Interview - Wanda K. Jones: "To eradicate violence against women in the Hemisphere"

Wanda K. Jones, Assistant Deputy Secretary for Health at the US Department of Health and Human Services and Director of the Office of Women's Health, has assumed the Presidency of the Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM), a Specialized Organization of the Organization of American States (OAS).

The CIM is made up of 33 Principal Delegates designated by their respective governments. Jones had been the US Principal Delegate since 2008.

Established in 1928 at the Sixth International Conference of American States in Havana, Cuba, the CIM was the first official intergovernmental agency in the world created expressly to ensure recognition of the civil and political rights of women.
The following is a brief interview that Jones accorded the Press Department of the OAS.

Q: You became the United States Principal Delegate of the CIM in 2008. What have been CIM’s priorities since then, and what will they be in the following year?

A: I think President Albornoz was quite effective in promoting CIM’s initiatives to seek decent work and fair pay for women. Also, the CIM will have to continue to monitor progress in implementing the Convention of Belém do Para (also known as MESECVI) for the elimination of violence against women in the hemisphere. The year 2010 will be the “Inter-American Year of Women,” and country delegates will be reporting on progress made in women’s education, rights and status in civil society.

Q: What will be some new priorities you will bring?

A: I think it’s important to understand that women’s advancement has to take into account the role of an atmosphere that continually disrespects women, treats them as sexual objects. It’s an attitude that looks the other way, in the media, in the culture, and that spans an entire lifetime and has an impact on violence against women—it holds back the progress of women in all sectors and spheres of society.

Q: With your background in the health services, what will you bring to the Presidency of the CIM?

A: What might be unique for me is a different perspective on the consequences of violence against women, with a more long-term perspective: to recognize that long-term consequences of violence can be incapacitating for women because they can interfere with their ability to hold a job or stay in school, seriously affect their health, and keep them from engaging in and enjoying the full benefits of society.

Q: As Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health in the US Department of Health and Human Services and Director of the Office on Women’s Health, you have for many years focused your efforts on eliminating health disparities for women. Is this an issue the CIM has addressed since you have been a Principal Delegate?

A: CIM’s responsibilities actually pertain more to the social, legal, educational and labor sectors than to the health sector although CIM has a good working relationship with PAHO (the Pan American Health Organization).

Q: Why is CIM’s work important to the women of the hemisphere?

A: CIM has been around for 80 years, and I think there is no other body in the hemisphere that has championed women’s rights and full access to benefits in their own right—not as spouses or daughters, but in their own right. CIM has advocated this since the beginning.

November 4, 2009

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