QUESTION OF THE DAY: From Beijing +15

This year marks the 15th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women (held in Beijing, China, in 1995), when 189 member states adopted the Beijing Declaration and Platform for action, laying out a comprehensive agenda for women’s political and economic empowerment. To commemorate “Beijing,” the United Nations’ Commission on the Status of Women are meeting on March 1-12 in New York to review what progress has been made on women’s and girls’ rights since 1995.

I.M.O.W. Executive Director Clare Winterton and Board Chair Elizabeth Colton are currently attending the "Beijing +15" conference in New York. They were both intrigued by the following question, asked by a young woman from the New York YWCA at the Global NGO Forum:

Where are the new leaders, where are the new voices and where are the young women [in the global women’s movement]? When will the girl-child be able to speak for herself?

What do you think? Any comments on how we at I.M.O.W. can support and advance a new generation of women’s leadership and voices.