Members of Wilton’s School Sisters of Notre Dame attend UN conference

February 25, 2008

Two members of the Connecticut School Sisters of Notre Dame will join the United Nations’ Commission on the Status of Women’s annual meeting this month, focusing on financing gender equality and empowerment of women.

Sister Ethel Howley of Norwalk, assistant director of Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation for the Atlantic-Midwest Province, and Sister Maria Iannuccillo of Bridgeport, vocation ministry director for the Atlantic-Midwest Province will join other School Sisters of Notre Dame members at the session. Students from SSND-sponsored Mount Mary College in Milwaukee will also participate.

“The School Sisters of Notre Dame are committed to ensuring that all people have the opportunity to develop their full potential as individuals created in God’s image,” said Sister Ann Scholz, director of the SSND UN-Non-Governmental-Relations office. “That requires that governments invest in girls and women by providing quality education, addressing discrimination, enforcing existing laws and establishing a safety net for the most vulnerable. As members of an international community, School Sisters of Notre Dame have a special opportunity to remind governments of their obligations to women and girls.”

The highlight of the annual meeting of the commission, from Feb. 25 through March 7, will be two reports of the U.N. Secretary General on the theme of financing for gender equality and the empowerment of women. The agenda will include roundtables focusing on experiences, lessons learned and productive practices.

The Commission on the Status of Women is a commission of the United Nations Economic and Social Council, dedicated exclusively to gender equality and advancement of women. Every year, representatives of member states gather at the United Nations headquarters to evaluate progress on gender equality, identify challenges, set global standards and formulate concrete policies to promote gender equality and advancement of women worldwide.
As educators, School Sisters of Notre Dame are aware of the needs of women, children and those who live in poverty as they strive to create a global community where human dignity is respected, the environment is treasured, spirituality is nourished, and justice is practiced, according to Sister Ann.

“Members of the SSND delegation will join other NGO representatives on the Working Group on Girls in advocating for adequate funding for programs directed toward girls,” Sister Ann said. “Girls matter because they are our sisters entitled to equal dignity, education, and participation in their families and communities. What’s good for girls is good for their communities. Girls are precious assets for our future. Unfortunately, girls are too often undervalued by their communities and shortchanged by their governments.”

The School Sisters of Notre Dame also joined 30 other NGOs in signing a written statement that will be presented to the commission for consideration. The statement includes recommendations that governments institute effective and transparent measurements of previously set goals related to the girl child, develop comprehensive education strategies that will allocate dependable funding for universal education for all and develop gender-responsive budgeting that explicitly allocates funds for programs addressing girls’ health, as well as ending trafficking of girls for labor and eliminating violence against the girl child.

Information: un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/52sess.htm.

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