ADVOCACY OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL SOROPTIMISTS AROUND THE WORLD!

Soroptimist International invites YOU to participate in our advocacy campaign for the 55th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women.

This year’s priority theme is: “Access and participation of women and girls to education, training, science and technology, including for the promotion of women’s equal access to full employment and decent work”

What is CSW? The Commission on the Status of Women (“CSW”) is a functional commission of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), dedicated exclusively to gender equality and advancement of women. It is the principal global policy-making body. Every year, representatives of Member States gather at United Nations Headquarters in New York to evaluate progress on gender equality, identify challenges, set global standards and formulate concrete policies to promote gender equality and advancement of women worldwide. The Commission consists of one representative from each of the 45 Member States elected by the Council on the basis of equitable geographical distribution. The Commission’s primary activity is to produce ‘Agreed conclusions’, which contain an analysis of the priority theme of concern and a set of concrete recommendations for Governments, intergovernmental bodies and other institutions, civil society actors and other relevant stakeholders, to be implemented at the international, national, regional and local level.

Now, Soroptimist International is inviting YOU to help us in our advocacy campaign! We are asking every Soroptimist around the world to ensure that our concerns and solutions are heard by government officials before the 55^th CSW in February.

Here are three things you can do to make a difference for women and girls using the Soroptimist statement:

1. Use our postcard or letter template to write to your national government officials responsible for gender equality and women’s issues. Visit the Act Now! section of our website (http://www.soroptimistinternational.org/html/advocacy.html) to download and print.
2. Lobby government officials, women’s commissions, or other relevant targets in person to ensure that the voices of women and girls, as expressed in the Soroptimist International statement, are included in decision-making at this year’s CSW (the statement is available on the website). Make sure they have a copy of the Soroptimist statement!
3. Learn more about the issues raised in SI’s statement and spread the word in your club and community. Discuss the issues with local community leaders.

And when you’re done, we’d like to hear about it! Use the Soroptimist online reporting system (the PFRs) (http://reports.soroptimistinternational.org/) to tell us what you did and feel free to send any photos to hq@soroptimistinternational.org.