Commission on the Status of Women

Encounter With Courage on the Road Less-Travelled
 

The limitation of UN process

Because Love is a Form of Activism

While many of the sessions at CSW57 have shared critical information such as program

best practices, prevention strategies, and evaluation results, there are a few that

have pushed me beyond simply intellectual engagement. Two sessions ignited my

passion for activism through performance, writing and film. Lately, I have been

knee-deep in deadlines for papers, projects, family crisis, wedding planning and

preparing to defend my M.S. project in Conflict Resolution this May. Consequently, I

 
I often feel that I am running a race. It’s a race, against myself: a yearning for a mad dash to get to where I think I ought to be; some great notion of making a difference that I fear I will never realize. Some nights I go to sleep tossing and turning thinking of not just what I have to do the next day, but how all of it will lead to this great something. I have long realized that in this perpetual motion of reaching to do more, I miss out on all that is right in front of me.
 

Stop. Think. Listen.

I am right now in a CSW session entitled "From Girl Child to Mature Woman: A Life-Course Approach to Gender Empowerment and a Violence-free Life."  It was coordinated by Soroptimist International and includes women from Pakistan, Tunisia, Moldova and New Zealand, among other countries, representing SI, Girl Guides/Scouts and World YWCA.  The content is very much like that at other sessions of CSW  57: intense narratives of how women are suffering with violence in various settings, and summaries of policies and implementation.

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To the women of WILPF's 2013 UN practicum,
Ninety-six hours ago I met you, 72 hours ago I shared my practicum and trajectory experience with you, 48 hours ago I saw your faces in the audience as I presented (and received amazing support – thank you!), and less than 24 hours ago I was drinking, eating, laughing with, and listening to you settling into the workings of the UN CSW as we celebrated at the NGO reception. An out-of-character early morning rise and a three hour flight later, and I am back in Houston, away from it all.
And this is what it’s about.

Tuesday March 5th, 2013- Today was a day of heartbreak, uncertainty, inspiration, and gratefulness. Heartbreak upon thinking back on what I have already experienced and what was reaffirmed for me today; uncertainty about who I am and what I am doing; increasing inspiration from what I am hearing and learning and gratefulness for the people I have met and the learning experience of the CSW.  With so emotions going on today, trying to get my heart and head to align, and attending events- I had to stop for a second and truly think what is the goal of ALL of this?

by Michelle Zebrowski