Independent scholar and writer Peg Snyder came to the University of Wisconsin campus Wednesday to participate in a series of three lectures under the title “The Global Women’s Movement: A Truly Global Project.” Snyder is a member of the United Nations Development Program from Colombia University.
Snyder spoke in a speech titled, “The Unlikely Godmother: the UN and the Global Women’s Movement”, regarding the connection and independence of global and women’s issues.
“Global development issues and women’s issues are tightly interwoven but interdependent,” Snyder said. “Gender equality is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for development – for people’s freedom and well being.”
She discussed how women of primarily developing countries use the United Nations, as well as how the United Nations supports these women who in her opinion are in need of political backing.
“The UN is still the only forum where women can influence countries of the whole world,” Snyder said.
She said the women in this movement are very clever in their ability to use the UN by making decisions within the institution and recycling them to influence other governments.
“[The UN] has been a guardian and advocate – an unlikely godmother – and offered a venue to learn of and influence major world issues and movements,” Snyder said.
She also gave a detailed history about how far this movement has come along. She said the 1960s was a time that now needs much greater recognition and needs to be celebrated. It marked the beginnings of when “development became a women’s issue, and women became a development issue.”
The women involved in the forefront of the movement wanted facilities created to further their gender’s development. However, at the time the primarily male government believed that they already had their fair share. This opposition, according to Snyder, only fueled women’s desires to improve their status as they approached the next decade.
The 1970s were defined by the need to improve the quality of life for all people, especially those in developing countries once they realized that they were not going to industrialize on their own. At the time, women were not aware that the UN was helping the movement along, however, it was clear that the economy was the entry point to broad development.
Snyder also noted how institution building was a main focus of the time as national commissions and women’s bureaus began to emerge.
“Women ensured the longevity of their movement by giving it institutional strength,” Snyder summed up.
Snyder said that in the following twenty years, women and government began to mature and women finally seized the chance to become economic actors. As the movement broadened and deepened, the emergence of grass roots organizations grew in popularity.
As the moment continues to progress into the future, Snyder stated that it is far from a finished revolution.
“In my view, the women’s movement has made extraordinary progress, only possible with the cooperation from the UN,” Snyder said.
She articulated that although they have received widespread support, the transition has not been smooth due to well-organized opposition, like powerful men who are weary of this shift of power.
Though in no way opposed to the development of women, American women have seemed to separate themselves from the concerns of the globe with their lack of support for the cause according to Snyder.
“American women have never really taken hold of the women’s movement and made it their own,” Snyder said.
She predicts that this is due to the fact that Americans are not internationalists; therefore, the women are just a reflection of the American mentality.
Sarah Swider, a sociology graduate and speech attendee, thinks the most pressing question is why America has not been integrated in the development process.
“Why is the U.S. only donating a million dollars to the cause when governments with much smaller budgets are giving much larger contributions?” Swider asked.
