Present: Lois Beilin, Deanna Chitchayat, Zelia Cordero, Carolyn Donovan, Winifred Doherty, Madeleine Drecher, Victoria Edmonds, Catherine Ferguson, Chair; Ani Kalayjian, Adria Lee, Catherine E. Moore, Lillian Oats, Dana Raphael, Linda Stillman, Mary Ann Strain, Mary V. Tounayan, Kate Twohy, Susan Weissert, Joan Woods
Regrets: Jackie Shapiro
As this was the first meeting of the sub-committee on the priority theme for the 53 Session of the Commission on the Status of Women, Catherine reviewed the purpose of the committee:To assist in education on the aspects of the priority theme that are important to us as NGOs
To prepare talking points which may assist in visiting missions to advocate for policies and language which are important for our NGOs. The same talking points can be used in preparation for caucuses and lobbying at the CSW 53 itself
To develop written interventions for CSW 53 which can be submitted prior to the session.
Many of those present had signed up last spring to participate in a specific aspect of this preparation.Although originally the sub-grouping had been according to 5 aspects of the Beijing Platform for Action, those present at the meeting grouped themselves into four subgroups on the following themes:
Women and Poverty – Point person: Mary Ann Strain
Women and Health – Point person: Ani Kalayjian
Education and Training – Point person: Deanna Chitchayat
Women in Power and Decision-Making – Point person: Linda Stillman
In each of these groups, the Aide-memoire for the Oct 6-9 Expert Group meeting in Geneva was reviewed to assess points relevant to the theme pertinent to the group.
In addition, several of the groups looked at the titles of the expert papers to be presented at the meeting and assigned members to study these papers prior to the next meeting.
Papers can be found on the DAW website at http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/egm/equalsharing/egm_equalsharing.htm.
Next meeting: October 21, 2008
Bahá’í International Offices 12 – 1 pm
Attached below are the minutes from the subcommittee on women and poverty submitted by Lillian Oats:
Dear Friends,
The Subcommittee on the Priority Theme for CSW -”Women and Poverty” had a short organizational meeting today.
As a start to our work we decided to take the objectives of the EGM taking place now in Geneva that are set out in the Aide Memoire #28.
We agreed to study the documents listed on http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/egm/equalsharing/egm_equalsharing.htm and ask;
1. How does poverty cause the unequal sharing of responsibilities between women and men?
2. How does the unequal sharing of responsibilities between women and men cause poverty?
3. Begin to think about good practice examples and possible policy responses to address unequal sharing of responsibilities between women and men.
We will meet again on October 21 at 12:00 p.m. at the Baha’i International Office to share the ideas we have surfaced.
