Four women in a coffee shop

Love it or hate it, even 10 years after Sex and the City’s finale, it’s still a worldwide cultural phenomenon. Most of this show centered on four women talking and laughing in their neighborhood coffee shop. I would like to share with you another portrayal of four women talking in a coffee shop in New York City.

Four women-one originally hailing from Spain, another from Finland, and two from the United States- leave the United States Mission to the United Nations after the second day of the UN-CSW. These women find themselves in a Manhattan coffee shop. There, they share what they have learned that day and their ideas for the future of their communities and our world. They talk about economics, policy, the plight of women and girls in the world, and the merits of capitalism. They debate, they disagree, and they walk out together personally enriched and still respectful of one another.

This was my experience this afternoon after the second official day of the CSW. I think, for me, a lot of the CSW experience has been about talking and sharing with my fellow Practicum women and some of the other amazing people who are here in New York this week. It has been an inspiring and empowering privilege.

What I'd like to share here is that I believe that we too have the power to be a worldwide cultural phenomenon. Not just those of us here in New York but all the women of WILPF and the world. We have the power to create movements, to create change, to lay the foundation for a new cultural paradigm from something as simple as an empowering discussion with three friends in a small coffee shop.

Heather Lipkovich