six workshops which run concurrently; please join in the sharing and exchange of information. We hope at the end of the conference we will generate resolutions that we can work on for future change.

I would like to leave you with a quotation from The Greatness Which Might Be Theirs: by the Bahai International Community Office for the Advancement of Women:

“The girl child: we must declare that her capacity is equal, even greater than man’s. This will inspire her with hope and ambition, and her susceptibilities for advancement will continually increase”.

I thank you again and wish you a good conference.

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OUR SISTERS, OUR FUTURE: THE GIRL CHILD

Notes on Keynote Address by Rosemary Brown

The girl child was put on the agenda of the Beijing Fourth UN Conference on Women because of initiatives by women from the poorer countries. Commitments were made to address the many particular problems faced by the girl child.

Women must ask how the women’s movement arrived at the place it finds itself today. In the ’60s and ’70s, when the women’s movement and feminism were born, women didn’t believe they could help themselves, let alone their daughters. They too often accepted blame for "misbehaviour" when they or their daughters were raped, beaten, sexually harassed or were victims of incest.

Children in all countries and under all religions were exploited even when equality was preached. They were powerless and dependent. Children suffered from enforced early marriage, exploitative child labour, a disproportionate number of abortions of female fetuses, female genital mutilation, and sexual slavery. Meanwhile, women were struggling for the right to vote, to work outside the home, for access to education and health care, nutrition and the right to choose whether or not to have an abortion.

Each family had an unwritten code of silence. Women avoided divorce because they didn’t know how to support themselves. With little education, most were dependent on their husbands. Protection of daughters was sacrificed to economic exploitation and socio-economic survival. Even in countries with stated commitment to equality, women and girls were devalued. Such systemic discrimination, economic exploitation and socio-economic powerlessness had to be challenged. This led to the struggle for the right to be equal, to believe in ourselves. If you have low self-esteem, it will be the mental barriers which will stop you, even when the path may be open.

There are still barriers. While many raised their consciousness that girls are our sisters, women’s liberation was never for ourselves alone, but also for boys and men. We must tell our children what the world we inherited was like. They must carry on the struggle. Our sons are also in our minds; they and their fathers must be part of the change process, and that terrifies them. We have too often failed to pass on the reasons for our struggle, the pride we took in feminism as it was opening closets. The experience was exhausting. The media and governments were hostile. Society was complacent. Wife beating, incest and back street abortions were marginalized and trivialized; now they are on national and international agendas. There are platforms on which to build. There is self esteem with which to carry on. There are role models in a full range of occupations.

We should focus on four steps. The first is education. Education is more than school curriculum and experience. Ending female genital mutilation is not enough. People must know the history of women being seen as mere property and so valued; why that was so, how it was accomplished, and how other women still carry on the subjugation. It is not enough to say no to beating; we must know the history of why it was accepted that men had the right to own women and to beat the women they owned. We must build our consciousness in order to protect ourselves, and to see that violence can never be an expression of love.

Change will not come about through ignorance. We must know why practices which were accepted in the past must be challenged and changed in the present. Knowledge is power. Give the girl child self protection, the right and power to say no to touching, and to report it. Empower our girls and respect their decisions. Past practices, re-enforced through socialization, robbed girls and women of their human rights and personhood. A woman’s dignity and destiny depend on society’s decision to recognize her human rights.

The second step is not to confine our efforts to our own families or countries but to work for women globally. See the link between lack of respect for women and labour exploitation in Asia, sex slavery in Thailand, abuse of street children in Africa, early marriage in Africa, prostitution and sex slavery everywhere. One woman’s liberation cannot be bought at the expense of another woman’s liberation. In Mexico, liberation of women from the North is seen to depend on the exploitation of poor Southern women, of racial minority women. Rights gained by one group can easily be lost unless enjoyed by all: women in the trade union movement, women in the women’s liberation movement, poor women, minority women. Solidarity is not enough. There must be a recognition of common oppression, of common exploitation, and the recognition must extend to girl children everywhere — beyond the barriers of geography, religion and culture.

The third step involves dealing with culture. Global solidarity has been blocked when women have worked against local cultural practices. Outside women have been perceived as intrusive and patronizing. Older women too often said "culture is sacrosanct". Then we northern women looked at violence, labour exploitation and discrimination in our own society, and we could not accept that "culture" was "sacrosanct". We worked to change our culture. And we reached out because we believed that "sisterhood" was "global". We saw cultural practices as not always right, fair, free of violence, or protective of women and girls. We went after wife beating and spousal violence. We saw the same arguments that had been used to control us were being used to justify cruel and inhuman treatment of children, in exploitative labour, in the child sex trade, and in poverty. We accepted that other women needed our help in changing those cultural practices which demeaned, oppressed and even killed. Remember slavery? The economic survival of one group depended on the dehumanization of an entire race of people. The arguments used against women’s rights are not new. Oppression is not new. But people of good will have rejected them if they caused shame. They questioned the practices and sought to have them discontinued.

The fourth step is the understanding that the task is never ending. A right gained does not mean a right secured. There must be eternal vigilance. The girl child was one of the twelve critical areas of concern identified in the Beijing Platform for Action. Although a separate area of concern, it is important to remember that the girl child is affected by all other 11 areas: poverty, discrimination in education and health care, violence, armed conflict, human rights, the environment, sharing of power, the media and international machinery. The Fourth World Conference on Women set the global context. We must now see what we can do to improve the quality of life of street kids in South America, in Sarajevo, in Somalia, in Labrador and in Winnipeg.

The Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women talked about adolescents of today: about the choices they must make about morality, sexual standards, drugs in schools; about the challenges and uncertainties they face because of changing family structures, the sex and violence they see on TV and in the nuclear family. They depend on adults for advice, but the adults grew up in a different world. Our struggle for equality was easier because less complex. Young people today, here and elsewhere, are for the most part smarter, tougher and more resilient than we were at the same stage. We want them to be safe, to have access to good education and health care, to job opportunities, and to the chance to develop to their full potential. Through workshops like today’s, we can help ourselves to become empowered. The work must start at home, but the struggle is worldwide.

Discussion:

(Q): What is the link between economic ideology and culture, violence and education?
(A): Economic analysis is very important and helps us to understand a situation, but socialization (beliefs, self image) is even more important in the empowerment process.

(Q): Don’t men share many of the same problems because of "private ownership", whether of land, wealth or a woman, that destroyed the powers that women had in an earlier era?
(A): Yes, that played a role for both.

(Q): What about the differences among women? Aren’t women of colour, working women and aboriginal women more oppressed than white women?
(A): Incest, wife beating and violence against women don’t respect race, and exist everywhere — It is important not to be divisive in our analysis — A systemic analysis is needed.

(Q): How does patriarchy and its support for "traditional family values" relate to self esteem and self image?
(A): Patriarchy must be challenged — the oppressive father at the centre making all the decisions. Women’s liberation challenged all that. "We won’t walk two steps behind. We will walk beside." 2000 years of socialization are still there, in our heads, even though we have passed some good laws, have done some good analysis and have built some self esteem.

(Q): Congratulations from another black woman, from Tanzania. Women’s liberation depends on solidarity and cooperation more than on separateness based on religion, race and culture.
(A): Agreed.

