The 58th meeting of the United Nations (UN) Commission on the Status of women (CSW) was influenced by Hilary Ratcliffe who led a large contingent of Soroptimists. Hilary is a member of Soroptimist International St Albans and District and holds one of the most senior positions in the organisation as the International Programme Director for Soroptimist International (SI is the Soroptimist umbrella organisation with more than 80,000 members). Hilary and the team were negotiating on behalf of Soroptimists from all over the world (Soroptimists have UN Consultative status). The UN Millennium Development Goals expire in 2015 and it is essential that the post-2015 global development agenda puts the empowerment of women and girls at its centre. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Head of UN Women said “Member States have stressed that while the Millennium Development Goals have advanced progress in many areas, they remain unfinished business as long as gender inequality persists”. Hilary said “We are delighted that the CSW agreed conclusions include so many of the key issues that Soroptimist International had highlighted, however, the work is not yet over. This is a compromise agreement with some key areas of weakness, and even where strong wording has been agreed we will need to hold governments to account to ensure that words become reality.”
Hilary is pictured above delivering a presentation at the Soroptimist, WAGGGs and World YWCA parallel event on women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths) careers – UN CSW58.
For more detail please read the SI Global Voice Newsletter
Hilary also wrote a blog describing one her busy days at the UN: www.soroptimistinternational.org/blog/post/631-a-day-in-the-life-of-the-international-programme-director-at-csw
Soroptimist International St Albans and District is immensely proud to have Hilary as a member.