Malala Yousafzai and the International Day of the Girl Child

This Friday, October 11 is the second annual observance of the International Day of the Girl Child. This year's theme is Innovation in Girls' Education. Events celebrating girls and exploring the unique challenges that they face are happening at the UN. There are also opportunities being provided for girls themselves to gather and connect with one another on these issues as well as speak and be heard by those who do the work of the UN from various member states. 

Education activist and Nobel Peace Prize Nominee Malala Yousafzai, a 16 year old girl from Pakistan was in New York this week and appeared on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. You can watch the full interview online. If you don't like being inspired, then this video isn't for you. Only a year ago, just before the first celebration of the International Day of the Girl Child, Malala was shot by members of the Taliban because of her advocacy for girls education. This year on July 12th, her 16th birthday, the UN celebrated Malala Day where she gave her first public speech since the attack to the General Council of the UN. Her new book "I am Malala" speaks about her experiences living in Swat Valley in Pakistan and her work to promote education, especially for girls. 

Achieving universal primary education is one of the Millennium Development Goals which the UN set out to achieve by 2015. The 58th UN Commission on the Status of Women coming up in March of 2014 will review the challenges and achievements in the implementation of the MDGs for women and girls. We will be lucky to have two young people as part of our group from IAWN Canada this year. Their views and experiences will add a great deal to the conversation when we gather in New York in March. Hopefully we will soon be able to share some of these views with readers here on the blog as they prepare for their participation in this event.

I can't speak more powerfully about the importance of universal education than Malala can - so it's best to just watch the video. As someone who is lucky enough to work with and for young people in the Church, hearing Malala speak reminds me why it is important. There are many voices like Malala's that need to be heard in our faith communities. I hope to help make this a reality. Just as importantly, they need the opportunity to hear and connect with one another. So share Malala's story, it is one we all need to hear. 

Speaking of IAWN and Gender organizations in the Church

Realizing this is a little overdue, I have decided to post a list of links to IAWN information and other organizations in the Church (or adjacent to the Church that do relevant work). Check out their work and information. Also, just for good measure here are some links to our organization's facebook group too.


IAWN International Anglican Women’s Network 

Our website

Our Facebook page         

On the Anglican Communion Website 

Our brochure

Our newsletters and resources

Women’s Ministries on the internet 

 

Anglican Communion Office at the United Nations   

Anglican Church Women Canada     

Mothers’ Union Worldwide            

Mothers’ Union Canada                           

Canadian Companions of the Diocese of Jerusalem

Women’s Inter-Church Council                

Fellowship of the Least Coin            

World Day of Prayer                        

NationalCouncil of Women of Canada    

IAWN at Joint Assembly 2013 in Ottawa

It is an exciting week for IAWN and the rest of the Canadian Anglican and Lutheran Churches as delegates gather in Ottawa for our very first joint assembly. The joint assembly is combines the two biggest Church meetings for the Anglican and Lutheran Churches - the Anglican General Synod and the Lutheran General Assembly. And just like Power Rangers and Captain Planet, we combine into something truly awesome (that fights evil? Okay the comparison is breaking down a little here). In any case, many organizations connected to these Churches will be setting up displays for delegates from across the country to check out. IAWN will have their display set up and will be reporting on any interesting conversations or developments of which we happen to catch wind while hanging out at Joint Assembly.

If you want to follow what is happening at this giant Church meeting, there are so many ways to do so. You can check out their website jointassembly.ca 
 for updates and live streaming of some of the events. You can also check out what twitter using folks are saying about it - the hashtag is #jointassembly. 

Otherwise you can get our spin on things here on the IAWN blog or on our facebook page. For now, I am going to leave you all and get back to making our display accessible to those who have QR scanners on their phones. It is a fun day.

Caitlin Reilley Beck

The outcomes of CSW according to Ecumenical Women

If you have been wondering how things turned out at the UN CSW 57 this year, then I have a treat for you. Below you will find an assessment by Ecumenical Women of the agreed conclusions according to the priority areas that we highlighted for advocacy during this year's commission. Spoiler Alert: we were successful!

Now it is time for us to take these agreed conclusions and use them in our own work back home. If you have stories of how this work is going and what these agreed conclusions mean for you, please share them with us or with ecumenical women.

Also, stay tuned for more updates about next year's CSW 58 and it's priority theme "Challenges and achievements in the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals for women and girls." We will also be posting information about how you can attend CSW as a representative of the Anglican Church as well as information on bursaries to help you afford to go.

