Q&A with Sr. Dusty Farnan, working at the UN toward gender equality

Interview published by the Global Sisters Report

Worldwide, nearly 2.4 billion women of working age do not have the same legal rights as men, according to a 2023 report by Women, Business and the Law, a World Bank Group project. That’s an astounding fact, considering women make up just over 50% of the global labor force, produce 80% of food in developing countries, and provide the majority — upward of 75% — of unpaid care to children and adults in their families.

Gender equality is one of the United Nations’ 17 sustainable development goals for the planet and its population. The sustainable development goals, ranging from eradicating poverty to protecting the climate, are connected in a way that achieving one goal helps reach another — people with access to nutritious food have a better chance at good health, for instance. But the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women noted that gender equality is at the center of the solution for all the goals.

It’s a belief shared by Adrian Dominican Sr. Durstyne “Dusty” Farnan, a representative to the United Nations for the Dominican Leadership Conference since 2019.

Farnan’s roles have included stints as a teacher, clinical social worker, vocations director and justice promoter. As a formation minister working with Indigenous sisters in Ghana and Kenya, she saw how few rights are granted to African women. In 2015, as part of a delegation visiting Iraq, she discovered how many Iraqis — often disproportionately women and children — were forced from their homes by war and terrorism.

But Farnan also has faith in the power of women.

“We have to keep educating girls because they are our future, our hope that this world will become more equal and that we will become more life-giving,” she said.