Dominican Leadership Conference at the United Nations
In early March, Sisters Tabiria (Tabi) and Trish, from the Dominican Sisters of Eastern Australia and the Solomon Islands, journeyed to New York to participate in the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) as delegates of the Dominican Leadership Conference (DLC).
Other Dominican Delegates are: Sr Jareen – Tanzania; Sr Cecilia – DSI Promoter of Justice and Peace; Sr Roberta – Columbus Ohio; Sr Else-Britt – Oslo Norway; Sr Mary – Western Australia; Sr Juana – Paraguay; Rosa – Latin America; Sr Christin – Sinsinawa; Sr Mary Tuck – South Africa. They are accompanied by Viviana – Dominican volunteer and Sr Margaret Mace – (UN/NGO).
The Dominican delegates will be participating in a wide choice of presentations, events and gatherings. Alongside a main program of UN sponsored panels and events in the UN precinct itself, there are literally hundreds of side events and parallel events sponsored by various civil society groups occurring at the same time in nearby venues.
To give a small sample of topics:
- “Gender stereotyping: Why we do it, why it is a problem and how we fight it”
- “Rights, Voice, Dreams and Friendship: How Teenage Girls Achieve Empowerment”
- “Beyond the Hashtags: Measuring Gender- Based Violence among Rural Women”
- “Tools to Prevent Trafficking of Women & Girls”
The CSW is the United Nations body dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women. Each year the Commission meets for two-weeks in March as it brings together UN member states, UN entities, and civil society organizations on behalf of fostering and creating new norms about the treatment of women and girls everywhere. This year CSW62 will be in session 12 -23 March to discuss the priority theme of “Challenges and opportunities in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls.”
The Dominican Leadership Conference, which is an NGO in special consultative status with the UN, is one of many civil society groups which offer crucial gender perspectives to UN activities. The official CSW62 draft document acknowledges the fact that rural women and girls are the most vulnerable group in society in terms of social, economic, and political injustices. It is increasingly recognized that many of the world’s development issues such as poverty, protection of the environment and trafficking of women can only be properly addressed through fostering the full human development of women and girls. The Dominican delegates look forward to the stimulating dialogues surrounding rural women and girls in the efforts to “leave no one behind.”