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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 January 2009
In February 2006, women from every province of the Anglican Communion gathered in New York for the annual meeting of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. Once assembled, they established an organizational structure to perpetuate their gathering and called for an expanded women's presence on all Anglican Communion governing bodies. This article traces the development of the group, showing how a few women used the political structures of the Anglican Communion–the Anglican Observer at the United Nations, the Anglican Consultative Council and the International Anglican Women's Network–to assemble Anglican women. It demonstrates that the experience of meeting together became a source of empowerment for the participants and analyzes the factors contributing to the venture's success so that they might serve as models for the Anglican Communion as it struggles to maintain unity while embracing diversity.
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9. The acronyms stand for: NGO–non-governmental organization; CEDAW–Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women; UNFPA–United Nations Population Fund; ECOSOC–Economic and Social Council; MDG–Millennium Development Goal.
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14. IAWN, Report to Joint Standing Committee, 2004, Appendix A, http://www.iawn.org/jscreport2003.htm.
15. The relationship with the Mothers' Union was complicated. Since most, but not all, Anglican provinces had Mothers' Unions, the Mothers' Union had developed a strong international organization of its own. But since it did not operate in all Anglican provinces, it was not accepted by the ACC as the representative voice of Anglican women. Indeed, it had no official standing with the ACC. As a large international organization of women, it had obtained NGO status but had generally sent only one or two staff members to the UNCSW consultations. The AWE planners recognized early on how important it was to have the Mothers' Union involved and worked hard to enlist their participation. Mothers' Union representatives were initially suspicious that their international prerogatives were being usurped but gradually recognized the wisdom of developing a more representative body (AWE, Notes, 5 November 2003, 3 December 2003; Mothers' Union, Social Policy Toolkit, Section 5.4, http://www.themothersunion.org/policy_diy.aspx).
16. At the 2004, 2005 and 2006 UNCSW meetings, a delegation of women from the US Episcopal Church attended along with the international Anglican delegation. The two groups sometimes met together and women from both groups generally attended the public functions planned to spotlight the work of the international visitors. Though the program followed by the US delegates was also extensive, I have regarded it as outside the purview of this paper and hence only mentioned it peripherally.
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24. AOUN, Report on the Participation of Anglicans at the 49th Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, 2005, Section 3.1.
25. AOUN, Report, 2005, Section 3.5.
26. AOUN, Report, 2005, Section 2.4, and Appendix 8; Anglican Women's Empowerment, 2005 Actual Income/Expense Spreadsheet.
27. Interviews with Clair Malik, Ann Skamp, and Phoebe Griswold; AOUN, Report, 2005, Section 8.1.
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51. Angela King's address (read in her absence by Barbara O'Sullivan from Jamaica) at UNCSW Forum, http://www.episcopalchurch.org/32862_72660_ENG_Print.html.
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54. Other members of the IAWN Steering Group are: Lisbeth Barahona (Central America), Eperanza Beleo (The Philippines), Joyce Kariuki (Kenya), Helena Mbele-Mbong (USA), Alice Medcof (Canada), Meagan Morrison (Australia), and Charmian Paterson (Mothers' Union), and ex-officio members: Jolly Babirukamu (ACC Standing Committee), Archdeacon Taimalelagi Fagamalama Tuatagaloa-Leota (Anglican UN Observer) and Margaret Rose (Director of Women's Ministries for the Episcopal Church, USA).
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