Loretto at the UN Adapts to Virtual Commission Meeting in Style

The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), a functional commission of the United Nations Eco-nomic and Social Council (ECO-SOC), is composed of 45 member states that serve on a rotating basis. The CSW is dedicated exclusively to agendas on gender and the ad-vancement of women, and, in a typical year, delegates from member states would gather in person at United Nations Headquarters (UNHQ) in New York City to evaluate progress on gender equality in various fields, identify challenges, set global standards and formulate concrete policies to promote and advance women’s rights worldwide.

But this is no typical year.

Loretto has exhibited great resilience throughout its nearly 210-year story, and the current global pandemic offered yet another opportunity for creativity. Instead of welcoming BVM Sisters / Associates, Loretto Volunteers and/or students and teachers from Loretto schools to New York City for CSW, this year we hosted delegations for an entirely online Commission and a virtual NGO (non-governmental organization) Forum.

Fortunately, our previous experience on the Zoom platform made preparation for the 65th CSW much easier. We hosted a Zoom orientation for those interested in learning more about the Convocation Day, general discussion, side events, parallel events and various interactive meetings of the session. Of the 15 attendees, a dozen brave souls submitted the necessary paperwork to join the official Loretto / BVM delegation, with access to all events, and nearly a dozen others opted for the NGO Forum only on the “Pathable” platform that featured over 650 parallel events. We sponsored three parallel events, including hosting a Conversation Circle on “Feminist Approaches to Climate Justice.”

The priority theme of CSW65 was “women’s full and effective participation and decision-making in public life, as well as the elimination of violence, for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls.” In the 25 years since the fourth U.N. World Conference on Women in Beijing, opportunities for basic safety, let alone the empowerment needed for full and effective participation and decision making in public life, have been denied to many girls and women, especially in the global south. (See the CSW65 NGO Statement assembled by the Working Group on Girls, supported by the Loretto Community and others, written and submitted in October 2020.)

We will share more later this year regarding CSW65 events, and hope that you might choose to investigate something on www.webtv.un.org. As always, if you have questions or wish to hear more about Loretto at the U.N., please contact Beth Blissman, Loretto’s U.N. Rep, through the form below.