They have come from all over the world for the Commission on the Status of Women, two weeks of discussions, talks and networking. At the opening session on Monday, Sima Bahous, the head of UN Women (the United Nations agency for gender equality), told them that “misogyny is on the rise” and, at a townhall convened by António Guterres on Tuesday, the UN Secretary-General said that a “furious backlash” threatens to “push progress into reverse.
Linda Sestock, the president of the Canadian Federation of University Women, speaking at GA Hall during CSW69.
Linda Sestock is the president of the Canadian Federation of University Women, which awards university scholarships to women and promotes the participation of women in all aspects of emerging technology and leadership.
We’re extremely concerned, especially after seeing what happened with our neighbours to the south of us: we have noticed how alliances have shifted in the United States and we’re very fearful. We want to make sure that it doesn’t happen in Canada as well.
Most Canadians believe in the rights of our fellow women and that we’re going to be able to continue on the same trajectory that we’re on, but we need to be careful and we need to make sure that we don’t backslide.
We need to be hyper focused about ensuring that women are educated and that they’re entering the fields of technology, engineering, science and mathematics, because right now algorithms are slanted towards men and can be used against women.
We’re worried when we see that some words are not allowed anymore, such as diversity, equity and inclusion [a list of words banned or discouraged by the US administration has reportedly been drawn up and circulated]. We have a lot of professors in our organisation, and people are losing grants because they are being asked to remove words like female and gender. They are refusing and so they are losing funding, and we need to make sure that we continue to embrace diversity, equity and inclusion.
It boggles the mind and leaves me speechless.
These interviews have been edited for clarity and length