“Gender parity is not only a moral imperative, it is essential for a more just, peaceful and sustainable future.”
Women in all manner of national and professional dress speaking dozens of languages arrived at the United Nations on New York City’s east side on Monday. Colorful patterns from Africa, black robes and veils from the Middle East, chic suits and boots from Europe, beautiful silks from Asia, sensible flats and trench coats from New York. The Le Corbusier-designed building, glass on two sides, marble on two sides, has held an annual Commission on the Status of Women for 70 years. As these global leaders, think tank thinkers, activists and non-profit staffers come together, the goals are not entirely clear.
The Commission was opened with remarks about the need for gender equality under the law and the theme for the conference is “Rights, Justice, Action” for all women and girls. Rights and justice are the primary components of this as speakers discussed the inequality between women and men worldwide. But this is a shockingly different ask for women of different nations and cultures. “Gender parity is not only a moral imperative, it is essential for a more just, peaceful and sustainable future,” said a speaker opening the conference ahead of the UN Secretary General.
The opening day was star-studded with musical performances and speeches from entertainers. But the hard-to-miss reality is that while English is the lingua franca, these women barely agree on what their shared words mean. The keyword is used by everyone, but it bears a different definition depending on who is using it. The concept of justice was bandied about by nearly all the speakers and defined broadly and contradictorily. From the Secretary General to the representative for youth, the concept of justice is broad, all-encompassing, and a word that is a choose-your-own-definition rather than one about which anyone has a clear understanding.
- Justice is not resilience.
- Justice is equal pay for equal work.
- Justice is freedom from sexual abuse and “sexual slavery networks, as exposed in the Epstein files.”
- Justice is equal representation in newsrooms, boardrooms, governments, and in leading the UN.
- Justice is needed so trans women do not have to fight against legal systems to have the right to their own identity.
- Justice is deaf women having interpreters.
- Justice is when deaths of Indigenous women defending their territory do not go unpunished.
- Justice is giving women more power because they are better than men at negotiating peace, creating inclusive digital tools, and more likely to “pass climate-friendly policies.”
- Justice is the pathway to power.
- Justice means having the same legal rights afforded to men worldwide.
- Justice in practice means legal systems to protect survivors and hold perpetrators accountable.
- Justice is gender parity.
- Justice is financing justice systems.
- Justice is freedom from violence.
- Justice is a privilege that only some women have access to globally.
- Justice is living free from discrimination and for women and girls to realize their full potential.
- Justice is eliminating structural barriers.
- Justice must be a lived reality for every woman and girl.
- Access to justice is a cornerstone to dignity and is essential for achieving gender equality.
- Justice is about digital access and AI governance.
- Justice is the engine for sustainable development.
- Gender justice is climate justice.
- Gender justice is gender parity.
- Justice is having a woman UN Secretary General.
- Justice is prosecuting those in the Epstein Files.
- Justice demands the active choice to believe survivors, hold perpetrators accountable, and dismantle systems.
- Justice is a broken promise because law enforcement is patriarchal.
- Justice is payment of reparations.
- Justice is canceling debt.
- Justice is redistributing resources and taxing the rich.
- Justice is funding feminist priorities and movements.
- Justice is reforming the UN.
- Justice is gender perspective training for law enforcement, judges and lawyers.
- Justice is safe shelter, psychological support, free legal assistance for victims of violence, legal data with gender perspective and effective participation at national and international negotiating tables.
- Justice is abortion access because “girls are not mothers.”
- Justice is redistributing care work.
Not all of these things can be justice. The way the word was defined is a cross between academic, post-modernist critical theory speak and communist talking points. Not all of these things can be the focus of the UN Commission on the Status of Women. If justice means all these things, then it very well may mean nothing, which is probably why there’s been a UN Commission on the Status of Women for 70 years and the problems of violence against women and lack of equality under the law still persist globally.
