We had such plans for 2020, but 2020 had other plans for us
This was to have been the year when women took the spotlight on the international stage. We were to reflect and assess progress on landmark anniversaries like Beijing +25, the 20 years of UNSCR 1325 and the women, peace and security agenda, on the 10 years since the establishment of UN Women.
Across the world, activists, academics, governments and women’s groups had plans long in preparation to make the most of the fact that for one year at least, we might have the chance to set the global agenda.
Instead, we have been visited by a global crisis that has ruthlessly exposed and exacerbated the existing inequalities across our societies.
There is a bitter irony that this has happened in the year we were to consider the impact of UNSCR 1325. The women, peace and security agenda was developed because we know that conflict and crisis have different and particular effects on women and girls, and this needs to be addressed specifically.
The vast social, political, economic, and health impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has also been deeply gendered, something that all too often has been forgotten or neglected in government responses.
The crisis laid all our carefully-made plans for 2020 to waste. Projects cancelled or put on hold. Services interrupted. Offices closed. Colleagues isolated. Donors reneging on their commitments.
Through this uncertainty and fear, it has been so inspiring and humbling to see our partners rise to the occasion, delivering what their communities need at this time of crisis.
We collected the stories of the impact of Covid-19 on women and women’s activism, and the brilliant ways in which our partners were responding to the crisis.
At a time when governments and international institutions were scrabbling around for effective responses, women’s groups were addressing urgent humanitarian needs, they were stepping in to manufacture emergency protective equipment, they were spreading messages on how people could protect themselves and their communities from the virus, they were boosting their services to advise and support women experiencing violence during lockdowns.
Despite the huge financial pressure on them, of course women’s groups were not shrinking in the face of this crisis. From organizations like AWO in Jordan - who celebrated their 50th birthday this year - to youth-led groups founded only recently, our partners have been forged in crisis, conflict, occupation, instability, inequality and endured through them. Of course women’s groups have been there for their communities. Of course they have shown amazing leadership, especially when further disaster strikes - as with the horrific scenes in Beirut in August.
This crisis has forced us and our partners to revisit entirely the work we had planned for this year. We have had to adapt in order to fulfill our aims, and it has been gratifying that we have managed to persevere. We are on course with the things that we want to do, we are keeping our commitments.
For a network that relies so much on personal connection, on the bonds that activists are able to build between each other, on friendship, sisterhood and solidarity, social distancing has been difficult.
We have tried to maintain that sense of belongingness, but there is only so much we can recreate through technology. It has though allowed us to connect activists across continents and generations to foster some incredible opportunities to share knowledge and experiences. It has also been a year to remember and honoring the generosity of the partners who have been there for us.
Our series of online conversations started with the wonderful Pamela Shifman, one of the most inspirational and dynamic leaders I have ever had the pleasure to work with. Our conversation with Pamela explored her groundbreaking work in activism and philanthropy, and served as a chance to celebrate a truly brilliant woman, to thank her and the wonderful team she led at NoVo who have done so much for women’s movements in our region and across the world.
We would then host an intergenerational dialogue between the simply incomparable Jane Fonda, and wonderful young activists from across the network. It was such a privilege to have Jane share her insights on her own personal journey in activism, on the lessons she has learned, and her advice for young activists. We were so grateful that Jane spent such quality time with our young partners, especially during the run up to the most extraordinary US general election for many years.
Our third conversation would again see a truly inspirational figure share their wisdom. It was an amazing honor to host our intergenerational dialogue with Hanan Ashrawi. After she was asked about the need to increase the representation of women and youth in the political process, it was interesting to see her cite this very issue in her letter of resignation from the PLO Executive Committee just days later.
Our series of conversations were an example of how our work has been able to endure through the crisis. Through it too we have been able to have events reflecting on the impact of UNSCR 1325 in the Arab region, continuing our campaign for justice for our colleague Salwa Bugaighis, and hosting vital events with our Yemeni partners, looking at the issue of slavery.
