Plenary Report - 2005 AWID International Forum in Bangkok, Thailand

The first day of the Tenth AWID International Forum began with the welcome
Plenary Session, focused around the theme of ''What Have We Changed Now?
(and why are we here?).'' The President of AWID, Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi,
welcomed 1600 men and women from all over the world, and it was clearly a
moment where everyone seated in the Grand Ballroom of the Shangri-La Hotel
in Bangkok, Thailand, was feeling the energy and anticipation of an
incredible event. Sadly, AWID's Executive Director Joanna Kerr, was
unexpectedly called home in the days prior to the commencement of the Forum
due to the sudden death of her father. Bisi highlighted Joanna's difficult
time, and her kind words were a testimony to Joanna's invaluable leadership
and tireless efforts in organizing the Forum, and the room erupted into
powerful applause to send energy to Joanna on the other side of the world.

''A humbling moment...'' AWID's Shareen Gokal and Shamillah Wilson began
the Plenary by discussing why so many people had gathered together to
strategise on how to make positive changes for women's rights and gender
equality. Six key reasons for the Forum were presented, which set the scene
for the panel presenters - the first being to connect in a global way in the
same space. Almost every region in the world was represented in the room,
and the feeling of togetherness was captured beautifully by Sunila
Abeysekera, a Sri Lankan feminist and human rights activist, who exclaimed
at the beginning of her presentation: ''This is a humble moment for me to
meet everyone I've worked with, heard about and read about in the past
thirty years''.

The second reason for such a momentous gathering is to understand what
changes we have already made, and how. Shamillah Wilson, AWID's Young Women
and Leadership Theme Manager, described the women's movement as ''the most
successful revolution history has witnessed''. Attitudes, concepts,
institutions and most importantly, lives, have been changed by women's
movements. Women have made the private sphere a part of public debate; we
have created the structures for equality within the state; we have
developed and implemented curriculums for gender and women's studies in
universities; and many more milestones in history. An important
undercurrent emerging from all of the Plenary speeches was that young
feminists need to be acknowledged! Young women are redefining human
development and injecting new hope into women's movements. The importance
of knowing where we've come from in order to know where we are going, was a
key message, reinforced by Sunila's presentation on how past achievements of
the Women's Human Right's Movements have meant profound changes for women
all around the world.

To understand how the world has changed is the third reason for the AWID
Forum. Increasing militarization, corporate control, concentrations of
wealth, lack of political will and persistent catastrophes such as natural
disasters and HIV/AIDS form barriers to the achievement of gender equality
and women's rights. Women's movements are losing ground, and we need to
come together to strategize on how to prepare for these issues and develop
new agendas. Junya Lek Yimprasert, founder of the Thai Labour Campaign,
with her light-hearted yet grounding presentation on Thai worker's rights,
put these issues in perspective and reminded us all that it is women who
suffer the most in the context of these issues.

Reason number four is to look at ourselves and take responsibility for the
demands we are making. How do we live it in our daily lives? Noelene
Nabilivou, a speaker from Fiji, discussed the importance of identity and
awareness of how society codifies and constructs the pathways that we are
supposedly obligated to negotiate as women. Her energetic yet humble speech
reinforced the need to deconstruct ourselves in addition to the structures
that oppress.

The big question is: how does change happen? The fifth reason for coming
together is to shift the focus from deconstruction to reconstruction. There
was a call for for more analysis on how to solve problems and create change,
adding to our strengths in identifying the need for change. We need to think
about how change happens ? whether it is via actions such as movement and
alliance building, non-violent action or strategic spaces within
institutions.

Finally, we need to refuel our hope! Follow dreams, chase new ideas,
mobilize, create noise and crystallize action plans. Change happens when we
say no, when we affirm each other's right to dignity, and when we create
spaces such as this for transformation. The key message for the following
days is that the Forum is not only a rare opportunity to create history
together, but that it will be a different experience for everyone.

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2) Forum BLOG

Friday File Moderator Kathambi Kinoti documents the feelings of the first
day...

The Shangri-La is ablaze with an amazing diversity of women (and some men)
all here to reflect about change. The Forum presents many opportunities to
look at the big picture and at the same time examine the finer details of
women's activism. Last night I attended a charity screening of the movie
''Iron Jawed Angels,'' which is about the American suffragette movement of
the early 1900s, just before and during the First World War. It reminded me
that we often take for granted many of the gains made for women's rights. It
seems absurd to us today that women should be denied the opportunity to vote
for the leaders they want, let alone to run for office. Yet less than a
hundred years ago, that was the universal reality. One of the ironies that
that the suffragettes presented as a challenge to Woodrow Wilson, who was
the US President at the time, was: ''How can you claim to fight for
democracy in Europe, when there is no democracy at home?'

Today, after the opening plenary session of the Forum, all the participants
had a chance to contribute to an exercise in remembering how change has
happened in their different geographical regions. I joined other
participants from Africa in a lively session and was once again struck by
another irony of history. We recalled that although women took part in the
struggles for liberation from colonial rule, when African countries gained
independence in the 1960s women were sidelined.

One of the presentations that I attended was 'That is Not What we Meant at
All!' This was an aptly titled discussion about how significant successes
brought about by activism are often turned against women. For instance,
activism has brought about the recognition of honour killings as a crime.
However some women who marry men of their choice, against the wishes of
their families have found their husbands arrested for abducting them.

There are also several interesting photo exhibitions and displays such as
the Girls Go Global Exhibition. I was struck by a poster that protests
'We're not Sick ? We're Women.' It is directed against the manufacturers of
the menstruation-suppressing birth control pill Seasonale. The drug is said
to reduce a woman's menstrual periods to four in a year. According to its
advocates, 'there is no medical necessity for menstrual periods' and
menstrual suppression improves women's health.

There is such an overwhelming array of presentations at the Forum that it
is difficult to choose which to attend. There is however something for
everyone ? discussions, debates, book launches, a film festival, and even
feminist yoga.

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