The 58^th Session of the Commission on the Status
of Women is approaching the half-way point. So how has it gone so far?

“CSW 58 has been historic in many ways”, explains SI Head of
Programme and Advocacy Reilly Dempsey. “We’ve seen SI’s first ever
purpose-driven advocacy training for delegates, the largest delegation we’ve
ever had with over 50 capable women, our first ever all-male panel, and, of
course, the most transparent and open CSW process in many, many years.”

We report on five highlights of the first week. 

A new level of
involvement for civil society

As reported in the update from day 2 this 58^th
Session of CSW is ground-breaking in its tone, transparency, and promise to
transform.  

Image: UN Women Lakshmi Puri briefs NGOs

“This is by the
far the most open and transparent CSW and the dialogue is promising and
powerful”, reports  Reilly Dempsey.  “Our
interactions with UN Women prove by actions how much the agency values civil
society.  The spirit and political will is most certainly here and it is
an amazing time to harness this and move forward to create the truly
transformative post 2015 agenda that it seems everyone wants – governments,
NGOS, and all stakeholders.” 

“Every morning at a briefing session for NGOs organised by
the NGO CSW Committee in NY, members of the Commission and UN Women report back
to civil society straight from the negotiating tables. The news they are
sharing is a breath of fresh air.  The overall tone of the session is
positive and constructive. There is clear political will to leave this
session with strong agreed conclusions to move forward the Post-2015 Agenda.” 

Strong support for
standalone goal on gender equality

For women and girls, there continues to be strong support
for a standalone goal on gender equality in the Post-2015 agenda, ensuring that
we take the goal forward from the MDGs, as well as gender mainstreaming
throughout all the other goals through targets and indicators.  

“We are feeling confident that VAWG will be addressed in the
new agenda, alongside addressing the structural root causes of gender
inequality”, reports Reilly.  We are also pleased to continue to hear the
words ‘data revolution’ to ensure that we, as a global community, are able to
construct the evidence base we need to transform the lives of women and girls.”

“Although we have been reminded that is it still early days
in the development of the Post 2015 Agenda, and we certainly still have work to
do, we are pleased that this step in the journey to the new agenda so far is
moving in the right direction for women and girls.”   

Focus on men and boys
as partners in building change

 

Image: Panellists Carlos A Gomez and Darnell L Moore with Reilly Dempsey, Hilary Ratcliffe and Dinean Robinson (photo by Devin Martin)

SI welcomes the promising language around men and boys
included in the draft conclusions. Men and boys are both
beneficiaries of gender equality and key actors in achieving it; this was
highlighted in our side event “Blue is the new pink: Gender Equality through
Men and Boys”. Yet the MDGs focussed solely on women and girls. One of our SI’s
key asks for CSW is that, attention must be paid to working with men and
boys and breaking gender stereotypes for women AND men.

We do not want to gauge women’s success by how much their
lives look the same as their male counterparts. At the same time, we want men
to be able to freely determine the course of their lives without being constrained
by male stereotypes. Work on both sides must occur in order to achieve true
gender equality.

Five successful Soroptimist
International Parallel events

 

Image: Pink is the New Blue Panel

A programme of side events, organized outside the
formal programme of the session of the Commission, provides an excellent
opportunity for Member States, UN entities and NGOs to discuss themes of the
Commission and other critical gender equality issues.

SI has organised or spoken at 5 parallel events, helping to showcase
the work that Soroptimists are doing worldwide and promoting understanding and
discussion of key issues. Read full reports of each session via the
links below:

• Blue
  is the new pink – gender equality through men and boys  
• Pink
  is the new blue – opening doors to science, tech, engineering and math
  careers for women and girls
• A
  Spotlight on Solar Energy –  with Solar Cookers
  International
• Half
  the Sky is Not Enough: technology and gender equity
• International
  President Ann participates in Zonta International Side Event

Image: SIE President Elect Maria Elisabetta de Franciscis speaks at Solar Cookers workshop

Soroptimists meet
with Lakshmi Puri, Assistant Secretary-General at UN Women

Soroptimist International Programme Director Hilary
Ratcliffe and Programme and Advocacy manager ,Reilly Dempsey were privileged to
be invited to a small meeting to hear Lakshmi Puri. She spoke about the achievements
of the MDGs and where they had fallen short. She said that the gender equality standalone
goal was transformative we need to take this goal forward. Critical elements
missing in the MDGs  which we have to
address in the SDGs are

• Ending violence against women
• Access to resources to enable economic and
  social empowerment
• Participation and leadership

She stressed that human rights are women’s rights and these
should be accepted into the new development agenda.

The Beijing platform for action was and is the gold standard
for women’s rights and we have to now engage in the process of reviewing and
implementing the 12 critical areas. To that end UN Women is rolling out a
global campaign “Empowering women; empowering mankind” and as part of this the“He for she” initiative.

Largest ever
Soroptimist delegation

 

“You can’t go very far without seeing a Soroptimist scarf,
wrapped around one of our excited and dedicated delegates”, reports Reilly.  Over 50 Soroptimists  are attending CSW this year, to learn, lobby
and share information about the work SI Clubs, Unions and Federations are doing
around the world.  

This year, for the first time, Soroptimist International organised
a training session for all delegates on the eve of CSW, to ensure that our
messages are communicated clearly and effectively during the meeting.  SI also briefs the “core delegation”, with representatives
from each Federation, every morning. Each federation then briefs their own
delegates, ensuring that everyone is kept informed.

 “These are long, hard
days, starting early in the morning with SI briefings, and often going well
into the night with networking functions, private meetings, or studying
documents”, says Reilly.  “But’s it all worth it, as we work together to
accelerate progress in the final 18 months of the MDGs and as we, as a global
community that very much includes SI, shape the future world that we want.”

Find the latest updates and photographs from this week, and watch out for more in week 2, at www.soroptimistinternational.org/CSW58