FORUM: The Economic and Social Council
QUESTION OF: Ensuring socioeconomic gender equity in LEDCs
MAIN SUBMITTER: United States
CO-SUBMITTERS: Israel, Mongolia, Mexico, Sudan
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL,
Defining gender discrimination as the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different sexes,
Deploring all sexist attitudes within the societies of developing countries, including dehumanizing, generalizing, segregating and disempowering approaches in regards to the female sex,
Noting with regret that although numerous nations already have existing laws against gender discrimination, such as the Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, it persists in forms of harassment, occupational segregation, and discrimination related to pregnancy,
Recalling the Equal Pay Act of 1963, in which employers are required to pay all employees equally for equal work, regardless of employee gender,
Recognizing the drastically different viewpoints on this issue in different countries of the world, such as responses from the World Values Survey, in which respondents were asked if they thought wage work should be restricted to only in men in the case of a shortage in jobs, resulting in an agreement of 3.6% from Iceland and 94.9% from Egypt,
Observing that 134 million potential women are not present in the population due to select female abortion and infanticide, according to a 2011 UN report,
Noting with regret that 62 million girls are denied the opportunity of an education,
Fully aware that only 4.3% of socially active population in Mexico are women,
Appreciating the efforts of less economically developed countries that have made significant progress in terms of policy reformations in regards to social-economic gender inequality, and have showed excellent cooperation with the United Nation (UN),
Recalling documents published by the UN in 2014, with the hope of ending all forms of discrimination against all women and girls at all ages around the world by 2030,
Recognizing the strong need for global awareness of such continuous issues of gender discrimination as well as unnecessary violence occurring in the countries, as they may potentially lead to grave consequences beyond national levels,
1. Requestsmember states to globally raise awareness of the importance of this issue pertaining to LEDC regions, through asking various media companies such as Snapchat, NGOs such as The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality, as well as supportive charities such as Equality Now and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), in order to persuade citizens of the importance of the issue of reducing gender inequality through methods such as, but not limited to:
a.spreading awareness via various popular social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, through methods such as but not limited to:
i.starting and promoting trending hash-tags such as existing #MeToo, #WhyIStayed, #YesAllWomen, or any relative hashtag to do with the subject of unjust female treatment, through adding already trending and applicable topics to the post, to increase exposure of the new hashtag, as well as promoting said trending topic,
ii. creating frequently updated social network accounts which share recent news and changes regarding gender equality, as well as encouraging messages for young age groups to take action,
iii.publishing informative articles, using marketing methods such as the use of eye-catching titles like “I’m a feminist, what’s your superpower?” for better exposure,
iv. asking victims of harassment to, if comfortable with the subject, upload supportive videos onto major platforms like YouTube, in order to reach out towards others in similar situations, in hopes of encouraging the act of speaking out and bringing justice,
b.organizing awareness campaigns and events that aim to remove negative connotations in association to women and providing empowerment by attempting to suppress oppressive language, through creating pledges and local seminars to establish awareness of individual rights,
c.setting up funds online and in real life communities to raise money for purposes including, but not limited to:
i.producing awareness videos and advertisements that present the effects gender discrimination has on women around the world, distributed across online platforms such as Vimeo,
ii. creating flyers and brochures containing information and detailed descriptions regarding gender discrimination and its consequences, and also methods for reporting discrimination, distributed through community volunteers,
iii.requesting entry for awareness campaign photos into influential magazines and journals,
iv. contributions for pre-existing relevant events such as Women’s Equality Day and International Women’s day;
2. Asks all member states to encourage the younger generation to support gender equality through measures such as, but not limited to:
a. implementing aspects and events into school curriculums that emphasize the significance and seriousness of gender equity to the society, starting from elementary to high school through measures such as but not limited to:
i. inviting specialized guests, such as leaders from well-known charities like Equality Now, to give speeches regarding gender discrimination,
ii. asking teachers to discourage gender-based stereotypes and discontinue gender segregation in classes or activities, such as “all-boys soccer”,
