International Policy

As a worldwide organisation, Mothers' Union represents a diverse membership. Members and their communities across the world face a range of issues including family breakdown, violence, poverty, water shortages, illiteracy, HIV/AIDS and gender inequality. As well as addressing these issues through practical programmes, Mothers' Union lobbies for political change to tackle the root causes.

Within their own countries, Mothers' Union members engage with local and national government on issues affecting their communities. Mothers' Union also holds special consultative status with the United Nations, which entitles us to make a contribution to the United Nation's work in areas relating to Mothers' Union expertise. Mothers' Union exercises its consultative status at the annual Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), held at the United Nations headquarters in New York. We attend this commission, which is dedicated to advancing the status of women across the world, because gender inequality compounds many other problems such as illiteracy and the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Each year the CSW looks at a different theme and after talks and negotiations between governments and non-governmental organisations, the Commission produces a set of agreements, know as "agreed conclusions". Governments are then responsible for implementing these agreements at the national level. To read more about the CSW go to http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/index.html

56th UN Commission on the Status of Women (2012): The empowerment of rural women and their role in poverty and hunger eradication, development and current challenges.

Rural women are not a homogonous group; however they do face common challenges, particularly in terms of accessing services. Maternal mortality is higher in rural areas, where women are less likely to receive adequate antenatal health care and more likely to be poor. Rural women are more likely than urban women to be illiterate and 31% of rural girls are out of school compared to 27% of rural boys. And out of the 925 million people across the world currently experiencing hunger, around 80% of those who are undernourished live in rural areas.

Mothers'? Union empowers rural women through programmes such as the Family Life Programme and the Literacy and Financial Education Programme. We are also lobbying governments to tackle these inequalities, and call upon them to take the following action:

• Improve and expand local services and resources in rural areas such as healthcare facilities with trained doctors, nurses and midwives; relevant adult education and skills training; affordable childcare for those who work; and support services for victims of gender based violence.
• Invest in local and national infrastructures that underpin services such as decent transport networks and water and sanitation systems; and involve women in the infrastructure planning to ensure their needs will be met.
• Tackle global inequalities that lead to poverty and hunger in rural communities, such as unfair systems of international trade in relation to agriculture and food processing.

To read our full list of recommendations, please click on our 2012 Statement below.

Update following CSW

Mothers' Union took an active role in meeting regularly with the UK Government's delegation, lobbying on the text of the agreements as they progressed, and attending side events. Sadly, after two weeks of negotiating, no agreed conclusions were reached - only for the second time in the history of the CSW.