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JOINT COMMISSION WORKING GROUP ON
UNDER-REPRESENTED GROUPS IN SURVEYING
Visit the Web site of the
FIG Working Group on Under-represented Groups in Surveying
This Newsletter in -pdf-format
Contents
Global Network for Female Surveyors, by
Sara Wilkinson, UK
Personalities: Analía Argerich,
Argentina
UN-HABITAT's Land and Tenure Section UN
Global Network for Female Surveyors
by Sara Wilkinson, UK
This brief report
outlines the progress made on the Global Network for Female Surveyors.
This web based network is intended to create a network for female
surveyors working all over the globe. The network intends to debate
current issues and best practice affecting females throughout their
surveying careers. The network has received funding from three
organisations FIG, the Royal Institutional of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)
and the Sheffield Hallam University based, Land Use Research Club. |
We have advertised the network project at a number of conferences. At
the FIG Paris conference in April 2003 we presented our plans to the
Working Party for Under-represented Groups headed by Gabriele Dasse.
The idea was warmly received and the working party endorsed it. We were
able to convey our idea to female surveyors from Australia, Germany and
Sweden. We were also able to get names of female surveyors form the
delegate list and will contact them to make them aware of the launch of
the web site in due course. We have gathered names of female surveyors
from other conferences such as COBRA (RICS UK Conference) and ASPR (US
conference).
The website
After initial meetings with female surveyors to discuss the contents of
the website, we decided to have pages for careers, research, courses,
mentoring, student sections, books, links to other sites and best
practice. The website is currently being designed and will be launched in
February 2004. We will provide details of the website address in the next
FIG Newsletter so FIG members will know where to access the website.
The virtual conference
Planning for a virtual conference is underway and we envisage having
our initial conference looking at the 'Past, Present and Future for female
surveyors'. We will compile an initial contact list and also use mailing
lists from the RICS, Association of Building Engineers (ABE), and FIG to
advertise the conference in February 2004. The Call for Papers will go out
in February 2004 with submission for May 2004.
We are looking for short papers 2000 words long and the theme of the
conference is based on the past, present and future experiences of female
surveyors. We think this will provide a good starting point for the Global
Network and provide us with an opportunity to compare and contrast our
experiences. Some female surveyors will provide key note papers for each
session and all the papers will be available on the network.
We will be asking female surveyors to provide some of their gender
related research for our research page in the New Year and in this way we
hope to get our network established.
And finally...
We want to have quarterly newsletters (May, August, November and
February) to update everyone on initiatives, best practice, conferences
and so on. Finally it is very much intended to be a resource for all
female surveyors, whatever area of surveying you work in, at every stage
of your careers, wherever you work. We see the initial set up as being
something that will definitely change over time. The changes will be
initiated by the surveyors who visit the site giving us feedback on what
they want to see on the site. So when it is set up please let us know what
you think.
Sara Wilkinson
Email: saraw@unimelb.edu.au
![](http://ei.fig.net/organisation/tf/underrep/news/200401/analia1.jpg) |
Analía Argerich was born in Catamarca,
Argentina, where she has always lived. There she also did her graduate
and postgraduate studies and has been working in her profession. Now
44 years old, she confesses that she is absolutely happy with the
career she has chosen. At the beginning she could regard it as a
strong vocation for surveying. Now it has become today’s permanent
motivation, which makes her enjoy each of her everyday activities.
In 1986 Analía graduated as a Surveyor Engineer from the National
University of Catamarca (UNCa, School of Technology and Applied
Sciences) and immediately turned to freelance activities but one year
later she incorporated as teaching assistant to the subject “Physical
Geography” (Surveying Engineer, National University of Catamarca),
working part time. Since then she has been having the immense pleasure
of making her “other vocation”, that of working in education, come
true. As a teacher it is her aim to transmit this enthusiasm for her
subject – as a Professor, now of Physical Geography and of
postgraduate courses-, and for the career too. |
Until 1995 Analía went on working part time freelance practice and
university teaching. She accepted then the proposal of becoming a full
time teacher, because of the research projects she was developing with
subsidies from the University’s Secretary of Science and Technology and
because she had started her PhD studies. She holds a Diploma in University
Teaching of Technological Disciplines from the School of Agricultural
Sciences and the National University of Catamarca, Argentina, in agreement
with the Central University of Las Villas, Cuba (1999). One year later, in
2000, Analía got her PhD in Surveying. PhD studies in Surveying were
created in UNCa in 1989, and this course of studies has been the first of
its kind in Latin America and the only one up to now, recognizing its
antecedents in the German university model in Land Surveying studies.
The first PhD graduate, a Brazilian resident, got his degree in 1998.
Analía Argerich stated, that the fact of being the next graduate in 2000
gave her the immense pride and the huge responsibility of becoming the
first woman in the country and in Latin America to obtain a PhD in
Surveying. After the reorganization of the course of studies for the PhD
in Surveying, near the end of last year, she was designated as its first
Academic Director. The challenge consists in extending, in the short term,
the horizon of highly-qualified human resources in order to strengthen
research and contributing for postgraduate education. The fourth level,
natural and necessary basis for the development of a coherent academic
career, facilitates its shaping so that the career admits institutional
assessing, at the level of the institution as well as at the levels of
teaching, research and extension to the community.
