CSW Challenges and Opportunities

As a first time attendee of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), I came in with numerous ideas and dreams of what the United Nations and the CSW would entail. Bright-eyed and eager to learn, I envisioned being a part of critical life-changing conversations about international warfare, education and poverty. I expected to be empowered by efficacious women guiding critical conversations about human rights, gender-based violence, anti-trafficking and spirituality as a tool for empowerment. I am delighted to note that after hitting my halfway point this week, I have participated and witnessed all of those vital conversations and much, much, more. However, the one part that I did not expect to be a part of my experience here at the CSW was my current state of questioning regarding my own role as a student, WILPF delegate, social worker and activist.

Over the last few days, I have witnessed many individuals from around the world doing astounding and inspiring work, and yet I keep hearing over and over again the barriers that they are facing when trying to obtain peace and freedom. Listening to these leaders share their struggles to form coalitions, partner with government officials and implement treaties that focus on abolishing inequality feels second nature to me, but somehow many of these stories are still not ones of success. It is these stories of failures that have caused me to be critical about the goals we are working toward and the action steps that we are taking to get there. I am beginning to questions not only my role as an activist for peace, but even more, my understanding of the basis of the problem.

Listening to all of the international women and girl's issues being presented has left me wondering what the root of the issue is that causes whole countries, communities and neighborhoods to turn on each other in the drop of a hat. What has gone so unbelievably wrong on our world that would cause individuals to utilize rape as a weapon of war or individuals to deem it acceptable to engage in mass murders of 'undesired' populations. What is the real problem that makes people feel so extremely vulnerable and oppressed that they are willing to kill other human beings, destroy communities and strip individuals of their basic human rights and then deem it the realities of war, poverty and oppression. It is a world created out of fear, and it is a world worth questioning.

It is these realities illuminated by CSW sessions this week that have left me critical of the world we are living in and even more, of myself... How is it that in a world so complex, one person can be both the oppressed and the oppressor. One women can be someone's solution and yet another's dictator. I can be both the activist fighting to change abolish these injustices and yet still an unconscious contributor to the oppression of those individuals whose lives I am fighting so hard to better. These are the realities every activist has to struggle with and these are the realities that my eyes have been so brutally opened to this week.

As depressing as these realizations may seem to some, I do not want this to be to be a story of defeat. For these are the exact issues that need to be brought to light. It is my believe that it is this exact critical framework that needs to be exemplified in order for people to put the politics, religious beliefs and other dividers aside in order to come together under the realization that every person on earth deserves freedom and happiness. So as I continue throughout the rest of my session here, as well as back into my own community, these are the critical questions that I will bring with me. I will not view these issues as barriers to accomplishing my mission of creating peace and fostering freedom; but instead I will consciously understand these issues as the realities and struggles that individuals and communities encounter everyday. I will use this critical framework along with my own values, skills and tools to identity the deep seeded cultural issues that create inequality and then use those as an opportunity to create change. I will be wholeheartedly dedicated to utilizing every ounce of activism within me to combat these injustices and strive toward creating a more equal and empowered world.

-Arielle Stephens, WILPF Delegate CSW58