For photos from this event, go to our Flickr page.
International leaders and civil society activists will soon convene again at the UN Headquarters in New York for the 61st Commission on the Status of Women (CSW61), which will take place from March 13 to 24, 2017. This year, the Commission will address the issue of women’s economic empowerment in the changing world of work, a subject of uttermost importance to tackle persistent gender inequalities. Today, most of the world’s poor are working, and the majority of those are women. This clearly shows how employment, while essential for development, is not enough to guarantee the economic rights of millions of women.
The legal barriers posed by the formal and informal economies, the lack of a gendered perspective in policy and planning processes, and the persistent disparities in the labor market pose difficult challenges to women’s advancement in the economic sphere. Trying to cope with the failures of neoliberalism to secure substantive equality, an international commitment becomes imperative.
For the fourth straight year, RLS–NYC will be at the CSW to offer support and visibility for alternative voices. We are co-organizing a Parallel Event along with Global Policy Forum, Public Services International (PSI), DAWN, and the Center for Women’s Global Leadership.
This panel will bring together researchers and activists to assess the current situation of women in the working world. The speakers will explore the importance of a global response for achieving women’s economic empowerment, from a perspective that takes the framework of human rights as a pathway to fulfill social justice. They will do so by assessing the contributions and shortcomings of this approach, outlining the situation of women workers in the global economy, and highlighting the challenges and opportunities of advocacy efforts for women’s economic rights within the international realm.
Public Panel:
Advancing Women’s Economic Empowerment through Human Rights
In cooperation with Global Policy Forum (GPF), Public Services International (PSI), Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN), and Rutgers’ Center for Women’s Global Leadership.
Speakers:
Radhika Balakrishnan, Faculty Director, Center for Women’s Global Leadership
Gita Sen, General Coordinator, DAWN
Barbara Adams, Board Chair, GPF
Gloria Mills, Equalities National Secretary, Unison UK – PSI
Jennifer Fish, Chair of Women’s Studies, Old Dominion University
Facilitator: Stefanie Ehmsen, Co-director, Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung—New York Office
Friday March 17, 2017, 8:30 – 10:00 AM
Church Center for the UN
777 First Avenue, 10th Floor
New York, NY, 10017
Free and open to the public. Registration here.
Download the flyer here.
Our latest publication, written by Barbara Adams and Karen Judd, analyzes the CSW 61: Closing the Gender Gap: Advancing Equality through International Institutions