(Q): Why are women in wheelchairs looked down on, seen as "not really women"?
(A): The barriers are in our heads; we have to make the changes there.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ACTION

We must overcome the barriers and the silence surrounding the mistreatment of women through:

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THE LIFE OF THE GIRL CHILD

Speaker: Megan Dobchuk-Land

Free the Children focuses on establishing programs and activities that will reduce the poverty and exploitation of children throughout the world. Advocates for Free the Children promote children’s rights as outlined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. We also work to give youth a voice on issues that affect them on a local, national and international level.

As a representative of Free the Children, I have had many opportunities to participate in conferences and speaking engagements across the country. Recently I was invited to Toronto to participate in an international conference entitled Girls! Stories Worth Telling. A total of 31 delegates, all of which were girls, attended the week long event, held at the beginning of March. Sixteen of the thirty-one delegates were from all across Canada. The fifteen remaining delegates came from around the world, including such places as Senegal, Uganda, Haiti, Nicaragwa, Bolivia, The Phillippines, Burkino, Ethiopia, India and Jamaica.

Girls! Stories Worth Telling allowed girls to meet and discuss their rights with other girls from around the world. Specifically we looked at five main areas: Gender Equity, Violence, Health, Labour Exploitation and Education.

It was an amazing, eye-opening experience for me. The Sunday before the conference began, after all the delegates had arrived, we took a trip up to Niagara Falls, where we bonded instantly. Something that shocked me despite the fact that there were over 12 different dialects being spoken that day was that language was not a barrier.

Let me tell you about Kali — eighteen years old, Kali Rajnut lives in India. Kali’s grandmother, mother, father and brother have all worked in the sex trade. Now it is Kali’s turn, but she is determined not to become a part of the family business. She told me that the only way is to get married. At grade six, Kali dropped out of school because her teacher beat her for not studying hard enough. All too often, the attitude of teachers in her community is that since the children’s eventual "profession" doesn’t require an education, why bother coming to school?

Unfortunately, Kali’s story is not unique. It is estimated that one million children are exploited in the growing sex trade annually; most of them are girls. In the US alone, there is believed to be over 100,000 children involved; also, most of them are girls. The average age of children exploited in Asia’s sex industry is 12 to 15 years. Perhaps sexual exploitation is the most devastating form of abuse on young girls. The health risks posed are enormous and the mental damage done is irreparable.

Across the world, over 250,000 girls and boys have served in armed conflict in the past three years. Violence scars the lives of millions of girls everyday. One in four Canadian women will be sexually assaulted at some point in their lives. Because of their youth, gender and lack of protective laws (or failure to enforce them), girls around the world are subjected to sexual exploitation, abuse, harassment, family violence and rape all the time.

One girl I met at this conference really sticks out in my mind. Selly is from Senegal. The first Saturday of the Conference was the second day of her visit to Canada. She amazed me at how comfortable she was with her surroundings. I had expected the international girls to be the shy ones coming into a different country and all, but no, it was me who was shy for the first time, me in my own country. As the week progressed I soon found out what made Selly so outgoing.

In Africa, 80% of girls from infancy to 16 years of age undergo something called Female Genital Mutilation. FGM involves the partial or total removal of a female’s external genital organs. Up to 25% of the girls in Senegal have suffered from this primitive brutal procedure. Selly advocates strongly against this practice on her community-based radio program. "My voice will serve to violently denounce this awful practice," she says to me, with a strong, passionate voice. The reasons FGM is still practiced today are various and complex, but the most common is misconception.

It is believed that FGM is necessary to be clean and acceptable. "Female genitals are ugly. They are dirty and will grow out of proportion if not cut back."

For many it is the culturally thing to do, in order to be accepted as a woman.

Another reason is that men in these cultures like to marry virgins, and one way of ensuring a girl keeps her virginity is by having her genitals mutilated.

Besides learning about FGM, I become more informed about other girls from all around the world. Girls are denied an education, medical care and are fed less, simply because they are girls. All to often they are treated as second class citizens, rejected from birth.

In many countries having a girl is a tragedy, while having a boy calls for a celebration. At a clinic in Bombay, all but one of the 8000 abortions conducted were female fetuses. In India the proportion of girls to boys has been dropping steadily since 1901. In China, there are about 111 boys for every 100 girls.

The arranged marriage of girls who have not even reached puberty to older men is another example of how girls are denied independence and equality. Early marriage lessens a girl’s life expectancy, by adversely affecting her health and nutrition. The younger the mother the greater the health risks. In India 10 million girls under the age of 11 are married every year.

In the developing world, three quarters of children aged 10 to 14 work six days a week or more. In western societies, most jobs for women are in under-paid service industries, and most are part-time, offering no benefits. I was recently shocked to find out that here in Canada we still do not have pay equity. Right now, for every dollar men earn women earn 75 cents.

In order to improve the lives of girls all over the world, governments, non-government organizations, institutions, media, boys, men, women and girls must take immediate action on five main issues. Gender Equity, Health, Violence, Labour Exploitation and Education.

Gender Equity. In western societies, girls and young women are judged on how they look, not on how they can make a contribution to society. That is why we must focus on their character and abilities, not their looks. I think something that is often overlooked is educating men about gender equity. In most situations, it is the man who has the most power, so why not use that to our advantage?

Health is an important issue, because it is an essential resource for life. Because of sexual exploitation, more and more girls are becoming infected with STD’s including HIV and AIDS. To solve this we must work to provide an environment that eliminates the demand for prostitutes. In order to eradicate Female Genital Mutilation, we must work with the women in the communities where it is practiced and find solutions together.

Violence scars the lives of millions of girls in all countries of the world. Whether it be rape or armed conflict, it all must come to an end. We have to make learning environments safe for girls. We must be informed about the laws on violence, and provide legal assistance to enforce these laws.

Labour Exploitation is harmful to children physically, mentally, socially and morally. Often young women are exploited working in garment factories, with little or no pay, in dangerous conditions. This is why we must advocate for multinational corporations to take responsibility for the working conditions of their affiliate companies, contractors and sub contractors.

The last issue which ties the previous four together is Education. We must try to make it free and compulsory for all children, and we must educate girls about their rights in all the areas from Gender Equity to Labour Exploitation as the key to their future well-being.

Thank you.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ACTION

Gender equity —

find ways to have girls and women valued for their character and abilities to contribute to society and not for their looks

Violence —

girls and women need enforceable laws to eliminate rape and armed conflict; victims of violence also need reliable counseling and support programmes

Health —

find ways to eliminate the need for prostitution, and to protect girls and women from contracting STDs, HIV and AIDS; work to eliminate female Genital Mutilation, in Canada and elsewhere

Labour exploitation —

girls and women everywhere need protection from working in unsafe and unhealthy conditions here and elsewhere; boycotts and other means should be found such as Rugmarks to ensure trans-national corporations observe internationally recognized labour, health and environmental standards

Education —

girls everywhere should receive free and compulsory education; girls should be educated about their rights as codified in the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

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Women Taking Action on Human Rights

Speaker: Louise Simbandumwe

Preparing for this presentation has been a difficult and an emotional process. It has been difficult because thinking about human rights has emphasized something that I have always known — the fact that I was meant to have a very different life than the life I have now. I really shouldn’t be standing here today. Given the place I was born and the parents I was born to, my life should have taken a much different course. I was born in Burundi, my parents were educated and because they were educated they were seen as a threat to some government leaders.

