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• power • solidarity • impossible • identity • defeat • denied access to solidarity • I’m a movement person • toxic air • they have my back • do something • wrestle • something stronger • juggle • it affirms • grounding • reconnecting • inspiring • core • lines between • positive masculinities • even the converted can be deceptive • a way for us • we need each other • gender equality • always a weird experience to me • competition • I have to continue • tense • both at the same time • the most injustices, the most suffering • enriching • I didn’t speak out • find my voice • use my voice • I really thank you • overwhelming • I needed what we have together • gross violation • I thank Ecumenical Women for including me • this cold in New York • richer • broader • poisoned • animating • break the silence • frustration • what we need to get rid of • disseminate information • positive energy • young and old working together • it takes both • as a young person • stories of the people • two worlds • I can’t talk about how this is impacting me • privileged • positive power institutions have • language has huge power • we become far stronger • clearer path • hard work • it’s so beautiful to listen to • richness • for remembering me • for the very first time • I never understood why • to be a part • I collapsed in a heap • the one thing I know •
During advocacy briefings this week, a part of the conversation focused on the situations in Libya and Côte d’Ivoire. Two Advocacy Tool resources grow out of those conversations. Click here to download the Libya Advocacy Tool, and click here to download the Côte d’Ivoire Advocacy Tool.
They are intended as advocacy resources for individuals and organizations to use as appropriate – they include suggestions for their use – but they are only suggestions – feel free to adapt the material and use it in whatever way works for you or your organization.
These are peoples’ advocacy resources in that they are provided for the use of the people – whoever wants to engage in advocacy – however they are helpful – recognizing that no two individuals or organizations may use them in the same way.
They are also peoples’ advocacy resources in that they were created out of a collaborative process. Thanks to all who helped work on these resources – and to all who engaged in the conversations around this project. Those conversations helped shape these tools.
It might be helpful to the group as a whole if any of us who use these resources were to share that information with the group. That way we can learn from each other. Please let us all know what actions you have taken by writing a comment to this post.
Good news! Registration for the Ecumenical Women Orientation on February 27, 2010 and the Ecumenical Women dinners on March 2nd and 4th is now open.
You can now access the registration information and purchase tickets for the events at: http://ecumenicalwomen.eventbrite.com/
Please contact ecumenicalorientation@gmail.com with any questions regarding the events or registration.
Event details:
Orientation – Saturday, February 27, 2010, 8:00am-5:30pm
Delegates will receive an introduction to the structures and processes in the United Nations, and an overview of this year’s theme of the CSW: the 15-year review of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995). Includes 2 meals and Ecumenical Women Advocacy Guide. Party to follow the training!
Advocacy Dinner – Tuesday, March 2, 2010, 6:00 pm
Gather to reflect on our experiences thus far and consolidate our advocacy strategies for the days ahead. Dinner will be provided. The dinner will be held at the Church Center for the United Nations, 8th floor.
Advocacy Dinner – Thursday, March 4, 2010, 6:00 pm
Gather to reflect on our experiences thus far and consolidate our advocacy strategies for the days ahead. Dinner will be provided. The dinner will be held at the Church Center for the United Nations, 8th floor.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Women’s Ministries at the National Council of Churches is again offering its Young Women’s Leadership Experience at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. This project, conducted annually, provides an opportunity for women 18 to 30 years of age to be involved in the ecumenical movement through women’s issues at the United Nations. We are currently seeking applications for the Young Women’s Leadership Experience to be held February 26 to March 3 in conjunction with the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) at the United Nations.
This 5 day experience will provide orientation to the NCC, Ecumenical Women at the UN, the UN, and the 2010 CSW theme: Beijing +15, Review of the Beijing Platform for Action (see attached Fact Sheet for more). As visitors to the UN-CSW, participants will get a small taste of the UN events as well as participate in exciting side-events at the Church Center for the United Nations (CCUN) and connect with Religions for Peace North American Women of Faith Network.
The application dead line *has been extended to* November 30, 2009, so please take a moment now to decide who you should encourage to apply and send them the information TODAY. Electronic versions of this material are available from Ann Tiemeyer, Women’s Ministries Program Director, at atiemeyer@ncccusa.org. Applicants will be responsible for their travel cost, $100 registration, and four meals. The NCC will cover cost of housing, additional meals, and administrative cost. Although limited additional scholarship is available through the NCC, we hope mentors and/or their member communion would also consider financially supporting a young woman in this leadership experience. Encouragement of new leaders comes in many forms – verbal invitations, financial support, prayers, and mentorship. Please reach out today to a new leader with this exciting opportunity.
Click here for an application, facts sheet, and tentative schedule for the UN-CSW Young Women’s Leadership Experience. Please note the application lists other potential experiences. If someone you know cannot participate in this event, but would like to be considered for future Young Women Leadership Experiences, please encourage them to complete the application and check the appropriate space. We will add their name to our data base and contact them directly with future information. Thank you for your assistance in identifying appropriate applicants. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call Ann at 212-870-3407 (office).
