Two Days In

Nearly two days into CSW, Ive had a couple of busy days. It has been great to see lots of contacts I met last year, and make lots of new ones. I've aked lots of questions at side and parallel events, had a great young women's caucus last night, went to the ambassador's reception and will update with more details later on.

This evening I'm off to the European Caucus followed by the youth reception hosted by Girl Scouts USA.

Update later!

Youth Orientation Day

Today we went to the Youth Orientation Day, organised by the Working Group on Girls at a Salvation Army building downtown in Manhattan. It was a great day for the whole delegation to be inspired by speakers such as Michele Bachelet, Leymah Gbowee, and the Kenyan Ambassador to the UN. All of which are really great speakers who tell great stories and make their audiences feel like they can really affect change in the world.

Today was also a chance for the delegation to practice answering questions, and my question to Michele Bachelet was a real highlight of the day. I asked 'What role can non-formal education play in achieving gender equality?' and the answer included her thoughts on the importance of role models, how education on gender equality needs to start really early (in pre-school years), and how non-formal educaton is as, if not more, important than formal education in achieing gender equality.

I also picked up a number of inspiring quotes from today, and I will share these with you:

'Leaders are not born, they are made' 

This is testament to what WAGGGS does and what the delegates here at the CSW demonstrate. Our experiences through our lives so far hae developed us all as great leaders.

'People will not remember what you say, they won't remember what you do, but people will remember how you made them feel'

I think this is so true, and the key to inspiring others to support your cause is to make them feel your cause. When teaching girls and young women about advocacy it's extremely important to make them feel like they do have the power to make a difference and they can truly be agents of change. When you see yourself as an agent of chane - you become one.

A Day of Training

Today we registered in the UN to get our grounds passes, feeling very privileged as a returning delegate my pass was pre-printed awaiting my collection! Then it was time for the hard work to begin - a full day of training at the Girl Scouts of the USA Headquarters on 5th Avenue.

It was great to see some of the other delegates starting to come out of their shells (I remember just how I felt this time last year) and their presentations about the progress on MDG 3 in their home countries was really interesting.

Tomorrow we'll be attending the girls orientation day to help in the facilitation of some of the workshops - I'm particularly looking forward to hearing Michele Bachelet speak and hoping to, once again, get a chance to speak to Leymah Gbowee!

But now it is time for some well earned rest - goodnight from the city that never sleeps!

Arriving in New York

I arrived in New York last night, to a beautiful view of the city lights in midtown out of the window of our room (picture to follow). Having been here last year I feel a lot more confident about knowing my way round - though sometimes incorrectly having turned the wrong way out of the suway station last night!

Myself, Haley the UK delegate and Andrea the Delgation Co-ordinator went to the Amish Market and got some amazing food - I really love being in a city that deals so well with my dietary requirements! Dairy free chocolate covered raisens and tofu with mushrooms might not sound like a great meal but I was overwhelmed by choice.

This morning we've been working on the agreed conclusions to have them ready to lobby the government delegations and we're shortly heading out to pick up the bits for the delegates training tomorrow (and do a little bit of sight seeing on the way).

The view from our hotel window.

What are we doing in New York? Advocacy.

Leaving Norwich

Today I am setting off from my University home in Norwich, to stay overnight with my Mum before taking off for New York tomorrow - safe to say I'm very excited about the trip and about setting out on this adventure on World Thinking Day!

World Thinking Day is celebrated by Guides and Scouts around the world as a day to think and learn about fellow members of the movement. It's held on the 22nd of February as this was the joint birthday of Lord Baden Powell and his wife Olave (World Chief Guide in her lifetime).

I awoke this morning to more 'Happy Thinking Day' messages in my friends statuses than several other minor holidays combined! This fills my with a sense of pride as a member of this movement, but also with a sense of hope. All these people commit to one movement, to common goals, and by these 10 million members across 145 countries taking a small action each, over time, it will really change the world - I know this because it already has.

This year there is a theme of environmental sustainability - take a look at the website linked above for more info. But regardless of whether or not you are a member of this movement, today join in the call for collective action - tweet #GirlsSaveOurPlanet, explore the website, and share this blog post with families and friends. The internet connects us together in a way to inspire action from others if you are willing to take that action yourself.

I'm currently on the train, listening to 'It does get better', and I want you to join me in looking out at our beautiful planet. And then do ONE thing today to help preserve it for future generations.

Thank You.

Preparations for CSW 56 Continue...

My apologies for the gap since my last blog entry - but be assured that the preparations for CSW 56 are coming along at pace!

I am part of discussions with World YWCA, with whom WAGGGS is co-hosting the Young Women's Caucus at the CSW event. Getting such a group together regularly during the event will allow us to be able to speak as a united voice on several topics - representing the voice of young women to the governmental delegations and other NGOs.

