New Bee at the UN
Sunday, March 1st 2009 @ 10:20 PM (not yet rated)
Buzzen at the UN Commission on the Status of Women, Part 1
Vicki and I arrived at the UN yesterday for preregistration (having been warned of major lines on Monday morning). There were only a handful of women registering when we get there Sat afternoon and we went through security ( just like at the airport) and entered the UN. As we stood in line to get our photo taken and our badges I looked up and was a little teary at the impact of being here at the UN with what will probably be around 2000 + women on Monday from all around the world. There are already women in line with passports from Nigeria, young college age women, grey panthers, and it’s like a collage of diversity.
This morning was our NGO ( non government organization) Consultation Day. We are here with an NGO supporting Jean Shinoda Bolen in her calling to have a 5th women’s world conference with UN blessing and find a host country. This is a preliminary meeting before the actual event starts. There is tremendous energy in the room and it is standing room only. They announce that in the balcony there are 75 girls who are attending this meetings. They will be our future as they learn about the process we undertake this week and the issues facing women around the world.
I am sitting next to Afton Buetler, the Vice President of International Affairs, for the Worldwide Organization for Women. She has flown here from Geneva Switzerland and tells us that her organization has sponsored some women from Nigeria to attend the meetings starting tomorrow. She says before the women were able to get on their flight in Lagos, one of the women was kidnapped from her office by militants. My friend Vicki asked if she thought they would find the woman, and Afton replied, “possibly not”, as other women have been taken before and disappeared. The other Nigerian women are coming anyway. I asked if I could meet some of them.
There are so many organizations here it is hard to keep track. Women are up to big things in this room, and it makes me feel a little uncomfortable to be manifesting things for myself when there is so much need. Themes under discussion are HIV/Aids and the equal sharing of caregiving, stereotypes of women and men (men are supposed to be the workers, women are supposed to be the care givers), how men can advocate for stopping violence against women and the spread of HIV/Aids, the emerging theme of women and the Global Financial Crisis, and much more…
At break, Jean Bolen gives us 5WCW buttons to hand out and flyers. Soon the room is full of women where these blue buttons advocating for the 5th World Conference for Women. I see young men and women in uniform with “Young Marines” printed on them, I see a female Buddhist monk with her shaved head, I am behind two women from the Salvation Army, and next to a young Muslim woman who is with the Al-Khoei Foundation, the first young Muslim group giving a voice to women.
There’s much more to tell, but it’s 10:15 and we have an event filled day tomorrow.
Donna Fleetwood
www.buzzen.us
