The Divided Committee 

The UN Women’s committee is focusing on the lack of women’s economic mobility for women, which means getting women involved in the workplace. But, a group of countries in UN Women is doing the opposite. A group called the “BARBIES,” which stands for “bringing ancient roles back in everyday society,” has had the most opposition throughout the entire committee– receiving backlash from almost every country outside of their working paper. The group contains representatives from Democratic Republic of the Congo, Maldives, Oman, Albania and Nigeria. And their goal? To put women “back in the home.” 

 “[The name] just means women should be in domestic work and not out in the world achieving economic mobility,” says Maggie Brennan, the delegate representing the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). “The Democratic Republic of the Congo believes that women are inferior to men.” 

 “Basically [in the BARBIE working paper], we were focusing on keeping women in more domestic, traditional roles so that women that aren’t really able to leave the house to go work or not willing to risk being discriminated against or violence coming against them in some places,” said Joy Howard, the representative of Nigeria. “They can go out for more traditional roles if someone can’t provide for them such as cooking, or education, like being a teacher, and other traditional roles like that for women for slower developing countries so it’s not too fast paced. Just so they aren’t going outside of their countries’ ideals.” 

The delegation of the BARBIES aren’t bending their morals, even after the backlash and opposition shown during committee. “Yes we face a lot of opposition. So a lot of countries do not believe that, and are a lot more liberal, and want to ensure women and achieve economic mobility and my country is one of the few that doesn’t,” said the Democratic Republic of the Congo. 

Recently, the BARBIES working paper wasn’t passed. The delegation of Lebanon was one of the countries who voted against the passing of the paper. “I don’t know if I quite agree with the Barbies,” says Lebanon delegate, Alexandra McGettigan. “I think our topic was bringing women into the workforce and if you’re going back to ancient per say roles, you’re not really doing that.” 

The different ideals in the UN women committee lead to interesting debates as well as some vendettas. As the fight to pass their working papers in their second topic starts, the committee only becomes more divided. 

Reported on by IPC Olivia Watters

The Divided Committee 

The UN Women’s committee is focusing on the lack of women’s economic mobility for women, which means getting women involved in the workplace. But, a group of countries in UN Women is doing the opposite. A group called the “BARBIES,” which stands for “bringing ancient roles back in everyday society,” has had the most opposition throughout the entire committee– receiving backlash from almost every country outside of their working paper. The group contains representatives from Democratic Republic of the Congo, Maldives, Oman, Albania and Nigeria. And their goal? To put women “back in the home.” 

 “[The name] just means women should be in domestic work and not out in the world achieving economic mobility,” says Maggie Brennan, the delegate representing the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). “The Democratic Republic of the Congo believes that women are inferior to men.” 

 “Basically [in the BARBIE working paper], we were focusing on keeping women in more domestic, traditional roles so that women that aren’t really able to leave the house to go work or not willing to risk being discriminated against or violence coming against them in some places,” said Joy Howard, the representative of Nigeria. “They can go out for more traditional roles if someone can’t provide for them such as cooking, or education, like being a teacher, and other traditional roles like that for women for slower developing countries so it’s not too fast paced. Just so they aren’t going outside of their countries’ ideals.” 

The delegation of the BARBIES aren’t bending their morals, even after the backlash and opposition shown during committee. “Yes we face a lot of opposition. So a lot of countries do not believe that, and are a lot more liberal, and want to ensure women and achieve economic mobility and my country is one of the few that doesn’t,” said the Democratic Republic of the Congo. 

Recently, the BARBIES working paper wasn’t passed. The delegation of Lebanon was one of the countries who voted against the passing of the paper. “I don’t know if I quite agree with the Barbies,” says Lebanon delegate, Alexandra McGettigan. “I think our topic was bringing women into the workforce and if you’re going back to ancient per say roles, you’re not really doing that.” 

The different ideals in the UN women committee lead to interesting debates as well as some vendettas. As the fight to pass their working papers in their second topic starts, the committee only becomes more divided. 

Reported on by IPC Olivia Watters