[House Hearing, 111 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
WOMEN AS AGENTS OF CHANGE: ADVANCING
THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN POLITICS AND
CIVIL SOCIETY
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS, HUMAN RIGHTS AND OVERSIGHT
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
JUNE 9, 2010
__________
Serial No. 111-97
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs
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Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.foreignaffairs.house.gov/
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COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
HOWARD L. BERMAN, California, Chairman
GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida
ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey
Samoa DAN BURTON, Indiana
DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey ELTON GALLEGLY, California
BRAD SHERMAN, California DANA ROHRABACHER, California
ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York DONALD A. MANZULLO, Illinois
BILL DELAHUNT, Massachusetts EDWARD R. ROYCE, California
GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York RON PAUL, Texas
DIANE E. WATSON, California JEFF FLAKE, Arizona
RUSS CARNAHAN, Missouri MIKE PENCE, Indiana
ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey JOE WILSON, South Carolina
GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas
MICHAEL E. McMAHON, New York J. GRESHAM BARRETT, South Carolina
THEODORE E. DEUTCH, CONNIE MACK, Florida
FloridaAs of 5/6/ JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska
10 deg. MICHAEL T. McCAUL, Texas
JOHN S. TANNER, Tennessee TED POE, Texas
GENE GREEN, Texas BOB INGLIS, South Carolina
LYNN WOOLSEY, California GUS BILIRAKIS, Florida
SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas
BARBARA LEE, California
SHELLEY BERKLEY, Nevada
JOSEPH CROWLEY, New York
MIKE ROSS, Arkansas
BRAD MILLER, North Carolina
DAVID SCOTT, Georgia
JIM COSTA, California
KEITH ELLISON, Minnesota
GABRIELLE GIFFORDS, Arizona
RON KLEIN, Florida
Richard J. Kessler, Staff Director
Yleem Poblete, Republican Staff Director
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Subcommittee on International Organizations,
Human Rights and Oversight
RUSS CARNAHAN, Missouri, Chairman
BILL DELAHUNT, Massachusetts DANA ROHRABACHER, California
KEITH ELLISON, Minnesota RON PAUL, Texas
DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey TED POE, Texas
VACANTUntil 6/9/10 deg.
Jerry Haldeman, Subcommittee Staff Director
Paul Berkowitz, Republican Professional Staff Member
Mariana Maguire, Staff Associate
C O N T E N T S
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Page
WITNESSES
The Honorable Melanne Verveer, Ambassador-at-Large for Global
Women's Issues, Office of Global Women's Issues, U.S.
Department of State............................................ 10
The Honorable Esther Brimmer, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of
International Organization Affairs, U.S. Department of State... 19
Mr. Kenneth Wollack, President, National Democratic Institute.... 44
The Honorable Swanee Hunt, Chair, Institute for Inclusive
Security (Former U.S. Ambassador to Austria)................... 55
Ms. Judy Van Rest, Executive Vice President, The International
Republican Institute........................................... 62
LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING
The Honorable Russ Carnahan, a Representative in Congress from
the State of Missouri, and Chairman, Subcommittee on
International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight:
Prepared statement............................................. 4
The Honorable Melanne Verveer: Prepared statement................ 12
The Honorable Esther Brimmer: Prepared statement................. 21
Mr. Kenneth Wollack: Prepared statement.......................... 47
The Honorable Swanee Hunt: Prepared statement.................... 56
Ms. Judy Van Rest: Prepared statement............................ 64
APPENDIX
Hearing notice................................................... 76
Hearing minutes.................................................. 77
Responses from the Honorable Esther Brimmer to questions
submitted for the record by the Honorable Russ Carnahan........ 79
The Honorable Russ Carnahan: Material submitted for the record... 83
The Honorable Sheila Jackson Lee, a Representative in Congress
from the State of Texas: Prepared statement.................... 113
WOMEN AS AGENTS OF CHANGE: ADVANCING THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN POLITICS AND
CIVIL SOCIETY
----------
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 2010
House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on International Organizations,
Human Rights and Oversight,
Committee on Foreign Affairs,
Washington, DC.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 1:07 p.m., in
room 2172, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Russ Carnahan
(chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.
Mr. Carnahan. Good afternoon and welcome to the
Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights and
Oversight. We are here for a committee hearing today on the
subject of Women as Agents of Change: Advancing the Role of
Women in Politics and Civil Society.
I am going to make a brief opening statement. Then we want
to get right to our first panel. We do expect that we may be
interrupted by votes some time in the next hour, so we will
adjust accordingly and appreciate all of your patience.
In the last decade, we have seen a meaningful shift in
momentum surrounding the need for gender equality and
especially a growing call for women's voices in the decision-
making process from the international arena to local
communities around the world. Nonetheless, despite increased
momentum around women's empowerment and political
participation, there is still much more progress to be made.
Today, while women account for over half of the population,
they occupy less than 19 percent of the seats in national
parliaments, according to the IPU. In many countries steps have
been taken to increase the number of women in government and
political life, such as constitutional reform mandating quotas
at the national level and the introduction of programs that
help female candidates win election to political offices.
Critics claim this doesn't do enough to give women equal
voice in decision-making and meaningfully institutionalized
gender equality. It levels the playing field but doesn't
guarantee greater policy attention or social change.
It is imperative to increase not just the numbers but also
the effectiveness of women in political and civil leadership
roles. This includes ensuring that women elected to offices and
appointed to ministries have real power to enact legal reforms
that address the needs of women, children, and families, which
are inseparable from the needs of the community as a whole. It
also includes ensuring increased training and education for men
and boys to work with women as equal partners and change
negative sociocultural stereotypes.
Women face particular challenges, such as equal access to
health care, education, economic opportunities, violence, and
lack of legal rights in the judicial process. It has been amply
documented that they are also disproportionately affected by
problems such as climate change and conflict.
These unfortunate realities have put women to the test as
keen innovators and leaders. Women bring an important
perspective to policy and play instrumental roles in
reconstruction and peace-building efforts. Moreover, equality
of gender representation is shown to increase transparent and
democratic governance. These are benefits the U.S. cannot
afford to ignore in an increasingly challenging global
environment.
Women in Northern Ireland were essential in initiating the
peace process. Women in Rwanda rebuilt their country after the
horrific genocide. They currently rank first in the percentage
of women in Parliament. Women in the Democratic Republic of
Congo are likewise being recognized for their central role in
rebuilding, resettling, and opening dialogue.
Last week, national, provincial, and tribal Afghan leaders
gathered in Kabul for a peace jirga to outline a path forward
for lasting stability in Afghanistan. The rocket attacks
launched by insurgent Taliban members at the jirga underscore
the dire need for a resolution with the Taliban, especially one
that protects and promotes the rights and well-being of Afghan
women and girls who suffered disproportionately under the
Taliban's brutal rule.
Of the approximately 1,500 Afghan leaders represented at
the jirga, about 21 percent were women. This representation was
hard won, yet not a single woman was among the five prominent
speakers who addressed the jirga on its inaugural day, and all
four members of the appointed leadership were men.
Commenting on the involvement of women in brokering
negotiations with the Taliban, Samira Hamidi, Director of the
Afghan Women's Network, asserted ``we have not been approached
by the government.'' Such realities lend legitimacy to claims
that the level of women's participation was symbolic at best
and certainly insufficient to present a voice for at least half
of the Afghan population.
As Secretary Clinton and others have rightfully articulated
on several occasions, women's rights are human rights, and
women's progress is human progress. The world simply cannot
achieve lasting peace and prosperity if half of the population
is not allowed or not able to participate fully. For real
advancement in women's rights, we must take a comprehensive
approach that combats all obstacles--physical, economic,
sociocultural, psychological and otherwise--to women's
equality; and for this to work we need women at the helm of
policy formulation and decision-making.
This administration has taken important steps to raise the
profile of women's rights, including empowerment of women to
engage politically in their societies. This is exemplified by
the White House Council on Women and Girls and the Office of
Global Women's Issues created last year which work to advance
anti-discrimination laws and policies that have enabled more
women to participate in political, civil judicial life, on
gender equality, and mainstreaming of women's issues in
government.
Likewise, the U.N. has been a key force in pressing the
international community to definitively adopt gender equality
principles through various resolutions and now a new composite
gender entity still in the final planning stages. In fact, this
year marks the tenth anniversary of the adoption of the U.N.
Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace, and security.
The resolution stresses the important role of women in the
prevention and resolution of conflicts and in peace building
and urges increased representation and participation of women
at all decision-making levels in national, regional, and
international institutions that address conflict resolution
management and prevention.
Debate over the adequacy of women's involvement at the
Afghan peace jirga reiterates both the significance and
relevance of gender equality in the peace process. There is a
renewed push for gender equality at all levels of policy and
development strategy, and it is the job of Congress to conduct
oversight of the U.S. and U.N. programs to contribute
meaningful progress on these issues. We must take a serious
look at our own foreign assistance contribution and ensure
maximum effectiveness and transparency.
Everyone benefits when women have equal rights and women
have a voice in decision-making at all levels. When women are
empowered to engage in the political process, governments are
more effective and responsive to their people and nations are
more stable, peaceful, and prosperous.
I look forward to hearing the testimony today both from the
administration and our private witnesses on the status of their
efforts to enhance women's political participation, their
analysis of the best practices for increasing levels and
effectiveness and how to maximize U.S. assistance.
I now want to recognize my colleague and ranking member,
Representative Rohrabacher of California, for his opening
statement.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Carnahan
follows:]Carnahan statement deg.
Mr. Rohrabacher. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman; and
thank you for calling this very thoughtful hearing on an issue
that needs to be discussed.
Treatment of women is an unmistakable indicator of success
or failure, of potential danger or a chance for success in
terms of America's commitment to freedom in the world.
Let me note that we have faced many challenges during my 20
years in Congress, and quite often taking a look at what impact
these issues were having directly on women throughout the world
was an indicator of the significance of those issues. For
example, during the 1990s, when the Taliban emerged in
Afghanistan, I will just say that there were several of us who
were constantly sounding the alarm bell about the Taliban. And
I am sorry to say that our administration at that time, the
Clinton administration, had had some kind of an agreement with
Saudi Arabia, perhaps the Pakistanis as well; and there was
some kind of covert support going on for the Taliban.
Those of us who were concerned realized that the Taliban
were the equivalent of the Nazis in terms of women's rights;
and Carolyn Maloney, a Congresswoman from New York, and myself
were very active in trying to raise that issue and specifically
saying, look, this is what is happening. If this is the way the
Taliban treats women, it is going to come back hard on the
United States in many ways, not just to mention that our values
are being undermined. And we didn't get very far.
I think that if we had gotten more attention, and we did--
and Congresswoman Maloney actually went and tried to organize
women's groups in the United States to help direct policy away
from the Taliban. Had we been successful at that time, 9/11
might not well have happened.
But we do know that we cannot turn a blind eye to the type
of monstrous discrimination and mistreatment of women
throughout the world if we expect to move the world forward,
and women need to play an active role in not only being the
recipients of that but in charting the strategy of how to
accomplish that goal.
I would just like to say that we still face many challenges
today. In the Muslim world, it is still very, very clear that
women are discriminated against and that the United States
needs to play a positive role in that direction. But not only--
the Muslim world is just the one that is the best example.
Everybody likes to sort of pick on that because it is so
blatant.