If my family had been in Burundi when the military started to draw up the lists of all educated people of our ethnic group, my parents would most likely have been killed along with their relatives. My mother lost her father and her six brothers and sisters in 1972. Out of eight children, only she and her sister managed to escape. In the end it is estimated that between 100,000 and 500,000 people were killed.

It is sheer luck that my parents are still alive today. If they had been killed, I would have been an orphan in a country that has been very cruel to its girl children. This knowledge has been a driving force behind my efforts to find out more about human rights violations in Burundi and in other countries. In working on these issues I have become increasingly aware of violence against women and girl children. Unfortunately information is hard to find because many of the atrocities against women are overlooked and never documented. This is particularly true for rape and other forms of sexual violence. They have been used throughout history as weapons of conflict to torture and terrorize women and girl children.

The numbers are staggering.

If rape and sexual violence are such a widespread form of torture, why is there a shroud of silence surrounding these crimes? Why have they been overlooked? Why are the perpetrators seldom prosecuted? The excuses are many. Rape and sexual assaults have often been viewed as private crimes, a challenge to honour, customary cultural practice, the isolated actions of renegade soldiers or else these practices have been overlooked simply because they are so commonplace — during times of war and times of so called peace. The struggle of feminists and human rights activists to move violence against women and girl children out of the private sphere and into the public arena has met with some success.

Rape and other forms of sexual violence are now formally recognized as a violation of international law. In the second set of Nuremberg war criminal trials rape was specifically identified as a crime against humanity. In 1986 the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture identified rape and sexual assault as common forms of torture. Both the Vienna Declaration and the Platform of Action underscore that violations against women contravene international law (Human Rights Watch 1996, 29).

However, we all know that there is often a large gap between formal policy and actual practice — between rhetoric and reality. Documenting and prosecuting crimes against girls and women continues to be a struggle.

Denise, a twenty-five-year-old Tutsi woman in Rwanda was interviewed by Human Rights Watch in 1996. She explains what happened after the militia came to her house demanding to know where her husband was:

“When I refused to answer, they began to beat me on the legs with sticks. Then one of them raped me. When he finished, he took me inside and put me on a bed. He held one leg of mine open and another one held the other leg. He called everyone who was outside... Then he cut out the inside of my vagina...Then he ...beat me again. Up to today, my legs are swollen. Then they left. I crawled out of the house bleeding. There was blood everywhere. A Hutu neighbour took me and put traditional medicine on me. I stayed for over a month with her until I could walk. During that time, she hid me and helped me. When the militia found out where I was, I had to leave again. I fled to another neighbour. I have extreme pain every month during my menstrual period. I have not seen a doctor. I have heard of the International Criminal Tribunal and I would talk to them, but they have never come here. I reported my case to the authorities three times, but nothing has happened.”
(Human Rights Watch 1996, 63)

Unlike Denise many women who have been raped and sexually attacked do not come forward because of the shame associated with these crimes. They have very legitimate fears that revealing what happened to them will result in rejection by their own communities. Others are understandably uncomfortable describing these experiences to male investigators.

Nadia was raped when she was only eleven years old. She describes being forced into sexual slavery by a member of the militia.

“He only came to rape me, he never brought any food. He came about five times. He would say, ’lie down or I’ll kill you.’ So I was afraid. I would just go to the bed. He threatened to kill me with his machete. He would keep the machete near the bed while he raped me. I have never told anyone before what had happened to me. I am ashamed and scared that people will laugh at me.”
(Human Rights Watch 1996, 58)

For many women in Rwanda the nightmare is not over. A key contributing factor to the volatile political climate in Central Africa and the cycle of genocidal massacres is economic underdevelopment combined with an extremely unequal distribution of resources. Ethnicity is a major point of political and economic separation but the other division that gets very little play in the media is gender.

In many ways, females continue to be second class citizens, they are often unable to inherit or own property. They do not have equal access to education and economic resources. As a result, they are often economically dependent on their male relatives. After the 1994 killings it was estimated that the population of Rwanda was 70% female — many of the women who survived lost male relatives who they had relied on for economic support. The horrors that these women experienced during 1994 continue to be aggravated by grinding poverty and a lack of access to health care or educational opportunities.

One widow described her existence in the following terms:

“It is as if we are now beginning a new life. Our past is so sad. We are not understood by society. We are not protected against anything. Widows are without families, without houses, without money. We become crazy. We aggravate people with our problems. We are the living dead.”
(Human Rights Watch 1996, 73)

Remember Nadia the young girl who was raped at age 11? When she was interviewed she said that she wanted to return to school but was prevented from doing so because the widow who had taken her in could not afford school fees.

Rose a 28 year old Hutu woman paid a terrible price for hiding her Tutsi neighbours. She was raped when the militia discovered what she had done. During her interview she said that she was afraid that she had contracted AIDS from the rape. However, she had not seen a doctor because she did not have enough money. Her concern over AIDS is a very real one. It is estimated that the over one third of the soldiers were HIV positive.

Think about this for moment. Couple this statistic with the fact that hundreds of thousands of women were raped, many gang raped by these soldiers — the implications are overwhelming. For many women rape was also a death sentence and they are now unable to access the health care they so badly need.

A particularly chilling indication of the level of economic desperation is that some women feel that they have no other option but to remain with the men who forced them into sexual slavery after killing their relatives, their husbands and their children.

One woman, who was living with the man who killed her brothers in front of her explained:

“I still live with him and I think of him as my husband because he gives me food and lodging. Every day [during the genocide], he told me that he would kill me… When I realized I was pregnant, I thought that I had to accept it because it came from God… As long as he does not want to kill me, I will stay with him because I could not find another husband. I do not think that he wants to kill me anymore.”
(Human Rights Watch 1996, 61-62)

Most of the stories that I have shared with you today are of Tutsi women who were attacked and terrorized by the Hutu militia. Although I am Hutu, I still identify strongly with these women. Most external observers are not aware that, in some ways, Burundi is a mirror image of Rwanda. Over the past 30 years most of those killed in Burundi have been Hutu and most of the atrocities were carried out by a Tutsi dominated military — in Rwanda the pattern was reversed. Aside from a reversal of the ethnic dynamic, if I had grown up in Burundi my circumstances would not have been that different from that of my Tutsi sisters in Rwanda. It is impossible for me to hear these stories of horror and exploitation without wondering what would have happened to me if my family had not escaped this violence. Reading about the experiences of women and girl children in Rwanda has had a profound impact on me and I wonder how I should respond to their reality. How can I support my sisters in Rwanda, Burundi and so many parts of the world who have been subjected to these violations, who continue to live in fear and economic depravation?

I struggled with these questions and have started to put together the beginnings of a list of concrete actions that we can take to protect the human rights of women and girl children. Before I dive into it, I should apologize to those of you who are visiting from outside Winnipeg, a number of my examples are local but I’m sure that you will be able to relate them to similar examples in your area.

