On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Conference, Secretary General and Ambassador Delphine O is preparing to welcome women from all over the world, including indigenous women, at the Generation Equality Forum in France in June 2021 to take stock of the progress of women’s rights.

Today, women are 238 million out of 476.6 million indigenous people and represent about 3% of the world’s population. But being a woman and an indigenous person means suffering more violence and discrimination than others. One in three is raped in her lifetime, according to UN Women. But it also means fighting for the respect of their rights and to make their voices heard. Some women have thus become true models of emancipation and resistance. They have found new ways to act against oppression and injustice, offering alternatives in education, in the fight against gender-based and sexual violence, and in the struggle for justice.
However, they continue to be victims of systemic violence, particularly as a result of colonialism, which has destabilised family units and changed gender relations and roles by introducing patriarchy. For example, in Canada, the Indian Act of 1876 grants inferior status to the native population, leading to numerous discriminations, including violence. Acts that were long overlooked.
Since 2015, the revelations of thousands of missing and murdered women in Canada have helped to free the word of Aboriginal people. “Aboriginal people have been victims of a genocide that particularly targets women,” concludes the final report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women and Girls.

Kanak women suffer eight times more violence

But violence against Indigenous women translates differently in different countries and continents. In Africa, for example, it is cultural, as is the case with excision and early and forced marriages. The rate of female genital mutilation in some Kenyan communities is very high. It is estimated at 86% for the Samburu and 78% for the Maasai, according to the IGWIA in 2019. The government of Kenya has committed itself to a “zero female genital mutilation” campaign by 2022.
In France, on the occasion of the Grenelle on domestic violence, the government promised New Caledonia to make violence against women a national cause. Kanak women suffer eight times more physical and sexual violence than women in mainland France. Today, Kanak society is in transition and is learning to live together within the values of the Republic.
Recently, women in Latin America are waking up and showing their anger in the streets, as for example in Mexico, where Amerindian women have joined the demonstrations against feminicide and are taking part in many fights.

Indigenous women’s entrepreneurship is growing

For 25 years, indigenous women all over the world have been rising up and overcoming their status as victims. They are even at the forefront of their communities. Their presence in the political, media and economic spheres illustrates their emancipation. But the adoption of the Declaration and Platform for Action of the World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995 is not enough.
Indigenous people then came together around organisations such as the International Indigenous Women’s Forum (FIMI), a network of women leaders from South Asia, Africa and the Americas, in order to have a stronger voice. In Africa, women’s entrepreneurship continues to expand, as in the Congo. The Union for the Emancipation of Indigenous Women accompanies pygmies in the promotion of their crafts.

During the Beijing +25 World Women’s Forum in June 2021 in Paris, indigenous women will also be able to participate and take stock of the last 25 years of struggle. The forum will launch new actions for the empowerment of women. The objective: to achieve gender equality by 2030.

*The national survey examined the causes of violence against Aboriginal women and girls in Canada. Between 1980 and 2012, 1,181 cases of murdered and missing American Indian women were reported to police, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. More than 1,000 families and survivors spoke out.

*According to the International Indigenous Women’s Forum in the Global Study on the Situation of Indigenous Women and Girls on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration.