Dear Soroptimists  

We are now just days away from this year’s Commission on the Status of Women event, CSW67. The event is hybrid, taking place from Monday 06 – Friday 17 March.

I am delighted to inform you that we have a delegation of 65 Soroptimist Members attending in person, in New York. SI President Maureen Maguire will be there for the first week, attending the Opening Session and many other events, ensuring along with our delegation, that Soroptimist International’s Global Voice is heard.

The priority theme this year is “Innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls” and the review theme: “Challenges and opportunities in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls (agreed conclusions of the sixty-second session)”.

Prepare yourself for CSW67 by downloading and reading our Advocacy Resource Pack and also by reading our written statement.

As CSW67 is a hybrid event this year we thought it would be useful for you to know that you can register as a virtual delegate with NGO CSW67 Forum, where you will have access to nearly 800 parallel events which are taking place over the two weeks of CSW. This Forum provides civil society organisations and activists with the opportunity to engage without the need to be in New York. Register for the CSW67 on Whova.

Once your registration is complete, you can download the app or access the Forum on your PC, then search for NGO CSW67 where you will find all events listed on an agenda, enabling you to select parallel events of interest. You will need to register for each event you wish to attend. The agenda includes the four following parallel events which SI President Maureen, SI Director of Advocacy Leigh, SI Immediate Past President Sharon and the SIHQ Team are hosting on Zoom, which we encourage you to register for. To find out the local time for you use the time zone converter.

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Our events

Title: Achieving Gender Equality & Empowerment through Innovation, Technology and Education.

Date & Time: Monday 06 March 2023, 16:00 GMT

Concept: During Covid-19 the acceleration of the pace of change within the Digital Revolution has exacerbated multiple existing inequalities within societies, especially for Women and Girls. By providing the ‘tools’ to succeed in this digital age, Soroptimist International’s grass roots projects educate and empower women and girls to enable them to achieve Gender Equality through Innovation and Technology.

Register for this meeting.

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Title: Opening Doors to a Bright Future: Educating, Empowering and Enabling Rural Women

Date & Time: Tuesday 07 March 2023 15:00 GMT

Concept: Join us to learn about successful Soroptimist Projects that present the opportunities,

achievements, and challenges to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls. For Rural Women and Girls, Education is a game changer, as they continue to face discrimination, inequalities and marginalization. Hear how the implementation of economic and social policies empower their leadership, participation and decision making.

Register for this meeting.

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Title: Technology, Water & Women 

Date & Time: Tuesday 14 March at 13:00 GMT

Concept: Implementing the use of appropriate, affordable and accessible technologies and involving women in designing, is an absolute ‘Must’. Modern technologies should be combined with traditional and indigenous knowledge for sustainable rural development, so that equality for all women and girls is achieved through giving them better access to technology related education, clean water and safe sanitation. Set quota, change language, change criteria – Educate the Educators. Soroptimist International and Women for Water Partnership join the call for action to accelerate women’s roles in the water domain and open the “door” to women for quality education, vocational education and the labour market.

Register for this meeting.

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Title: Rally for Older Women to Age With Rights in our Rural Communities 

Date & Time: Thursday 16 March at 15:00 GMT

Concept:  Immediate Past President Sharon Fisher’s SI Road to Equality project for the Rights of Older Women, is hosting this webinar during CSW67.  You are invited to join IPP Sharon to hear stories about older rural women who are deprived of their human rights. Speakers will be from Nepal, Kenya and North America who all have experienced or witnessed older women being denied their rights.  Translation in Nepali and Spanish will be offered.

Register for this meeting.

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Our SI delegation and the SIHQ Team will be covering all the events which SI are involved in. Don’t forget to check our website for regular updates and share our posts on social media. Don’t forget to tag us in any social media posts you create, so we can see and share your posts. Tag us on Twitter using @SoroptiTweet, Instagram using @soroptimistglobal and LinkedIn using ‘Soroptimist International HQ’. Please use our hashtag #SIAdvocates to increase our global presence and influence.

 

Finally, from SI President Maureen, SI Director of Advocacy Leigh, the SIHQ Team and myself, we wish you all an enjoyable, informative and influential time during this year’s CSW. Together we can raise our Soroptimist Global Voice for Women and Girls.

Warmest regards to you all,

Deborah Thomas

SI Global Executive Director