And now without further ado, here are the outcomes of CSW 57 as Ecumenical Women sees it:

Ecumenical Women worked to advocate around the agreed conclusions of the UN Commission on the Status of Women hosted each year through the UN Economic and Social Council.    

Ecumenical Women advocated around three broad areas during the Commission on the Status of Women and achieved success in getting supportive language around each of the three areas into the Agreed Conclusions (the final outcome of the CSW):

·     Cultural structural and economic violence are underlying factors that must be addressed

o   The Commission affirms that violence against women and girls is rooted in historical and structural inequality in power relations between women and men, and persists in every country in the world as a pervasive violation of the enjoyment of human rights…The Commission also notes the economic and social harm caused by such [gender based] violence. Para 10 and 11

o   The Commission stresses that the realization of gender equality and the empowerment of women, including women’s economic empowerment and full and equal access to resources, and their full integration into the formal economy, in particular in economic decision-making, as well as their full and equal participation in public and political life is essential for addressing the structural and underlying causes of violence against women and girls. Para 19

o   Carry out continued multidisciplinary research and analysis on the structural and underlying causes of, cost and risk factors for violence against women and girls and its types and prevalence, in order to inform the development and revision of laws and their implementation, policies and strategies, and make such information public to support awareness-raising efforts; D(mmm)

·     Education is a vital part of the change process, especially societal change. Education must incorporate men and boys alongside women and girls

o   The Commission recognizes the important role of the community, in particular men and boys, as well as civil society, in particular women’s and youth organizations, in the efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls. Para 28

o   Carry out awareness-raising and education campaigns, in co-operation with civil society organizations, especially women's organizations, through different means of communication, targeting the general public, young people, men and boys, to address the structural and underlying causes of violence and abuse against women and girls; to overcome gender stereotypes and promote zero tolerance for such violence; to remove the stigma of being a victim and survivor of violence; and to create an enabling environment where women and girls can easily report incidences of violence and make use of the services available and of protection and assistance programmes; (II)

o   Promote and protect the human rights of all women including their right to have control over and decide freely and responsibly on matters related to their sexuality, including sexual and reproductive health, free of coercion, discrimination and violence; and adopt and accelerate the implementation of laws, policies and programmes which protect and enable the enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms, including their reproductive rights in accordance with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, the Beijing Platform for Action and their review outcomes; B(nn)

·    We must pay particular attention to the needs of rural and minority populations and improve their access to resources and services

o   The Commission stresses that the right to education is a human right, and that eliminating illiteracy, ensuring equal access to education, in particular in rural and remote areas, and closing the gender gap at all levels of education empowers women and girls and thereby contributes to the elimination of all forms of discrimination and violence against women and girls. Para 17

o   Improve access to timely, affordable and quality health systems for women and girls, including through gender-sensitive national strategies and public-health policies and programmes that are comprehensive, affordable and better targeted to addressing their needs and that encourage women’s active participation in their design and implementation; and also enhance women’s access to affordable, safe, effective and good quality treatment and medicines, with a special emphasis on the poor, vulnerable and marginalized segments of the population; C(hhh)

 

Judy sums up this year's CSW

It is high time that I finished my UN postings.

Fri March 15 was a day of ups and downs. Chapel was both an up and a down. For the last 2 weeks we have been surrounded by large silhouettes on the walls on the chapel of women who have "stories" to tell about violence in their lives. They were beautiful and haunting. Friday we did a sort of Stations of the cross around the room, stopping at each silhouette while the artist, Mary, told the story and Kathleen led us in contemplation and prayer. It was a wonderful but disturbing service. It was also sad because it would be the last chapel service at the UN Church Centre for us until next year.

The briefing by UN Women was also hopeful but uncertain as we have not yet got a concluding document and we have been here before -it could go either way.

I said goodbye to my soroptimist new friends after the briefing. It was wonderful to meet so many new like minded women. Special thanks to Sharon who was my Canadian contact and Anusha who was a negotiator and many more who welcomed me into their circle.

Back to the Episcopal Church Centre or "815" as it is affectionately known. Here we had a closing Eucharist and our last chance to see the Anglican women from around the world. Alice Medcof led the service and preached the sermon. It was a very meaningful service but again sad as we said goodbye to our Anglican sisters.

