We are thrilled that four local Girl Scouts will be representing our organization at the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). Girl Scouts of Southeastern New England (GSSNE) was one of only 3 Girl Scout
councils—out of 112 total councils across the U.S.—selected to send girl representatives to this event. GSSNE recently added Global to our core program content areas of Outdoors, Life Skills, STEM, and Entrepreneurship, and participating in CSW will strongly complement the globally-focused offerings we provide. The four girl representatives were selected from a pool of twelve passionate high school-aged Girl Scouts, and they hail from Cumberland, South Kingstown, Woonsocket, and Wakefield. Without prompting, in the application process, girls named the following topics as passion points: maternal health; access to education; pay equity; LGBTQ+ justice; child marriage; and institutionalized sexism, racism; and discrimination.
CSW is held annually in New York City and is hosted by UN Women. CSW is the principal global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women. CSW is instrumental in promoting women’s rights, documenting the reality of women’s lives throughout the world, and shaping global standards on gender equality and the empowerment of women. This year’s primary theme for the two-week session is women’s economic empowerment, and the secondary theme is challenges and achievements in the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals for women and girls.
Girls will have conversations with dignitaries, heads of state, community organizers, policy-makers, and change agents on emerging issues and trends (related to the themes) affecting women and girls throughout the world, in addition to making future recommendations for parity.
Being part of such a high-level session will enable our local Girl Scouts to return to Rhode Island as informed global citizens and youth experts. GSSNE wishes to position our girl members as true agents of change who are equipped to collaborate with stakeholders and partners on issues such as female empowerment and leadership. Our programming models this, too, in that we are striving toward effective coalition building. GSSNE attendees will benefit from having the opportunity to witness and network with the prominent organizations, bodies, and individuals in attendance at CSW.
Commission on the
Status of Women