Is there someone out there who hasn't watched Emma Watson launch the HeForShe campaign? This is a very exciting time to be involved with UN Women and to watch UN Women take its rightful place as the global voice for women.

The overwhelmingly positive response to HeForShe comes at a critical time, as UN Women is also preparing for the post-2015 development agenda and the review of the Beijing Platform for Action, the landmark framework for achieving gender equality. Despite significant gains, the goal of gender equality remains unfulfilled in all countries. UN Women's Beijing+20 campaign serves as both a celebration of accomplishments and a call to action to fulfill the promise.  It also goes hand-in-hand with UN Women's goal for the post-2015 agenda: to refocus the world's attention to what remains to be accomplished and to identify strategies for achieving the Beijing Platform's ambitions.

Let's capture the enthusiasm of both women AND men that Emma brought to the global stage this fall and use it to place women and girls squarely in front of all policy agendas. Scrolling through this newsletter will give only a taste of what both UN Women and USNC-UN Women are doing to advance women's empowerment, from training women activists in negotiation and mediation in Kyrgyzstan to working with a coalition to pass CEDAW in cities throughout the US. The incredible response to Ms. Watson's call to action is a testament to what is possible. We recently heard another woman leader, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, remind us that "dreams can come true," on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the commemoration of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Gender equality IS possible - I invite all of you to join us as we work within the US to create a world where women and girls live free from violence, poverty, and inequality.

We were excited to learn this past July that British actor Emma Watson had been appointed UN Women Goodwill Ambassador and will serve as an advocate for UN Women's He For She campaign in promoting gender equality.

Ms. Watson brings a fresh face and legions of young fans with her to this campaign. The goal is to enlist one billion men and boys from around the world to join in the call for gender equality and the end to violence against women.

In September, Ms. Watson gave an inspiring speech to the United Nations that both launched the global gender equality campaign and underlined the world's need for feminism.

Her speech was proclaimed by Vanity Fair as a "game-changer," focusing on the misguided assumptions about what feminism actually is. She began by saying "The more I have spoken out about feminism, the more I have realized that fighting for women's rights has too often become synonymous with man-hating."  Click here to watch the entire speech

The 16 Days Campaign begins on November 25th (International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women) and ends on December 10th (Human Rights Day). It's the time of the year that women's groups from around the world join forces to speak out about the need to end violence against women and girls.

This year's theme is "From peace in the home to peace in the world." Therefore, in addition to encouraging supporters to "Orange their Neighborhood" (with local streets, shops and businesses draped in orange to spotlight the campaign), we want to go a step further and focus on advocacy efforts for two key pieces of legislation: The International Violence Against Women Act (IVAWA) and H.R. 2874 (Women, Peace and Security Act). The passage of these two bills would make a significant difference in women's lives globally.

The social media team has already received information about this year's campaign and local chapter presidents will be contacted soon by Annie Toro and the advocacy team explaining how each chapter can help raise awareness.

CEDAW, the international women's rights treaty, was adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly and signed by President Jimmy Carter in 1980. Unfortunately, the U.S. Senate has never ratified it.

In 1998, San Francisco passed a binding ordinance integrating CEDAW into city and county governance and establishing the Department on the Status of Women. As a direct result of that action, there have been measurable improvements in the city with regard to public safety, budgetary allocations and employment.


Frustrated with the U.S. Senate, advocates for CEDAW have created a new campaign targeting cities. The goal is to build enough local, grassroots enthusiasm to get 100 mayors from across the country to sign on to CEDAW by June 2015, which then will embolden the U.S. Senate to ratify it in January 2017.

To learn more about this new campaign, click here.

Our Miami chapter came up with an enterprising fundraising idea that turned out to be terrific. They reached out to their local Sephora store, asking them to host a special event to benefit USNC-UN Women Miami. The store said yes! The chapter not only raised critical funding, but was also able to bring local awareness to the programs of UN Women. What a win-win!



The event featured a lovely brunch, pampering from the wonderful Sephora women, and lots of networking!  What a great way to educate women right in the mall as they're shopping.

We're hoping other chapters will approach their local Sephora stores to see if they can do the same thing. It could be a terrific fundraiser as the holidays arrive and shoppers are out in force. To learn more about how to get started, click here to contact Susan in our main office.

Advocating for Women and Girls Globally and Locally was the theme of this year's USNC-UN Women Annual Conference, which took place June 21st and 22nd in Arlington, VA. The conference provided the perfect opportunity for members from around the country to meet one another and a chance to network with other organizations working in the area of women's equality.



The conference opened Friday evening with a rousing speech by Neil Irvin, Executive Director of Men Can Stop Rape, on the importance of men's involvement in advocacy for women. On Saturday, Lopa Banerjee, Chief, Civil Society Section of UN Women, talked about the unfinished business of achieving the global gender equality agenda. We were honored to have Eleanor Smeal, President of the Feminist Majority Foundation, deliver Saturday afternoon's keynote. Saturday also included two powerful panels on the best practices for advocating on a national and local level.

In addition, we heard from Kamala Sankaram, singer and the co-author of Thumbprint, an opera about Mukhtaran Bibi, now known as Mukhtar Mai (a Pakistani woman who was abused by the system, fought back, and was victorious).

Next year's conference will take place in Long Beach, California so make plans now to join us!

UN Women understands that the lives of women and girls are directly affected by decisions made around the areas of conflict prevention and peace negotiations. That's why they advocate so strongly for women to be included in those decisions. The fact is, women bring a unique and important voice to the table - a voice that for too long has been ignored.

Women in peacekeeping roles is essential. Female peacekeepers act as role models in the local communities, inspiring women and girls in often male-dominated societies to push for their own rights and for participation in peace processes.


In addition to ensuring there are more female peacekeepers, UN Women has also been on the ground making sure women's voices are at the table, offering a more comprehensive understanding of the causes of and alternative solutions to conflict.

Their work is paying off. Equipped by UN Women with peace-brokering skills and knowledge of international rights guarantees, Muslim women's groups in the Philippines were able to discuss including provisions for women in draft peace agreements aimed at resolving one of the world's most protracted conflicts, spanning nearly four decades.

In Kyrgyzstan, UN Women has applied support from the UN Peacebuilding Fund to assist Women Peace Committees, which are networks of activists who use diplomacy, dialogue and mediation to engage women in peacebuilding and reconstruction in the country's southern region.

As a result of mediation trainings sponsored by UN Women in West Africa, participants from Senegal created the Women's Election Situation Room for the 2012 presidential elections, providing early warnings of election-related violence, and supporting women's protection in campaigning and voting.

In the 2012 crisis in Mali, women leaders trained by UN Women engaged in the Ouagadougou dialogue on political stabilization, and succeeded in ensuring that gender-based violence was mentioned in the resulting declaration.

Most recently, UN Women joined UN Special Envoy Angelina Jolie and the UK Government at the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict Areas this past summer to bring a global spotlight to the issue and engage world leaders on this important issue.

To learn more about what UN Women is doing to support women's participation in conflict prevention and resolution, click here.

Is it time to Join or Renew your USNC-UN Women membership? Click here to join/renew.  Consider paying your dues through monthly installments... it's easy and efficient!

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