Analías main activities in research and publications were oriented
towards solving land occupation conflicts and later to techniques of
digital treatment for satellite images to the study of land and the
evaluation of natural resources. From her beginnings in teaching and
research, Analía has participated in nearly forty Conferences related to
her field and has published approximately 50 papers in scientific
magazines and national and international events. With particular pride
Analía mentioned the first prize of “Agrimensura” magazine (a publication
of the Argentine Federation of Surveyors, FADA), for her paper “Surveying
in the New Millennium”. Besides this, FIG Foundation’s support has caused
great joy. Thanks to this she has been able to develop the project
“Distance Professional Updating in Remote Sensing” –addressed to
professionals in surveying- (FIG Foundation Grants 2002).
Especially after finishing her PhD, Analía had the possibility of
taking part in different FIG events and activities,. She participated for
example in the International Conference on Spatial Information for
Sustainable Development in Nairobi, Kenya in 2001 and in the FIG Congress
2002 in Washington, DC to present papers. In Nairobi as well as in
Washington, she had the great honor of representing FADA (Argentine
Federation of Surveyors). Besides this, at the beginning of this year,
Analía was designated Argentina’s representative for FADA for the
“Surveying Studies in the American Continent” working group of FIG
Commission N°2.
Finally, after Washington’s Congress last year, Analía joined the
Commission Working Group on Under-Represented Groups in Surveying, because
it is her concern to achieve equality of opportunities. Analía said: “We
must favor, in particular, the very little support land surveyors in our
area have as regards postgraduate studies, specially if we bear in mind
the scarce resources that landscapes like our country’s show.”
In order to achieve the first goal, professional practice support, she
mentioned, that it is necessary that all institutions join hands in their
effort. That’s why FIG’s activity is so valuable. When it comes to the
second goal, post-graduate studies from the PhD’s Academic Direction,
Analía is channeling all her efforts to get sponsors to establish research
on a firm ground, and creating a fellowship system that would make PhD
studies possible for everyone.
Analía Argerich: “I will always be grateful to my School’s authorities,
who supported my research. And to my husband, the person who for 23 years
has been cheering my projects. We haven’t had any children. Truly
speaking, I deeply wish for this.”
UN-HABITAT's Land and Tenure
Section
UN-HABITAT's Land and Tenure Section, formerly known as the Land
Management Programme, was established in May 1999, under the Shelter
Branch. It is the agency's focal point for land management and tenure
systems, policies and legislation that help achieve adequate shelter,
security of tenure and equal access to economic resources for all, with a
specific focus on gender equality.
Dr. Clarissa Augustinus Chief of the Land and Tenure Section
reported for this Newsletter that there are four key activities the Land
and Tenure Section has been working on since she joined UN-Habitat:
- Publishing of the Handbook on Best Practices, Security of Tenure and
Access to Land on the web and in print (still forthcoming)
- Development of a land management evaluation tool for post conflict
situations. This tool is under development with their Disaster
Management Unit, and is based on experience in Kosovo, Afghanistan,
South Africa, Mozambique and Iraq. It covers aspects such as the
securing and reconstruction of land records, placing conflict over land
at the core of the peace-keeping agenda, including due process and
adjudication mechanisms in existing technical processes to prevent
abuse, creating appropriate hierarchies of evidence relating to land
records.
- In Kenya, where the headquarters of UN-HABITAT are located, a new
government has come to power and they intend to deal with problems in
the land sector in a more just and transparent fashion. UN-HABITAT was
recently requested by the donors in the sector, to coordinate the donors
in the land sector in Kenya (urban and rural), in their work with the
Government of Kenya. This is being specifically undertaken by the Land
and Tenure section. The Section is involved in the preparation of the
land sector donor groups documentation for the upcoming Consultative
Group meetings. These meetings take place between the Government, the
World Bank and the development partners in the country.