  1. First, we can take up human rights cases of girls and women. One place to start is by joining the Amnesty International Urgent Action Network — you can specify that you are interested in cases concerning women and girls. You can help prevent atrocities and even save lives simply by writing letters to authorities in various countries. Other local human rights organizations that you may want to support include the Burundi Action Committee, the East Timor Alert Network, Empowering Women of Burma, Latin American Human Rights Group, the Native Youth Movement, Project Peacemakers and Free the Children. Weren’t you just blown away by Meagan’s presentation last night and the work that she is doing through Free the Children?
  2. But these groups are limited in the action that can be taken on cases concerning women and girl children because these cases are often not documented. In my presentation today I was able to describe cases from Rwanda because Human Rights Watch Africa, working in co-operation with local women’s organizations investigated the experiences of women. These efforts deserve our support. Donations to groups like Amnesty, Human Rights Watch, and grass roots human rights organizations in these countries will help provide them with the tools to carry out these types of investigations.
  3. We can support community development initiatives which build economic self-sufficiency for women. It is important to remember that our sisters overseas are not passive victims waiting for us to come and save them. The women of Rwanda, for example, have banded together to create construction co-operatives, credit unions, legal advice centres and other support service. These initiatives are often limited in what they are able to accomplish because they are so badly under-resourced.

    An exciting project that we can support is Empowering Women of Burma. Rosie Win, founder of the organization, has recently moved to Winnipeg with her family — they are refugees from Burma or Mynamar as it is now called. She is trying to find support for sewing and weaving projects that have been started to provide refugee women and girls along the Thai-Burma border with education, training and alternative economic opportunities — to empower them so that they are not forced into exploitive agricultural labour or forced into conditions of sexual slavery in the brothels of Thailand.

    Making a donation to development organizations such as MATCH International and Inter Pares is another way to support initiatives that have been built on equal partnership as opposed to a charity based approach.

    Other possibilities include purchasing goods from Fair Trade organizations such as the Mennonite Central Committee’s one thousand villages store. I was pleased to see the banners on the coffee at the conference producing proclaiming that the coffee that we are drinking is Fair Trade. These alternative enterprises provide us with a positive way to use our power as consumers. Last night Meagan from Free the Children reminded us that many of the products that we consume have been created through the exploitation of women and child labour. We need to look beyond price and convenience when making our choices. We can make a positive choice to spend our money in support of Community Development alternatives — alternatives that are based on principles of economic empowerment, and justice rather than the sacrifice of women’s rights in the name of greed and profit.

  4. We also need to consider our investments. For those who have the capacity to invest money in mutual funds, RRSPs or are covered by workplace pension plans. We need to ask ourselves where is our money being invested? Are we supporting corporations that are contributing to or directly engaging in human rights violations? Companies like Shell and Nestlé have been targeted for their dismal human rights record but I can assure you that there are many, many other companies that engage in similar practices. If you have investments chances are that your money is fueling the activities of these corporations. We need to look beyond the rate of return when making investment decisions. Switching from banks to local credit unions and seeking out ethical investment options are important step that we can take toward building a more just economic order.
  5. We can assist with refugee support and sponsorship programs. At present there are over 20 million refugees world wide — 80% of these refugees are women and their dependent children. I was one of these uprooted people and I will always be grateful to those who worked hard to organize our sponsorship to Canada. A good place to find out how you can become involved in sponsorship efforts and refugee support work is to get in touch with the International Centre.

These are just a few of the practical steps that we can take to reach out and act in solidarity with our sisters in so many countries around the world. The huge numbers and the extreme degradation and horror experienced by girl children and women can be paralyzing. Although it has been difficult for me tell of these experiences, and I am sure that it has also been difficult for you to hear about them, I have shared these stories in an effort to put a human face on the statistics that are not collected. By breaking the silence and by trying to imagine ourselves in the same circumstances, it can help us focus on what is really important. It can help us understand our responsibility as consumers, as investors, as activists and as women to support our sisters who have experienced and continue to experience unimaginable horrors.

References

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ACTION

Rape, sexual assault and sexual slavery —

should be recognized as crimes against humanity and punishable in a new International Criminal Court

Access to resources —

women should have equal access to health, education and economic resources and income security; and equal access to inheritance rights

Human rights —

by joining Amnesty International Urgent Action Network, all can play a part in preventing atrocities and helping victims; other local human rights action groups are: Burundi Action Committee, East Timor Alert Network, Empowering Women of Burma, Latin American Human Rights group, the native Youth Movement, Project Peacemakers and free the Children. Donations to groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch will support the investigation of cases.

Community development initiatives that promote women’s self-sufficiency —

support organizations such as Empowering Women of Burma, MATCH International, Inter Pares, the Mennonite Central Committee’s Fair Trade products.

Investment —

become a responsible investor by switching to ethical investment plans, credit unions; seek ways to hold corporations accountable (e.g. Nestle and Shell have poor records internationally). Refugee sponsorship and support — ask the International Centre how to become involved.

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YOUNG WOMEN AND THE ARTS

Speaker: Rose Namubiru-Kirumira

Background to art in Africa: Traditional Artforms and the women’s role.

It is common knowledge that Africa is a continent that has a rich background in art. There is an overwhelming diversity in the types of Artforms in terms of colour, techniques, materials and even in the tactile qualities of the various objects. Traditional art in Africa was and still is in many parts functional. Beautiful mats, pots, musical instruments, cloth jewellery, for instance, were made to be used and to please the person using them, family members and visitors. It should be noted that most of the activities that involved the making of these items, especially those that were to be used in the homes were always made by the women, and these women, always made it a point to make them as beautiful as possible and to pass on these techniques to their daughters.

We have to realise that although these Artforms were in existence for a long time and that they have contributed to the many beautiful impressions of Africa, they were not regarded as of any commercial value until only recently. Income generating while activities were dominated by the men, coffee, plantain harvesting and selling, beer brewing and selling; the arts and crafts which were made by the women were regarded only as household items were ignored as being of any commercial value.

Contemporary Art in Uganda:

This is at the moment divided into two categories:

  1. The Traditional Art forms or the so-called crafts, (for example the mats, baskets jewellery, pottery, cloth, ceremonial figurines and others) have advanced and with several modifications. This field is dominated by the women though without knowledge of proper investment and marketing strategies.
  2. The Fine and Commercial Arts (by either trained or none-trained artists) are painting, sculpture, and the ceramics and graphics. These are labour intensive, expensive, competitive and still dominated by the men.

In Uganda, the teaching of arts and crafts has been encouraged in both primary, secondary schools Fine Art has been for a few years a professional course at the University for a few years. Unfortunately few girls were going to school before and even the few were discouraged by parents and society to take art at an advanced level, in preference to other more "lucrative subjects". (The speaker gives an example where she was discouraged by her father who was living in exile, because of political instability in home country and more so because of the subject she was going to pursue, to wait for a better opportunity. She had on her own to manoeuvre her way back to Uganda to take the course she had been offered at the University. The father who is a civil engineer is now encouraging and is proud of his daughter’s career and role in society as one of the leading female artists.)

There is only a small percentage of women artists today compared to that of the men. This has been a major disadvantage because young girls by the nature of their upbringing are very creative, if only encouraged they could make a living out of art and the crafts. A case study of art in Uganda today would reveal that those female artists who are active, Tereza Musoke, Nabulime, Mugambi, Nakisanze, Ssenoga, Nabiteeko and the speaker herself have made it in their specialised fields of Art and are renowned both locally and internationally.

The questions which should be analysed very carefully in the future are:

  1. What has been and what is the contribution of women and of young girls to this cultural richness?
  2. Have these contributions been recognised and appreciated?
  3. Are more girls today encouraged to take the fine art subjects if they so wish without discrimination?
  4. How can the women gain maximum benefit from this activity that they are obviously masters at, without being exploited?
  5. How can the women use this very mobile medium to carry or pass on information to others by visually expressing their problems, experiences and achievements?

