Women at the helm for the CSW69 for the Netherlands is represented here in New York by a female ambassador, Lise Gregoire-van Haaren as the Permanent Representative of the Netherlands to the UN in New York
Image: Permanent Representative Lise Gregoire – Van Haaren at the UN voting on behalf of the Netherlands
Image: from left to right: Minister Plenipotentiary Drs. Gracita R. Arrindell of St. Maarten, Minister Mariëlle Paul (Under Secretary for Emancipation at the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science), Prime Minister Evelyn Wever-Croes of Aruba
At the CSW69 the government of the Netherlands is represented by three women ministers and a woman ambassador. The Netherlands quota of women leaders this year at the UN seem to be doing well this year. It gives me joy to see these ladies in hte UN. Even if it does not represent the position of women in leadership positions in the Netherlands in general. It gives hope for a future for women at the table of decisionmaking power.
I have told this before, getting into a room in the UN Conference building, unless it has about 600 seats, is a fight. Pushing, standing your ground, and ignoring the aggravation around you, or you will be left behind, outside the room of the Side Event you wanted to attend.
Therefore, on Friday 14th of March, after a careful consideration of the Side Events offered, I decided to get into conference room 12 (129 seats) and stay put until the end of the day. All the meetings in the room where interesting, albeight very varied. On the upside this means I will leave with a well rounded education on women’s barriers in society around the world. A win as far as I am concerned.
The first session I attended in room 12 was “Empowering Women for a Sustainable Blue Future: Gender, Oceans, and the Beijing +30 Agenda”, organised by The Commonwealth Secretariat. It brought home to me that this male dominated field of work, that the seas of our planet offer good carreers, but also that those carreers are often considered unfit for women.
On a side note about that: I love the endless vistas of the waves, the varied colours of our waters.
As a very young girl I saw myself become the master of a ship in commercial shipping, a ‘kapitein’ of a ship like my father was. I had been accompanying him for years, growing a love for the seas of our planet. Becoming a teenager, I realised that my goal might be fraught with barriers that would not be easy to break down and I opted for a very different carreer path.
The panelist of the Blue Future discussed the ‘silos’ within all the policies that affect conservation of the seas, also commercial work on and in those seas. Islands small and large try to navigate the waves in all sense of that saying to further their economy and to assist their population, but are hindered by how the system is organised around the management of our seas.
The panelist emphasized that policies are important, next to education and skill building to help the young women to carve out carreers in the Blue Economy. Fact is, that even well educated women, find it hard to get to the level of position that their education and experiences should open up for them.
Hearing this, my more often asked question to address unequality was again:
Would quota help?
Quota to leverage 40% of leadership positions in the Blue Economy to be accorded to women, in commerce, but also in sea research, basically in all things sea oriented. I have no doubt that civil society around the common wealth, probably around the world, would be inclined to support such an effort to demolish the barriers that keep women from decision-making power in this sector of a growing economy.
The panel acknowledged that quota might indeed help to get women into a position that will effect change for women. The reaction of The Right Hon Patricia Scotland, secretary of the Common Wealth (thecommonwealth.org), on the use of such a vehicle to forge change was clear:
“It is critical that women are truly at the table, not just on the menu, to create change”. I have absolutely nothing to add to that.
Image from ‘Onze Haven’: Maaike Spee, one of six female pilots for the port of Rotterdam