- At the Governing Council of UN-HABITAT in May, 2003 a resolution
“Women's role and rights in human settlements development and slum
upgrading” was passed as a mile stone resolution:
The Governing Council,
Recalling the commitment made by Governments in the Istanbul
Declaration on Human Settlements to ensure the full and equal
participation of all women and men and the effective participation of
youth in political, economic and social life,
Recognizing that the empowerment of women and their full and
equal participation in political, social and economic life, the
improvement of health and the eradication of poverty are essential to
achieving sustainable human settlements (resolution 17/11 of 14 May
1999),
Bearing in mind the importance that the Habitat Agenda,
adopted by the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat
II), places on women's equal access to adequate housing, land and
property, and the importance of all actors adopting and implementing
policies, laws and programmes aimed at the realization of these rights,
Recalling paragraph 23 of the Habitat Agenda, which states
that, "[w]hile the significance of national and regional particularities
and various historical, cultural and religious backgrounds must be borne
in mind, it is the duty of all States to promote and protect all human
rights and fundamental freedoms, including the right to development",
Recalling further paragraph 24 of the Habitat Agenda, which
states that "implementation of the Habitat Agenda, including
implementation through national laws and development priorities,
programmes and policies, is the sovereign right and responsibility of
each State in conformity with all human rights and fundamental freedoms,
including the right to development, and taking into account the
significance of and with full respect for various religious and ethical
values, cultural backgrounds and philosophical convictions of
individuals and their communities, contributing to the full enjoyment by
all of their human rights in order to achieve the objectives of adequate
shelter for all and sustainable human settlements development",
Recalling the Commission on Human Rights resolutions 2000/13
of 17 April 2000, 2001/34 of 23 April 2001, 2002/49 of 23 April 2002 and
2003/22 of 22 April 2003 on women's equal ownership of, access to and
control over land and the equal rights to own property and to adequate
housing, as well as the emphasis placed on women's equal access to land,
credit, adequate shelter and basic services in the Plan of
Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development,
Stressing that the impact of gender-based discrimination and
violence against women on women's equal access to adequate housing, land
and property is acute, particularly during complex emergency situations,
reconstruction and rehabilitation,
Also recalling the Convention on the Elimination of All forms
of Discrimination Against Women,
Mindful of the commitment to formulate and strengthen policies
and practices to promote the full and equal participation of women in
human settlements, planning and decision-making, made in the Habitat
Agenda (inter alia, paragraph 184), and reaffirmed in the Declaration on
Cities and Other Human Settlements in the New Millennium6 (inter alia,
paragraph 44),
Mindful also that in its resolution 16/6 of 7 May 1997 on
women in human settlements development, the Habitat Commission had
requested the creation of a Gender Coordinating Unit directly under the
Executive Director in order to mainstream the gender perspective in all
policies, projects, programmes and activities of the Centre (also
resolution 17/11 of 14 May 1999),
Bearing in mind the United Nations Millennium Declaration and
the resolve to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women as
effective ways of combating poverty, hunger and disease and to stimulate
development that is truly sustainable (paragraph 20),
Recalling also the Goal in the Millennium Declaration of
making a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million
slum dwellers by 2020,
Recognizing that women form a large proportion of the urban
poor, especially those living in slums,
Recognizing also that urban poor women and children are
particularly severely affected by unlawful forced evictions and
emphasizing the need for promoting policy alternatives to unlawful
forced evictions through the campaigns on secure tenure and urban
governance,
Bearing in mind also the importance of the empowerment of
women in the fight against HIV/AIDS,
Emphasizing that gender mainstreaming is a priority for the
whole of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT),
- Requests the Executive Director, in developing and
implementing UN-HABITAT gender policy, to promote the full integration
of gender perspectives in all activities of UN-HABITAT, especially in
the campaigns on secure tenure and urban governance and in slum
upgrading projects;
- Requests the Executive Director in consultation with
Governments to develop or, where they already exist, to strengthen
mechanisms for monitoring the impact of human settlement policies and
programmes on the lives and work of women in cities, especially those
in low-income areas and slums, as well as strengthening women's
networks and other organizations active in this area;
- Invites Governments to increase financial and other
assistance to UN-HABITAT to enable the Programme to strengthen the
mainstreaming of gender issues and the work of the Gender Coordinating
Unit, in particular in support of gender-specific slum upgrading
projects and especially those related to employment creation, women's
empowerment, housing improvement and property rights;
- Also requests Governments to promote and protect women's
equal access to adequate housing, property and land including rights
to inheritance, and to secure access to credit through appropriate
constitutional, legislative and administrative measures;
- Encourages Governments to support the transformation of
customs and practices that discriminate against women and deny women
security of tenure and equal ownership of, access to and control over
land and equal rights to own property and to adequate housing;
- Urges Governments to address the issue of forced relocation
and forced evictions30 from home and land, and to eliminate its
disproportionate impact on women;
- Urges Governments to promote the effective participation of
women in human settlements planning and development at all levels of
government and in particular to utilize the untapped resources and
knowledge of urban, poor women in local community development;
- Also urges Governments to ensure gender sensitive
implementation of slum upgrading programmes and in particular to
emphasize poor womens rights and equal access to adequate housing and
land and need for secure tenure, basic amenities and income generating
activities and education and measures to protect women and girls
against violence;
- Requests Governments to promote credit schemes for shelter
and income generating activities that are affordable to poor women in
particular those affected by HIV/AIDS;
- Also requests the Executive Director to include a report on
the implementation of the present resolution in her progress report to
the Governing Council at its twentieth and future sessions.
Website:
http://www.unhabitat.org/governingbodies/gcreport_annex1_1916.asp
Website:
http://www.unhabitat.org/programmes/landtenure
Editor: Chair of the Joint Commission Working Group
on Under-represented Groups in Surveying Ms. Gabriele Dasse,
Kleinfeld 22 a, D-21149
Hamburg, Germany
E-mail: g.dasse@gmx.de
1/04, month of issue:
January
© Copyright 2004 Gabriele Dasse.
Permission is granted to photocopy in limited quantity for educational
purposes. Other requests to photocopy or otherwise reproduce material
in this newsletter should be addressed to the Editor.
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