SSND Delegation at UNCSW: Taking it Home

From left: Sister Eileen Reilly, SSND UN-NGO representative; Sister Kathy Jager, teacher at Institute of Notre Dame (IND); Micayla Wilson, IND student; Caitlyn Lowry, student at Notre Dame High School (NDHS); Corey Fletcher, IND student; Mariajose Ortiz, NDHS student; Linda Pham, NDHS student; Sandy Montgomery, NDHS staff; Allison Moser, NDHS student; and Anthony Smith, NDHS teacher.

Motivated to do more

The high school students and teachers with the delegation from the School Sisters of Notre Dame have finished their week at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women inspired and motivated to take the messages and calls to action they heard home to their schools and communities.

All have committed to building on the momentum from their experiences. Their plans call for holding meetings with their classmates,incorporating new perspectives into their curriculum, collecting library books for a school in Africa and becoming moire involved in local and national campaigns for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls.

Next week, the SSND delegation will include students and faculty from Notre Dame of Maryland University, who will attend sessions addressing current challenges and opportunities related to the implementation of the  Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which was adopted 20 years ago by 189 member states meeting in China for the Fourth World Conference of Women. The Beijing Platform provides a roadmap for the achievement of gender equality, guiding the global struggle against constraints and obstacles to the empowerment of women around the world.