On September 20, 2018, AWID and the Gender and Development Network (GADN) hosted a webinar to think collectively about what kind of transformations are needed to make corporate accountability a reality from a feminist perspective, rooted in shared feminist visions for alternative economies.
During this webinar, we explored questions around how and why corporate abuses of human rights are feminist concerns, what the UN binding treaty is and why is it important, how feminists are engaging in this process and what we are calling for, as well as reflecting on the places where workers' and feminists' demands on corporate accountability overlap. This webinar followed the release of the draft UN Treaty on Transnational Corporations & Human Rights in July 2018.
Speakers
Sanam Amin
Sanam is the Programme Officer for APWLD's Grounding the Global programme, coordinating members' engagement with international processes, and building capacity of women in Asia Pacific to advocate for women’s fundamental human rights. Sanam has 7 years' experience in print and broadcast journalism as well as documentary film work, having worked on the 2009 Yann Arthus Bertrand film 6 Billion Others and a 2015 documentary on women's experiences of genocide, A Woman's Story. She holds an LLM in international human rights law from the University of Kent, where she studied investment law, data protection and privacy, and for her thesis conducted research on judicial torture.
Fernanda Hopenhaym
Fernanda is a uruguayan/mexican feminist advocate, who has been working on economic justice, gender, and human rights issues for twenty years. She holds a BA in Sociology from Universidad Católica del Uruguay and an MA on Latin American Studies from Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Fernanda specializes on business and human rights. She is Co-Executive Director at PODER, a regional organization working on corporate transparency and accountability from a human rights perspective in Latin America.
Gemma Freedman
Gemma has worked on international trade union issues for 15 years. At the British Trades Union Congress, she grew its policy and funding relationship with DFID, built the capacity of affiliated unions to further the decent work agenda through their members and with their sister unions in the Global South and coordinated campaigns with NGOs.
She has also worked as a consultant for global union federations and on ethical trade and corporate responsibility with NGOs. Gemma now works in the International Unit of UNISON, the biggest UK public service union, where she is responsible for business and human rights.
Leah Eryenyu
Leah is an African Feminist whose current pre-occupation is raising consciousness to shift power back to the people to disrupt and dismantle institutionalized injustices. She is presently the Research, Advocacy and Movement Building Manager at Akina Mama wa Afrika. She has experience in both the human rights and development space and the private sector. She was previously in charge of grants and partnerships at Barefoot Power Uganda, a social enterprise that works to extend solar power to off-grid areas in Uganda.
Between 2014 and 2017, she worked at MIFUMI, first as a Communications Officer and then as Manager of Sure Start, the organization’s girls’ leadership and movement building program where she oversaw the program’s reach to 5000 girls annually. She believes that agitating for women’s humanity, agency and autonomy is a deeply political act that involves confronting head on, the patriarchal structures that center men and their desires as the axis of power and authority. Leah has a BA in Political Science from Williams College in the US.
