Changier holds side event at Commission on the Status of Women

On March 17, during the sixty-sixth session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW66), Beijing Changier Education Foundation held the first online side event of the commission, titled "Economic Empowerment of Vulnerable Women and Adolescents."

CSW66 kicked off at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on March 4, and was addressed by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The session was themed "Achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls in the context of climate change, environmental and disaster risk reduction policies and programs." Beijing Changier Education Foundation undertook two side events to further enrich the themes and expand the influence of CSW66.

In the first side event, the participants held discussions and exchanged their wisdom and experience on protecting the rights and interests of women and adolescents and promoting the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 as adopted by the U.N. 

Dr. Kristina Hallett, a board certified specialist in clinical psychology, associate professor in Psychology at Bay Path University, and TEDx Speaker, pointed out that the continuing spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated long-standing gender, age, race, and socio-economic inequalities and severely affected the psychological health and living standards of people, especially women and adolescents. She encouraged the general public to seek changes and governments at all levels to seize the initiative to intervene and take action, extensively cooperate with enterprises and communities to cultivate their ability to withstand pressure, and constantly improve their skills in coping with difficult challenges, psychological problems, and emotional crises.

Regarding the difficulties and challenges that women face as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Zhang Yinjun, director of the AIDS Prevention Education Project for Chinese Youth (APEPCY) Office and president of Beijing Changier Education Foundation, pointed out in her speech that The World's Women 2020: Trends and Statistics shows that less than 50% of working-age women are in the labor market, and the figure has barely changed over the last quarter of a century. Zhang pointed out that the COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated inequalities in society, making women and girls more vulnerable to job loss, pay cuts, school dropout, and inadequate social protection and remedies.

Zhang said, "Gender equality is crucial to achieving the 17 SDGs. Nothing can be achieved without the full participation of women. I appeal to the international community to create a different working environment for women, such as improving policies to support and promote women's employment and entrepreneurship through multiple channels; strengthening vocational skills training for women and helping them to obtain wider access to more occupations; safeguarding women's rights and interests in labor security, and achieving equal pay for equal work for both men and women; and breaking from traditional prejudices to ensure that women can become independent economic individuals and obtain more opportunities, rights, and interests at work. Such changes in women's work status will increase women's labor force participation rate and social participation rate. It will be conducive not only to social and economic development at the macro level, but also to the improvement of women's individual quality and comprehensive development at the micro level. In addition, it will help to enhance family development capacity, improve the health of family members, increase investment in children's education and eliminate the intergenerational transmission of poverty."

Ms. Chen Qiuhui, U.N. Representative and Special Director for North American Affairs of Beijing Changier Education Foundation, shared the foundation's efforts in the protection of women's and children's rights and AIDS prevention and treatment for youth. She said, "The foundation donated an English video course on AIDS prevention and sex education in schools to the Group of African Ambassadors' Spouses in China to support AIDS prevention education for youth in African countries. In the future, we will donate courses and books to more developing countries in order to share experience and provide support for them in the protection of women's and children's rights and AIDS prevention and treatment, thereby contributing to the realization of the SDGs."

Pendery Haines, Board and Policy Committee Trustee of the Jeremiah Program, shared the organization's successful experience in the economic empowerment of women in the United States. Through support regarding career-track college education, quality early childhood education, safe and affordable housing, empowerment, leadership skills training, and vocation guidance, the Jeremiah Program prepares determined single mothers to excel in the workforce and readies their children to succeed in school. Pendery Haines expressed that the combination of education and economic and emotional support can have a transformative impact on women's earnings and well-being, benefit them and their families continuously in the future, and bridge the gap between lower-income women and their more affluent peers.

Yoon Jung Choi, South Korean NGO Youth Representative, initiator of "Fighting for Girls" and student at Hong Kong International School, said, "As a barrier to women's health and comfortable participation in study and work, 'Period poverty' is a global humanitarian and economic crisis that affects the rights and interests of tens of millions of girls and women in education and employment. By raising funds, 'Fighting for Girls' provides impoverished girls with sanitation products to help them better participate in their studies and community activities. In addition to financial support for impoverished girls, it is more important that we have the courage to speak up for women and push for change regarding the inequalities that they face."

Ma Jiayun, Chinese Youth Representative and student at BASIS International School Shenzhen, believes that according to her observations, women's economic empowerment can be promoted in three aspects. First, government policy intervention should be strengthened to promote more government policies on women's economic empowerment; second, gender expectations defined by society should be changed to widely accept and define the roles of women in families, change the values and expectations of children as they grow up, and overcome the concept that men should work or take on the responsibility to "support their families financially"; and third, a system that supports more flexible work arrangements should be established to meet the specific needs of women under vulnerable status and ensure adequate opportunities for them to achieve economic independence even under less than ideal circumstances.

More than 50 experts, scholars, NGO representatives, and youth representatives from the United States and China participated in the online event. They shared successful cases, spoke out for women's rights and interests, and discussed how to protect women's economic rights and interests, promote women's employment and improve women's educational level.

Held annually, the Commission on the Status of Women is one of the nine functional commissions of the ECOSOC dedicated to accelerating gender equality worldwide. This current session ends on March 25.