Soroptimists from Europe Attend a Leadership Summit

“The Courage to Lead: A Human Rights Summit for Women Leaders”

8-10 December 2009, Geneva, Switzerland

Suba Parthiban, Programme Officer, Soroptimist International of Europe

It was fascinating to be part of a conference where women leaders demonstrated the courage to lead. This Summit was organized by Vital Voices and the Eleanor Roosevelt project.

The Summit was divided into three areas:

· Community and Economic Development: Ensuring Access to Food, Shelter and Wages

· Education and Political Empowerment: Ensuring Access to Education and the Government

· Protection from Violence against Women and Human Trafficking

Every panel featured experts in the field, including UN Special Rapporteurs, lawyers, prosecutors, professors, and activists. The emphasis on education and empowerment was overwhelming as it was said that education allows women to dream and articulate as well as helps them to be strong citizens. Knowledge is power! The lack of political will on the part of the government was often considered the main obstacle to achieve full rights for women.

As you can imagine, this was an incredible opportunity for networking and making contacts. We were around 40 women from 27 different countries and many of them showed interest in Soroptimist work. 5 of them would like to become Soroptimists: Ukraine, Kenya, Nigeria, US, and Albania.

Now the most interesting part: Vital Voices, the US based organization that organized all of this has a major mentoring programme. They have a conference coming up in March in DC for their mentors and mentees. They were fascinated to hear that we are a network of professional women.

At the end of the conference, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton joined the summit via satellite (first time in history they said). This was an interesting experience to have an interactive dialogue with her.

The content of the meeting was really rich and I was even more convinced that Soroptimists can give women and girls the courage to lead!!!

News From a NEW Soroptimist Rep in Geneva!

Can you imagine a UN headquarter, situated in green surroundings with sheep peacefully grazing in a park, trees in Indian summer colours - and the highest snowcapped European mountains greeting from far behind the lake? This is UN in Geneva, where I attended my first session as SI trainee representative. However not much time to dwell on watching the scenery - for two days we followed the session of ECE (Economic Commission for Europe) member states about the 15 year review of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action of the ECE. In the huge UN Parliament the official representatives sit alphabetically ordered, e.g. Russia sits next San Marino. However the Russian Representative was mostly absent….

Wilfrida Hendrickx, Elizabeth Williamson and I were very proud that SI President Hanne Jensbo has flown in from Denmark to follow this important session. We were sitting at the back rows together with lots of other NGOs.

Since the 4th World Conference in Beijing 1995, the progress of the Advancement of Women has been reviewed every 5 years. At this Regional meeting the 15-year main review next year in New York from 1 till 12 March 2010 was prepared. First I was quite puzzled to learn that the ECE region not only encompasses European countries but also US, Canada, and the countries of the former Soviet union.

“Although we have reviewed progress in achieving the goals set at five yearly intervals, there remain obstacles and new challenges”, said Carolyn Hannan, director of UN Division for the Advancement of Women.
“Unite to end violence against women” was an important campaign launched at the Commission on the Status of Women 2008, that has significantly strengthened the focus on this scourge. Today 186 countries have ratified the Convention on the elimination if All Forms of Discrimination against women (CEDAW). – However “horrific forms of violence against women in situations of armed conflict continue”, said Hannan.
In the discussion on Gender-sensitive economic policies in the context of the economic and financial crisis it was argued that the fight against violence against women should include measures tackling trafficking and prostitution, phenomena which are also directly linked to economic hardship.
However “one size does not fit all” was mentioned in view of the 15 year review: Women tend to be dealt as a monolithic mass with essentially similar needs and demands with just passing mention of minority women.
At this conference the challenges most frequently mentioned by member states and NGOs included:
- the gap between legislation and implementation
- the gender Pay gap
- the situation of migrant women who suffer multiple forms of discrimination
- the role of men in advancing gender equality, including through better sharing of family responsibilities

“Enjoy equity and equality” is on the high priority list in the SI Programme Focus Goals and so is “ End human trafficking and all forms of violence against women” in our Programme Focus Objectives. So the outcome of the Beijing +15 conference in New York next March will be of high interest for Soroptimist International

Sina Stiffler, Switzerland

News From a NEW Soroptimist Rep in Geneva

SI Trainee Sina Stiffler- tells us about her experiences!

Can you imagine a UN headquarter, situated in green surroundings with sheep peacefully grazing in a park, trees in Indian summer colours - and the highest snowcapped European mountains greeting from far behind the lake? This is UN in Geneva, where I attended my first session as SI trainee representative. However not much time to dwell on watching the scenery - for two days we followed the session of ECE (Economic Commission for Europe) member states about the 15 year review of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action of the ECE. In the huge UN Parliament the official representatives sit alphabetically ordered, e.g. Russia sits next San Marino. However the Russian Representative was mostly absent….

Wilfrida Hendrickx, Elizabeth Williamson and I were very proud that SI President Hanne Jensbo has flown in from Denmark to follow this important session. We were sitting at the back rows together with lots of other NGOs.

Since the 4^th World Conference in Beijing 1995, the progress of the Advancement of Women has been reviewed every 5 years. At this Regional meeting the 15-year main review next year in New York from 1 till 12 March 2010 was prepared. First I was quite puzzled to learn that the ECE region not only encompasses European countries but also US, Canada, and the countries of the former Soviet union.

“Although we have reviewed progress in achieving the goals set at five yearly intervals, there remain obstacles and new challenges”, said Carolyn Hannan, director of UN Division for the Advancement of Women.

“Unite to end violence against women” was an important campaign launched at the Commission on the Status of Women 2008, that has significantly strengthened the focus on this scourge. Today 186 countries have ratified the Convention on the elimination if All Forms of Discrimination against women (CEDAW). – However “horrific forms of violence against women in situations of armed conflict continue”, said Hannan.

In the discussion on Gender-sensitive economic policies in the context of the economic and financial crisis it was argued that the fight against violence against women should include measures tackling trafficking and prostitution, phenomena which are also directly linked to economic hardship.

However “one size does not fit all” was mentioned in view of the 15 year review: Women tend to be dealt as a monolithic mass with essentially similar needs and demands with just passing mention of minority women.

At this conference the challenges most frequently mentioned by member states and NGOs included:

- the gap between legislation and implementation

- the gender Pay gap

- the situation of migrant women who suffer multiple forms of discrimination

- the role of men in advancing gender equality, including through better sharing of family responsibilities

“Enjoy equity and equality” is on the high priority list in the SI Programme Focus Goals and so is “ End human trafficking and all forms of violence against women” in our Programme Focus Objectives. So the outcome of the Beijing +15 conference in New York next March will be of high interest for Soroptimist International

Sina Stiffler, Switzerland