At
UN,
Hyper Sexual Portrayal of Women Hit by Geen Davis and Ahmadinejad
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
June 28 -- With the UN abuzz with talk of women's rights,
actress Geena Davis spoke to the Press Monday about the “hyper
sexualized” portrayal of female characters in the media. She spoke
of the showing of too much skin, of unrealistic curves.
It was
somehow reminiscent of a UN appearance the previous money by Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad, who when Inner City Press asked about women's rights in
Iran said that the West is worse, in its portrayal of woman as sex
objects. Click here
for that.
Inner
City Press
asked Geena Davis is she saw any overlap between her critique of
media objectification of women and that of Ahmadinejad. Ms. Davis did
not directly answer -- understandably, one of her UN handlers
afterward said -- but rather turned her answer to the topic of
Halloween, and the inability when getting a witch costume to get
anything but the sexy witch. Video here,
from Minute 29:58.
The
UN hook, if
there was one, was Ms. Davis' statement that she is partnering with
UNIFEM. Inner City Press asked her to describe this partnership, what
they work on together. “We haven't developed any specific
projects,” Ms. Davis answered, adding that perhaps the new UN
Gender Entity would.
Geena David and UNIFEM's Alberdi, specific projects
and Ahmadinejad not shown
On
a big screen in
the ECOSOC chamber, the image of former Chilean president Michelle
Bachelet “live” from Johannesburg was frozen. Ms. Bachelet, to
whom the top Gender Entity post was offered, Inner City Press is
told, but rejected after the UN turned her down for UNICEF, deeming
it an American job, was supposed to be in New York to appear in
person. But that was conditioned on Chile already having lost in the
World Cup. That wouldn't be until Monday afternoon, 3 to 1...
* * *
UN
Gender
Entity Stalled on Posts, Palestine and Cuban Pride, Ban Waits
to Take Credit
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
June 25 -- The UN negotiations on the so called Gender
Entity continues Friday into the evening, with three issues
outstanding. Each was a UN classic. Syria was championing a special
mention for women under occupation: that is, Palestine.
Cuba
disagreed with a paragraph suggesting that countries submit their
national programs for UN system review. And the donor countries and
the Group of 77 different on the distribution and number of posts,
that is, jobs. Follow the money.
And
follow the
posts. Inner City Press is informed that while many still hope that
former Chilean president Michele Bachelet would accept the Gender
Entity post, she had wanted UNICEF, which was given to American
Anthony Lake. Now the Gender post may go to a Rwandan minister.
Earlier
on Friday,
Inner City Press asked the chair and staffer of the Economic and
Social Council if, in exchange for the new Under Secretary General
post, the underlying Assistant Secretary General posts would be
eliminated. No, two would remain, was the answer.
DSG Migiro and Hamidon Ali, Gender Entity and
day care closing not shown
Of
the Secretariat,
Inner City Press asked:
Inner
City
Press: this has been set by the President of the General
Assembly, something of a deadline to get a draft done. So I’m
wonder… I understand that the Secretary-General is going to the
G-20 and all, but what is the role of the Secretariat? Not just the
Secretary-General personally, but Migiro, you know, the [Deputy
Secretary-General Asha-Rose] Migiro...
I
am
sure that the Secretariat is going to say, you know, this is a
reform that we brought about, this gender entity. What, in this
critical time, what’s the role of the Secretariat in sort,
providing I guess, you know, leadership on this gender entity? There
are some outstanding issues, and I just wonder whether the
Secretariat is chiming in, in terms of how this entity will deal with
the developed world or countries in which there is not a presence on
the ground? And then, you may not think it’s related, but have you
found out whose decision it was to close the
UN day care center on
two days’ notice? The issue that arose yesterday? I see them as
related. Maybe you don’t.
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
Well, starting with the big picture, gender empowerment,
gender equality, these are major priorities for the
Secretary-General, and for the United Nations as a whole. Indeed
gender empowerment is one of the key priorities of the
Secretary-General for this year, not least because he and the Deputy
Secretary-General have been pushing extremely hard for this new
gender entity to come onto being. And so, obviously, we’re
watching this very closely. We’re not just watching; I know the
Deputy Secretary-General in particular — this is something the
Secretary-General has asked her to focus on — he’s very much
involved in seeing how this passes through during the course of the
day and into next week.
And
I would anticipate that the Deputy
Secretary-General would want to speak to the media once we have a
clearer picture of what happens. It is a major priority; it’s
something that the Secretary-General and the Deputy Secretary-General
have been pushing extremely hard because they believe that it’s
essential for us to be able to make progress on many other areas of
work, not least, development. And as for the micro-picture, which is
not to belittle it at all, because child care is extremely important,
I do not have an answer. We’ve asked for an answer but we do not
have an answer at the moment.
We'll
be waiting
for that day care center closing answer -- and for the Gender Entity
denouement. Watch this site.
, 
