|
Franciscans in Action
May 2008 e-newsletter
Franciscans Promote Empowerment of Women in the United Nations
A session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women
Franciscans embrace equality; however, as we all know, for some members of the human race equality is still a work in progress. Women, in particular, have suffered greatly throughout the centuries. They were subjugated and lacked empowerment. Although, the fate of many women in the world today has improved substantially, they still lag behind men in terms of political representation and rights.
Each year the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) meets in New York and strategizes how best to empower women. This year, Franciscans International held a preparatory meeting for Franciscan women attending the CSW session. The session took place earlier this year.
The Franciscan International preparatory session
The purpose of the FI preparatory session was first to go over the agenda for the CSW session and second to learn about the United Nations. The United Nations is a complicated bureaucracy and the Franciscan participants at the CSW session wanted to make sure that their voices were heard. The CSW session itself lasted two weeks. Its theme was "Financing for gender equality and the empowerment of women".
Over the 14 days, initiatives were discussed on how best to make the session theme a reality. In an encouraging sgn the CSW session also reviewed themes from previous years. It is after all one thing to make plans, but another to actually follow up on them. St. Francis and St. Clare were people who got things done. The CSW does its best to follow their example.
We encourage you our readers to send in stories where you see the spirit of St. Francis at work in the world. Email your stories to Peter Rajchert at peter@franciscans.org.
|
