WO=MEN in New York

Following many concerns and calls for support received from activists who were not able to come to New York, WO=MEN – jointly with members and partners - took the initiative to launch a campaign to call attention to the exclusion of defenders from meaningfully participating in the CSW: ACCESS DENIED! “Without the active participation of women and the incorporation of women’s perspective at all levels of decision-making, the goals of equality, development and peace cannot be achieved.” - Beijing Platform for Action The ACCESS DENIED campaign seeks to address the stark contrast between Beijing’s call for participation of women back in 1995 already and the reality of exclusion faced by many activists who had wished to be here at this 30 year anniversary of Beijing. Particularly activists from the global South , black and brown women, women with disabilities, youth, trans and gender non-binary people, sex workers and undocumented migrants face exclusion. Denied access due to visa obstacle...

Op woensdag 12 maart 2025 nam ik in de middag deel aan het online CSW69 (VN-Vrouwentop) event: Social and Economic Development for Older Women - Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. Deze sessie was onderdeel van het CSW NGO Forum en werd georganiseerd door het NGO Committee on Aging.   Ik was vooral onder de indruk van Janvi Patel van HelpAge International. Zij presenteerde gegevens zoals dat 54% van de vrouwen nu 60+ zijn. Zij sloot ook af met: we hebben 'equal rights'  nodig. Daar kan ik het als individueel lid van de International Aliance of Women (IAW), die als slogan heeft 'equal rights means equal responsibilities', van harte mee eens zijn. Als historica was ik ook onder de indruk van Judy Lear, lid van de International Council of Jewish Women (ICJW), die haar verhaal begon met hoe het in 1961 was. Zij pleitte voor meer samenwerking en het daadwerkelijk implementeren wat al afgesproken is. Tot slot wil ik in dit blog, net als Bridget Penhale in de chat van de sessie, o...

Film poster On Monday the 10th of March I joined the premiere of the documentary ‘American Delivery - Solving the Maternal Mortality Crisis in the US Healthcare’ by filmmaker Carolyn Jones. She tells stories of nurses and (nurse)midwives in the United States (US) who provide alternatives and more personalized care for women during their pregnancy and in the post-natal period.   I was sitting next to a woman who worked as a nurse and researcher, who was personally invited to attend this premiere at the Church Center for the United Nations during the CSW. She travelled for a few hours to New York only to attend this premiere, she did not have a UN pass and did not attend other sessions. She knew many other women in the audience, who also worked in the field of nursing. They looked happy and proud to be there as they are aware of the valuable work of nurses in maternity care in the US. Complex Maternity Care System in the US Nurses and (nurse)midwives are working on changing their rol...

The oppression we see now in Milei's Argentina is an attack on human rights. Forty years ago, there was a military dictatorship and some of the people attending this evening session during the 69th CSW in New York have seen the results of that oppression. It is unbelievable that some of the rights they fought for are now possibly being reversed. ‘We need to remember the past in order to move forward’.   On the evening of March 12, 2025, Mabel Bianco, a well-known feminist activist from Argentina who was selected by BBC as one of 100 ‘inspiring and influential women from around the world’ in 2019, leads a session about feminist responses to Milei’s Argentina. The right-wing politician Javier Milei was elected as president of Argentina in 2023, opposing mandatory sex education in schools and abortion (legalized in Argentina since January 2021). Moreover, he intends to rely more on private investments and even promised to eliminate ministries of education, health and public works. Bec...

Photo: panel presenters of Digital fascism, Digital capitalism, Far right funding On the 11th floor of the UN Church Center where the CSW69 NGO Forum sessions are organized, a lot of people gathered in the small room while the sun was coming in. It was packed. I was clearly not the only one who was curious to hear more about the big tech companies who fund hatred and provides a stage for fascism. Mona Eltawahy, journalist and advisory board member of The Institute for Journalism and Social Change, opened the session by stating what is happening in the world right now is not new. But how we are fighting back is. Money plays a big role in how well organized the anti-rights movement is. Digital trade impacts workers and workers' rights, and there is a power imbalance in the world that we really need to understand. Big tech taking over The influence of the big tech companies is felt all over the world. When there is no strong (digital) infrastructure, which is the case in many countr...

  All panel members together for the 'Stepping Up, Standing By and Speaking Out for Women's Rights Movements' CSW69 Side Event. Yesterday at the 69th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, Mama Cash co-hosted the  ‘Stepping Up, Standing By and Speaking Out for Women’s Rights Movements’ event, alongside Equality Fund, Alliance for Feminist Movements, Gender Funders CoLab, and  the governments of the United Kingdom, France, Mexico, and Canada. Jess Tomlin of the Equality Fund , co-moderator with Mama Cash's co-Executive Director Happy Mwende Kinyili,  introduced the panel, "We are here celebrating 30 years of incredible action and what I hope we come away with today is a reminder of the multiplicity of actors and actions that were mobilized 30 years ago across so many spheres."  Mama Cash co-Executive Director Saranel Benjamin opened the discussion with a presentation of the impact study Mama Cash commissioned for our 40th anniversary. Some key takea...