This year has tested us all severely, but that has made the remarkable success of our partners worth celebrating all the more.
Our third conversation would again see a truly inspirational figure share their wisdom. It was an amazing honor to host our intergenerational dialogue with Hanan Ashrawi. After she was asked about the need to increase the representation of women and youth in the political process, it was interesting to see her cite this very issue in her letter of resignation from the PLO Executive Committee just days later.
Our series of conversations were an example of how our work has been able to endure through the crisis. Through it too we have been able to have events reflecting on the impact of UNSCR 1325 in the Arab region, continuing our campaign for justice for our colleague Salwa Bugaighis, and hosting vital events with our Yemeni partners, looking at the issue of slavery.
This year has tested us all severely, but that has made the remarkable success of our partners worth celebrating all the more.
We must pay tribute to brilliant women like Zahra’ Langhi, who participated in the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum. Amani Aruri has been serving with distinction on the Generation Equality Forum. Ola Alaghbary has been announced in the new cohort of the Gender Innovation Agora. Samia El Hashmi has been appointed by the Minister of Justice to head the committee to reform the Personal Status Law for Muslims in Sudan. Despite all that has been going on in Yemen, Amal Basha managed to bring together dozens of organizations to form the Yemen CEDAW Coalition and produce the first shadow report for the CEDAW committee for 12 years. Rhizlaine Benachir organized a fascinating and vital regional conference for Human Rights Day.
Let us celebrate their work and their impact, alongside all those other incredible activists across the network.
We too have continued to take on responsibilities on behalf of our partners. It has been our pleasure to take on membership of the Board for the Generation Equality Forum Compact for Women, Peace and Security and Humanitarian Action, and the Advisory Board of the UNAOC Women’s Alliance for Peace. It is so important that women from the region have their voices heard in these international processes, and we take our participation very seriously indeed.
It has been so inspirational to welcome new friends and partnerships. Only this month, we held jointly with the amazing María Teresa Fernández de la Vega and our colleagues at Spain’s Women for Africa foundation a webinar in which brilliant women leaders from Africa, the Middle East and Latin America discussed their experience of political and peace processes, with particular reference to the transition in Sudan. Sharing knowledge and experiences across cultures and especially building relations between our region and Latin America is something that fills us with optimism at the rich potential.
We started this year thinking that we would have the opportunity to assess the journey of global women’s movements, understand the progress, the challenges, the reversals.
Instead we have been reminded that in all activism, there is no time like the present.
This was something I discussed recently in my article and lecture reflecting on the incredible social movements across the region that trace a pivotal moment to the protests that started in Sidi Bouzid Tunisia in December 2010. The vast and varied experiences and impacts have long been unhelpfully defined as the ‘Arab Spring’ by many international observers and commentators. But we need to unpick this concept, and give the women who were there - who are there now - working to end injustice and inequality the space to explain and define themselves, their situations and their aims.
It was not a moment, but a movement that continues to this day.
It has been deeply gratifying that this year that we have both been able to provide a platform for experienced activists to demonstrate their expertise, and have still been able to give young people opportunities to show theirs. Our movements remain dynamic.
More than most perhaps, we recognize the solidarity that can be found between those whose situations are particular, that are unique. This is why showing our support for the #BlackLivesMatter movement and the protests that followed the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor was so important to us as a network.
Though the injustice that African Americans face is particular to their context, we feel so strongly that we must stand in solidarity with those who oppose it. Just as important is that we recognize and address the racism - and especially anti-Black racism - that exists in North Africa and the Middle East. This will be something that we will be a key focus for the network in 2021.
I hope that you have been able to stay safe, and stay positive through this extraordinary year. I wish you, your friends and families the very best as we look forward to the challenges and opportunities of the new year. I hope that like me, you will take inspiration from the sisterhood and solidarity that endures through the worst crises.
Through this year, the women of our network have refused to leave their communities behind. We must make it our resolution for the new year that they are not left behind.
With very best wishes for you for 2021.
