"Working toward the enablement of persons and the promotion of human dignity, we contribute to positive systemic change in society."
(You Are Sent, Constitution of the School Sisters of Notre Dame)
It is with hopeful anticipation that I look forward to the annual Commission on the Status of Women meeting at the United Nations. This gathering always presents such promising moments of optimism, of collective passion and action for righting the wrongs of world.
This year’s priority issue for the CSW centers on the equal sharing of responsibilities between women and men, including care-giving in the context of HIV/AIDS. So often, when it comes to household, care-giving and unremunerated work, women and children are the ones who disproportionately shoulder these responsibilities and this impacts their opportunities for education and the ability to reach their full potential.
As educators with a world vision, School Sisters of Notre Dame are especially sensitive to the needs of women, children and those who live in poverty, and their participation at the CSW is a public demonstration of one way that the sisters today live their mission.
As we witness the power of so many organizations and individuals working together with a single purpose, it is my hope that we will both inspire and be inspired to make a difference. In this forum, the SSND delegates will share those experiences – what we saw, what we heard, what we did – and connect you to this moment too.
This year’s priority issue for the CSW centers on the equal sharing of responsibilities between women and men, including care-giving in the context of HIV/AIDS. So often, when it comes to household, care-giving and unremunerated work, women and children are the ones who disproportionately shoulder these responsibilities and this impacts their opportunities for education and the ability to reach their full potential.
As educators with a world vision, School Sisters of Notre Dame are especially sensitive to the needs of women, children and those who live in poverty, and their participation at the CSW is a public demonstration of one way that the sisters today live their mission.
As we witness the power of so many organizations and individuals working together with a single purpose, it is my hope that we will both inspire and be inspired to make a difference. In this forum, the SSND delegates will share those experiences – what we saw, what we heard, what we did – and connect you to this moment too.
Julie Gilberto-Brady
SSND Communications Coordinator
SSND Communications Coordinator
9 comments:
Julie,
Your "hopeful anticipation" is definitely contagious! Thanks for facilitating again this year our connection to the CSW through your incredible webpage.
I just read the NGO Statement to the CSW and am proud to have all of you representing SSND and asking such important questions like: "Why then after more than a decade of promises, do girls remain powerless, invisible and neglected throughout their life-cycle"?
I,too, will be waiting for the answer from our world leaders. Thanks again for this possibility to be connected to such timely issues. Judy Bourg (DA)
One of the several ways that we can get others involved is through sending them to celebrate International Women's Day, March 5 by going to to the movies! Check out this powerful documentary:
http://www.apowerfulnoise.org/about.html
We are honored to represent the School Sisters of Notre Dame at the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). We hope to bring the charism of the SSNDs and the values of the Gospel to bear on the deliberations of the 53rd session of the Commission.
Like Blessed Theresa, the founder of the School Sisters of Notre Dame, the rights and well being of girls will be our primary focus. The theme of this year’s CSW, the equal sharing of responsibilities in care giving including in the context of HIV/AIDS clearly has everything to do with girls and their rights and wellbeing.
Did you know?
Girls spend twice as much time as boys on cooking-related activities.
Girls spend 33–85 percent more time per day working at home and in unpaid market work than do boys of the same age.
AIDS frequently forces girls to withdraw from school to fulfill caregiving duties and to help compensate for lost family income.
And the consequences for girls can be devastating!
Denial of their right to the education necessary to prepare for the responsibilities of full participation in society and in the family
Limited time for play and other creative pursuits so essential to their personal development of children
Limited opportunity to develop peer relationships and social and leadership skills
Please keep us all in your prayers!
Ann Scholz, SSND
Have you ever been part of discussion, knowing that it was just a conversation between friends, and even if it was about something important, it was only ever going to be a conversation between friends?
You know the kind, those conversations that make up our lives- about school,about relationships, about the health of our families, and even about what we would change if we were "in charge of the world".
Then one day you wake up and you realize that other people are having these conversations.
So you start having the conversations with them, and soon, you find yourself having those conversations with such a vast network of friends that you end up...here. At the United Nations. You suddenly are part of the largest and most important conversations you've ever been a part of, with people from all over the world.
Welcome to the discussion, my friend. It's gonna be a good one.
(poem by Edwina Gateley)
For you are one
Though many
And in each of you
I live.
So listen to my story
And share my pain
And death.
Oh, listen to my story
And rise and live
With me
This is why we (both the SSND Delegation, and the rest of the Commission attendees) are here.
This is what we aim to do.
To share the pain, the death, the struggles, and the stories of women and girls around the world.
It is only by placing ourselves in their worlds, behind their eyes, that we can hope to effect any real change.
I am simultaneously excited, honored, and sobered by the opportunity and challenge of giving a voice to the millions of voiceless.
Please join us in providing that voice to these women and girls by staying updated and updating others within your various spheres of influence on the issues and topics of the Commission.
Thank you for your support!
- Micah
Today, we delegates had an opportunity to share personal experiences of women in our lives -mothers, aunts, grandmothers, friends, some of whom have lived in unimaginable situations and have passed their wisdom to us. It occurs to me that these stories are the essential fabric which undergirds our communal strength as an SSND sisterhood. Join us. Share your own story with whomever will listen!
Sharon Kanis, SSND
After learning more of the various backgrounds and situations of the different members of our delegation today, I have a renewed sense of excitment and purpose about what we are doing this week.
In a strange way, our diversity makes us more unified and our varied interests and passions makes us stronger.
Great things happen when people bring their various talents, interests, passions, and situations to a unified purpose. May a unique and effective consequence emerge :)
- Micah
Good News from CSW Negotiations
It is still too early to know what the final document will look like, but I thought I’d pass a long a very brief up-date and some rather good news. The report from our friends on the WGG who are following the negotiations is that the US and some other countries included some of our wording in Monday’s first reading of the draft. Hopefully, it will stay through the negotiations.
So, congratulations to you all on your hard work. No matter the final outcome, we know that delegates are at least thinking about girls and that makes our efforts a great success.
Being in Munich and therefore unfortunately not able to really participate in the discussions with you, I wish you all the strength we need to persuade the delegates of the importance of further steps in the direction of girls´ rights!!
I pray for you and for all the girls all over the world whose rights are still violated every day, and hope to receive some positive news soon!
stephanie from Germany
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