But we have that type of discrimination going on and the
horrible mistreatment of women in Africa where we know that the
outbreaks of rape are ignored by their governments and just the
brutal mistreatment of women. Even in Hispanic cultures we find
residues left over from the machismo concepts where women were
not expected to play a role in decision-making. In Japan, that
type of cultural tradition still has its impact.
So it is up to us and the United States. We are a microcosm
of the good things and bad things about the whole world, so it
is up to us to try to serve as an example and to try to lead
the way.
And, as you said, Mr. Chairman, our commitment to human
rights--there is no commitment to human rights unless a large
portion of that commitment is to the rights of women. Because,
last time I noted, the human population was made up of at least
half women, and so that counts.
So I am very pleased today that you have called this
hearing and have drawn our attention to this and to have an
honest discussion of this and see what we can do and how each
of us can play a role and especially how the role of women in
our own country can be expanded in order to meet these
challenges to freedom elsewhere.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Carnahan. Thank you.
Next, I want to recognize for an opening statement Mr.
Delahunt of Massachusetts, who chaired this committee when I
was vice chair. He taught me everything I know.
Mr. Delahunt. And you have learned very well, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Carnahan. The gentleman from Massachusetts.
Mr. Delahunt. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and let me
congratulate you on this hearing. We had a similar hearing when
I did hold the gavel. I don't think we can have too frequent
hearings on this issue, because we have to constantly remind
ourselves and the rest of the world the importance of the role
of women in terms of not just our national agenda but in terms
of our international agenda.
I know that you are aware and have supported the
International Violence Against Women Act, which I am the lead
sponsor on the Democratic side. We have made progress.
My friend from California, Mr. Rohrabacher, indicated that
we have to lead. Well, we have to remind ourselves, too, that
we have a way to go. But the impressive strides that we have
made have really been brought about because of the vanguard of
women, with support from men, to break through old concepts and
to advance the role of women not just in society but
specifically in terms of political leadership.
I came across a statistic that I guess I shouldn't be
surprised at. But, as of mid-2009, women, even though they
represent 50 percent of the world's population, occupy only 19
percent of seats in national governments worldwide. That is a
figure that has to be improved.
And you know here in the United States Congress, what is
the percentage of women that occupy congressional seats,
whether they be in the House or in the Senate. So we all have
work to do.
But we have I think extraordinary leadership with the
Ambassador and the Secretary with whom I have worked in the
past and look forward to working in the future.
And I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge the former
Ambassador to Austria who I consider a friend, Ambassador Hunt,
who I know is part of the second panel. And, of course, the
gentleman from NDI representing the rest of us here today.
But this is a hearing that is important and that serves to
remind us of how far we have to go. You know, as Mr.
Rohrabacher indicated, in some countries, women endure extreme
levels of violence, including systematic rape in times of war
and harmful cultural practices, such as genital mutilation and
forced child marriage. I remember an article about a 13-year-
old girl in Yemen who was married off to an older man and
ultimately died from the injuries she sustained when he raped
her. Last year, a 12-year-old child bride in the same country
died while trying to give birth. You know, these anecdotes and
these tragic examples really should be the only motivation we
need to continue to change the course of the role of women in
global society.
And with that, I yield back.
Mr. Carnahan. I thank the gentleman.
I want to turn to our first panel, which we are thrilled to
have with us today.
I want to start with Ambassador-at-Large Melanne Verveer.
She is the director of the Department of State's Office on
Global Women's Issues, where the coordinates foreign policy
issues and activities relating to the political, economic, and
social advancement of women around the world. That is a big
charge.
Ms. Verveer. Yes, it is.
Mr. Carnahan. She has mobilized support for women and
girls' access to education and health care, to combat violence
against women, and to ensure that women's rights are integrated
with human rights in the development of U.S. foreign policy.
She served as chair and co-CEO of Vital Voices Global
Partnership, an organization she co-founded which invests in
women leaders and seeks to expand women's political
participation.
Previously, she was chief assistant to then-First Lady
Hillary Clinton in international activities to advance women's
rights. She has also helped establish the President's
Interagency Council on Women. She has a B.A. and M.A. from
Georgetown University and is a member of the Council on Foreign
Relations and the Women's Foreign Policy Group.
Also on our first panel is Assistant Secretary of State
Esther Brimmer. She is Assistant Secretary of State for
International Organizations, leading the Bureau of
International Organization Affairs, which strives to advance
U.S. interests through international organizations in areas
including human rights, peacekeeping, food security,
humanitarian relief, and climate change.
Previously, she was deputy director and director of
research at the Center for Transatlantic Relations at the
School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins,
where she specialized in transatlantic political and security
affairs. She has worked on E.U., Western Europe, U.N., and
multilateral security issues and was a member of the U.S.
delegation to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights in 2000.
From 1993 to 1995, she served as special assistant to the
Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, where she
worked on U.N., peacekeeping, human rights, and political-
military issues. She has a Ph.D. and master's in international
relations from the University of Oxford and a B.A. in
international relations from Pomona College.
We have two fantastic witnesses today. We are going to
start with Ambassador Verveer. We are going to ask you all to
stick to our 5 minutes; and, hopefully, we will have some time
for questions and then be able to move on to our next panel.
Welcome.
STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE MELANNE VERVEER, AMBASSADOR-AT-LARGE
FOR GLOBAL WOMEN'S ISSUES, OFFICE OF GLOBAL WOMEN'S ISSUES,
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Ambassador Verveer. Thank you, Chairman Carnahan, for your
leadership on this issue and for convening this important
hearing on a topic that is often overlooked and to Congressmen
Delahunt and Rohrabacher for your very supportive comments. And
welcome, Congresswoman Woolsey.
I am honored to be here this afternoon to discuss the role
of women in politics and civil society around the world and the
United States' efforts to advance women's participation in the
political lives of their societies and ask this my full
testimony be placed in the record.
While there have been positive developments in women's
political participation, women are still vastly
underrepresented globally. While women are half the population,
as you said, Representative Rohrabacher, and I can't quarrel
with you on that one, they certainly still hold less than one-
fifth of the positions in national governments. They are still
significantly outnumbered in the chambers of parliaments, in
provincial councils, and they are often missing from the
negotiating tables where conflicts are to be resolved. All too
often, important decisions that affect women and their families
and their societies are made without their having even a voice.
When women are discriminated against in the political
arena, their experiences, talents, and perspectives are shut
out of the policy decisions of our democracies and certainly
for our prospects for a better world. Moreover, according to
the World Bank, higher rates of female participation in
government are associated with lower levels of corruption on
the country level.
I have been fortunate to see firsthand how women are making
a difference in the political process at the local and national
levels. Women's political participation, role in civil society,
and government decision-making are key ingredients to building
democracy. Democracy without the full participation of women is
a contradiction in terms. It is a simple fact that no country
can progress or prosper if half its citizens are left behind,
and progress for women and progress for democracy go hand in
hand.
Today, investing in women is at the very heart of U.S.
foreign policy. We know that women's participation is essential
to addressing virtually every challenge we face as nations and
as a community of nations.
We are investing in policies and programs to grow women's
leadership capacity in all areas of political participation,
decision-making, and civil society. Women must not only be more
engaged in governance but they must also be at the table in
peace making, peace negotiations, and work on post-conflict
reconstruction.
We know that without the voices of women contributing to
the delicate process of conflict resolution, peace is less
likely to take root. U.S. support for quotas for women in
Afghanistan and Iraq, which were chiseled into their
constitutions, helped pave the way for women to enter politics
and participate in policymaking in those countries at a
critical time. The gains that have been made are precarious and
must be nurtured and consolidated or women will risk seeing
them erased or eroded.
The United States has been extensively engaged in
supporting women's political participation in Afghanistan,
which my testimony details, and we are particularly focused on
the role of women on the reintegration and reconciliation
process as it goes forward. And as you have pointed out, Mr.
Chairman, in the recently concluded peace jirga, the United
States was involved in supporting the participation of women,
supporting female jirga participants with the training and
skills development necessary to assist them to be effective in
their participation as well. But, as you also pointed out, the
outcome has been less than satisfactory.
As with Afghanistan, we remain deeply committed in Iraq as
well.
Women have key needs that we can go on to discuss in civil
society, in governing, and in actively engaging the political
process. My testimony details a number of programs our
Government is engaged in from the Middle East to North Africa
to USAID programs and beyond.
I want to acknowledge the panel that follows me. The NDI,
IRI, and the Institute for Inclusive Security have been
important partners in this common cause; and we have worked
with them extensively.
Women everywhere continue to face challenges and barriers
to productive participation and political engagement in
government. In countries marred in conflict or cursed with
poverty, the obstacles to overcome are even greater.
Nevertheless, progress is occurring, although I believe at a
pace that is far too slow; and, as a result, we are not
adequately tapping one of the greatest resources we have for
far more democratic, far more responsive, and far less corrupt
governance around the world.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Verveer
follows:]Melanne Verveer deg.
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Carnahan. Thank you very much.
And now let's turn to Dr. Brimmer.
STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE ESTHER BRIMMER, ASSISTANT SECRETARY,
BUREAU OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION AFFAIRS, U.S. DEPARTMENT
OF STATE
Ms. Brimmer. Chairman Carnahan, Ranking Member Rohrabacher,
thank you for the invitation to testify today.
I would like to submit my full testimony for the record and
this afternoon will just provide a brief summary of my remarks
for the subcommittee.
It is an honor to appear before this subcommittee, and I am
very pleased to be here with my colleague, Ambassador Verveer.
The empowerment of women and gender equality globally is a
top priority for the United States. Despite some progress over
the past several decades, for far too many women and girls, for
them, opportunity remains out of reach. Women still are the
majority of the world's poor, the uneducated, the unhealthy,
and the unfed.
We believe to effectively address the empowerment of women
and girls globally requires the cooperative efforts of the
entire world. International organizations are key partners in
this effort, serving to build widespread international support
for integrated approaches to address challenges facing women
and girls and setting norms and standards to help states meet
them.
The United States is working with the United Nations and
the U.N. system, along with international partners, to address
key issues impacting women and girls worldwide, including
violence, political and economic empowerment, increasing access
to health care to address maternal mortality and HIV/AIDS, and
improving access to quality education.
Given the multifaceted dimensions of these issues and their
global scope, it is imperative that the United States and the
international community strengthen the institutions and
multilateral tools available to address them. The U.S. strongly
supports consolidating the U.N.'s four existing gender-related
institutions into a single women's agency, headed by an
individual of under secretary general rank.
Some of the primary goals for the new entity are to more
effectively mainstream gender concerns, promote women's
empowerment throughout the U.N. system, and to enhance the
U.N.'s effectiveness and ability to better address issues that
impact women on the ground globally. We envision that the new
women's agency, among other things, would have expertise and
perform analysis and research on issues such as gender
equality, political participation, economic opportunities,
violence, health, disabilities, gender aspects of peace
negotiations, and discrimination against women.
The Obama administration is also working multilaterally to
address the disproportionate impact of armed conflict on women,
the role of women in peacekeeping conflict resolution and peace
building, and combating sexual and gender-based violence. We
are committed to the implementation of a series of U.N.
Security Council resolutions on these topics, including those
we have taken leadership on, such as Resolutions 1325, 1820,
1888, and 1889.