Women’s efforts:

Two women’s groups have tried to look into the situation of women and the arts in Uganda;
  1. NAWO ( National Association for Women’s Organisations)
    1. Tries to set up arts and crafts activities for the development of the rural women.
    2. Helps market Internationally arts and crafts made by the local women without exploiting them.
    3. A weekly market was also set up for the women so that they can sell their products themselves.
  2. Artistically Speaking Women:

These are women who are artists at all levels, trained and untrained, whose objectives are:

The way for the women artists in Uganda today is to be more assertive; to budget their time so as not to be bogged down by their many changing roles; to put in more effort in standing up for their creative rights; and lastly, to fulfil their objectives.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ACTION

Research the artistic activities of women Use art as a tool for public education which addresses women’s issues Ensure that career guidance programmes include options for studies and employment in arts and craft Hold public exhibitions, seminars etc. on girls’ and women’s art

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IMAGES OF THE GODDESS — SPIRITUAL ASPECTS OF THE WOMEN’S LIFE CYCLE

Speaker: E.L. (Betty) Donaldson

Images of the Goddess had been "dedicated to the creative spark of the divine that resides in all of us and is female." It was an attempt to view spiritual life from the perspective of the woman’s life cycle, as normative but not necessarily aligned with that of the man’s. As such it played with light (what remains to be explored). This article is a continuation of that effort to profile changes in spirituality during the women’s life cycle, using excerpts from real situations, religion and mythology, and the Images of the Goddess production. In the following sections, the 13 vignettes that formed the production are described within the context of the women’s three-phased life cycle.

Maiden

Few aspects of life enchant as much as a young girl, fresh as spring, full of innocence, radiant with life. Even fewer are the attempts to record what causes that vitality and how it becomes invisible. Feminist critiques of fine art mores identify the male gaze and comment upon female exclusion from the genre, noting the conservatism in all disciplines (see Broude and Garrard; Raven, Langer, and Frueh; Elliott and Williamson. But the world would be impoverished without Barrie’s Alice in Wonderland, Beethoven’s Fur Elise, and Whistler’s Girl in White. Christian religion is less replete with images of spiritual young girls: Mary’s pregnancy, Ruth’s loyalty, Esther’s bravery are inspiring narratives — cold within the post-puberty context of the female relationship to men. In mythology, the Persephone story is usually of the mother’s mourning, while nymphs, feys, and other youth are either a sexual or voiceless. Current reality is that young women still are educated within a male paradigm or sold as sexual slave objects. The result contributes to the invisibility, the silencing, and the loss of creativity in adult women. Any wonder there are so few great women artists!

In the production of Images of the Goddess, two representations of the maiden cycle included a dancer and an actor. "Spring Maiden" included many traditional symbols of purity. Dressed in a filmy white Grecian style robe, a talented, blonde, teenage dancer skipped and whirled among rose petals in an enchanted forest to music from Education of a Girl Child by Meredith Monk. She exuded grace, charm, curiosity, mischievousness, humour; she loved life; she was full of spirit. Our dancer brought tears to the eyes of many in the audience. "Persephone," the archetypal female coming-of-age myth, is a story of the mourning queen mother who refuses to nurture anything until her daughter returns. However, because her daughter has accepted the seeds of the pomegranate from her lover, part of a marriage ritual, she can no longer reside full-time with her mother. Our Persephone had come of age, accepting the juggling of relationships so well documented in recent literature as a distinctive component of women’s voice begging her to come back, but like all women who mate, she moves toward the male invitation, and the acceptance of her own queenship.

Momma says I should be careful... Ah, yes, and so you should but the plum, try it. Peel the plum... Persephone looks at the pomegranate, bringing the two halves together: Here are two halves made whole... We hear my mother calling. I must return to her world to nurture her dark soul for a while... Yes, the cycle is eternal, a marriage of light an dark... And I will return as the season turns. (Images of the Goddess)

Thus, our young Persephone uses her power, making choices and decisions about when to be with and when to separate from the important people in her life. These are moral actions, based upon spiritual insights and she has responsibility in the generation of consequent pain and joy. For all young girls who make such decisions, there is a loss of innocence. The first of their life cycles has ended.

Midlife

The traditional perspective of the women’s midlife cycle is that of motherhood but mid-century technologies of birth control methods and antibiotics have irreversibly changed the lives of most western women. No longer is physical mothering absorbing the health and time of adult women although becoming a mother remains the centrepiece of most women’s lives. All creative work is a form of birthing and adult women are only beginning to explore the new possibilities (Donaldson). Whatever they create, their work is unlikely to reflect a perspective identical to that of men in all aspects of life: reasons for two members of the species are more than biological.

Since the advent of Christianity, for western women religious imagery has been primarily a sanctification of motherhood although the interesting sisters in the Bible, Mary and Martha, suggest other possibilities; even during Biblic times, single women forget some form of public identity that was later denigrated or distorted. Degraded by the persecutions of the witch hunts, few realize how the yearly cycle has so much historical female imagery embedded in it. For example. Easter eggs derive from the goddess Estre and rebirth of spring. Juno was the most powerful Roman goddess, guardian of marriages. Victoria Day represents the flowering of great political power while the provincial holiday in Alberta honours her daughter, and Hallowed evening signifies autumnal transitions between the material and spiritual realms that Wiccan priestesses celebrated. During the middle ages the subsequent inversion of knowledge evolved into the wicked witch stereotype. There is much to reclaim. Women in non-western traditions have had their ancient connections to great goddesses less truncated thus they often exhibit great self-esteem and psychological centredness although opportunities to participate publicly in their cultures may be limited (Sharma).

Images of the Goddess portrays mid-life in many ways, exemplifying the diversity of this cycle. The Dark Madonna Sculpture, created for the opening of Images of the goddess, stands over six feet and currently resides in the Archbishop’s Boardroom of the Calgary Diocese. She evokes Aboriginal roots but also represents the black Madonna traditions of Africa and Europe; she symbolizes the negative part of the life cycle. "Rise Up and Call Her Name" is a video of women’s traditions in cultures such as Africa, Japan, India, China, and Amerindian.

"Women’s Labour," a dramatic monologue provides a ’90s male voice about " our pregnancy" while "The Kitchen Shrine," a sculpture, featured a kitchen from the 1950s period during which Betty Freidan and her generation began to rebel against their incarcination. In "Forward to the Future," all 13 vignettes were imaged in a multimedia art format in which the computer became an art form which illustrated the vignettes, also providing additional information about each artist." Charlotte Whitton" dramatized the first woman mayor in Canada, assumed this role in Ottawa as mature, unmarried, activist leader. Her booming witty voice was revived during the production to remind all listeners that most women’s issues have eternal cycles; daycare, equitable pay for equal work, recognition of achievements, and the need for solidarity to gain political goals. The "Women’s honour Archway" was an interactive art piece that still hasn’t found a home. Four painted cedar columns were joined by a latticed roof from which hung 176 wooden "leaves," each painted with the name of a woman noted for her achievement. Most in the audience had never heard of these people but one woman discovered her grandmother’s name dangling above her head.

Thus, at unexpected moments intergenerational connections strengthen women’s perceptions of themselves as historical beings joined in spirit. Perhaps women’s spiritual consciousness is entering a midlife phase, but the possibilities for creative women in their midlife cycle are just beginning to expand. It’s a frustrating and exciting time.

