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United Nations Briefing
Investing in Women and Girls
On March 6th, 2008, Levermore Global Scholar Alysha Rashid and Amnesty International President, Tricia Hardgrove, and Treasurer, Josselyn Portillo, attended the UN Briefing titled "Investing in Women and Girls" on behalf of the 99th International Women's Day. The room was filled with women in high leadership positions from around the world. There were also men, who were called on to actively participate in events like this to support the women of today.
Secretary General Ban Ki Moon opened the discussion by explaining the importance of giving women equal rights within our society; furthermore saying that investing in women will help to solve many of the tragedies we have in our world today. He explained how he would start his part with the UN, encouraging all member states to make commitments towards the movement. Some strategies that he shared are to finance infrastructure responsive to women’s needs in developing countries and to promote job opportunities for women. Within the UN itself, Mr. Ban said he would double the staff in the Gender Issues Committee and increase resources for the advancement of women. If these strategies pull through, they can hopefully become a model for the world.
The panelists were the ones that really shared their knowledge and encouraged women of all ages to strive for the best, no matter what society throws at them. Sabine de Bethune, Senator of the Belgian Parliament, announced Belgium's new policy that regards gender budgeting within the entire country. She spoke about the necessity to find the specifics of many programs seeking to help women, which are unfortunately too little explored. Then there was Muriel Siebert from the United States. Siebert is not only the founder, chairwoman, and CEO of her own company (Muriel Siebert & Co.), but she was also the first woman on Wall Street, the one person that made the NY stock exchange co-ed.
The following panelists, Zara Khatib (Technology Manager of Shell Exploration and Production International) and Inez Murray (VP for Technical Assistance and Programmes of the Women's World Bank, WWB) continued to talk about their hopes for the future of women. Ms. Khatib mentioned how the growing diversity within Shell Exploration brings out many more accomplishments. Ms. Murray reported that because of the women's desire to send at least 1 of their daughters to study in a university and the expensive school fees that prevent them from doing so, there are 6 bills circulating in Congress to create saving accounts for children.
There wasn't much time for question and answer after the panel, but the words spoken by these four exceptional women were more than enough. After the briefing, many women within the audience greeted and took pictures with the four panelists, thanking them for being such an inspiration to all. Ms Siebert stated, "Becoming a leader means overcoming the obstacles we face and having responsibility to help other women." It is doing just that which will help all women to achieve equal recognition around the world.
- Written by Alysha Rashid
- Edited by Yana Kusayeva
Contact
Click here (PDF 148KB) to download the flier about the Levermore Global Scholars Program. For more information, please contact:
Levermore Global Scholars Program
p - 516.877.4190
p - 516.877.4183
f - 516.877.4191
e - levermorescholars@adelphi.edu
This page last modified on June 4, 2008.
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