The United States advances a zero tolerance policy for
sexual violence against women and children in conflict. Last
September, Secretary Clinton chaired a Security Council session
and helped lead the unanimous adoption of the U.S.-sponsored
Resolution 1888 to strengthen protection of civilians from
sexual violence in conflict. The action-oriented resolution was
a major achievement for this administration and, more
importantly, for vulnerable women and girls globally, because
it established a Special Representative of the Secretary
General for Sexual Violence in Conflict, a position now held by
Margot Wallstrom, and also established a team of experts to be
deployed in conflict zones in order to strengthen the rule of
law. We are pleased that Special Representative Wallstrom has
begun her work by dealing immediately with the worsening
situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
This fall, we will mark the tenth anniversary of the U.N.
Security Council Resolution 1325. This resolution was first
adopted by the Security Council to focus on women's peace and
security and address the impact of conflict on women and the
contributions women can make to solidifying peace.
Last October, through the unanimous adoption of Resolution
1885, the Security Council reaffirmed Resolution 1325; and as
we approach the 10-year anniversary we will continue to work
toward Resolution 1325's implementation.
Mr. Chairman, before closing, I will briefly touch on
several related issues.
I would like to reiterate the administration's strong
support for the ratification of the Convention on the
Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women.
Secretary Clinton and members of the administration have said
that CEDAW is a priority. We also support working on the
empowerment of women as part of dealing with the Millennium
Development Goals and supporting work with the U.N. agencies to
promote education. And, finally, we were very active at this
March's session on the Commission on the Status of Women, and
we sponsored resolutions on eliminating maternal mortality and
morbidity through the empowerment of women. We have also
cosponsored resolutions on women's economic empowerment and the
gender composite entity that were adopted by consensus.
Mr. Chairman, I will end there, but thank you for the
opportunity to testify on this important issue; and I look
forward to your questions. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Brimmer
follows:]Esther Brimmer deg.
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Carnahan. Thank you.
Thank you both for your opening remarks. It was a great way
to kick this conversation off today.
Speaking of women in leadership, we have been joined by two
colleagues, Congresswoman Woolsey from California and
Congresswoman Moore of Wisconsin; and I want to recognize
Congresswoman Woolsey to start off the questioning.
Ms. Woolsey. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
As one of the founders of Women's History Month that came
from Sonoma County, California, you can know that I take this
cause of women's issues internationally very, very seriously.
And Secretary Clinton I am so proud has repeatedly said that
women's rights are human rights. She is exactly right. Any
development, economic, or humanitarian program that does not
consider the role of gender is setting itself up for failure;
and any country that doesn't take interest in what happens with
the women will not take steps forward.
We have proven that already. Even in the United States,
women have a long way to go on equal representation. In our own
Government, only 74 of the 435 Members of the House are women,
more than when I was elected in 1992, that is for sure, but not
enough. So I look forward, actually, to the time when women
will have an equal voice in government at home and abroad.
I thank you for holding this hearing and letting me be part
of it.
For nine Congresses in a row, I have introduced for the
United States to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of
All Forms of Discrimination, CEDAW, even going into Secretary
Helms' committee when he was the chair and being told to sit
down and act like a lady. So, you know, this is important to
me.
And now that we have our wonderful Secretary and the two of
you, we have Bill Clinton--Barack Obama in the White House--
Bill Clinton did pass the ratification forward--and we need to
do this. What is holding it up? Can you tell me? I mean, it is
the Senate. It is not the House. The House has 132 Members
signed on to the letter to the Senate saying, get on with it.
Ambassador Verveer. Yes, Congresswoman. And you are right,
and you have been steadfast. And it is probably the single most
frequently asked question I get all around the world,
everyplace I go, why has the United States not ratified the
Convention Against the Elimination of Discrimination Against
Women? Because we are in league with a few other rogue states
that haven't done so.
And while it is true that there are countries who have
ratified it and yet don't do the best in terms of recognizing
the rights of women in their countries, and what is significant
about that ratification is that women in those countries are
using the ratification of CEDAW in their countries as leverage
with their governments in making progress along the way.
So we have it as a priority, as Assistant Secretary Brimmer
said. We have been working with many across civil society in
the United States who are supporting it. There is a list of
treaties and other business before the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee and the Senate in general, but that is where the
question has to be lodged.
Ms. Woolsey. Thank you.
Dr. Brimmer, do you want to say any more about this?
Ms. Brimmer. I would just also concur with my colleague,
Ambassador Verveer, that similarly I also find the question
frequently asked in multilateral fora because I think the world
notes that the United States is re-engaging and working in
multilateral fora and working toward a world of rule of law and
that the importance of treaties is an important component of
that. And indeed CEDAW is a priority for us and we are working
very hard and we very much want to work toward the advice and
consent of the Senate to that particular treaty.
Ms. Woolsey. Thank you very much.
Very quickly, before my time is up, it is very important to
me that we emphasize maternal mortality. I don't want to take
money away from AIDS or any of the other successful programs
that we have from the United Nations and from the United
States, but we do need to dedicate more funds to maternal
mortality. Is there a way?
Ambassador Verveer. Well, Congresswoman, again, much in
agreement with what you said, one of the singular global
initiatives of the administration is the Global Health
Initiative. It is particularly focused on reducing the rate of
maternal mortality. We have just seen the first study in many,
many years that show, in fact, this is not an intractable
problem. We can make a difference. The Lancet Study. And the
hope is that now, with additional resources put toward it, the
G-8--Canada is taking the lead in the major initiative in the
G-8. The United Nations is focused on maternal and child health
in a significant way in light of the anniversary of the
Millennium Development Goals with the United States, with other
partners. Gates just announced a $1.5 billion commitment.
Hopefully, this is the time to once and for all begin to do
something about this terrible problem which wracks much of the
world. Women should not be dying every 2 minutes in childbirth.
Ms. Woolsey. Thank you.
Mr. Carnahan. Thank you.
Next, I want to recognize our ranking member, Mr.
Rohrabacher.
Mr. Rohrabacher. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Ambassador Verveer, let me just note that I am pondering
your observation that where there is women participation, there
is less corruption. I haven't heard that analysis before, and I
am going to keep that in mind as I am developing my world view.
So thank you for sharing that with us today.
I will just note that I think that we have made progress in
the United States, great progress in the United States. I just
note, as a Republican from California, we nominated two women
to be our gubernatorial and senatorial candidates yesterday,
and I don't think that would have happened 20 years ago.
Also, let me note that in the surfing contests that I pay
particular attention to in California that there never was a
women's part of the surfing competition 20 years ago, and now
women are playing a very active role in my sport, in surfing.
They are out there.
So these are big steps forward and meaningful things, and
they are basic changes in our society.
I have got a serious question to ask you both, because it
deals with the decisions that we have to make. I could ask you
about whether or not we have to prioritize. We are going
bankrupt, and we have to prioritize our spending. I don't have
any problem with trying to make sure money that is being
expended for particular diseases are expended in a way that
women are not shortchanged, because they are susceptible to
certain diseases and certain medical problems like with
childbirth that men are not. I don't have any problem with that
prioritization of that spending.
But let's get down to an issue today that I would like your
advice on. We have to determine what we are going to do in
Afghanistan. It is still a huge issue. In my whole life, in the
last 30 years, Afghanistan has been there. We have to determine
whether or not we are going to continue to try to be a presence
and a force in that society at great cost to our society both
in lives and treasure or we are going to perhaps try our best
to do something so that we can walk away but yet they will not
be a threat to us. But if we do walk away in that way, what we
will be doing is suggesting that the Pashtun culture, which
dominates a large chunk of Afghanistan, will remain intact.
Much of our efforts in Afghanistan were aimed at changing
the Pashtun culture and their relationship with women. The
Taliban are part of the Pashtun culture. Not all Pashtuns are
Taliban, but almost all Taliban are Pashtuns.
So what is your advice to us? What is your advice? Should
we fight it out in Afghanistan until that perhaps culture and
their treatment of women, which is unacceptable by any of the
democratic standards that we believe in, should we stay there
and fight to change that? Or should we say, look, we cannot
change the world, and we are going to cut our losses and get
out just so long as they don't become a threat to everybody
else? That is the question.
Ambassador Verveer. Well, Congressman, obviously these are
decisions that are going to be made above my pay grade. But let
me just concur with what you said at the outset, which is how
the treatment of women is often an indicator of danger or
perhaps greater danger. And where women are much oppressed in
our world, those are among the most dangerous places not just
for the women in those societies but increasingly for our own
country.
I think, you know, the investment that has been made that
you have talked about being a voice for in the 1990s, I worked
for somebody in those years who was then the First Lady who was
joining you and being in being that voice, talking about the
oppression of the Taliban to women there. If you talk to women
of Afghanistan, they will tell you, this is not how it always
was. This may be part of the culture, but there were times in
the 1950s and the 1960s and other times when they remember well
how it was. They remember how they grew up.
Mr. Rohrabacher. King Zahir Shah, who I supported during
all of this time period, I wanted to bring him back. It was his
wife that led the way to casting off the burkas in Kabul, et
cetera.
But let's not kid ourselves. This repression of women is
part of the Pashtun culture; and we will have to stay there and
fight if we are going to make that our goal, to change that.
Advice on that?
Ambassador Verveer. I would say that we have to continue to
support human rights in the ways that we will choose to do
that, obviously. But what happens to the women of Afghanistan
is a predictor of what will happen, as you so eloquently said,
in the future.
Ms. Brimmer. Ranking Member Rohrabacher, if I may add some
additional thoughts to this portion of the conversation, I
would also note that the United States is not alone, that the
international community as a whole also supports the work in
Afghanistan or recognizes the importance of long-term change in
Afghanistan; and part of that is enhancing the role of women
and girls.
I would just note that there are many different ways of
continuing to have international support for change in
Afghanistan, and I will give you just one example. If you look
at the work and the role of looking at education in
Afghanistan, getting girls back into school has been absolutely
crucial. And one of the things we actually work at with the
United Nations system, particularly with UNICEF, is making sure
that there are schools in rural areas and those schools make
sure the girls go to school. And there are over 800 of these
rural schools where girls are becoming part of the future. I
think those are some of the things that can help in the long
term in that country.
Thank you.
Mr. Carnahan. Thank you very much.
I am going to recognize next in our order is the gentleman
from Massachusetts, Mr. Delahunt.
Mr. Delahunt. Yes, thank you.
Let me just address this globally. I mean, much of what Mr.
Rohrabacher said in terms of Afghanistan I think is the concern
that many of us share, that if there should be a decision made
to leave, what will happen to any progress that women have made
in Afghanistan? I know that is a priority for me in terms of my
own decision-making process as far as supporting the continued
presence of--or not supporting the continued presence of
American troops in Afghanistan.
But putting that aside for a minute, I always make the
observation in terms of speaking in terms of violence against
women, while it is often characterized as a women's issue, that
it is truly a male problem. What initiatives are happening
globally in terms of our own foreign policy, in terms of the
United Nations, in terms of other nations that prioritize this
issue to influence men, boys? Is there any coherent effort to
change attitudes that have been inculcated in men as a result
of the societies in which they grow and develop?
Ambassador Verveer. Congressman, let me just start, and
then I know that the Assistant Secretary will join in.
Going back to the concern about what happens if we leave
Afghanistan, I think it buttresses what this discussion is
about today, which is women's enhanced political participation
and why it is so important in this reintegration reconciliation
process what decisions are made to end this conflict, that they
be parties to all of this so that the end to the conflict can
come in a way where they aren't thrown under the bus, so to
speak, and there are better prospects for the future based on
all the other kinds of investments that have been made, social
and otherwise.