Joan Fraser from Long Island took me to Grand Central Station for a long lunch. It is a beautiful building but confusing, I got lost looking for the bathroom and for a moment wondered if I would ever find my way back.
Back to the hotel for a shower and a nap.

Ross and Joan and Lynaia Main went to Famous Dave's on 42 for a delicious barbecue dinner. I had ribs "naked" and enjoyed getting sticky and sharing time with good friends. I will miss you all.

After dinner I check my email and found that we indeed did have a concluding document. Much praise goes to the chair and to Michelle Bachelet for being single minded and dedicated to a positive ending to our 2 weeks in New York.
Visit the UNCSW website to learn more.

Sat I checked out and spent some time in the Maple Leaf Lounge at Laguardia and watched snow fall. We were late leaving as we needed deicing first.

Can you imagine my excitement when I saw my grandson Jackson as I came out of the door at Pearson. The whole family came out to pick Granny up from the airport and see "lots" of planes. I spent sat night and most of Sunday with them and got home about 7:30.
How nice to sleep in my own bed.

And now the really hard work begins. We need to continue working to ensure that the agreed conclusions are implemented and to prepare for next year.

CSW Reaches Agreed Conclusions

As many of you have likely already heard, the UN Commission on the Status of Women successfully reached agreed conclusions at the end of last week. The final document will soon be available for all to read, but for now, here is a link to UN Women's reporting on the subject.

In other news, Michelle Bachelet, the Executive Director of UN Women, announced in her closing statement to the Commission that she will be stepping down from this position in order to return to her home country of Chile. Read her full closing statement here. 

Thank you to all those who contributed to this blog over the course of UN CSW57 and to those who have followed our journey over these past few weeks. In the coming weeks, there will be more reflections from delegates on their time at CSW which we will share on the blog. In addition, I hope to have some special contributions from other IAWN partners across Canada about their work and concerns in women's empowerment. If you have a story or reflection about your own work in this area which you would like to share with the wider Church, please contact me by email.

Peace,

Caitlin Reilley Beck

Worship at UNCSW 57

As a liturgy geek and addict, whenever I attend a faith related conference, I am always excited for the opportunity to worship with a new group of people; to become a part of a temporary worshiping community, concerned with the issues of the particular gathering. Each person brings their own worship traditions with them as gifts and skills they offer, but I have found there is always a more willing suspension of 'the usual' in these contexts and people are willing to lay down their liturgical baggage for the sake of coming together as a community for this short time. There is also an effort to make conference worship special and thus people bring their best to the table. In the ecumenical context of UNCSW, this produces varied and moving worship in which there is enthusiastic participation. 

Another unique feature of worship at CSW is that it is almost entirely planned and lead by women. For many Church goers, even in contexts where women are the majority of the congregation (that is most Churches) or where women are able to be ordained, they are still often in the minority in planning and leadership roles. In addition, the worship itself is explicitly concerned with the lives and experiences of women - another less frequent part of Christian worship. It makes me think that this might be what it's like to worship with nuns - and I think nuns are swell. This is mostly because in the context of the Catholic Church, by virtue of being women, communities of nuns operate outside the Church hierarchy (because they are excluded from it which is a real shame for the Church), yet in an explicitly Church related context. They are both opting in and opting out at the same time. I am probably not explaining the paradox all that clearly, but hopefully you get what I am saying. In any case, worshiping in this context can be really cool.

Below are some images from worship over the past two weeks along with brief explanations in a few cases. I hope they help folks to see what it is like to worship in this context.

A collection of objects on the altar in the Chapel, some were added over the course of some of the services whereas others remained there for the duration of the conference.

Gathering for worship in the Chapel at the UN Church Center

Women from a variety of countries and traditions shared their stories and had an opportunity to lead worship.

Out of the shadows art project in the background on the Chapel walls.

Who says Anglicans don't sit in the front pew? This pew has many of the delegates from the International Anglican Women's Network.

Dance and movement are incorporated into prayer and music during worship.

Worship is lead mainly in English, but often includes readings, prayers or stories in other languages that are then translated.

Biblical reflection done in dialogue form between two women.

Movement around the Chapel is a regular feature of worship at UNCSW

Walking and dancing around the Chapel.

An Officer from the Salvation Army leads the congregation in song.

Salvation Army Timbrel Dancing

Anglican Women lead worship.

Musical support for worship provided by local musicians