The whole WAGGGS delegation are taking part in many tasks through our groupsite platform as preparation for our work in New York, and the key messages we'll deliver are being formulated. This week's task for example is to research a little on the Millennium Development Goals and understand how the challenges a particular goal seeks to address may impact on rural women (the priority theme of the CSW).

I'll be back soon with another update and some more discussion of the issues.

Sustainability and Rural Women in the UK

Research announced by my university this week had some good and bad news - whilst they say that high carbon emissions are not a requirement of high life expectancy (citing Costa Rica and other nations), low carbon emissions pretty much always correlate with poor life expectancy etc.

The sustainability issue is the focus of the Rio+20 summit later this year, but I can't help but think it will be raised at the CSW as I see it as intricately tied to the livelihoods of rural women in all countries. Whilst my previous post touched on how the environment is key to women in African nations, environmental issues are definitely important for rural women in the UK to.

In a time of funding cuts, it's difficult for a rural woman in the UK to prioritise sustainable transportation methods as bus services are reduced. Less buses (and more expensive tickets) not only impacts on carbon emissions, but also on the employment and social opportunities of rural women. The council in the above example say they targetted evening and weekend services - clearly with the premise of the working week running 9-5 Monday to Friday - but women in the UK are more likely to be part-time employment which often requires working outside of the usual 9-5. Women are also more likely to be in insecure work (and make up a greater proportion of those claiming job-seekers allowance) with the gap between women and men growing since 2008.

These statitics are reiterated for rural women across europe and this same report highlights the importance of women in the process of sustainable development. The male dominated rural networks can exclude women from decision making processes simply by being places that they don't want to be. Rural women need to be given a voice for sustainable development in their communities.

Thoughts on the Rural Environment

"The world’s population is going to stop at nine billion and go down. It’s an enormous achievement. And it’s largely an achievement of women, and particularly poor women who have been able to get hold of contraceptives or say, 'No'. Literacy is the best predictor of this. As soon as you see tiny improvements in female literacy, women gain more control of their own lives and you see dramatic falls in fertility." - Danny Dorling,  2010

Women in rural areas, in most countries, often face more barriers in getting an education, in getting access to contraception and thus controlling the size of their families. I'm simplifying here, but the basic human geography mode suggests that without education, the labour value of people is their main asset, and so the more children you have the more labour your family work force can do. So there may be little impetus to overcome these barriers.

But what sort of labour are these families doing? In Kenya, where I did my fieldwork, and in Ghana, where I taught English a few years ago, the vast majority of families were reliant on agriculture for their subsistence. So much so that in Ghana we wold be covering lessons for Ghanaian teachers because they had gone to tend their farms that day. In Kenya, labour has a strong gender divide: men are in charge of the animals (though women sometimes took charge of chickens and goats) and women do the majority of the agricultural labour. In terms of how these contribute to feeding the family, it's fair to say the majority of the food came from the women's efforts. And it is those who depend on agriculture for daily living that are hit hardest by a changing environment. The whole East Africa region has suffered with drought, and when the rains do come the soil is degraded and large gulleys form, dividing up the village.

These environmental issues have some similarities and some difference to those faced by rural populations in the UK...

56th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women

After lying dormant for a while I will be picking up this blog once again - this week I heard the fantastic news that this spring, I will be once again going with WAGGGS (World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts) to UNHQ in New York! This time I will be taking on a mentor and training role within the delegation, and I'm excited for a trip to London this Tuesdey to discuss the event.

The priority theme for CSW 56  will be:
"The empowerment of rural women and their role in poverty and hunger eradication, development and current challenges"

Doing a research project in a rural Keyan village back in March 2011, and then spending June through to September living in a small village in the Norfolk countryside has given me a flavour of the impact of geography (particularly rural v urban) on achieving gender equality.

One such issue is gender based violence and whilst a WI study in the UK, has shown that the amount of violence against women is comparable in rural and urban areas (though other studies have shown certain types of violence to be higher in urban areas) there is a distinct lack of relevant services in rural areas shown by the Map of Gaps project. The area I lived in over the summer has 0 such services.

In Kenya, violence against women is arguably even more of a concern. This 2003 report on progress towards UN goals in the Convention on the Elimination of Violence Against Women (CEDAW) demonstrates that pervasive cultural norms are a significant barrier to easy implementation of such aims. Female Genital Cutting has been outlawed in the country since 2003, but in rural areas the enforcement of such laws is difficult - and often not a priority.

And it is here where the environment and sustainability is a becoming an increasing concern...till the next post.

Videos

Just stumbled across these 4 videos of the side event with Soroptomists International. Doesn't include the WAGGGS part, but is a good taster of the session.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAeYNDJF92Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=331rwAJ3XEg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjQ84CZndvw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XNXSYjW-uQ