Crone

The traditional western perspective of older women is so negative that most women try to make themselves invisible, externally as well as internally. This situation is radically different from many other cultures, such as the Aboriginal and eastern, where age is equated with wisdom, respect, and spiritual insights. As the demographics change, tipping the balance toward senior citizens in North America, it will be interesting to observe what elder women do with their relative health, wealth, education, and leisure time. Never before in history have so many postmenopausal women been so positioned; their potential power for change is very great.

In religion and mythology, the older woman has been associated with death as much as life. No longer midwife, she is chief mourner as Mary was during Jesus’ death. Mother Earth, herself, offers a strong image of seasonal rotations. But the "woman’s holocaust" of the Middle Ages, the devastation of women’s traditions during the witch burnings, is still such a frightening unconscious threat that most women simply do not look beyond their life experiences to deepen their personal understandings of existential concerns. In Images of the Goddess, the "Aboriginal Talking Circle" lead by an older from northern Alberta became a healing space for many women who told stories, meaningful narratives for may listeners. Much of women’s spirituality remains an oral tradition.

"The Crone Dance of Wisdom" provoked the most discussion. Ten feet tall, the image was that of a sacred tree rooted in knowledge and wisdom keening to the young maiden asleep on the ground. For many older women in the audience, the representation was too mournful; as they have aged they experience freedom, joy, and opportunities to be themselves that they haven’t had since childhood. Thus, another sculpture the "Sacred Well," built of polished stones and mirrors, encouraged all involved in the productions to rethink their images of women, to reconceptualize their experiences as normative, to reconsider their spiritual identities.

As producer I was rewarded with male reactions to the imagery. One commented," you know I am a bit of a jock so this immersion was a real education. I think I’m beginning to understand." Another gratification was observing the development of the female artists, some of whom were working consciously for the first time from a woman-centred perspective. The artist who built the kitchen sculpture, Tiki Muivihill, had not been alive during the 1950s and approached the project with trepidation. She read Friedan and Faludi, talked with her mother, and concluded about her shrine.

It is an impenetrable unyielding icon. This era so often romanticized and glorified is really dead here. A traditional monument might more appropriately be carved in solid stone. This decade was as much about facades as anything else... Why is the truth of this time forgotten or glorified? What has really changed? Despite my initial reservations embarking on this journey, I am glad I undertook it. I suppose that in order to know where you are going in life, it is important to reflect on what you have left behind.

Perhaps this artist will approach cronehood differently from one more immersed in tradition. I hope I am around to view her work.

Reprints from: Images of the goddess — Spiritual Aspects of the Women’s Life Cycle, Canadian Woman Studies

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Workshop 1
 Messages from the mass media: What messages are they sending us? What can we do about it?

Resource: Alison Hanks

What are some of the concerns we have in Media Messages? (newspapers, radio, television, movies, magazines, rock videos)?

Media images focus on women’s clothes and looks; young males pick this up and look at girls as objects, not for who they really are; young women need a broader range of positive and more realistic images to build their self esteem and help them overcome the obsession with their looks.

To counteract the effect of the media, young girls and women need the support of family, friends and alternate models.

Idealized images can make women feel guilty (e.g. Martha Stewart as Super Mom); girls are vulnerable to unrealistic fantasy images in their formative years (Barbie dolls, Disney life-style) and succumb to smoking, being cool and starving themselves to be thin (anorexia) to gain acceptance by peers.

Women’s organizations are presented in overly simplistic terms (e.g. Catholic Women’s League is portrayed as "cookie bakers"; the rest of what they do is ignored).

Advertising to build sales and profits drives most media; the emphasis on women’s looks and on violence sells and builds "consumerism"; yet women are also consumers and should be able to influence the media.

Most of the more powerful jobs in the media at the decision-making level are held by men; as a result, the concerns of women are rarely heard; the fictional images persist (e.g. air-brushed pictures of the Spice Girls).

Women are not the only group whose image is distorted; people from other cultures and races, Third World Women, are made to conform to the North American model.

There is too much emphasis on women’s limitations: (e.g. during menstruation)

Many images of women and girls are negative: (older man having an affair with a young woman, girls as victims with little control over their lives); this desensitizes male and female watchers and engenders hopelessness; childhood is taken away because it is difficult to keep children from being exposed to age inappropriate material.

What are some positive examples of women and girl friendly media? Women reporters, and TV personalities: Pamela Wallin Show; Robin Brown as female sports reporter; Sarah McLaughlin, Jane Siberry, and Loreena McKennit show sisterhood.

Some sitcoms are realistic and positive. Home Improvement shows have women doing a wider variety of tasks.

Having a variety of sizes of women on TV helps broaden the notion of what is "normal".

School and university courses on media help develop critical thinking skills; home discussions also help.

Homemaker Magazine has positive realistic content along with fashion news, decorating tips and recipes.

Community newspapers do more positive stories; often show what girls and women are doing as volunteers.

Black women are appearing more often on TV and are more often associated with products of relevance to their lives.

Movements to "Free the Media" and the conferences they sponsor, help educate the public.

How is the Mothering Image Portrayed in the Media? Images of mothering should show that women’s unpaid work is of value.

It should be recognized that most women assume the major responsibility and work of parenting; if they combine a career and motherhood, they may well experience conflict. The media does little to explore this issue or approach it constructively.

Because women bear the babies, young women feel pressure to marry and settle down by age 26.

The shortage of jobs leads many women to choose marriage and a baby as "safe".

How do Males fit in?

Unless taught to be more understanding, males buy into the media image and come to see women as objects. It is important to discuss family responsibility, the importance of men and women sharing the work and respecting it. Children learn from what their parents approve and disapprove of so parents can have a strong influence on how their children come to view men and women and their relationships. How do we feel when we see negative images? All young people need to build their sense of self-worth and confidence in becoming what they want to be. Girls feel more pressure from the media images than boys do; they feel most intensely the lack of respect and the threat of violence. They need to hear that they are loved for who they are, not for whether they fit the unreal media image of a girl or woman.

Fashion magazines cater only to white women; for example, they do not include related products for different skin colours.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ACTION

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Workshop 2
Self Images Can Help or Harm: How Are They Shaped?

Resource Person: Nayyar S. Javed

Nayyar reminded the group that March is Women’s History Month; we should all learn to speak with the voice of our own authority! She asked the group to conduct a little exercise by answering the following questions:

Building on those reflections, she asked us to change our way of looking at our selves, to move from images which imprison to ones that open up possibilities. Too many women have absorbed negative identity images of women as undeserving, possessions, service providers, while males are deserving, owners, masters (Princes). She based her presentation on years of working in a Mental Health Clinic where she came to challenge mainstream assumptions about the "Self".

The sources of these identity images are many: patriarchy has cast the mother in the role of transmitter and even of imposer of appropriate roles and self-images for girls. Boys are generally left freer to choose their own. However, on a scale of mentally ill to mentally healthy, the passive, socially submissive(female) end of the spectrum is deemed to be dysfunctional while the active, socially challenging (male) end is healthy. She proposed that men and women both need to develop all sides of their nature, mental, physical, emotional and spiritual, in order to become full "Selves".

Several discussion groups were then formed to explore the sources of self-images from:

  1. Religion, philosophy, literature

    The Creation Myth of Adam and Eve offers three interpretations: Eve was an anomaly (not quite as complete as a man), a seductress (to be controlled, punished, "owned"), or a companion (only now being fully developed)

    Religion is still a tyrant for women in many parts of the world (especially where fundamentalism of any variety thrives based on interpretations written many years after the death of the original religious leader).

