The United Nations' Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) kicked off its 52nd session yesterday; this year's theme is financing for gender equality and the empowerment of women and the emerging issue is gender perspectives on climate change.
In the session's opening address, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon spoke out against violence against women, noting that "at least one out of every three women is likely to be beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused in her lifetime." Ban also announced the launch of a new campaign to battle global violence against women, which will run until 2015.
I've been lucky enough to go to past CSWs when I was working in the international women's rights arena, but (sadly) I won't be there this year. What's great, however, is that you can follow along on the CSW website and see what's happening - whether it be panels, statements or NGO events.
Another great place to find out info on CSW and its happenings is the Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO) (my old stomping ground), who are heavily involved in the process and give great updates.
Too often, American feminists forget about the all-important work being done on the international level by groups like WEDO and others. So please, check out all of the info on CSW and get involved!
If you want to know more about CSW and its history, click here.
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This is pretty exciting to me. I want to devote my life to Human Rights, especially those of women, but I've been kind of sitting on my feminist ass lately and not doing a whole hell of a lot. I'm so glad that Ban Ki Moon is speaking out against the injustices against women (as the UN Secretary-General should) and am excited for the work that the CSW will do in the next 7 years.
Considering that the priority theme for this CSW is finance and women's empowerment and the parallel events indicate so, it's interesting to see particular ones stand out, such as: "Breast Cancer Prevention" and "Reproductive Healthcare." Well, not surprising, since these events are being sponsoring by the Endeavor Forum, an anti-feminist, anti-choice organization from Australia.
And I'm pretty sure that the Concerned Women for America's event, "Mental Health after Pregnancy Loss" is not going to be on mental health after "pregnancy loss." They never demonstrated a sincere interest on the real topic, so why should they now?
Dammit, how I would love to infiltrate these events.
I'm a delegate the the UN's Commission on the Status of Women Meeting on behalf of women's NGOs in Canada and am writing updates at my organization's blog: www.antigonemagazine.blogspot.com.
It has been great so far! I got to interview Gloria Steinem today! And tomorrow I'm interviewing the founder of New Moon Media!
Soooo, excited!