For many women who weren’t able to attend (or who weren’t old enough to know what was going on oat the time) the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China in 1995 exists only in the realm of the imagination. For me (age 12 at the time) the words “Beijing conference” conjure up the list of areas of the Beijing platform and visions of huge crowds of global women. That was until I saw “The World Through Women’s Eyes.”
In the time leading up to the Beijing conference, a group called The U.S. Ecumenical Women’s Network: Beijing and Beyond, was focusing on the importance of calling media attention to Beijing and spreading the stories that would be shared there. This group of women decided that one of the most effective things they could do was create a video (yes, it was VHS then) documenting the conference. Through the magic of modern technology, we were able to transfer this VHS tape to DVD, and then upload it to YouTube.
It is with great thanks to the women who had the foresight to make this video possible that we encourage you to watch, send it to your friends and networks, and inspire a new generation with the stories of your own involvement in the global women’s movement.
by Meagan Manas, cross-posted from NCCC Women’s Ministries
“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”
“Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?”
“I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” Matthew 25:35-40
In this spirit, a group of women gathered in 1879 to found the Women’s Home and Foreign Mission Society in the American Lutheran Church. Through collections gathered in “mite boxes,” this organization has collected more than a million dollars to fund various projects around the world. Some of the first projects included financing women missionaries, including two female missionary doctors, Dr. Anna Sarah Kugler, and Dr. Betty Nilsson, and building schools, both coeducational and for girls only, like this one in China.
A Woman manages her product at a market in Accra, Ghana
According to the Women’s Funding Network (WFN), “It is estimated that women hold more than 51% of the personal wealth in the United States, and they are set to inherit trillions of dollars more as the World War II generation begins to transfer its wealth. Women are expected to control 60% of the wealth in the United States by 2010.” The mission of WFN is to connect these women with opportunities to fund other women around the globe, women who are in poverty and truly the least of “the least of these.”
The movement, led by women inside and outside of the ecumenical community, to consider specifically women and children in the world’s poor when writing policy or contributing money is now seeking a new target: gender budgeting in all levels of our communities, governments, and world.
What is Gender Budgeting?
Cross posted from National Council of Churches USA, Women’s Ministries website
by Meagan Manas
March 2-13 marks the 53rd Commission on the Status of Women at the United Nations. Each year, the Commission meets to “evaluate progress on gender equality, identify challenges, set global standards and formulate concrete policies to promote gender equality and advancement of women worldwide.”
Throughout the two weeks, work is done to complete and modify a document known as “agreed conclusions.” The agreed conclusions formulated by the representatives of 45 member states at the end of these two weeks will be submitted to the Economic and Social Council for adoption, setting a precedent for governmental and non-governmental action and policy on a certain issue. This year, the theme of the CSW is the equal sharing of responsibilities between women and men, including caregiving in the context of HIV/AIDS, and this year’s agreed conclusions can be found here.
But what does all of this international bureaucracy and UN jargon have to do with the National Council of Churches, the ecumenical community, and the Justice for Women Working Group? Lots. Participating as an NGO, Women from the NCC work together as part of a coalition of sixteen organizations called Ecumenical Women , striving to get our recommendations for the agreed conclusions to the representatives who will be debating them. Watching all the women who participate as part of NGO’s in the CSW, nearly 2000 in all, is inspiring, and watching the over 200 delegates who also count themselves as Ecumenical Women is a true witness to the Spirit moving in all contexts and corners of the world. Read the rest of this entry »
This post has been cross posted from the National Council of Churches.
This March, the Justice for Women Working Group of the National Council of Churches is celebrating Women’s History Month with weekly articles touching on a diversity of Women’s experiences in Churches and in the world.
Our topics will range from women of faith and their involvement in the United Nations, to the connections between the suffrage and abolition movements and what they can teach us about ending human trafficking today, to examining the connections between faith and feminism and the value of women meeting together through a focus group report on Helen LaKelly Hunt’s Faith and Feminism, A Holy Alliance.
But for now, during this first week of Women’s History Month, the week preceeding International Women’s Day (March 8), and the week beginning the United Nations’ Commission on the Status of Women, we thought we would check out what our Member Communions are doing to celebrate. Here’s what we found—for your convenience we’ve organized the links into three categories: History, Resources, and Advocacy.
First of all, some history:
∙ For general background, we found this article from womensenews.org helpful.
∙ Are you a women’s history buff? Try this quiz from the National Women’s History Project
∙ The Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends gives some interesting background on two prominent women of faith, Lucretia Mott and Sojourner Truth.
∙ Histories of women in the Reformed Church of America, and in the United Methodist Church. Make sure to scroll all the way down!
Read the rest of this entry »
