My email – secretary@nfbpwc.org is always open!

March is always exciting in NYC because of the Commission on the Status of Women – an event hosted at the United Nations, in its 69th year. This year, with our new Vice President for the UN, Neelima Basnet, our IF BPW sisters arrived in large numbers, well prepared and ready for action. There were countless side events, organized by organizations in collaboration with country hosts, usually in the UN Headquarters but often in venues across the city. Parallel events – there were more than 750 of these (with about half on zoom) – were in a few off-site locations, open to anyone who was interested.

The NGO CSW sign-in page is open to all interested people, and sign-up for a WHOVA account enables registrants to see all the events, and sign up for those of interest, or those on zoom. Sign-ups are more important to give hosts an idea of attendees and were less used as a form of attendance control.

It was wonderful to be surrounded by so many remarkable women collaborating or laboring individually on improving lives of women around the world. Violence against Women, equal access, rights and pay for women, investing in women entrepreneurs, empowering women and girls, highlighting human trafficking and the big business it represents were some of the continuing subjects I followed; however – All as a way to close the gender gap (or widen it), climate change education, including boys and supportive men in the dialogues, giving a voice to young women and girls, recovering from the deleterious impact of COVID on female rights were some of the newly emphasized subjects.

After a long day of meetings, it was a joy to meet up with IFBPW members from across the globe, and get to know them better, see what they were engaged with, and how IFBPW is seen as a force for good, with extensive projects directly assisting women in various types of need.

A consensus was that especially young women yearned for better financial literacy, that many women did not even know the questions they needed to ask to be able to succeed, and that mentoring made a world of difference to all women.

It is impossible to know how many women from abroad will be able to get visas for CSW70. If it is as well attended as CSW69, there may be a need to consider new venues – rooms were over-filled, and there were nearly no accommodations made for people who were blind, had hearing issues, mobility issues or required other forms of assistance. There are a significant number of women in their 80’s and 90’s who are vigorously present, but cannot stand for an entire session, and who did, as there was no seating. A blind colleague could only get personal assistance by asking for and paying for it outside the UN. I saw no one providing signing for the deaf. I fear that we inadvertently exclude too many people but hope that through online and hybrid events we will increasingly be able to find ways to be inclusive.

It was a privilege to be there.

I personally feel more engaged with IF BPW, as well as NFBPWC, and it was encouraging to speak to so many women interested in joining our organization. We have excellent new trifolds, in English, French, Spanish and Italian that we were able to distribute – in meetings, in corridors, on the street. There are many people who seem to be looking for membership in an organization that provides support and sisterhood.

Nermin K. Ahmad
NFBPWC Secretary
2024-2026