In an article featured in the Opinion section of CNN.com, Vital Voices board member Sally Field and CEO Alyse Nelson reflect on their shared experience at the UN Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing, China, 15 years ago. The two women attended the historic gathering as delegates of the United States. While much progress has been made, according to the advocates, there remains a great deal to be done before global gender equality is attained.

“Our campaign for equality has come out from the darkness of the periphery. We are moving into an age that enables progress and an environment that sustains it.”

Read the full article on CNN.com.

In a recent post by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Somalian author writes about a new proposal by the American Academy of Pediatrics that would permit doctors to assist families in the ritual of female circumcision.

Read the full post on The Daily Beast.

Only a few days are left to submit a video about your favorite women’s empowerment organization - upload a video today and your organization or one you care about could be featured on the homepage of YouTube at the end of the month!

All this month, Vital Voices is partnering with YouTube for an exciting women’s empowerment social media campaign and we want you to join us!

In honor of Mother’s Day, YouTube Video Volunteers and Vital Voices board member Diane von Furstenberg will shine a spotlight on women’s issues by calling out to volunteer filmmakers to create a short video about a women’s organization they care about.

The top three videos will be chosen by Vital Voices and Diane von Furstenberg, and they will appear on the homepage of YouTube for one day on May 30.

NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams profiles Vital Voices May 17 for the “Making a Difference” segment. Academy Award-winning actress and Vital Voices board member Sally Field will be in the studio with Brian, talking about our work to identify, invest in and bring visibility to extraordinary women leaders around the world.

Highlights of the broadcast:

• Rebecca Lolosoli, founder of Umoja Uaso Women’s Village in rural Kenya, created a safe haven for Samburu women and girls. The village has a community center for learning leadership skills and indigenous handcraft entrepreneurship. Rebecca was honored with the Fern Holland Award at our 2010 Vital Voices Global Leadership Awards.

• The FORTUNE/U.S. State Department Global Women’s Mentoring Partnership is a high-touch program pairing America’s most accomplished women leaders in business with aspiring women professionals and entrepreneurs around the globe.

• Andeisha Farid, founder AFCECO - the Afghan Child Education and Care Organization, runs a network of orphanages in Afghanistan and Pakistan that foster tolerance and mutual respect among the more than 500 children served. Andeisha was honored with the 10,000 Women Entrepreneurial Achievement Award at our 2010 Vital Voices Global Leadership Awards. Watch Brian Williams meet Andeisha in action.

Check local listings and tune in to NBC on May 17!

Yesterday, an exciting new initiative and partnership between Vital Voices and FedEx was launched with the opening cocktail reception of a pilot seminar and program in Miami, FL, Building Business Across Borders: A Trading Program for Women Entrepreneurs. The program, which will continue through today and Wednesday, is aimed towards women entrepreneurs from Latin America and the Caribbean who are export/trade ready and who wish to build their trade capacity and connect with potential U.S. markets.

Participants represent a variety of countries, from Argentina and Brazil, to the Bahamas and Haiti, to El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. Their products, from Phelicia Dell’s award-winning artisan handbags to Wendy Martinez’s naturally-flavored liquors, one of two brands made in all of Honduras, to Lorena Piazze’s tempered glass, demonstrate the wide range of industries in which women excel and defy assumptions about what constitutes a “woman’s business”.

Undeniably, the women who have come to Miami embody the entrepreneurial spirit and social responsibility that exemplify women business owners around the world: a deep desire to prosper and, in doing so, to help their communities.

The reception took place at the Ritz-Carlton Coconut Grove, site of the program, and featured remarks by Alyse Nelson, President and CEO of Vital Voices and Gina Adams, Corporate Vice President of Government Affairs at Federal Express. Ms. Nelson addressed the strategic value of investing in women entrepreneurs and the great reservoir of potential growth women’s businesses represent.

We welcomed representatives from FedEx, the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) chapter in Miami, and the Vital Voices network, among others. Amid food and drinks, entrepreneurs, supporters, and colleagues were able to connect and mingle while participants showed attendees the high caliber of their businesses through product displays.

The evening was an intimate and exciting beginning to a dynamic couple of days. Today, the program will focus on capacity building on areas such as procurement and negotiation and will conclude with a mentoring session with NAWBO members.

There was not a dry eye last night in the POV lounge at the W in Washington, D.C., where Vital Voices and the Avon Foundation for Women hosted Men’s Voices to End Violence Against Women, a tribute to three extraordinary men who are making the world a brighter and safer place for women.

CNN’s Candy Crowley and advocates including V-Day founder and playwright Eve Ensler headlined the invitation-only reception with moving tributes to Dr. Denis Mukwege, the founder of Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo; Luis CdeBaca, Ambassador-at-Large of the U.S. State Department Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons; and Stephen Lewis, former UN Ambassador and Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa.

Each of the men honored restated their commitment to ending violence against women, imploring other men and women to join in a global movement for gender equality. In his remarks, former UN Ambassador Lewis said on behalf of his fellow honorees:

“We can promise you tonight that we will work to the end of days to end violence against women.”

Past Vital Voices Global Partnership Leadership Awards honorees Marina Pisklakova-Parker (2004) and Somaly Mam (2009) introduced Ambassador CdeBaca at the standing-room-only affair. Other notable guests included Vital Voices and Avon leadership, network members, and Jimmie Briggs, journalist, co-founder and executive director of the Man Up Campaign; Susan Ness, former FCC commissioner; and Joan Winship, director of the International Association of Women Judges, among the guests.

