Mrs. Carolyn Handschin started her presentation by citing the courage of the Mirabal sisters, four Dominican political dissidents who opposed the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo. On November 25, 1960, three of the sisters were assassinated. In 1999, the sisters received recognition by the United Nations General Assembly, who designated November 25 as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women in their honour.
These sisters did not consider themselves leaders: Leadership does not demand a title, but a mind-set to act when things need to be done. Citing UN Security Council Resolution 1325, which “reaffirms the important role of women and calls for their equal participation and full involvement in all efforts for the maintenance and promotion of peace and security”, she said that nevertheless thatwhat women should bring to the table is their feminine qualities to complement the masculine ones.
Carolyn called for a paradigm shift to a system of shared leadership from matriarchy and patriarchy to what she termed, “Familiarchy”, in which, citing UNESCO, she said that ennobling the relations between men and women, partners in development and peace, would involve charting a new depth of intellectual, emotional, spiritual dimensions of masculinity and femininity.
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She explained that WFWP was founded in 1992 with the motto that humankind is one family sharing one home, the earth. She said the deeper side of working for peace is not just to have housing, for example, but to have homes. She said that one of the key programs of WFWP is the bridge of peace ceremony in which women from different backgrounds, even enemy nations or groups, come together, and that there have been many deep experiences stemming from these ceremonies. Currently, WFWP is involved in humanitarian programs and is getting into government advocacy. Carolyn said that, “in terms of human rights, we are thinking more about peace making and conflict resolution, but from the viewpoint of Eleanor Roosevelt, we are dealing with HR in terms of dealing with the person next to us”. She went on to explain about the many conferences WFWP was organizing, frequently with the active participation of numerous UN agencies.
She explained that WFWP was founded in 1992 with the motto that humankind is one family sharing one home, the earth. She said the deeper side of working for peace is not just to have housing, for example, but to have homes. She said that one of the key programs of WFWP is the bridge of peace ceremony in which women from different backgrounds, even enemy nations or groups, come together, and that there have been many deep experiences stemming from these ceremonies. Currently, WFWP is involved in humanitarian programs and is getting into government advocacy. Carolyn said that, “in terms of human rights, we are thinking more about peace making and conflict resolution, but from the viewpoint of Eleanor Roosevelt, we are dealing with HR in terms of dealing with the person next to us”. She went on to explain about the many conferences WFWP was organizing, frequently with the active participation of numerous UN agencies.
