Commission on the Status of Women- 40 Soroptimists in NYC

(Editor's note- Next week 40 Soroptimists from around the world will be attending the Commission on the Status of Women in New York City. Stay Tuned to BLOG reports posted frequently starting March 1! Dawn Marie Lemonds, SI Programme Director)

53rd Session of the Commission on the Status of Women


The fifty-third session of the Commission on the Status of Women will be held at UN headquarters in New York from 2-13 March 2009. CSW’s priority theme will be The equal sharing of responsibilities between women and men, including caregiving in the context of HIV/AIDS.

The Division for the Advancement of Women organized an online discussion on the priority theme, which provided an opportunity for practitioners and experts to contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the issue.

The review theme, Equal participation of women and men in decision-making processes at all levels will be discussed in an interactive dialogue on 6 March. The issues paper can be accessed here.

The emerging issue, The gender perspectives of the financial crisis will be considered through an interactive expert panel on 5 March. Access the issues paper here.

An interactive expert panel on Gender perspectives on global public health: Implementing the internationally agreed development goals, including the MDGs will be held on 12 March. Access the issues paper here.

NGLS is organizing a Financial Crisis Workshop - Policy Issues and Priorities (Part I and II) during the 53rd Session. The workshop will discuss various proposals from women's rights organizations and networks on policies and governance mechanisms to reform the international financial architecture and to advance women's empowerment and gender equality. Part I will take place on 4 March from 5-6pm; Part II will take place on 5 March from 12-1.30pm, both at UN Headquarters in New York. Keynote speakers will be Lanyan Chen, Zo Randriamaro, Magda Lanunza and on 5 March Marina Durano will join the discussions.

Also UNRISD is organizing two events: a parallel event on 4 March entitled Who Cares? The Role of Families, States, Markets and Communities in Care Provision: New Evidence from UNRISD Research and a full-day conference (open to the public) at Barnard College, Columbia University, New York, on 6 March 2009, where key findings of the Research Project on the Political and Social Economy of Care will be presented. The conference will begin with keynote addresses delivered by two leading feminist thinkers - Joan Tronto and Elizabeth Jelin.

For a list of other parallel events, click here.