Violence against women, as no one knows better than you
because of all the efforts you have certainly put into IVAWA,
is a global scourge; and we have to do better at engaging men
and boys in dealing with the problem. The women in Afghanistan,
for example, talk about the fact that this issue needs to be
part of the education process. There are not just more girls
going to school for the first time--we are up near 40 percent
now--but certainly large numbers of boys. This needs to be
integrated into what they are hearing.
And we have been working with religious leaders, because
the context of that society is heavily Islamic, and having the
mullahs and the imams take these messages and put them into
their Friday services and be influential in that respect makes
an enormous difference.
Similarly, we have been funding programs to use men at the
village level, even where people are illiterate, to do skits
that do demonstrate why this is not behavior that should be
involved in, that men should define themselves by or be engaged
in.
One of the most significant ways to deal with this problem
is obviously to prosecute it. It is a crime. It is not
cultural. Laws have to be enforced, and we have to make sure
there are systems that are based more on impunity than a system
of justice that we can ensure that those changes occur. And
that is something that we are working on, for example, in the
DRC.
So we do need a full range of these tools. There is
increased focus on the role of men, religious leaders, other
influential leaders on this problem; and I think that is a lot
of the way we need to go if we are going to have a different
outcome than we see today.
Ms. Brimmer. Just to pick up on two particular themes from
this conversation, Congressman Delahunt, I would like to just
note particularly that our series of resolutions passed at the
Security Council have tried to stress the importance of dealing
with violence against women as a challenge to international
peace and security and, hence, the importance of Resolution
1880 and the follow-up to that.
But, again, as you mentioned, it is extremely important
that all of society--men and women, girls and boys--address
this problem and that we try to bring this idea to many aspects
of our diplomatic engagement, raising the importance for men
and boys also to be part of the solution.
Most recently, at CSW in March, we actually sponsored a
session as the United States--actually in cooperation with
France--on the role of men and boys in promoting gender
equality; and we think this is a theme that we should continue
to raise because all of human society needs to be part of this
solution.
Thank you.
Mr. Carnahan. Thank you.
Next, I want to recognize Congresswoman Moore from
Wisconsin for 5 minutes.
Ms. Moore. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the privilege to
sit here with the subcommittee of the Foreign Affairs
Committee; and I would just like to say to the Ambassador hello
again. I think we have spent a couple of hours today with the
distinguished panel and also with a couple of Afghan women,
talking about many of these issues that we are talking about
this afternoon. So I really appreciate your diligence. And nice
to meet you, too, Dr. Brimmer.
If it is appropriate, I would like to shift the
conversation a little bit to Haiti, if that would be okay. I
had the opportunity--the challenge, actually--to be with the
House Democracy Partnership on the absolute last day of their
democratically elected mandate. Literally the entire House of
Representatives met with us. Their last session was to meet
with us, and two-thirds of the Senate was meeting on their very
last day. And we had one woman senator say in tears, we are
hungry, we are homeless, we are facing the hurricanes, we have
limited potable water, but the worst thing is that we are
losing our democracy.
And there was a great deal of assurances, reassurances
around the table that the United States would be there to try
to help them get polling lists together, to try to make sure
that we help them to get an election going by November and to
certainly try to avoid an interim government in the case of the
President whose term was extended again because of the
situation that is in Haiti.
What are we doing, if anything, about trying to empower
women to participate in the elections, to field candidacies and
to focus on that since we know that women's political
involvement is crucial?
Ms. Brimmer. Good afternoon, Congresswoman Moore. If I may
begin to respond to your question; and I expect my colleague,
the Ambassador, will also join in. I will take a moment to talk
about our work in Haiti indeed leading up to the elections.
As you know, responding to the devastating crisis in Haiti
is a major foreign policy issue for the United States. We are
by far and away the largest official donor and private donor.
The outpouring of private support is also incredibly
significant, and it is part of a long-term commitment to
addressing the challenges the people of Haiti face. We also
note particularly the support of the larger donor community as
well toward dealing with the challenges in Haiti.
Indeed, we are coming up to a crucial period with the
elections at the end of November, and there are several ways
that we are trying to help support the people of Haiti and
particularly women of Haiti in playing a role in those
elections and taking the next step on their path toward
restoring democracy. That indeed if we look at the elections
that the mechanisms we are using as international support for
the elections in Haiti include our work with the United Nations
operations there. There is a peacekeeping operation there,
MINUSTAH, which actually is a part of the United Nations system
there which will help with the elections.
The United Nations has extensive experience in helping
organize elections and in particular has taken on the
responsibility of actually using the MINUSTAH forces to get the
ballot boxes around the country--physically move them to get
them around the country and to help ensure that there are clear
voter rolls.
The Special Representative of the Secretary General will
lead the U.N. effort there to work on Haiti. Just a few weeks
ago, I was in Port-au-Prince to see the operation, to sit down
with him and talk about what the U.N. will be doing to support
those elections. We think it is important that the elections
are held in a safe and secure environment, and we have
supported increased police for the operation to make sure those
elections are conducted safely.
We also note the cooperation between the United Nations,
CARICOM, and the United States to help also get voter rolls and
help voters get to the polls and help active participation by
women in the process.
Ms. Moore. Thank you, Dr. Brimmer.
Just a few more seconds. My time is expiring.
One of the things that I have noticed is that there is
really no strong public education system in Haiti. And, of
course, women suffer from the dearth of education; and I wonder
if there is any thought about spawning some sort of universal
or public education support for that in Haiti, particularly
focusing on women.
Ambassador Verveer. You know, Congresswoman, in addition to
what Assistant Secretary Brimmer said, there is so much focus
and we are in constant touch with many of the women
particularly in civil society in Haiti. On the emergency
situation that still exists, they are desperate to be fully
included in the reconstruction process for income generation
and for being part of the economic rebuilding. So there has
been a lot of focus on that as well as the protection from
violence, which is continuing to be a serious problem. And we
have been dealing with the United Nations and others who are in
a position to ensure that the women are not going to be harmed
as electricity is still a problem and their proximity to so
many potential problems for abuse are. And those are the two
things they raised with us.
We are also working to ensure that we can rebuild even with
the fact that the population is so disrupted and displaced, a
way to ensure that the children continue to get their
education. And that moves forward and that is definitely in
process. So we can get a status report on where that is for you
and get it to you soon.
Ms. Moore. Thank you.
I yield back.
Mr. Carnahan. Thank you. We gave you a little extra.
Ms. Moore. Thank you so much for your generosity, sir.
Mr. Carnahan. Mr. Ellison, you are recognized for 5
minutes.
Mr. Ellison. Thank you Mr. Chairman; and thank you for
having this very important hearing today.
My question has to do with women as peacekeepers and, you
know, people who preserve the law. You know, in places like the
DRC and in other post-conflict areas or current conflict areas,
does the engagement of women as part of the instrumentality of
peacekeeping have a beneficial effect? Is this being tried in a
significant concerted way? Can you speak to this?
Ambassador Verveer. Well, Congressman, it is not just does
it have a beneficial effect. It is absolutely essential. And
there was a Security Council Resolution. There is an existing
one. It is called, in the jargon, 1325, but it recognized that
when it comes to peace and security women have an absolutely
intrinsic, critical role they have to play.
And as the chairman said in his opening statement, we saw
it in Northern Ireland, we saw it in El Salvador, Guatemala,
Rwanda, and so many places in between that when women aren't
part of that process that goes forward to end a conflict, what
we are working on now in Afghanistan, the way that future is
determined will not have the critical issues on the table that
will get resolved one way or the other, and then they will be
part of the process to go forward. In fact, the peace will not,
in all likelihood, take hold as was anticipated. So we are all
working that much harder.
I can't say that any of us have done the best job we could
and must do to ensure that women are fully participating. It is
what we are striving to do in Afghanistan. There is a whole lot
of effort going on presently in the State Department working
with DOD, working with USAID in an interagency process and how
we can do this better and how we can articulate a significant
number of activities that our post should be engaged in to
further this so that the outcomes are precisely what you stated
in your question.
Ms. Brimmer. Good afternoon. If I may also note that we are
even seeing women playing a larger role in formal peacekeeping
operations as well. There are actually two countries that have
all-female units that work on peacekeeping issues. One of them
is in India, which pioneered the idea in 2007 of having a unit
that focused--that was composed of women and that went to work
on issues particularly dealing with sexual violence. And we
noticed that that unit went to Liberia and actually inspired
women in Liberia to join the national police force, and now 15
percent of the police force in Liberia is actually female.
And indeed, President Sirleaf Johnson as well as our
ambassador there and the Special Representative of the
Secretary General, all women, and actually led a campaign to
focus on combating sexual violence in the country, again
showing leadership in this issue.
We now have a unit from Bangladesh that is also an all-
female unit that has just deployed to Haiti, particularly
trying to help secure the refugee camps and particularly trying
to deal with gender-based violence in the refugee camps, and we
see that as a primary effort.
And I would notice, I would actually like to credit our
colleagues in the Defense Department as well that have also
looked at this idea and have actually, for the first time, sent
an all-female Marine unit to Afghanistan to work on some gender
issues there. So it is an important idea of women as
peacekeepers, even in our formal peacekeeping structures.
Mr. Ellsworth. Thank you for that.
Also, when women get into office and are elected officials
in Afghanistan, Pakistan, anywhere, what sort of level of
intimidation do they have to face that is specific to them
being women? They could run into intimidation for any number of
reasons. It could be party. It could be ethnicity. But as
women, are we finding that when we succeed and women are in
office, that they have a special burden to bear in terms of
threats, hate crimes, things like that?
Ambassador Verveer. Well, I think it is probably fair to
say that there is a double standard or a different standard
imposed on women in political office. And the two women here on
the panel can probably underscore that. But it is particularly
difficult in areas of conflict. And I think, in 2008, some 10
lives alone were lost by women in the public domain in one kind
of elective office or another to send a message to them. And
these kinds of horrific messages are sent all too frequently.
And whether it is voting when they are deemed that they
shouldn't be voting, or when they are actually participating in
the process when others deem for them that they have no part
being in that business, these terrible messages are sent.
So, yes, they are much more prone to be attacked in ways
that I don't think any of us would take those kinds of personal
risks that they do in the name of rebuilding their country and
for the democratic principles they would like to see put in
place. So we feel, I know we all do and certainly our programs
try to certainly work at the security piece, and then also help
them build capacity and find ways in which they can protect
themselves more and ways that will make them less prone to this
kind of violence.
But I have talked to many women in the Afghan Parliament,
for example, on the provincial councils. They will tell you
hair-raising stories about what they endure every day, many of
them going back to see their constituents, not knowing if they
will get back to the capital ever again. There is a great price
that is paid in the name of a better future and democratic
governance, and I think we should keep that in mind always as
we try to develop our programs and also help secure them as
best we can in the effort that they are making.
Mr. Carnahan. Thank you, Representative.
Next, I will recognize Congresswoman Jackson Lee from
Texas.
Ms. Jackson Lee. Mr. Chairman thank you so very much.
I am reminded of the opportunities that we have had to
travel and to see these issues first-hand.
And I thank you to the ranking member for joining the
chairman in this important hearing.
To both of the witnesses, Dr. Brimmer and Ambassador
Verveer, thank you for your leadership.
Let me try to bust out of the bag. Let me try to achieve
some of the knockout punches of Mohammed Ali. I guess I am
moved by the presence of a uniquely distinctive audience that
is here, seemingly a large number of women. And I cannot
imagine that they are here for the lack of interest in this
topic.
