From Jenn Mayfield, International Chair

The next major international event will be the meetings of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) (27 February – 9 March 2012),which will also be held at the United Nations.  The CSW is an organ within the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the UN that surveys women’s issues worldwide, sets international standards, and formulates policies to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment. Founded in 1946, the member states of the Commission meet every year to evaluate progress, identify pressing issues, and develop policies.

The Commission’s meetings always select a specific area or issue to focus on. This year’s key theme is rural women, their empowerment, and “their role in poverty and hunger eradication, development, and current challenges.” The review theme is “financing for gender equality and the empowerment of women.” That was theme of the meetings in 2008, member states will analyze the successes and failures of the policies and programs towards the goals outlined in that session. The meetings also have an emerging theme, the focus theme of the 2013 session, “engaging young women and men, girls and boys, to advance gender equality.” Along with other AAUW representatives, I will attend some of the state meetings and NGO sessions.

I am already looking forward to reporting back to the Branch about the meetings, if you are as excited as I am for the CSW meetings, it isn’t too late to get involved with some of the proceedings. In addition to the government-level meetings, there will be a session of NGO events, workshops, meetings, and lectures that shadows the CSW meetings. The NGO calendar is not available yet, but judging by past sessions, there will be an abundance of fascinating sessions. Additionally, most of those events will be free and open to the public, no registration required.