Karen Woodward Ide at the UN Commission on the Status of Women
Megumi Calver, ASBH Communications
Karen Woodward Ide, a long time member of All Saints’ Beverly Hills, a vestry member, and leader of our Refugee Ministry, was recently in New York representing Bishop Curry and the Episcopal Church at the UN Commission on the Status of Women in New York!
We caught up with her to hear about her experience at the UN, including her observations on global gender inequality and her plans to further support Afghan women and families.
“Nothing is more important than religious leaders of all kinds to assume leadership in this regard… one of the instruments of patriarchy is the wrong interpretation of religion.”
All Saints’
Can you first tell us what the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is, and why it's so important?
Karen Woodward Ide
The UN Commission on the Status of Women is a conference that's held yearly to look at issues of gender equality around the world, and to hopefully come to what are called ‘agreed conclusions’ that can be implemented by UN member nations around the world. It's really important because we face a lot of instances of gender inequality around the world, countries where domestic violence is actually not illegal [and] countries where women's reproductive rights are severely curtailed. The main focus of this conference was really alleviating poverty for women around the world. They say if you save one woman from poverty, you're actually saving seven generations from poverty.
All Saints’
Wow, that's so impactful. I feel like that word “agreed” is very important.
Karen Woodward Ide
It is. I had no concept before attending this conference about how heavily negotiated this document is. It is a 100+ page, single space document. You start before the conference with what's called the zero draft, and then every member nation and NGO that participates has comments on the zero draft. By the first Tuesday of the conference, we received Rev. One. Then everybody had to comment, and you had a really short turnaround time to comment. And then there's a Rev. Two that came out the first Sunday of the conference, and you had less than 24 hours to get comments on Rev. Two, and again, these negotiations go into the night.
It's so fascinating because some of the biggest sticking points are reproductive rights, which always fall out and then have to get forced back in. Another one is — whenever you're talking about gender equality, they always use the phrase “women and girls.” Some countries ask that the phrase be expanded to “women and girls in all their diversity” to include LGBTQ+ persons, so there are actually huge negotiations over that phraseology, which is so interesting. But even that phrase is a compromise from prior conferences, apparently.
All Saints’
Tell us a little bit about the Ecumenical Women, the other delegates that you went to the UN with.
Karen Woodward Ide
We [a group of ten] went as representatives of Bishop Curry. You aren't there to advocate your own personal beliefs or opinions. You're there to advocate on behalf of the Episcopal Church, and you're part of an NGO that's doing that. It’s us, the Lutherans, the Baptists, the Salvation Army, the Presbyterians, etc. and we have a statement of beliefs of the Episcopal Church that we, as we're at the conference, offer to send to various decision makers.
[For example,] you might have a certain opinion about reproductive rights. But if you're in communication with someone who's from the Catholic Church, you need to approach that discussion in a diplomatic way and respectfully. And they must do the same with you. So, our church is fairly progressive when it comes to our position on things.
For instance, we met with the Cuban delegation. Well, it is the Episcopal Church's stance that the embargo against Cuba should be lifted. All right. Now, whether you agree with that or not, they have human rights reasoning behind that policy. So, we represent the church and Bishop Curry, and we have to do that faithfully.
All Saints’
What were some things that you learned or experienced during CSW that you hope to bring to All Saints’ and the larger community?
Karen Woodward Ide
Well, there's so much.
All Saints’
About 100 pages worth.
Karen Woodward Ide
Yes. First of all, CSW is very intense. These days are long and you're exhausted because I was averaging 17,000 steps a day. So you're just exhausted and you're being hit nonstop with stimuli. People from all over the world in traditional clothing, speaking different languages, and everyone's excited. We're talking about really difficult things, I mean, tragically awful things. But people are so excited to have a space, to have those discussions, and it's just so easy to network and meet people.
My focus [at CSW] was on the women of Afghanistan because of our [Refugee] Ministry here at the parish. I wanted to get involved with this because, as we've come to know these women and I've learned about what's going on in Afghanistan politically right now, I can't look at these women that I'm in community with here and see the pain that they're experiencing because they left behind sisters, mothers, aunts, cousins who have no opportuny, who have no right to secondary education.
There's no education for women past 6th grade. Their freedom of movement is severely restricted and their right to work is severely restricted. There are only a few exceptions in which the Taliban will let women work outside the home, so I wanted to see from an international perspective how we could help these women who need our voice.
When I was at CSW, I attended every Afghan seminar that they had. I was always racing to the front to meet the speakers, exchange business cards, and make connections. And I felt really good about the connections that we made and the path forward. First and foremost, I think women in Afghanistan need to know that they have human rights. The International Declaration of Human Rights talks about the right to an education, the right to support yourself, to work, the freedom of movement – all things that are being denied to these women. And the term that’s been adopted in Afghanistan to describe this is “gender apartheid.”
Some of the things that I'm thinking about doing [include] direct education to women in Afghanistan about their human rights. I made a connection with someone who's doing work in the mental health field for women in Afghanistan. All this is very difficult because the Taliban is really restricting access over communication so it's hard to get information out there, but we have to. The mental health is the second piece, and the third piece for me, that's been on my heart and mind for months and months is – the women in Afghanistan have not had access to education since September of 2021. We're going on three years now. How can we fill that gap for these women?
And my fourth focus is, how can we bring the Taliban to the International Court of Justice? What is happening in Afghanistan can be labeled a crime against humanity.
So, big things to do, but I'm ready. I'm not worried, honestly, I'm really not. I always tell people: With this Ministry, all I do is say yes. It doesn’t feel like work. We are provided for in this ministry, all the time.
All Saints’
How do you communicate with the women in Afghanistan? How does that work, especially when the Taliban makes communication so difficult?
Karen Woodward Ide
Well, social media is a big way. I don't have an understanding yet of what access they don't have, but I know that they are on YouTube a lot so that could be one way that we could get that message across. So right now, I have some meetings in April because I have a lot to learn. I recognize that I need to learn a lot about the history of Afghanistan. I need to learn a lot about what organizations are doing in Afghanistan right now. People are doing things, but there's no coordination. That could be another way that maybe our ministry could help the cause. We have a lot to figure out, even with that.
All Saints’
Coming from Los Angeles, what was your experience like to meet these women from all around the world and learn more about gender inequality on a global level?
Karen Woodward Ide
Going to the UN does open your eyes to the extreme poverty around the world that women are still dealing with, and it opens your eyes to the patriarchy in a way that I personally have never had to contend with. I don't feel that I've had to contend with it that explicitly.
I can't remember what session it was, but there was a quote that last year, the countries of the world spent $3 trillion in military spending for wars started by men. That really struck me. A lot of what I heard and saw was right in line with the readings that we're doing right now in EfM [Education for Ministry] relating to patriarchal systems, and how Jesus as a revolutionary really turned all of that upside down – or intended to turn all of that upside down. So that was a nice sort of connection.
“In Tanzania over 30% of women who have experienced violence think it’s okay.”
All Saints’
How has your faith informed your work on gender equality?
Karen Woodward Ide
As a Christian, you recognize the importance of being of service because that's what we're called to do. But it's grown deeper than that. It's grown into almost a mandate in my heart to step into places where there is suffering. And there's a lot of suffering around the world.
We live such incredibly privileged lives here. The UN released an article in September of 23 about the mental health issues now among women in Afghanistan. Something like 70% of the female population is reporting anxiety and depression since the Taliban took over. Well, as Christians, we should be in the middle of that suffering. We should always be working to alleviate suffering where it exists.
You can learn more about Karen’s experience by reading her blog post on the Episcopal Church website.