The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) is supporting a youth delegation of 15 young women from across the world to take part in the 65th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).
WAGGGS
CSW is the main global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women. During the Commission’s annual two-week session, representatives of UN Member States, civil society organizations and UN entities gather at the UN headquarters in New York, and agree on further actions to accelerate progress towards gender equality and the realisation of all women’s rights.
This year, CSW will take place online with its priority theme set as women’s full and effective participation and decision-making in public life, the elimination of violence for achieving gender equality, and the empowerment of all women and girls.
With UN Women predicting that progress towards gender equality could be set back by as much as 25 years, the WAGGGS Advocacy Champions are calling on decision-makers to ensure sufficient commitments are made to offset these set-backs, particularly in terms of gender-based violence, girls’ and young women’s agency, body confidence, self-esteem, and nutrition. Please find the full list of actions that they are calling on their national decision-makers to take here.
The Advocacy Champions will also be having 1 to 1 meetings with their national decision-makers, speaking at the official CSW events and running their own influencing events too. You can find a list of the key events they will be active in below:
Girl Scouts of the USA Parallel Event: The Right To Lead: A conversation on Girls Leadership & Political Participation
16 March, Tuesday at 14:30 - 16:00 NYT
UN Interactive dialogue - Eliminating violence against women in public life
17 March, Wednesday at 9:00 - 11:00 EST
WAGGGS and Dove Parallel Event: #InvisibleBarriers: Improving Girls’ Self-esteem to inspire new generations of leaders and changemakers
18 March, Thursday at 10.30 - 12.30 EST
UN Interactive dialogue on building back better : women’s participation and leadership in COVID-19 response and recovery
18 March, Thursday at 09.00 – 11.00 NYT
WAGGGS Event: On nutritional deficiency: empowerment of girls and their effective participation in decision making
21 March, Sunday at 09:00 - 11:00 GMT
To register for an event, you must first register for the forum and create an advocate profile.
Ruby Bour-Donkor, WAGGGS Advocacy Champion and Campaigner says,
“There is a never ending fight for gender equality and it is a daily fight. All girls and women need to join this fight to make the world a better place.
WAGGGS Advocacy Champion Ruby has been at the forefront of activism in Ghana. She advocates on ending violence against girls and women and led a campaign calling on the government to end its unfair tax on menstrual products.
“Through WAGGGS programmes like Free Being Me, Action on Body Confidence and the Stop the Violence campaign, young girls are understanding and embracing their worth as women. I want to motivate all girls to fight for gender equality, raising a generation of women poised to be leaders.”
For more information, full biographies or to set up an interview with any of the WAGGGS Advocacy Champions, please contact:
Genevieve Allcott, Communications Manager
World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts
Email: gennie.allcott@wagggs.org