I am reminded of the Secretary of State's comments as First
Lady in the 1990s, Ambassador, when she went to China and said
that human rights is women's rights; women's rights is human
rights. What a resounding large statement to be made around the
world. And then, to paraphrase a statement, the person, the
woman that rocks the cradle is the establisher of the
civilization that we live in.
And I believe, Mr. Chairman, if I could, in working with
you, what should come out of this hearing is a demand, an
absolute demand, an imperative demand, a declaration of an
emergency that the international act dealing with--the
international act of dealing with the violence against women
should be passed, and it should be passed now. Because what I
am gleaning from both the testimony and the recognition of how
vast our task is, is that we are not going forward. We are
working hard, but we are not going forward on some of these
crucial issues dealing with violence against women. And let me
recount and then pose a question.
And all of the questions I came in, I heard Congresswoman
Moore speaking about the need for broad-based education. And
having been in Haiti--and that is just one example of going
into developing nations where education is not accessible.
Certainly Afghanistan.
I do want to thank the Ambassador for holding the
discussion at the State Department this morning, a snapshot of
women in Afghanistan. And let me applaud you, apologize that I
was testifying before a committee dealing with the BP oil spill
and was not able to get there.
But let me cite for you Sudan, for example, of course
Darfur, which even today women are violated as they are living
in camps still; even under the auspices of the peacekeepers and
the mandates of the United Nations, women are violated.
The women in Afghanistan, Ambassador, it is interesting
that you recount that story. I heard that story almost 4, 5
years ago meeting with Afghan parliamentarians really right
after we had written the constitution and they were included.
They came and they said--speaking to them in Kabul--they said,
I am afraid to go back to my constituency. We know that girls
are prevented from going to school even today, even as we try
to use smart power to build schools.
Camp Ashraf, an isolated place in Iraq that has Iranians,
where the women are violated. Not only the women, of course,
the whole community is under siege in Iraq. We have been
begging and fighting for those individuals not to be violated,
abused, intimidated, and treated in the way that they have been
treated by the Iraqi Government.
I would also say to you that I have in my possession a
burqa, and I brought it back after some years because at the
time I brought it back--and I do believe in choice in many
ways. And some have chosen--some women have chosen to wear it.
I am not sure the basis, but they say they have chosen.
But when I brought it back, I brought it back to show what
was not going to be anymore. I brought it back to say, look
what we helped eliminate or to empower women. And we know that
today, if we go to Kabul and other places, the burqa is being
worn; some it is being demanded that they wear it.
So my question is this: Tell me how important it is that we
demand that the international act of--violence against women's
act be passed now.
Two, we have something in the faith called backsliding.
What is the level of backsliding that is going on in these hot
spots around the world, so to the extent that in--and might I
compliment the administration overall. But to the extent that
we have to gin up the activity of the United Nations, we have
excellent leadership there, but you have a tough job at the
United Nations. They don't get it. And while we are
backsliding, people, women are dying. And I think we need to
know in the United States, Congress, what the answers need to
be on ginning up, moving, declaring this an emergency, passing
that legislation now.
Mr. Chairman, if you would indulge me for the answer. I
thank you for your courtesies.
Ambassador Verveer. This is a very serious problem. It is a
global scourge. We have got to do better. I think one of the
places where we did make progress over the last several years
is in laws being passed in many countries to deal with setting
out penalties and proclaiming once and for all that this was a
violation of the law. It is criminal behavior; it isn't
cultural behavior.
Unfortunately, in too many places, these laws have not been
implemented, and they are not enforced, and the system of
justice is not responsive. So we need to build capacity within
countries and need to do more to get greater political will to
deal with these issues within the countries.
For example, in Afghanistan, they have passed a very strong
law now called elimination of violence against women. That law
is sitting on the books. It needs to be implemented. It needs
to be to taken seriously by the government. And the capacity of
civil society needs to be built so that they can hold their
government responsible and the processes of government are in
place to enforce that law. Otherwise, these laws don't mean
anything. And that is one of the problems we are dealing with
as we look at honor killings and rape as a tool of war and
domestic violence and great risk taken in political life, et
cetera. So I think we clearly need to develop a more coherent
strategy. And that covers every area, from political will to
greater resources to civil society, to be able to make a dent.
Now, we have tried to be responsive, and I am sure
Assistant Secretary would like to talk more about the role that
Secretary Clinton played after going to the DRC and seeing the
array of problems that have been created there by the armed
bands using rape as a tool of war, concerted tool, to further
their goals, trying to get the representative who is now in
place to deal with sexual violence against women, and an array
of experts to start dealing with this at every level. But these
processes are too slow. And I think one of the things in terms
of our own leadership is what we can do, as we are all trying
to do clearly, but it is not enough, to begin to have a greater
impact.
Mr. Carnahan. Thank you, Ambassador.
And I am going to have to hold you at that, because we have
been joined by another member we want to have time.
Jan Schakowsky, representative from Illinois, who is also
cochair of the Congressional Women's Caucus. I want to
recognize her for 5 minutes.
Ms. Schakowsky. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I appreciate your allowing me to speak for 5 minutes. I do
have an opening statement that I would like to put into the
record, and I will waive any questions now.
Mr. Carnahan. Without objection.
I had a few questions of my own, and hopefully we will have
some time for Mr. Rohrabacher to do some follow-up as well.
Let me start, Ambassador Verveer, with you. With regard to
the focus the Obama administration has had and with Secretary
Clinton, focusing on how we bring these women's issues to the
table as one of the important tools of our foreign policy, I
would like you to please talk about some of the ways, best
practices. You have seen this work in a practical way, but also
moving forward, how we can ensure sustainability in these
practices? We have touched on that earlier, but I wanted to get
you to elaborate some about that because I think that is going
to be critical in areas like Afghanistan.
Ambassador Verveer. Well, I think one of the most
fundamental ways, Mr. Chairman, is to ensure that these are
integrated throughout the work of the State Department. So that
when it comes to women's political empowerment or economic
empowerment or freedom from violence, that as the various
offices and bureaus are working on their own agenda of issues,
to really affix the women's lens, if you will, in terms of
ensuring better outcomes on the very issues that they are
working on.
We are also in the process of a woman's strategy in terms
of strategic and budget integration. And that is going forward,
and we are hoping that that will put--putting that into place
will create a more sustainable way to ensure that we get better
outcomes across the board.
There are areas that may not appear to be ways in which we
might proceed but increasingly are making a difference. For
example, as you know, there are a series of dialogues the U.S.
has been and continues to be engaged in with other countries.
We just concluded meetings on the United States-India dialogue.
We had the United States-Afghan dialogue. This provides
opportunities, because there is great political will today to
put these women's issues on the agenda so that, as the leaders
of countries come together, these are not marginalized issues
or unspoken issues; they are right front and center on the
agendas.
With the Indian Government, for example, we were talking
about the great success story that the Panchayat system in
India where, because of a quota but now well beyond a quota,
upwards of 40-50 percent of these village and municipal
council-level elected positions are held by women. And there
are empirical studies now that show a correlation between the
outcomes of their performance and much greater the emphasis
within those communities of benefits to the people and greater
public resources coming in, not being siphoned off in ways that
were previously siphoned off.
There is an effort now with our coming together to take
that experience and help build a capacity more broadly
regionally, which would obviously be a contribution to
enhancing the role of women's political participation at the
local level.
So both on the level of procedures within the Department,
and then in terms of the kinds of programs we have been engaged
in that need to be sustained, I would say it is not an either/
or, but a both/and for us to go forward.
Mr. Carnahan. I had the pleasure to be with you about a
month ago at a roundtable between Members of Congress and women
from Afghanistan. They were here in leadership roles. And we
saw firsthand, I think, some of the challenges that, even
sitting in that room, pushback and uncertainty at best from
some of their male colleagues in the government in terms of
their involvement going forward. So I think these kind of
strategies are going to be critical to our success.
And Dr. Brimmer, I wanted to ask you if you would elaborate
with regard to the consolidation efforts for a new gender
entity at the U.N. I know those are in process as we speak, but
how you think that coordination can better serve the efforts
there at the U.N.
Ms. Brimmer. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Indeed, as you mentioned, we are currently in diplomatic
negotiations to bring together several different parts of the
United Nations to create one single new entity dealing with
women's issues.
We currently have four smaller entities that work on
different aspects, whether it is research on women's issues or
running conferences on women's issues, which is very important,
but is currently separate from the larger organization, UNIFEM,
which works on support for providing technical assistance to
women around the globe. This effort would bring all those
efforts together and would create one entity that would create
a strong voice for dealing with gender issues and gender
equality in the U.N. system. And indeed, it would be a tool to
actually deal with one of the points that Congresswoman Jackson
Lee mentioned in her question, which is, how do you deal with
backsliding, how do you make sure to keep these issues on the
agenda?
The new entity would be able to work with the big
departments in the U.N., Department of Peacekeeping Affairs,
Department of Political Affairs, and others, to keep women's
issues and gender equality on the agenda as an area for work in
the U.N. system. So we think this is an important effort. We
would hope to conclude diplomatic negotiations later this
month.
Mr. Carnahan. Thank you very much.
Ambassador Verveer. And if I could add to that, Mr.
Chairman, the other thing it would do is have a very
significant leader at the right hand of the Secretary General
to make sure these issues were not ignored.
Mr. Carnahan. Thank you.
I am going to recognize our ranking member again for 5
minutes. I think we can sneak this in before votes.
Mr. Rohrabacher. I would like to get back to the serious
question that I asked before, because I honestly would like
some advice, and frankly, I didn't get the answer that I asked
for. I didn't get an answer from you on that.
We are faced with a major decision now about what we are
going to do in Afghanistan. The Pashtun culture is what we have
been up against all along. Their culture is to treat women like
cattle, basically, and owned by men. And everything that we see
is wrong with the most radical of Islamic anti-female beliefs
can be centered there in the Pashtun culture.
Now, if we are going to--if we are committed, as long as we
are there and we are part of the United Nations group,
international group, I understand that we need to do that as
long as we are there. Should we stay there and get that job
done? Do we have that responsibility with the American military
force to basically come in and insist on that change of
culture? Because unless they change, that is what I believed
all along, and if that was what, if the Taliban were dominated
by the Pashtun culture, were going to dominate Afghanistan, it
is going to come back and hurt us. I believed that in the
1990s. I don't believe we can ignore that type of violation
now.
But what do you say? Should we be staying there and using
our military might to obliterate that aspect of the Pashtun
culture?
Ms. Brimmer. I would simply say that the long-term work in
Afghanistan will require strong support from the United States
and the international community in many forms. As I mentioned
earlier, that the work, both the civilian and military and
nongovernmental activities, are all important to helping the
Afghans move forward in their own society, and that we as an
international community will have to be part of that.
Mr. Rohrabacher. Long term.
Let me give you a short-term thing then. What is being
floated right now is, should we be making a compromise with the
Taliban, letting the Taliban into the Afghan Government, so
that we can make our exit a little bit sooner with a little
less bloodshed? What do you say to that? But, of course, the
deal that is being made is going to be done at the expense of
women's rights.
Ambassador Verveer. Well, and what the women are saying is,
we are not against deals. We are not against bringing an end to
the crisis. We are not against bringing those into power who
may have been on the other side, as has happened all over the
world as conflicts are ended.
But we want to make sure that we are part of the terms of--
of the negotiated terms to end that conflict. So this is
something in the end, as capacity is built and people are
engaged in the processes, that they have a fair chance to work
it out.
