My encounters with Gladys Acosta Vargas
Sree Gururaja
Gladys has the distinction of being the first XUNICEF staff member to Chair the CEDAW Committee , where she serving a second term since 2014. For that matter, she is the first XUNICEF colleague to be an elected Expert of the CEDAW Committee.
A human rights advocate, activist who through her extensive scholarly analysis in her articles, books and writings has influenced policy makers, thinkers, other social scientists and now , governments as an Expert in the CEDAW Committee. Gladys joined UNICEF as the Regional Adviser for Women and Gender Equity in 1999, TACRO, and was on the job from day one. She had the reputation as an bold advocate and outspoken in ensuring equality, justice, and dignity to women, the indigenous populations and those frequently under-represented in UNICEF programming. Prior to her UNICEF career, Gladys was acknowledged as a leader for women’s rights, actively involved in the preparations to the Beijing Conference and her confidence based on her understanding of the issues developed from her interactions with women and communities in many countries. In UNICEF, she furthered these efforts to draw attention to the situation of and remove the discrimination against girls especially of adolescent girls in the Latin America and Caribbean region.
Gladys stood out for many reasons. Her seemingly ‘quiet’ personality was ‘facade’ . Our learned colleague was a graduate of a master's degree from the Sorbonne in Paris, and lawyer from the University of Peru, author and scholar, besides being her proficient in all three main working languages of the UN and Portuguese. I recollect at our gender focal point network meeting in New York, soon after she joined, she asked Andre Roberfoid if she she could speak in French instead of English but quickly agreed to continue in English when she observed the silence of her colleagues.
Next meeting was the Beijing +5 conference in 2000. Gladys had much to contribute to our collective thinking and brought in the NGO perspectives. Jointly, the gender advisers and us , in the Programme Division had put together events , the usual information and publications etc. with assigned roles for participation. And where do we find Gladys? In the middle of the huddle of the NGOs animatedly discussing revisions of the “text” of the outcome documents or chairing a meeting in the corridors of the UN building.
Later, 2001 onward, Gladys and I , both as Representatives in TACRO continued our professional relationships and friendships. Gladys moved onto to be Representative Guatemala, Argentina, Columbia and later to UN Women.
In closing, I strongly believe that a person’s stature is how she/he is regarded in her own country. I quote from the recommendation made by the Government of Peru when they put forward her name in 2014 “ As State party to it Convention of the elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, Peru hereby nominates one of its outstanding professionals who has a distinguished record of international experience, accumulated expertise and commitment to the agenda of rights for women and girls. The Peruvian government is confident that she will make an outstanding contribution to strengthening the mandate of the Convention and monitoring progress of States parties with its provisions.”
Gladys, we are proud of your achievements and wish you many more years of rewarding work as a public advocate for human rights and leader for the equal rights of girls and women everywhere.
Article in Spanish from NTR Periodismo Critico - Press Conference With Gladys Acosta on Discrimination Against Women
English translation below
Within the framework of the permanent Science, Development and Democracy seminar, held by the Academic Unit of Sociology of the UAZ in the foyer of the Fernando Calderón Theater, the defender of women's human rights, Gladys Acosta Vargas, supported the conference "Convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women (CEDAW), as an instrument of social transformation".
In it, she said that well into the current century, women still do not achieve recognition in the exercise of their rights.
The, as well as office head of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in her native Peru, and coordinator of the UN in South America, added that in 2014, after hundreds of years and the universal declaration of human rights, the data are adverse to women's human rights and contrast with the reality figures.
For this reason, she said that we must fight because women around the world, which is not just Latin America and the Caribbean, but are everywhere, are treated as human beings since "they have not yet been recognized as such and consequently, they still have a deficit of autonomy ”, he considered.
Women still do not have the desired presence in the field of economics, politics and physical autonomy, said the speaker.
She said that even though during the last 10 years the incorporation of women into work has been massive, this fact did not happen because it was part of the recognition of a right, but because of capitalism that needed a greater workforce.
In this regard, she said that Mexico has at least 42 percent of women in economic life, while in other countries of the southern cone there would be greater equity, reaching 50 percent.
However, in all these regions women earn 30 percent less than men for the same jobs.
She said that despite this, in recent years there has been an incredible expansion in the education of women, because they are excellent students, but when they enter the labor market, they receive less than men.
She stressed that in this sense progress and jobs are being made but with a lot of effort, in addition to having a triple shift, since they work to earn food, but at home they have an unpaid job of a domestic nature.
She indicated that through the Time Use Surveys, carried out by INEGI, it transpired that women participate in the labor market for fewer hours than men, but that these hours are doubled within unpaid work at home.
To conclude, she indicated that women are currently over represented in informal employment, which is precarious and also the worst paid.
Within the framework of the permanent Science, Development and Democracy seminar, held by the Academic Unit of Sociology of the UAZ in the foyer of the Fernando Calderón Theater, the defender of women's human rights, Gladys Acosta Vargas, supported the conference "Convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women (CEDAW), as an instrument of social transformation".
In it, she said that well into the current century, women still do not achieve recognition in the exercise of their rights.
The, as well as office head of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in her native Peru, and coordinator of the UN in South America, added that in 2014, after hundreds of years and the universal declaration of human rights, the data are adverse to women's human rights and contrast with the reality figures.
For this reason, she said that we must fight because women around the world, which is not just Latin America and the Caribbean, but are everywhere, are treated as human beings since "they have not yet been recognized as such and consequently, they still have a deficit of autonomy ”, he considered.
Women still do not have the desired presence in the field of economics, politics and physical autonomy, said the speaker.
She said that even though during the last 10 years the incorporation of women into work has been massive, this fact did not happen because it was part of the recognition of a right, but because of capitalism that needed a greater workforce.
In this regard, she said that Mexico has at least 42 percent of women in economic life, while in other countries of the southern cone there would be greater equity, reaching 50 percent.
However, in all these regions women earn 30 percent less than men for the same jobs.
She said that despite this, in recent years there has been an incredible expansion in the education of women, because they are excellent students, but when they enter the labor market, they receive less than men.
She stressed that in this sense progress and jobs are being made but with a lot of effort, in addition to having a triple shift, since they work to earn food, but at home they have an unpaid job of a domestic nature.
She indicated that through the Time Use Surveys, carried out by INEGI, it transpired that women participate in the labor market for fewer hours than men, but that these hours are doubled within unpaid work at home.
To conclude, she indicated that women are currently over represented in informal employment, which is precarious and also the worst paid.
Thank you Sree for sharing with us the "quiet" yet "forceful voice of Gladys to advocate and promoted the rights of girls and women. We need many more Gladys around the world to achieve equality for all.
ReplyDelete