Young Women: Be the Change!
20 August 2010
Young women from around the world will “be the change” by voicing their ideas about empowerment at the Young Women’s Forum on 24 August 2010. The forum, sponsored by UNIFEM (part of UN women), will be a standout event at the 2010 World Youth Conference in Guanajuato, Mexico.
UNIFEM Executive Director Inés Alberdi has highlighted the leadership and empowerment of young women as fundamental to national development, women’s rights and the progress of youth. She will open the forum, joined by women leaders from Rwanda, Paraguay and an indigenous group from Peru.
Forum participants will attend panels on five topics: technology, HIV and AIDS, mass media, peace building, and ending violence against women and girls. They will be able to share experiences, propose innovative actions to empower women and youth, and define youth- and gender-centred targets for development after the 2015 deadline for the Millennium Development Goals. A musical concert, in support of the UN Secretary-General’s Campaign UNiTE to End Violence against Women and Girls, will round out the forum.
UNIFEM’s Say NO platform, with more than 400,000 actions to date, will feature in the technology panel as an example of how social networks can speed the flow of information on an issue critical to women’s rights. The panel on ending violence will explore how young women and men can play leadership roles in championing zero tolerance for all forms of gender-based violence. An estimated half of all sexual assaults worldwide are against adolescent girls, but their needs and rights are rarely reflected in policies to prevent violence and protect survivors.
The World Youth Conference 2010 is an initiative of the Government of Mexico in partnership with the UN system and civil society organizations. The current generation of young people is the largest, most well-educated in history. But it also faces a crisis in employment, and a disproportionate number of young women still withdraw from school due to various forms of gender discrimination. The conference will mobilize young women and men to set their priorities for action beyond 2015.
People who cannot make it to the Young Women’s Forum but want to be part of it can join a LIVE webcast and ask questions on Twitter using @UNIFEM and #YWF2010.
Click here for more information on engaging via Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
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