iii. assembling parents and informing them of errors that may lead to their child becoming gender-biased, such as preventing certain choices or actions as a result of solely gender,
iv. creating accessible online courses that inform of the aftermaths of sexual discriminations among women, that is also age-appropriate for a wide range of groups,
b. approaching the topic of gender discrimination in children’s programmes such as Nickelodeon or Disney Channel through mentioning the issue in episodes of kids television series, however addressing said issue positively by focusing on the empowerment of girls;
3. Further encourages the establishment of regional partnerships which are capable of providing financial and humanitarian assistance through means such as but not limited to:
a. asking that More Economically Developed countries (MEDCs), with the help provided with the UN organizations (for example, the UNDP) and Non-Governmental organizations, to consider offering humanitarian aid to assist nations that are Less Economically Developed (LEDCs), in order to build schools for equal education opportunities for both boys and girls,
b. encouraging MEDCs to raise awareness in their own countries on gender inequality in LEDCs through methods from clause 1,
c. recommending governments of member states to work with NGOs such as OHCHR, UNDP, and UN Women to increase the job opportunities for women in LEDCs, so that they are equally treated, through creating additional jobs that don’t prioritize particular physical ability nor a gender’s potential of working;
4.Recommends the endorsement of official programs with aims to improve national approaches to gender equity as well as to deliver consequences should they be needed, using legislations regarding gender discrimination established by the Human Rights Campaign if needed, through measures such as but not limited to:
- providing monthly training that expresses the importance of gender equality to the management personnel in company workplaces, including:
i.methods to identify discrimination,
ii.most viable solutions to deal with these discriminations in time,
iii.ways of prevention for future similar situations,
iv.the consequences of discrimination on both workers and company,
v.the importance of respect and acceptance of each other to maintain professionalism,
vi.social rights that both genders possess, in order to emphasize the importance of equal societal roles,
b. suggesting human behavioral researchers from countries on the lower end on the Gender Inequality Index scale, such as the United States, to organize meetings with government officials from more affected countries in an effort to help said nations in managing the issue, discussing topics regarding economic and social factors,
c. ordering local police forces to perform checks on companies that have been reported of suspected or proven discrimination, under the supervision of government personnel, with examination procedures including but not limited to:
ii. investigation of security records and tapes,
iii. a set time frame for subsequent observation, including surveys on working environments given to staff monthly;
5. Requests more affected member states, especially countries facing socioeconomic inequalities, to make active efforts towards developing and enforcing an agreed upon legislative framework, such as the adoption and establishment of certain policies exclusively regarding gender discrimination in communities, under the basis of The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) through the compliance of basic rules and regulations, through methods such as but not limited to:
- implementing policies regarding gender equity in companies, such as but not limited to:
i. strictly restricting sexual harassment,
ii. prohibiting maternity leaves to result in unemployment, unless with the worker’s consent
iii. equal family leaves for both male and female workers in availability and duration,
b) encouraging the companies in LEDCs to pay equal amount of wages to both male and female workers through means such as but not limited to:
- workers of both genders are compensated equally for performing the same work,
- Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) checking on the salaries of all workers of several randomly selected companies biannually and warning, if not finning the companies,
c) recommending member states to establish school policies regarding gender rights that includes rules such as, but are not limited to the following:
i. for peers and teachers to treat each child in an equal manner,
ii. for students of any gender to have access to bathrooms in sanitary conditions,
iii. for students of any gender to participate in physical activities,
d) requesting local governments to organize annual meetings with company management personnel, in various conventions, for the purpose of:
i. enabling communication with management personnel to ensure better cooperation,
ii. forming and publishing long-term reports on the effectiveness of gender equality policies in regards to reduction of discrimination, to better construct future policies,
e) emphasizes that in addition to the specific requirements of the national occupation standard code, that enterprises, social organizations and other private companies are not allowed further alter standard gender policy agreements of the UN, such as but not limited to:
i. raising the standard of employment for one gender in the labor market,
ii. lowering the wages and benefits of one gender in employment,
iii. refusing to employ a worker for reasons such as marriage or childbirth,