Giving a speech at the UN – a different way to celebrate turning 30
As UK Volunteers’ Week celebrates its 30th anniversary from 1 to 7, June, VSO Volunteer Community Health Nurse, Cath Nixon, writes about her 30th birthday in March, which she spent flying back to Nepal after speaking at the UN’s Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in New York.
Speaking at the UN’s Commission on the Status of Women was an incredible experience. Alongside a team of VSO employees and its partner organisations, I attended the event to press on giving women more power in the decisions to fight poverty – a week before turning 30!
Two thirds of people living in extreme poverty are women, yet they have the least say in what is done to tackle this. Not only is this unjust, but it is a major barrier to tackling extreme poverty. In response to this, we went to the Commission on the Status of Women to raise awareness of the issue and to gather support for VSO’s Women in Power campaign, which asks for increased involvement of women in decision making at all levels.
The Commission on the Status of Women is an annual event where UN member states come together to discuss the status of women and girls, women’s rights and women’s empowerment across the world. Following this event, an agreed document is produced that provides guidance to the international community on how to carry out development in the field for the year to come. This year the priority was to review the challenges and achievements in the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for women and girls – a set of eight international development goals the global community have worked towards since 2000 and which are due to expire in 2015. As such, the chance to speak at the Commission on the Status of Women the year before the new goals are put into practice offered a fantastic opportunity to have considerable influence on the next set of development goals. For this, I spoke about my experience of volunteering, and working with grassroots women’s organisations in Nepal at a UN Volunteers’ event held jointly with the Government of Malawi.
I talked about how volunteering has changed me but also how it has drawn my attention to the status of women globally. It has also made me reflect on home and how things are in my own culture, some of the cultural norms in the UK that are also subtle and maybe easier to identify once removed from that culture. For example, how women tend to underestimate their own ability whereas men overestimate their ability. How in a room with 80% men and 20% women; there is the assumption by men in the room that it is 50:50. I think my society has become complacent in accepting the gender gap or not even noticing that it is there.
I also enjoyed meeting many different people from different countries united in the fight for women’s rights globally. It is a reminder of the fact that no country has reached gender equality and therefore the need to step up progress in 2015. It has been refreshing to see ‘social norms’ being discussed so widely instead of just laws. In fact, Secretary of State, Justine Greening tweeted about needing to ‘tackle harmful social norms which stop girls from reaching their full potential’.
Change is possible, and I hope that our contribution at CSW will encourage the UN to set ambitious new targets for the post-2015 agenda so that women can have an active role in tackling poverty and are granted a voice in the decisions that affect their lives. Equally, I hope that when the next generation of girls are 30 years old, women across the world will be enjoying the same right to participate in public and political life as men do.
Doing something like this, which I hope will bring about change for women of the future, at such a significant moment in my life was pretty special. Most of my friends had been talking about celebrating turning 30 with parties and presents but being able to enjoy mine having just given a speech at the UN was a pretty good way to celebrate! [It wasn’t all work though, my partner Gareth did spoil me too– he met me at the airport on my way home, covered in balloons, after searching high and low in Kathmandu to find my culinary favourite, bangers and mash – no easy task I can assure you! I certainly have a great story to tell when people now ask me how I celebrated my 30th!
In March 2015 Cath was announced as community practitioner of the year. Congratulations Cath.