Mr. Rohrabacher. So, not putting words in your mouth then,
making sure that that is part of the agreement, we should not
make an agreement that does not leave a recognition of the
rights of women in Afghanistan--we should not leave that
country absent of an agreement that guarantees those rights as
we see the rights of women, not as the Pashtuns see the rights
of women.
Ambassador Verveer. Congressman, I will repeat what our
leaders have said, which is that, as these discussions and
agreements and negotiations and processes go forward, that
there are three points that are uppermost in terms of
determining the outcome: And that is that there is no deal with
al Qaeda; there is no deal for the violence to continue with
those people; and the constitutional rights have to be
respected.
Mr. Rohrabacher. So the answer is, yes, we shouldn't leave
without that. All right. I mean, I am just trying to get a yes
or no out of you out of you on a very easy decision that we--it
is not an easy decision, but an easy way to delineate there is
a decision to be made, and it is a tough decision.
Would you like to add something to that, Doctor?
Ms. Brimmer. I would join my colleague, Ambassador Verveer,
in saying that understanding those main conditions that are
part of the situation in Afghanistan I think will be crucial
for any decision that would have to be made.
Mr. Rohrabacher. Let me just note that I don't know the
answer, either. I am not--I literally was seeking your advice
on this, because I am not trying to push either point of view
on that. It really, when I see our people being blown apart
there and our young people separated, families being destroyed,
and men and women coming home with missing legs and/or their
parents, mother or father, dead in Afghanistan; it is a
horrible price our people are paying there. And yet, at the
same time, I understand that if we would leave at a certain
point, all these rights that we talk about, our commitment to
human freedom and the importance of women's rights within that
concept, would not be well served. So it is a big decision-
making where we are placing our values.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. And I will ponder what
we have learned today.
Mr. Carnahan. Thank you very much.
Thank you all for being here. We are going to thank our
first panel.
And in the interest of time, I would like to introduce our
second panel before we break for votes, so that when we come
back after we have four votes, we can come back and jump right
into questions for our second panel.
Thank you all.
If we could have our second panel come up to the witness
table, I would like to do some quick introductions.
I am going to start the introductions with Mr. Ken Wollack.
He is the president of the National Democratic Institute,
better known as NDI. He has worked there since 1986. He has
been serving as president since 1993. He is also a member of
the Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid and is chairman
of the board of directors for the U.S. Committee for UNDP.
Prior to working with NDI, Mr. Wollack co-edited the Middle
East policy survey. He also worked regularly on foreign affairs
for the LA Times. He has been actively involved in foreign
affairs journalism and politics since 1972 and is a frequent
person to be here on Capitol Hill testifying on foreign affairs
issues.
He is a graduate of Earlham College and is a senior fellow
at UCLA's School of Public Affairs.
Welcome.
Next, we have Ambassador Swanee Hunt. She is chair of the
Institution for Inclusive Security. The Honorable Swanee Hunt
is former Ambassador to Austria, current president of Hunt
Alternatives Fund. She chairs the Institute for Inclusive
Security, and founded the Women in Public Policy Program, a
research center concerned with domestic and foreign policy at
Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. Ambassador Hunt is also
widely published on the role of women in conflict prevention
and resolution. She holds a B.A. in philosophy, two master's
degrees, and a doctorate in theology.
Next, we have Judy Van Rest, executive vice president of
the International Republican Institute, or IRI, a position she
has held since August 2004. She serves on the board of the U.S.
Institute of Peace and the Women's Campaign School at Yale
University. From April 2003 to July 2004, she served as senior
adviser for governance for the Coalition Provisional Authority
in Baghdad, where she conducted outreach programs for Iraqi
women to assist them in participating in the democratic
development of their country, and served as the CPA's director
for the Office of Democratic Initiatives, coordinating programs
ranging from civic education to women's leadership training.
Previously, she served as regional director for the
Commonwealth of Independent States Programs for IRI, one of the
core initiatives of the National Endowment for Democracy, where
she directed nonpartisan democracy building programs in former
Soviet countries. She has held a variety of management
positions, including at USAID, and is deputy to the Special
Assistant to the President for White House Intergovernmental
Affairs. She graduated from the William Allen White School of
Journalism at the University of Kansas.
So, again, I want to welcome all of you. We look forward to
hearing from you. We are going to take this short break, get in
four votes, and we will be right back. Thank you very much for
your patience.
[Recess.]
Mr. Carnahan. We are back. We will reconvene the
Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human
Rights, deg. and Oversight. Thank you for your
patience.
We have done our introductions, and I would like to really
turn right away to recognizing Ken Wollack to kick off the
second panel.
Ken.
STATEMENT OF MR. KENNETH WOLLACK, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL
DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTE
Mr. Wollack. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
On behalf of the National Democratic Institute, I want to
thank you very much for this opportunity to testify about
programs that empower women around the world to engage more
fully in the political process. I prepared a written statement
which I will summarize here, and I hope my longer written
statement can be submitted for the record.
Mr. Carnahan. Without objection, so ordered.
Mr. Wollack. NDI has been working with political and civic
leaders for more than two decades to assist their efforts to
increase the number and effectiveness of women in political
life. We work in nearly 70 countries, and the vast majority of
them have programs specifically tailored to women.
As women's contributions toward a strong and vibrant
society are increasingly well documented, there is also growing
understanding of why women's meaningful participation is
essential to building and sustaining democracy. Women's
political participation results in tangible gains for
democracy, including greater responsiveness to citizens' needs,
increased cooperation across party and ethnic lines, and more
sustainable peace. In other words, having more women in the
political process helps democracies deliver. In places as
diverse as Timor-Leste, Croatia, Morocco, Rwanda, and South
Africa, an increase in the number of female lawmakers led to
legislation related to antidiscrimination, domestic violence,
family codes, inheritance, and child support and protection.
Only 5 years after the women's suffrage movement achieved
the rights of women to vote and run for office in Kuwait,
newly-elected female legislators this year introduced new labor
laws that would give working mothers mandatory nursing breaks
and provide onsite child care for companies with more than 200
employees.
Despite these positive indicators and gains, considerable
challenges remain to women's meaningful political
participation. And while no ideal environment currently exists
to jump-start the advancement of women's political leadership,
there are certain conditions that make it easier.
First, women must have reasonable access to positions of
power. Second, transparency in political and legislative
processes is critical. Third, citizens must be willing to
accept new ideas about gender roles and society. And fourth,
women's access to economic resources is essential to breaking
down the barriers to women's active participation.
And then there are those very difficult places, such as in
Afghanistan, where women, as you said, Mr. Chairman, continue
to be disproportionately affected by the legacy of the brutal
Taliban regime, and in Burma, where the oppression of and
violence against women are well documented.
Quotas, whether mandatory, legislative, or voluntary,
continue to be the most effective means for increasing the
number of women both in political parties and elective office.
But studies conducted by NDI also indicated that quotas in and
of themselves have not overcome the many obstacles that women
confront, including developing the political will even to
meaningfully implement quotas.
There are, in our view, three key components necessary in
initiatives to empower women: Build confidence, capacity, and
connections. Recently, the Institute conducted an assessment to
better understand effective approaches to encouraging women's
political participation across regions and to measure the
impact of such programs. The research concluded that the best
practices include: One, conducting ongoing communications
training; two, focusing on building leadership skills; three,
uniting women across political party lines, both inside and
outside the legislature; fourth, working with parties on
internal reform; fifth, training women to train other women;
sixth, developing the capacity and preparedness of elected
women; seventh, exchanging information and expertise
internationally; and, eight, engaging youth to help change
sociopolitical attitudes and behavior.
NDI's Win With Women global initiative, convened in 2003 by
our chairman, Madeline Albright, has focused exclusively on
strengthening women's roles in political parties which are,
after all, the gateway to political power for women. Programs
in Jordan and Afghanistan helped women gain their first seats
in Parliament.
In Afghanistan, we have trained most of the women
candidates for national and provincial elections since 2004 and
thousands of candidate poll watchers in all provinces of the
country. And in Iraq, the national platform for women supported
by NDI brought together women, political, and civic activists
to advance the health care, education, employment, and
political participation. After the elections now, the national
platform will be a tool to hold legislators and parties who
signed on to the platform accountable.
An online resource that aids all of our goals is iKNOW
Politics, an online workspace in English, French, Spanish, and
Arabic available to all who are interested in advancing women
in politics. The portal, which has averaged 1.5 million hits a
month, is a joint project of NDI, the UNDP, UNIFEM, the
Interparliamentary Union, and International IDEA.
The international community, including donor aid agencies,
intergovernmental bodies, international financial institutions,
and nongovernmental organizations, have focused their attention
on and dedicated growing resources to women's development. And
with the creation of a new senior level position at the State
Department, the Ambassador-At-Large for Global Women's Issues,
the National Security Strategy, along with USAID and State
Department funded programs, this administration has given
concrete expression to new renewed efforts in this regard.
How a country taps the talents and capacity of its women
will, in large measure, determine its economic, social, and
political process. It is our hope that new initiatives that
focus on such issues as maternal and child health care, women,
girls, and literacy programs, micro finance, particularly in
Muslim-majority countries, are joined by comparable efforts to
promote women's political participation and leadership. It is
not an accident that the countries in which these issues are
not part of the national agenda are places where women are
denied a genuine political voice.
Mr. Carnahan. Mr. Wollack, if you could just wrap up.
Mr. Wollack. I would just conclude by saying, conversely,
empowering women politically will help countries develop a
democratic institution that can begin to successfully address
issues related to security, jobs, human rights, physical well
being, and human development.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Wollack
follows:]Kenneth Wollack deg.
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Carnahan. Thank you very much.
And next, I want to quickly turn to our second witness,
Ambassador Hunt.
STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE SWANEE HUNT, CHAIR, INSTITUTE FOR
INCLUSIVE SECURITY (FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO AUSTRIA)
Ambassador Hunt. Thank you so much. And I also would like
to ask that my full testimony be submitted.
Mr. Carnahan. Without objection.
Ambassador Hunt. Thank you.
I chair, as you know, the Institute for Inclusive Security,
and we do a combination of research and training and advocacy
with women in 40 conflict areas, and we have well over 1,000
women in our network of women leaders.
Mr. Chair, I appreciate very much the presence of the four
Congresswomen who have been here, and I do want to make a
comment that they are exquisitely aware that, as we talk about
19 percent of the parliaments around the world being women--
women being 19 percent of those parliaments, that in the United
States, at this last election, which was the great diversity
election, women went from 16 percent to 17 percent. And so this
is very much, do as we say, not as we do.
Now, we have a growing body of research, of course, that is
verifying that women's leadership does reap significant rewards
for governance. And Ambassador Verveer was talking about women
as untapped resources.
I would like to focus, as Mr. Rohrabacher was, on
Afghanistan, especially his question about culture. You know,
should we go in there and try to change the culture? I would
like to know what culture is. What I know is that, 40 years
ago, this hearing would not have taken place. So, Mr. Chair,
you are in fact changing this culture by holding this hearing.
And I believe that we have a very important role to support
those voices inside of the Afghan culture, the women in
particular who are asking for support for their leadership.
I have been many times to Afghanistan, including during the
Taliban years, and have brought women leaders to NATO
headquarters. We have trained foreign service officers, U.S.
Marine Corps, how to connect with Afghan women.
I want to particularly give as an example the Honorable
Shukria Barakzai, a parliamentarian who put her life at risk to
win her place in the Wolesi jirga, and she was part of creating
that network that you were talking about earlier, that
nonpartisan network. They have reached into the grassroots and
included civil society in their work.
And I particularly want to say that that is an example of
how women broaden this idea of democracy to create more
stability. And that is the kind of initiatives we can be
supporting all around the world. She is not alone, obviously.
Let me cede my time to Dr. Mishkat Al Moumin, the first
Iraqi minister of the environment during the transition
government. I would like to ask her to take my remaining 2
minutes to speak about her experience.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Hunt
follows:]Swanee Hunt deg.
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Carnahan. Please. You are recognized to do so. And
welcome.
Ms. Al Moumin. Thank you. Mr. Chairman, thank you for
providing me with the opportunity to speak today.
Achieving successful transition to peace in Iraq requires
full participation of women in political life. As the minister
of the environment in Iraq from 2004 to 2005, I immediately
focused on providing services, especially safe drinking water,
trash pick-up, and environmental education in unsecured cities,
including Sadr City, Fallujah, Karbula, Nasria, and Basra. When
these services came on line, civilian deaths decreased. When
these services were shut down, civilian deaths increased. Had
we focused on securing and ensuring these programs continued
and expanded, I am convinced many Iraqi and American lives
could have been spared, as well as a lot of money.
As the minister of environment, I did not think I was
dealing with security issues. To my mind, I was as far from
dealing with security as I could be. However, providing clean
water eroded al Qaeda base. I was undermining al Qaeda
recruiting power. The weak, frustrated, isolated community was,
above all, thirsty. These people were easily recruited only if
they remained desperate.
I paid a very high price for my effort. The most difficult
moment in my life was when I held my 9-year-old son in my arms
after surviving a bomb attack, not realizing he was alive. I
also survived a suicide car bombing, during which four of my
body guards were killed. Zarqawi, the leader of al Qaeda in
Iraq, claimed full responsibility, and he called me the leader
of the Infidel. He vowed that his arrow will not miss again.
After surviving the attempt on my life, I went straight to
the ministry. I worked as hard as I could. The ministry grew
stronger. Communities I served honored me with their trust and
appreciation. In April 2005, tribal leaders in the Iraqi
Marshland approached me to train their women. After handing
over the ministry, I founded Women and the Environment
Organization, WATO, in Iraq, which is training rural women and
children in southern Iraq to speak out when decisions are made.
As a result, women's participation has increased sevenfold, and
communities are now purifying water, improving hygiene.
Moreover, the gender gap is being bridged organically, as
communities are experiencing firsthand the positive results of
listening to women.
The same women are interested in community policing and
other security-related matters. Sometimes the links are so
clear, we don't notice. For example, women walk miles to
collect water. During these walks, they see things men do not
see. I am one of many Iraqi women and around the world who
understand that security cannot be achieved through the mere
use of force. We comprehend security must be achieved by
attacking the root causes of instability. We have the
expertise, the knowledge, the background to combat insecurity
and terrorism, but our distinct perspective is not sufficiently
reflected in decision-making, and we are not called on as much
as we should be in seeking to restore stability and prosperity
to war-torn society.
Women's influence and insights must be leveraged to fight
for stability in Iraq and elsewhere.
Thank you.
Mr. Carnahan. Thank you, Minister. And thank you so much
for being here and for sharing your story and the work that you
have done. Thank you.
Last on our panel, I want to turn to Judy Van Rest.
Welcome.
STATEMENT OF MS. JUDY VAN REST, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, THE
INTERNATIONAL REPUBLICAN INSTITUTE
Ms. Van Rest. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Rohrabacher.
Thank you for inviting me to participate in this discussion
today.
I will summarize my prepared statement.
I am pleased to participate in this discussion. It is a
topic that is near and dear to IRI's heart. The International
Republican Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization
committed to advancing freedom and democracy worldwide.
The evolution of IRI's work over the last few decades in
many ways mirrors my own. The conventional wisdom was that it
made more sense to include women and men together in trainings
and not have specific programs for women. I came up in an era
of Republican politics in which I felt strongly that being in a
women's group would confine me to that niche, and I wanted a
seat at the table with the men.
However, my view changed completely after spending 14
months in Baghdad as the Coalition Provisional Authority's
point person for outreach to Iraqi women. Those Iraqi women
taught me many things, but none as important as the need for
programs that focus on giving women the skills to level the
playing field in politics and in other fields important to
their country's development.
To be sure, women face far more obstacles to becoming fully
participating partners, due to cultural and traditional
attitudes, but they also lack the training and experience.
In the international political realm, male party leaders
control the political process and often do not want to include
women candidates on party lists because they do not believe
that women are capable of winning. Even quota systems, which
have done much to increase women's participation in politics,
cannot guarantee that the elected women will be effective
legislators.
Without the proper training and mentorship, women
themselves do not feel confident to take on political roles.
But when women are given the tools to campaign for office, when
they are taught to be effective legislators, when they learn
how to advocate for their rights and rights of others, in my
experience, they become powerhouses for change.
There is little doubt that women have made significant
progress in the areas of health, education and business. There
is also little doubt that women lag far behind men in politics.
The World Economic Forum's 2009 Global Gender Gap Index reports
that 134 countries, while closing gaps in health and education
outcomes between men and women by more than 90 percent, have
closed only 17 percent of the political outcomes gap.
A 2010 study on women's economic growth by the U.S. Agency
for International Development evidences that throughout the
developing world, women are becoming ``vital economic players,
representing a larger percentage of the workforce than ever
before.'' Yet, despite these gains, women are not adequately
represented in the decision-making process at any level of
government.
Still, with the recognition of the need for women's
empowerment, along with training and mentorship programs such
as IRI's Women's Democracy Network and the Arab Women's
Leadership Institute, women are progressing and achieving much
in the political field. More women are being elected to public
office. Many more women leaders and members of civil society
organizations are becoming politically involved by keeping
their elected officials accountable and focusing on women's
rights.
Women in post-conflict societies are fearless in their
pursuit of a better life for their family and communities.
Afghan women are models of courageous women making a remarkable
difference. In the lead up to the August 2009 elections, the
Movement of Afghan Sisters (MAS), a 26,000 member, nonpartisan,
nongovernmental organization, conducted numerous civic
education events and helped mobilize 25,000 women to vote on
election day. MAS was the only women's organization to
successfully field candidates for provincial council seats, and
27 of its supported candidates were elected, filling 23 percent
of the 117 female quota seats allocated nationwide.
Sadly, one of these brave women, Gul Maki Wakhali, a woman
in her 20s, was recently slain by the Taliban.
Women are also demonstrating that, once elected, they can
become effective legislators. The Peruvian Women's Roundtable,
a legislative women's caucus, is showing that its 31 members
are effective political leaders and members of Peru's National
Congress. U.S. Congresswoman Kay Granger and IRI board member
was just in Lima, Peru, last week, where she learned firsthand
how these women legislators are pushing for a new domestic
violence bill.
We have countless other success stories of women who, with
the help of other nongovernmental organizations, such as IRI,
the National Democratic Institute, and the Institute for
Inclusive Security, have become effective agents of change in
their societies. These examples should give us the hope and
impetus to double our efforts to support women in democratic
development.
The United States has taken an important lead in this
effort. Witness the work of women such as Secretary Hillary
Clinton, Ambassador Melanne Verveer, First Lady Laura Bush,
former Under Secretary of State Paula Dobriansky, and hundreds
of other American women who are devoting their lives to advance
women globally. We have seen an overwhelming demand for women's
participation in all facets of the political process, and IRI
is fully committed to helping women reach their full potential
in politics and civil society. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Van Rest
follows:]Judy Van Rest deg.
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Carnahan. Thank you. And I guess I want to kick off the
questions.
You all were here for the first panel, and first of all,
thanks to each of you for the important work that you and your
NGOs have done for many years and your individual work. But I
would like each of you to quickly evaluate current initiatives.
We have heard about things the administration is doing now to
try to really have the tool of empowerment of women as a more
integral part of our foreign policy. We heard from initiatives
at the U.N. to combine many of those organizations, again to
have a more effective way to deal with that at U.N.
I would like your quick evaluation of those current
initiatives and a comment about, is there anything we are
missing? Are there things that we need to be doing in addition
to these things that you would like to highlight for us today?
And we will go in reverse order on this round and start with
Ms. Van Rest.
Ms. Van Rest. Thank you. In evaluating these programs, I
believe that a lot has been done by the United States to raise
the awareness of the importance of women in all walks of life.
And I think that increasingly throughout the world there is a
momentum for this to happen.
I do think that the programs that each and every one of the
organizations are doing are having an impact, but I think that
there has to be some understanding of how long it is going to
take for women to reach these levels, attain political
leadership and leadership in other walks of life, and to commit
to a long-term plan to make sure that once they receive
training, for example, that there is follow up, that there is a
constant mentoring, because it cannot be just a one-off thing.
So I think that while these organizations and the programs
are having a great effect, there certainly is a much greater
momentum now than there was 10, 15 years ago. I think a lot
more emphasis should be put on the long term.
Mr. Carnahan. Thank you.
Ambassador Hunt.
Ambassador Hunt. At issue here is the definition of
security. And when we are out in the field, we hear repeatedly
that security to these women includes--or isn't just about, you
know, where are the borders, but rather, can my child go to
school and back without getting raped? Is there water? Can I go
to gather firewood without putting my life at risk from land
mines, et cetera? And so we have to have a broader perspective
on the meaning of security, and I would hope that the Congress
would think in terms of what we are spending for each soldier
that we are putting in Iraq. And to Mr. Rohrabacher's point
earlier, if we want to bring home our troops, with the enormous
cost of every single day of that war, the most effective means,
the most effective strategy, in my opinion, would be to elevate
the voices of these extraordinary women leaders there.
And I have met with them. We have done training of hundreds
and hundreds of these leaders. But how many are on the supreme
court? Zero. With all the influence we have with the current
government, there are zero women. And that is appointed by the
President. Zero women on the supreme court, which sets the
tone. And how many are ministers out of 27? Three.
So we have allowed--Mr. Rohrabacher, you were talking about
culture, and what is culture? Culture is the way that decisions
are being made every nanosecond. And it changes constantly. And
when we talk about what is Pashtun culture, who are you
listening to? Who is defining that? Is it the Pashtun women,
who, in fact, many of whom are leaders who are asking for this
kind of training, who are asking for positions? Because we are
not getting in there and supporting the elements of the culture
that would allow us in fact to leave there.
Mr. Carnahan. Mr. Wollack.
Mr. Wollack. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I believe that the architecture for assistance exists both
within the United States and internationally. I also believe in
this work, as I do in democracy and human rights work,
pluralism is good. I don't believe in one source of assistance.
People bring different strengths to the table when they
provide assistance. And I think the international community has
created an architecture and the United States Government in
successive administrations have created an architecture to
provide support for women.
My argument would be, as we invest more in the economic
health and education sphere for women, all extremely important,
that we ensure that there are also resources to empower women
politically. Because, ultimately, if these efforts are going to
be sustained at the local level by the politicians and the
governments in these countries, it is going to require a
critical mass of women that will be in positions of political
power, in political parties, in legislatures, and government.
And there is, based on evidence, that you need almost a
critical mass of about 30 percent of women in these political
institutions that I believe will be able to help sustain these
types of economic and educational and health programs that the
international community is supporting.
Mr. Carnahan. Thank you.
I now want to recognize Mr. Rohrabacher for 5 minutes.
