UN Women Elections End in Controversy

On November 10^th voting began for the executive board of the newly founded UN Women. After months of campaigning by the U.S. and allies, Iran, was barred from the committee. Saudia Arabia, however, was admitted as one of two ‘donor’ countries—a move that has had women’s activists such as Mona Eltahawy in an uproar.

In July of 2010, after nearly ten years in development, The United Nations created UN Women—the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. Since then countries from around the world have been bidding for one of the 41 spots on the committee. Iran’s presence was opposed based on its record of violence against women—including the recent stoning sentence of Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani.

Women’s activists argue Saudi Arabia is considered equally, if not more oppressive—having been brought before a panel in Geneva for violation of women’s rights as recently as 2008. Iranian Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi said, prior to the election, the presence of her own country or Saudi Arabia on the committee would “be a joke”

“From my perspective it makes it look like the committee has let them on for reasons other than the fact that they support women’s rights,” says former international relations major Katie Fenwick. “Which of course undermines the whole committee.” Fenwick, who changed majors after realizing that she was preparing to work in a world that didn’t accept her as a woman, says she questions what the committee can actually achieve with Saudi Arabia as a member.

Hester Hall, home of OU's International and Area Studies School, where

Fenwick once took classes before deciding the filed would not welcome her as a woman.

UN Women will work to end violence and oppression against women all over the world, including areas beyond the Middle East. Areas such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, where women are frequently the victims of war rape and other violent crimes, has been a recent interest of the committee as well. For more information on UN Women and to track it’s upcoming proposals visit www.unwomen.org.

To hear more of what Fenwick has to say on Saudi Arabia's membership to UN Women and her decision to change her international relations major click below: