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International Bulletin - December 1998

Introducing Judy Grodin, PPSEAWA Representative at the UN

by Judy Grodin (grodin@nais.com)

In an attempt to clarify last years activities undertaken by myself as PPSEAWA's UN Rep, let me start with a little background information:

There were certain circumstances surrounding my agreement to be an UN rep in the spring of '97. My membership in PPSEAWA was contemporaneous with this agreement. My knowledge of the UN and its activities dated back to high school civics. I certainly didn't know what an NGO was. My knowledge of women's issues had come to a pregnant pause at about the time ERA was defeated and Bella Abzug lost her bid for the New York senate seat. It seemed a low point for women in the USA. Nevermind, I was shortly to have the first of my three daughters and to become happily if fanatically emersed in parenting. As side-lines, I did some tenant organizing, participated in the Nestle Boycott, let mothers' support groups at a local nursery school, and did private counseling. I have continued to be very active in school affairs (am presently co-chair of the Parents and Teachers Association for two years) and secretary of the local art council. I have never been very involved until very recently in organizational and administrative work and have only recently become somewhat computer literate. Some of the above activities were taken on for the very purpose of expanding my horizons, to use a cliche.

My work so far at the UN has been transformational and I will be forever grateful for the opportunity to have been exposed to the work of the UN and the many brilliant people there. What is going on there with respect to women is nothing short of revolutionary and in this age of globalization, it truly feels like "the place to be," the epicenter of so much important work - much of which never even finds its way into the media.

In the year since I became a member of and UN rep for PPSEAWA, I have had much to learn. First, as a new member, there was the task of figuring out what kind of organization PPSEAWA is. For many who have been long term members, this may seem obvious or silly, but you would be surprised how many members really couldn't tell me and how difficult it has been for me to understand our organization. Also, PPSEAWA is so large and meandering, I still find it mind boggling to fathom all its parts.

Secondly, because of reasons I still do not fully understand, but must surely have to do with the untimely death of the previous UN Rep, Leoni Pynappel, no mentor stepped forward to explain the complexities of my task, not to mention the basics. PPSEAWA women who had also done some rep work had gone on to serve in other capacities even before I arrived on the scene.

One of my primary goals has been to get to know the New York Chapter women. It looked like I might at least have a partner from this group, Maria "Phil" Mendez. As the charming and energetic wife of the former ambassador to the UN from the Philippines, she seemed like a perfect choice. Even if she had not been a rep to the UN, she had lived a diplomatic life which would be an interesting background to bring to the job. I was greatly saddened to hear of her death on late June. PPSEAWA has lost a lively elegant woman who had wonderful potential for this work.

My understanding of this job at the outset was the following: There was a need for more people to attend Thursday UN briefings for NGOs. I was also told there were committees that I could join if I was interested. It took me a long time to find out that the term "working group" was a synonym for "committee" and that a committee consisted of reps from several NGOs that were in support of a part of the UN like the Commission on the status of Women or UNIFEM and the work they do. A lobby if you will. They meet about once a month. Confusing to me was the fact that UNIFEM has an NGO committee as well as a non NGO committee. The non NGO committee is headquartered in Washington DC, but has regional chapters including on in New York. There is fund raising involved and lobbying - I'm not sure if both organizations do both activities.

The briefings and the meetings of the "working groups" parallel the session of the General Assembly which runs from Sept. to around June. It's mostly tourists at the UN in the summer. Apparently, hearings on treaties such as the one on the Elimination of All Discrimination Against Women and UN Conferences can and so occur at other times of the year. I've learned that the briefings, while interesting and informative, are probably not as important to keep up with as a carefully chosen committee. The working groups set up goals to accomplish in terms of influencing the work at the UN. The briefings are good for information overview and networking.

I have attended working groups in a somewhat scattered fashion to get an idea of what they do: I've been to groups on women's health, mental health, aging, girls, and CSW and UNIFEM. In the future, I will probably focus as much as I can on committees supporting UNIFEM and the CSW. Then I can report on exactly what they do. I would like to follow the CEDAW hearings and let PPSEAWA members know through the newsletter how to access the country reports off the internet and how to find out about "shadow reports" through the International Women's Rights Action Watch (IWRAW). Many PPSEAWA members do not really understand what the UN does and particularly what it is doing for women. Janet Nixon, the rep to UNICEF, wrote a brief but informative report on NGOs, what they are and what they do. This was read at our New York PPSEAWA meeting but could easily be disseminated to other chapters or put in the newsletter. Perhaps other short articles on related subjects would be useful. It is not easy to transmit to people what is very interesting and important work in an interesting way.

Our L.A. chapter seems particularly young and vibrant judging by Shirani Stanislaus' report in New York. I am anxious to hear if they found the development project they were looking to support. It seems to me that they would be very interested to know about UNIFEM and what it does. Would it be possible for them to support one of UNIFEM's projects? I regret not being able to attend the October meeting. I haven't been to California in 19 years.

Last Modified: June 05, 2010