YWCA Attends UN Commission on the Status of Women

*Picture above from United Nations 68th Commission on the status of Women graphic.*

The United Nations held the 68th annual Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68) in New York City, March 11-22. YWCA of Greater Portland's Board Chair, Hanako Imber, represented the state of Oregon as one of 25 YWCA delegates! YWCA of Greater Portland is one of 200 local associations that make up YWCA, the oldest and largest multiracial women’s organizations in the world. The Commission prioritized addressing the world gender poverty gap at the UN's largest annual gathering on gender equality.

*Pictured from left to right: Hanako Imber. YWCA USA's 25 delegates at the CSW68. Hanako Imber at CSW68.*

Hanako Imber, YWCA of Greater Portland's Board Chair, shares her experience at the CSW68

What inspired you at CSW68?

Thousands of participants who were all really passionate about the quality of life that women are experiencing and whatever nation they are from. You cannot be around that many incredibly passionate women and not be inspired. I was at an event where on one side of me was a woman from Nigeria who was working on safe healthcare for women and on the other side of me was a female monk from Thailand. There are so many exceptionally talented and intensely passionate people that care about the same things as YWCA. I had a lot of moments where I felt incredibly privileged to be who I was and the circumstances I was in. You just hear all of these crazy stories and experiences and statistics, it really helped broaden my perspective to a global scale.

Describe the UN Commission on the Status of Women

At the UNCSW there are a lot of different things that you can do at any given moment. There is always the main UN business that is happening. On the first day I got to sit in the gallery and see the UNCSW conduct business which was fascinating to see. There are side events put on by nations happening in the UN building. To have access to the UN building you have to be a delegate or part of a delegation. But in addition to all of that stuff happening at the UN building, there is stuff happening across the street, down the street, virtually online. On any given day there are 100+ events to attend. There is a lot of options and that surprised me. At any given hour, there could be 20 different things I could be doing. I could be learning, discussing, etc. YWCA hosted some side events.

What was your favorite event during CSW68?

I went to an event hosted by YWCA Japan. I am Japanese American and had the privilege of studying abroad in Japan. In my discussion group at the YWCA Japan event, everyone was from a different YWCA. There was a woman from YWCA Finland, YWCA Korea, YWCA Nigeria, YWCA Palestine, and three people from YWCA USA in addition to the person from YWCA Japan leading the discussion. I loved meeting YWCA Japan members. I speak some Japanese so we got to interact but also to be clear, their English was better than my Japanese so we interacted in English once that was established. It was just fun to be in community with so many people affiliated with YWCA.

Another one of my favorite events was the YWCA World event. It was incredible to meet people committed to YWCA from all over the world. It is so cool being part of an international network doing impactful work for women. They discussed their program to empower women entrepreneurs in developing nations. That was incredible to hear, as much as you can deconstruct capitalism, to hear the different ways they are making it easier for women of color to access micro loans that could really change their lives. That was fascinating.

At the YWCA World event, one of the speakers was Valerie Red-Horse Mohl, Co-Founder and President of Known. She was amazing. She identifies as an Indigenous women who started a financial capitol business that is passionate about advancing wealth for women and people of color who have historically not had access to these sorts of things. Women and people of color have historically been excluded from financial systems. There is power in even just learning how financial systems work.

With the CSW68 theme, “Accelerating the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls by addressing poverty and strengthening institutions and financing with a gender perspective,” how can we work towards gender equality?

A theme from a lot of sessions I went to was even small actions matter. Sometimes it can be really intimidating to think about how to put dents in such large problems. It is not about fitting a mold, it is about understanding the power structures that are existing and doing the best you can within that to dismantle systems of oppression. Every day YWCA promotes peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all.

At the YWCA World event, one of the speakers was Valerie Red-Horse Mohl, Co-Founder and President of Known. She was amazing. She identifies as an Indigenous women who started a financial capitol business that is passionate about advancing wealth for women and people of color who have historically not had access to these sorts of things. Women and people of color have historically been excluded from financial systems. There is power in even just learning how financial systems work. Knowing what your 401k or IRA is even invested in, do you wanna be supporting oil companies with your retirement? She talked about the power in small actions and I thought that was really inspiring.

Another speaker who was from YWCA Boston, Dr. Anouska Bhattacharyya, talked about how with our friends and people we’re close to, with mental health, we try to make them fit a system instead of saying, the system is broken and you can be whoever you are. When they approach problems at YWCA boston, they think about the four I’s: What is this from an ideological perspective, how do institutional structures fit into this, what about interpersonal items, and internalized things fit into this like internalized racism and sexism. She talked about how they use these four I’s to conceptualize decisions and what can make it hard to exist in this world and thinking about this as we solve problems together, as we relate to each other can really make a difference. It is not about fitting a mold, it is about understanding the power structures that are existing and doing the best you can within that. I thought that was really interesting and inspiring as well.

What is your hope for the Greater Portland community?

After spending time with women from across the world that were so inspirational, passionate, talented, and smart, I hope to amplify the incredible work YWCA of Greater Portland is doing for our community so that we can have even more of an impact.

*Pictures from UNCSW68 and YWCA World's presentation.*

Solutions to advance gender equality

At CSW68, governments, organizations, and leaders from across the world come together to agree on actions and investments that to advance gender equality. Here are some of their solutions in numbers: