The UN’s Commission on the Status of Women Follies 

Saudi Arabia is chairing the 69th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, which is meeting at UN headquarters in New York through March 21st. Saudi Arabia has one of the world's worst records in how it treats women and girls. Yet only at the UN can a regime that grossly discriminates against and violates the human rights of women and girls chair meetings of a commission which claims to be a “global champion for women and girls.”

Saudi Arabia--"Global champion for women and girls"

As Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, a Geneva-based independent human rights group, put it: “It’s surreal. Electing Saudi Arabia to head the world body for protecting women’s rights is like putting Dracula in charge of the blood bank.”

To make matters worse, UN Women, which supports all aspects of the Commission on the Status of Women’s work, is confused about whose rights they are supposed to be protecting. UN Women has lumped the protection of the rights of trans women and girls (i.e., biological men and boys) together with the rights of biological women and girls under the rubric of “gender equality.” 

They see no conflict, for example, between advocating for women’s and girls' rights at the same time as advocating for the dangerous and unfair participation of biological males who identify as females in women’s and girls’ sports. But the truth is that it is inherently unfair for biological males who identify as females to be able to compete against biological females in sports. Biological males in general have greater muscle mass, strength, and cardiovascular capacity than biological females. It is not only unfair but also dangerous. Trans female athletes have seriously injured biological female athletes.

Biological women and girls deserve a level playing field in which to compete in their own single sex leagues, without the prospect of losing opportunities for medals and athletic scholarships to biologically stronger males who claim to be females. 

Ideology ahead of science

Allowing biological males who self-identify as females to join biological women and girls in female locker rooms, bathrooms, competitive sports, prisons, and rape shelters puts ideology ahead of science. And it undermines the legitimate rights of real women and girls. 

Jonathan Shrier, Acting U.S. Representative to the UN Economic and Social Council, tried to interject a bit of sanity in his remarks at the 69th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women:

The United States government will no longer promote radical ideologies that replace women with men in spaces and opportunities designed for women… In defending Americans from unhealthy and extremist gender ideology, President Trump has made clear we ‘will defend women’s rights and protect freedom of conscience by using clear and accurate language and policies that recognize women are biologically female, and men are biologically male.’”

If the United Nations is serious about protecting and expanding the rights of women and girls and creating a safe environment for them, it should follow President Trump’s example. Instead of engaging in a false equivalence, the UN might consider sponsoring a separate commission on the status of transgenders. And the country that chairs next year's session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women should be able to actually demonstrate a commitment to protecting the rights, privacy, and safety of biological women and girls.

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