    Many young women said they never encountered literature written by women in they school courses. A few claimed to have been exposed to a great deal of literature written by women thanks to parents and teachers.

  2. History, science and technology, media, popular culture

    Historically, men in Chile were dominant and strong-willed women were considered "bad"; today those stereotypes are slowly changing.

    History has generally ignored the history of women, thereby discounting their contributions.

    In Science and Technology, women have had limited access to the formation of basic theoretical assumptions which as a result have been male dominated; this has also been true with the applications of science through technology; currently, computer technology is dominated by men but women are learning to use the technology. They generally use it differently than men. They using it to build relationships and advance common projects, rather than strictly for its instrumental value. It is important that they not be left out of future developments.

    In Media and Popular Culture, men have too often imposed their perceptions of women as subordinate; the fascination with violence, even in children’s cartoons, is not generally shared by women.

  3. Mother-daughter dyad in patriarchy

    Mother-daughter dyad: there are not many biblical stories about women but there is one relevant younger woman must obey the older mother-in-law.

    Mothers comply with custom by wrapping their baby girls in "pink blankets and frills". What does this mean? Is the little girl is just another knick-knack, a fragile piece of Dresden china, an "expense" for whom the parents have no particular ambition?

    Roles are changing now; the role of the wife as "honoured, happy to cook and clean, content with the society of other women and the church" has to be challenged.

    In Thailand, many women engage in prostitution and they are ranked and rated by other women for their "worth"; mothers have passed on the tradition of women serving men but are now bitter at the outcomes for their daughters.

    Mothers pass on myths to their children through fairy tales; they dress little girls in fancy dresses so they as mothers can live out the myths.

Strategies to examine the truth from different perspectives

Women can break the myth by developing their own awareness, by sharing with other women of all ages to learn about different ways of child rearing, and by staying involved with their daughters throughout their teen years.

Women can pass on to their daughters their own hopes, dreams and visions as important parts of who they are. They can encourage their daughters to dream. They can also develop analytical tools that will enable them to work with men, the school, and broader social systems for more equality in their daughters’ education.

That way they can change the undesirable aspects of all the above categories.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ACTION

Help women build their own awareness of what is important to them, and then to share their stories with other women, rather than swallow social stereotypes uncritically.

Learn different ways of child rearing and stay involved with one’s children throughout their teenage years, passing on one’s hopes, dreams and visions, and encouraging their daughters to foster and celebrate their own dreams, and helping them to develop analytical skills that will enable them to work with men, their school and broader social systems for more equality in education.

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Workshop 3
 Community Action Workshop: Date Rape and Violence Against Women

Resource Person: Gladys Marquez (a.m.)
Ella Clark and Fatima Tavares (p.m.)

A video “Right From the Start” was shown. The video provided illustrations of unsafe dating situations which may arise for young women. Controlling behaviour in relationships and societal pressures often put women at risk. Concrete suggestions for self-protection were give by the participants. Emphasis was placed on recognizing the signs, knowing what you want, and saying what you mean.

Comments following the morning screening included:

Comment about the Justice System:

WAYS TO HELP

  1. Know the difference between women’s and men’s thinking, what each want:
    • Many men are competitive, want to get from point A to point B; linear thinking is encouraged.
    • Many women want to keep everyone happy; they see the whole picture; they have been brought up to "look good". The solution is to say "no is no"; this puts up a wall in a way that is clear.
  2. Encourage children to think beyond traditional roles:
    • Use this video in schools.
    • Reduce the pressure on children to have boyfriends and girlfriends. Bring this to the attention of the parents
    • Encourage them to approach the issues differently.
    • Be aware of what children are watching on TV and what they are thinking about it.
    • Parents should be alert to possible secret bruises children may have.
    • Organize to help eg. a single mother in another abusive relationship whose sons are out of control in school.
  3. Government needs to provide support resources for women to get out of destructive relationships.
  4. We all know there is a lot of violence against women — we need to get together.
  5. Take time to analyze

Handouts: from Women’s Health Clinic on "Violence in Youth Dating"

PM Workshop

An exercise sheet was distributed. Participants were asked to agree or disagree with each statement:

Some of the afternoon comments on statement number one:

Statement number two:

Discussion about interpretation of greater force:

Statement number three: (fewer people took a position on this topic). Participants were then asked to express their reflections and hopes, ideas for how to respond to and prevent violence.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ACTION

  1. Learn the differences between most men’s thinking (competitive, goal oriented, linear) and most women’s (cooperative, wanting everyone to "feel good", holistic)
  2. Encourage children to think beyond traditional roles — remove social pressure to have a girl friend or boy friend ask schools to show appropriate videos to empower girls to protect themselves when they do start dating, to be able to say no and mean it
  3. Help parents to be on the lookout for secret bruises
  4. Work together to lobby governments and other women to provide adequate resources to support women trying to escape from abusive relationships
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Workshop 4
 Bridging the Generation Gap — Girls and Women, Can They Talk the Same Language?

Resource Person: Estella Muyinda

Participants all contributed their perceptions of the generation gap, then proceed to discuss solution.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ACTION

  1. Work to have women’s studies included on the curriculum or as a part of Canadian History
  2. Work to have programmes like drop-in centres developed to meet the needs of youth; lobby City Hall for the necessary resources
  3. Encourage young women to join organizations like UNPAC
  4. Adopt the Ugandan practice of having an older un-related woman serve as mentor and friend to a younger woman
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Workshop 5
 Cultural Bridging — Can We Make It Work for Us?

Resource Persons: Natasha Mohammed, Maria Diaz

What is culture?

After a Round Robin during which everyone introduced herself, each participant was asked to name a favourite ethnic food. Some named one from her own tradition; others chose a wide array of other foods, demonstrating that from a culinary perspective, we were a pretty multi-cultural group.

Next, the participants were asked to volunteer a single word to help build a group composite concept of “culture”. Contributions were again diverse:

The same process was repeated for participants to name ways to accomplish “cultural bridging”. The following were suggested:

Definitions were then proposed:

"Ethnic": an ethnic group shares a common language, race, religion or national origin

"Culture": the totality of ideas, beliefs, values of a group of individuals who share certain historical experiences and normative behaviour.

Small groups were then assigned the task of naming their own multiple identities on a block letter rendition of "ME" which had squiggly lines like a jigsaw puzzle with 11 pieces. They were then asked to share their identities with one another.

A large flower with eleven petals was then displayed to demonstrate our multiple identities:

  1. Ethnicity
  2. Gender
  3. Religion
  4. Age
  5. Family
  6. Economic Class
  7. Race
  8. Sexual Orientation
  9. Ability
  10. Geographic Origin
  11. Other
Ideas that emerged:
  1. There may be a line between acceptance and respect for another person’s religion, tradition and culture, and the demands of human rights and health.
  2. We need to recognize that the basic tenets of all religions are the same, but cultural traditions make them different
  3. Culture is an evolving, changing process; there is diversity even within a culture; our personal culture is the sum total of our experiences.

Recommendations:

  1. Act based on our own self-knowledge rather than on ideas that have been socialized into us (Rosemary Brown’s "what’s in our heads"); be comfortable with ourselves and open to others.
  2. Appreciate the breadth of culture rather than restrict ourselves to narrow versions of "right" and "wrong"- reach out to others, celebrate diversity.
  3. Recognize the inter-connectedness of our interests rather than pursue separateness or exclusiveness; learn communication skills.
Common Elements:

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ACTION

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Workshop 6
Putting the “E” in LEAF —
Equality Education through Interactive Theatre

Resource Person: Ellen Peterson

LEAF: Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund

promotes equality for women through the courts — through education.

Equality:

how you give and receive respect. Doesn’t mean treating everyone the same — but respecting differences.

Theatre Forum —

interactive theatre where peers write a a play dealing with issues important to them… (came from "theatre of the oppressed" in South America.) Issues always come down to empowerment… respect… how lives can change.

(The LEAF project brought schools from different backgrounds together — an additional benefit.)

Process:

Introduce the issue (here, equality) Protagonist always has to fail so that audience can intervene to give solutions.

Scenes presented:
  1. Inequality among school age peers — because of social-economic background.
  2. Inequality in interview process — because of discriminatory attitudes towards different qualifications and "looks".
  3. Inequality in workplace and shopping — because of poor working conditions for the women who make the clothes and the discriminatory attitude of the sales clerks to clients based on their size respectively.
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Comments:
  1. Participation in the process helps participants understand the feelings of the oppressors.
  2. Process shows how change can be effected.
  3. Brings out what can be asked in an interview — what legal recourse one has.
  4. Situations are real life situations — even practicing lines helps influence behaviour.
    • art is a journey form the personal to the universal.
    • can boys be included in the process? Yes! (Note — actors can take opposite sex roles)
    • skits showed how fear and the pressure to conform keeps people from acting justly.

Theatre forum is an effective tool for:

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ACTION

Promote the use of interactive theatre (theatre of the oppressed) as a tool for communication between generations, outreach for community groups, practice in assertiveness, and talking through a problem

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CONFERENCE OUTCOME

Based on the objectives of the conference, and the responses collected from the evaluation forms and conference participants, the Girls Today Women Tomorrow conference had met its objectives and expectations.

254 people attended the conference. The majority of participants were girls and women from a wide range of age groups, cultural, and economic backgrounds. Individuals that represented government and non government organizations, education institutions, associations and the general public. As well as individuals from Winnipeg, there were a number of people from northern and rural areas including Thompson, Flin Flon, Portage La Prairie, Carmen, Brandon, Swan River, Birchriver, Gympsumville, Pelican Rapid, Cross Lake, St. Laurent, Selkirk, Pinawa, Dauphin, Garland, and Minnedosa. There were 11 agencies and private businesses who exhibited at the conference.

Sixteen conference participants from Winnipeg, Flin Flon, Thompson, Carman, and Swan River expressed interests to become members of UNPAC.

We received 31 responses from the feedback/evaluation. The break-down of the responses is as follow:

Responses: "The part I enjoyed the most was":

Responses: "What I would change is":

There were six concurrent workshops on Saturday morning and afternoon. Each workshop was attended by between 12 to 47 people. The workshops which seemed to attract the most number of people for both morning and afternoon sessions were: Self Images, Culture Bridging, Community Action. The workshop that attracted the most young participants was: LEAF’s theater of the oppressed.

Thirteen students used the Youth Space at different times during the conference.

One of the youth Conference participants initiated a Young Women’s Speaker Series under the auspices of UNPAC (MB) after the conference.

Media coverage included The Winnipeg Free Press, The Winnipeg Sun, and free lance journalist Lesley Hughes. They interviewed both conference committee members and conference participants. In addition the conference also received media coverage from the CBC Radio and Manitoba Television Network (MTN TV).

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Brief Profiles of the Speakers and Workshop Resource People

Rosemary Brown

Feminist writer, lecturer, and social activist, Rosemary Brown was the first black woman elected to political office in Canada. She served for 14 years as an MLA in the BC provincial government and later ran for the leadership of the National Democratic Party. Rosemary Brown is the former Chief Commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission and a Special Ambassador for MATCH International Centre, a non-government development agency working with women in the South.

Maria Diaz

Maria is of Spanish/Mayan cultural background. She was born in Guatemala and forced to leave after a massacre in her village. She currently is a student at Crocus Plain High School in Brandon.

Betty Donaldson

Betty is a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Calgary, has published articles and books about how girls and women are educated, how students link education and employment, and how violence can be redused by using better communication. Her project Images of the Goddess, for which she received the1995 Feminist Theology Award from the Unitarian Church, was successful because it raised awareness about women’s life cycles in the university and community, and because it provided a career opportunity for women artists to work within a woman-centred context.

Alison Hanks

Alison is an Associate Producer at WTN. She has been working in the field of journalism since 1989, first for CBC Radio and now for the Women’s Television Network.

Nayyar S. Javed

Nayyar is a Feminist Psychologist and works in the Saskatoon Mental Health Clinic. She also teaches as a sessional lecturer in the Department of Gender Studies, University of Sask.

Megan Dobchuk-Land

Megan is 16 years old and attends Kelvin High School in Winnipeg. She has been actively involved with the international children’s rights organization, Free the Children, for the past year and a half. Megan is a leader and an organizer. Recently she was a keynote speaker at the Edmonton Youth Summit, as well as at a provincial NDP convention here in Winnipeg. She was also one of sixteen girls chosen from across Canada to participate in an international conference on the rights of the girl child. Girls! Stories Worth Telling, which took place in Toronto from March 2 to 6.

Natasha Mohammed

Natasha is a first generation Canadian, and the daughter of a single immigrant woman. She currently applies her Conflict Resolution Studies background to facilitating workshops on topics such as Discrimination, Cross-Cultural Counselling, and Youth Violence Prevention.

Gladys Marquez

Gladys is a coordinator of the Violence in Youth Dating Program at the Women’s Health Clinic. In 1988 Gladys left a 17-year abusive marriage and, in 1990, she went back to university to become a social worker to assist women in abusive relationships. Upon graduation, Gladys worked in the Multicultural Partner Abuse Prevention Project. She also works as facilitator for the Partner Abuse Program for Spanish men through Probation Services.

Estella Muyinda

Estella is a barrister and solicitor. She has practiced in Nairobi, Kenya in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and most recently, in the Northwest Territories. Estella was involved with the Girl Guides as a Guider in Winnipeg. She was also a Guider in Nairobi, Kenya. During the past 7 years Estella taught various African dances to a group of boys and girls. The group is known as the Uganda-Canadian Youth Group, and has members who are between 23 months and 25 years of age.

Rose F. Namubiru

Rose is a professor at School of Arts — University of Makerere, Uganda

Ellen Peterson

Ellen is a theatre artist & educator. She works primarily for young people’s theatre and is a Theatre Forum specialist in the Province. Currently she is on tour with Manitoba Theatre for Young People.

Louise Simbandumwe

Louise is a founding Member of the Burundi Action Committee, a voluntary organization that works to bring an end to human rights violations in Burundi. A former refugee from Burundi, Louise and her family immigrated to Canada in 1979. She currently works as a Community Economic Development Consultant in Winnipeg’s inner city.

Ella Clark and Fatima Tavares

Ella and Fatima are from North Light Conflict Resolution Specialists. Prevention is essential and there must be action that does not create further risk. Our lives as women living, in a culture that tolerates rape, shape problem resolution tools into strategies for change.

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