Milestones
A number of significant developments in support of gender equity and equality took place in 2020, a year otherwise marked by the COVID-19 pandemic
By Meryl J.Williams (meryljwilliams@gmail.com), Chair/Coordinator of GAF, Queensland, Australia
Twenty-fifth anniversary of the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action.
On 1 October 2020, to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action – a vision for the empowerment of women – the UN General Assembly and UN Women convened a virtual high level meeting at which more than 100 countries committed to concrete actions that would advance gender equality for women and girls everywhere.
COBI Mexico: COVID-19 Series https://cobi.org.mx/en/all-about-coronavirus-covid-19/
Since May 2020, Comunidad y Biodiversidad (COBI) has conducted a consultation process with fishers in 12 Mexican states to learn about the impacts of the pandemic, as well as the roles of the state, the local solutions applied for fishers, gender equality, the use of technology and environmental impact. Each month until the end of 2020, COBI published a report on their surveys and consultations.
Global Marine Commodities Project releases “Basic Guidelines for a Gender-Responsive Fishery Improvement Project”
While many fisheries standards and certification systems continue to totally ignore gender in their guidelines, or pay only perfunctory attention to gender equality, the new Basic Guidelines of the Global Marine Commodities Project stands out.
We welcome several new women/gender and fisheries/aquaculture organisations that have been established, including:
• SAGE (Seafood and Gender Equality) in the USA (https://www.seafoodandgenderequality.org/)
• Women in Fisheries (UK) https://women-fisheries.com/