Mr. Rohrabacher. Do you, the panel, do you think that Islam
by its nature or by the fundamentals of the religious beliefs
that are in the Koran is contrary to what our concept of equal
rights for women would be?
Ambassador Hunt. May I speak to that? I would love to speak
to that because, as you may have heard during the introduction,
I have a master's degree and a doctorate in theology. So I even
know what backsliding means. I am from Dallas, Southern
Baptist.
And I think that if you go and you read the Old Testament
of the Bible, it is horrible in terms of rights for women,
human rights for women. So we can--any one of us can go in and
choose this Scripture or that Scripture to make the point that
the Koran is detrimental to women or that the Bible is.
Mr. Rohrabacher. Well, it is the Old Testament, you said.
Is the New Testament that way as well?
Ambassador Hunt. Well, there are----
Mr. Rohrabacher. Christians don't really say that the Old
Testament counts as much as the New Testament.
Ambassador Hunt. Well, I will tell you what. I cut my
hair--I actually cut my hair myself. I cut my hair, and the
Apostle Paul would have a very hard time with that. But he was
speaking in terms of culture, as many of the Scriptures in the
Old Testament and in the Koran were. But he would say it is a
shame that I cut my hair. So we choose what verses we are going
to emphasize.
Mr. Rohrabacher. So you don't see that Islam is any
different in terms of a threat to women's rights as an adamant
enforcement of what people who are looking to those Holy
Scriptures, either in the Koran or in the Bible, you don't see
that as being more of a threat to women?
Ambassador Hunt. No. I see fundamentalism as being a
threat.
Mr. Rohrabacher. No matter what kind of fundamentalism?
Christians, Jews, Muslims. The fundamentalists of religion are
the enemy of women. Is that it?
Ambassador Hunt. To greater and lesser degrees, depending
on the branch. Okay. As I say, I am from a fundamentalist
background.
Mr. Rohrabacher. I haven't studied this, so I am asking for
information.
Ambassador Hunt. I would say the more fundamentalist a
group becomes in any of the religions that I have been a part
of or studied, the more narrow the rights of women become. But
my esteemed friend here, who is Iraqi, I would like to give her
just a second to address this.
Ms. Al Moumin. Thank you. From a practical experience,
women in the environment organization work among tribal
communities in southern Iraq. The organization that I founded
and my colleagues in Iraq work with it as well.
We empower women to participate in the decision-making
process on the village level, on the local level. The way we
did it, we highlighted the prominent Muslim women who played a
big deal role in decision-making. And I can name them.
For example, Lady Hajja, she is known to be the mother of
all Muslims--all Muslims, including men. They follow her steps
every year and perform a pilgrimage in Mecca. However, no one
highlighted that. No one highlighted that there is a great
powerful Muslim woman, first of all, who everybody follows. So
even men, they go to Hajj or pilgrimage every year knowing that
they are following the steps of a woman.
Mr. Rohrabacher. Look, again, I am really seeking
information here. I am not really making a point. Because,
after all, that is what the hearings are supposed to be for, I
think, is to educate us a little bit. But, look, doesn't the
Koran talk about men have a right to four wives, and it doesn't
say that a wife has a right to four men. And I mean there is a
fundamental difference there, is there not?
Ms. Al Moumin. Not really.
Ambassador Hunt. Mr. Rohrabacher, read Leviticus, read your
Leviticus.
Mr. Rohrabacher. Old Testament.
Ambassador Hunt. Tonight pull out Leviticus.
Mr. Rohrabacher. The one thing I do know is that there is a
difference between--a lot of Christians don't believe what is
in the Old Testament because they believe that when Christ came
he amended all of that and made it different. So the New
Testament is what Christians go by. I am not saying that is
necessarily what I believe in, but that is my inkling of what
people tell me about.
Ambassador Hunt. Here is my concern. As soon as we start
saying that the problem is Islam, we forget that the problem is
those who are interpreting Islam in order to press a certain
world view.
Mr. Rohrabacher. Okay.
Ambassador Hunt. And we let these guys off the hook who are
doing this interpretation.
Mr. Rohrabacher. I think it is fair to say that people who
attack Islam and say that ``Islam is our enemy'' are different
than people who say ``radical Islam is the enemy.'' Of course,
there are some people who don't even want us to say radical
Islam. They can't even get those words out of their mouth. But
I would say that I----
Let me put it this way. Mrs. Bhutto, who I knew quite well,
was elected to be President of Pakistan, and that supposedly is
a very strong Islamic country. So it would seem to me if she
was elected that that would mean that there isn't something
contrary with most Muslims that would be contrary to have a
woman as their head of state, because they elected a woman to
be their head of state.
Now, of course, that is Pakistan and not Pashtunville or
whatever it is there, the Pashtun territories up in the
northwest part of the country.
So, in terms of religion, that is the only thing I can
identify now. In Buddhism and other religions, is there a
differentiation between men and women as well?
Ambassador Hunt. I think we are getting afield of talking
about the issue here.
If you look at the swath of where we have problems with
terrorists across the world, you will find a correlation with
terrorism and the suppression of women. All right? Now you can
take a bad idea, like the extreme Islam, if you will, being
used by terrorists, and you can try to fight a bad idea with
machine guns, but you won't get very far because you keep
inspiring the people with a bad idea because now they are
victims, they are under attack. So what you do is fight a bad
idea with a good idea, and you focus on the elevation of these
women's voices, which is, de facto, a way of fighting
terrorism.
Mr. Rohrabacher. Well, I certainly buy onto that, Mr.
Chairman. Certainly there is no doubt that something--if we can
mobilize women by backing them up in a demand for rights in
various parts of the world, I think that would make it a more
peaceful world. I don't have any doubt about that. I don't
necessarily think that that is going to be an easy task because
there is going to be a cost related to that as well, which was
the basis of my question before about how much we would expend
in Afghanistan in order to make sure that what we would
consider an evil force for repression of women doesn't dominate
that area.
But I buy onto what you are saying. That is absolutely
right. If we support the rights of women, that would be a great
way of bringing change to a society in a positive way that
would make it less threatening to the rest of the world and
certainly less threatening to half their population.
Ambassador Hunt. So we will work together on that, right?
Mr. Rohrabacher. Thank you. There you go.
Mr. Carnahan. Thank you.
I have one more set of questions for myself, and I will
just make them very short and concise. But I would like each of
you to comment about the kind of monitoring evaluation
measurements out there that can help us in looking at some of
these new initiatives, which I think we are all pleased to hear
about here today. So that is number one.
And, number two, in particular, you know, there are some
examples of programs where we have done well with young boys
and men in terms of educating them because I think that is--we
obviously have to focus on women empowerment, but I think a
piece of that strategy has to be focusing on young boys and men
and how they are part of creating that environment.
So let me start with you, Mr. Wollack.
Mr. Wollack. The evaluation process I think is important in
terms of the work that we do in all elements of democracy and
human rights work. It is difficult oftentimes to quantify it,
to put numbers to it, aside from the fact that the numbers of
the people you train, the numbers of the people you work with.
Much of it has to do with behavioral change. It is like
describing a good movie or a good book. It is hard to do it
through numbers. You have to use words.
But I think there are a number of ways that you can
evaluate these programs, particularly in the political sphere.
The first is whether the behavior of the women that you are
working with change over time, that they gain the self-
confidence so they can compete professionally, that they have
the capacity to communicate effectively so their participation
in the political process is not seen as remarkable by the
population at large and by their male counterparts. So the
evaluation process is one that looks at behavioral changes of
people, whether they have the information and the tools that
enable them to compete with their male counterparts.
There are other factors that inhibit that competition, but
we have seen in this work, because of international expertise,
international support, and international solidarity and
specific programs, that the behavior of people change.
The second is more in the regulatory field, whether laws
and processes change within political parties, within
legislatures, and within government. Are resources being
dedicated to women who are competing? Whether reforms that are
taking place in parties allow real avenues for political
leadership in political parties. That sometimes you can
determine in the end by numbers because you can see a rise in
the number of women at all levels of political parties.
And then, ultimately, one has to look at whether--not only
the numbers of women that get elected or women in
legislatures--whether they can function within those
legislative bodies and does the legislature provide for reforms
in those institutions that allow for women to be effective
lawmakers?
So all of these things are ways that you can judge programs
over a period of time. But, ultimately, it is going to be, I
believe, a long-term, generational change. But you have to
begin now, and you have to begin this work in an intensive way
because the process is about change of behavior.
Mr. Carnahan. And real quickly on the subject of men and
boys.
Mr. Wollack. Yes. Most of these institutions that we are
dealing with are male-dominated institutions. But what we are
seeing is the youth in these institutions, the youth do not
have, in many cases, the same prejudices that their parents do
or their grandparents do. So also enhancing youth engagement,
both young men and young women, also changes the political
dynamic as well. Because if more youth receive leadership
training and avenues for leadership development, you are going
to find it much easier for women to gain those positions as
well.
Mr. Carnahan. Thank you.
Ambassador Hunt?
Ambassador Hunt. I would like to take us to a different
conflict, and that is Rwanda. I happen to be writing a book
right now called Rwandan Women Rising where I am evaluating how
it is that women came to be 56 percent of the Parliament in the
Lower House. That is the first time in the history of the
world. And on the Supreme Court, there are three out of the
seven, including the Chief Justice, and on and on and on
throughout.
And the important thing is to ask the women themselves to
evaluate. I have done more than 100 hours of interviews with
these women, and they have come up with five different--I am
not going to go through them--five different ways that they
came to have that kind of influence. One of the ways, by the
way, was their influence on the men and the boys. And, of
course, the President, Paul Kagame, there is a whole strategy
they used to not only get his ear but to get his action.
But I will leave you with this image of my arrival at the
Senate. I was told, well, there is the president of the Senate,
this gentleman, this tall burly man. So I went up to say, hi, I
am Swanee Hunt. And he said, oh, hello, I am the president of
the Senate--Senator whatever--Mulgambuttu--and I am gender
sensitive. It was part of his calling card, if you will. And
that is how intrinsic to that whole culture this issue of
gender sensitivity had become.
Mr. Wollack. I should just add one thing, Mr. Chairman. The
male politicians in Rwanda came to the conclusion that if women
had been in political power in Rwanda, genocide would never
have taken place; and that was a motivating factor for a lot of
the male politicians in the country.
Mr. Carnahan. Thank you.
Ms. Van Rest.
Ms. Van Rest. I would like to echo what both Ken and Swanee
talked about with regards to measuring how effective our
programs are and what the results are. And I think all our
organizations pay very close attention to this because we are
also looking for lessons learned. That will help us to refine
the programs.
We also understand that in doing these programs and
measuring and evaluating what happens is that we still have to
have this understanding that people are only going to take baby
steps and that, once again, as I said earlier, is that there
has to be a commitment to long-term planning and training to
ensure women in their quest for leadership roles and wanting to
become leaders in their society.
With regards to young men and boys, one thing to consider
is that once women become confident it is going to have sort of
a domino effect with their sons and, also, there is a
difference in the generations. In many countries we work in,
the young men do not have the same view as their fathers. So we
do emphasize in our training bringing together women and men.
We don't just have programs focused on women, because we want
to make the point that it is important for them to work
together.
Mr. Carnahan. I just want to give a special thanks to all
of you for your time today. I apologize for the delay from the
vote. And thank you for the work you do. We look forward to
continuing to work with you on many of these challenges going
forward.
We will be adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 4:07 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
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Material Submitted for the Hearing RecordNotice deg.
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saka
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