Tonight is our signature Global Leadership Awards benefit at the Kennedy Center, which marks the mid-point in a week packed with International Women’s Day events and celebrations. On Monday, Global Leadership Award honoree Panmela Castro painted a mural for an event at the Diane von Furstenberg studio in New York Monday, while honoree Rebecca Lolosoli presided over an artisan bazaar graciously hosted by the D.C. law firm Perkins Coie. On Tuesday morning we announced the Women Can and Do campaign and rang the bell at the New York Stock Exchange with partners Avon, Time Inc. and Standard Chartered Bank.

The Women’s Learning Partnership hosted an all-day program today entitled 2020 Vision: Mobilizing for Women’s Rights and Eliminating Violence Against Women.

Ambassador Melanne Verveer gave the first keynote address, stating that governments should not relegate “women’s issues” as a special category since they are hard power issues that should be mainstreamed. When women are suppressed and the government is weak, terrorism takes hold, making women’s rights a national security issue. The main issues under the Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA) that must still be addressed include education for girls, economic participation for women, the right of political participation for women, the right to be free from violence, and the right to health. These issues must be addressed holistically and in connection with each other since they are highly interdependent. Women’s advocates must also seek less visible, untraditional allies like men and religious leaders when seeking women’s rights.

Panel 1: Securing Women’s Safety and Dignity: Mobilizing for a World Free of Violence Against Women.
In this panel, women’s activists from Jordan, Nigeria and Brazil discussed how governments are slowly starting to pass legislation criminalizing violence against women, though implementation is slow. Young women leaders are critical to the women’s movement to continue fighting for further implementation and greater achievement of the BPfA goals. The panel also highlighted the vital importance of sex disaggregated data and gender budget analysis to understand the true nature of women’s rights in individual countries. Coalitions of women to mobilize politically are also vital for women to achieve political presence and power.

Thoraya Obaid, Executive Director of UNFPA, gave the second keynote address. She discussed how culture seems to be in opposition to women’s rights and human rights. She argued that instead, culture is a major catalyst for human rights change and that a cultural and gender lens is necessary to bring change from within. This approach brings deep insights and contexts for indigenous change. As an example, women are working all over the world to interpret religious texts from a feminist perspective. Activists must work through the national system to change laws as well as the community level to make change on the ground. Partnering with men is also necessary to make them a part of a credible solution to women’s rights.

Mary Robinson, Former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, gave the third keynote address and suggested that the 10th anniversary of Security Council Resolution (SCR)1325 shouldn’t be marked by rhetoric but with better implementation. Deputy Under-Secretary Asha-Rose Migiro recently formed a high-level steering committee for SCR 1325 and asked Mary Robinson to chair an NGO committee to advise the steering committee. This advisory body is comprised of experts in the NGO community working on issues related to women and security.

Shirin Ebadi, 2003 Nobel Peace laureate, gave the final keynote address. She spoke about the women’s human rights movement in Iran and the growth of feminism among hard-line religious women as they experienced discriminatory laws themselves. Many of the activists were arrested and faced persecution during the recent One Million Signatures campaign, but it is important for the women’s movement to be seen as compatible and consistent with the principles of Islam. By using a feminist interpretation of Islam, they can argue against the fundamentalists who use religious rhetoric to treat women with inequality.

Panel 2: Movement Building from the Local to the Global: What CEDAW Means for Women at the Grassroots.
The second panel was comprised of women activists from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region who discussed local and regional campaigns for women’s rights. The One Million Signatures campaign in Iran has garnered wide international support, but many of the leaders were arrested and lost their jobs and homes, leaving them without any financial resources. The women continue to fight for their rights and are slowly forming partnerships with sympathetic men who will advocate with them. The “Equality without Reservation” coalition of Arab states is advocating for uniform reservation of CEDAW, removal of all reservations to the Convention, and ratification of the Optional Protocol. Many Arab countries are moving in the direction of lifting reservations as a result of the work of NGO advocacy. Additionally, the equal citizenship campaign by many NGOs in the Arab region advocates for laws that allow women to pass on their citizenship to their children. Many MENA countries have laws that specify male citizenship and define women’s identity in relation to their male relatives, in contrast to many of the state constitutions that guarantee equality. Recently, three MENA countries have enacted nationality laws that allow women to give citizenship to their children and other countries are moving in that direction.

During today’s CSW sessions, representatives from each of the regional groups gave updates on the progress achieved and remaining gaps and challenges in the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA).

Bader Al-Dafa, the Executive Director of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), mentioned that many countries in the region have passed laws allowing women to pass their citizenship to their children and have established quota systems for women’s political participation. Nineteen out of the twenty member states have passed CEDAW many have removed their reservations. Areas of improvement include the need for greater political participation of women and better sex disaggregated data to show where the problem areas lie.

Jan Kubis, the Executive Director of the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE), stated that there was great diversity within his region, but that there were several areas of regional progress such as a substantial increase in the criminalization of domestic violence and promotion of women’s access to equal employment. However, remaining areas of concern include women’s access to financial resources, the gender wage gap, lack of social protection for women and the insufficient implementation of gender budget reforms.

Lalla Ben Barka, the Deputy Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), focused primarily on education for women, stating that while the gender gap in primary education had been achieved, the gap in secondary education was the next target. She also mentioned that women in Africa must have strengthened inheritance rights, better access to maternal health, and greater participation in local level politics. African countries have had great success implementing quotas to increase the number of women in high-level government positions. Many countries have also been working to eradicate FGM and including a gender perspective in their environmental policies and practices.

Sonia Montano, Chief of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean’s (ECLAC) Women and Development Unit, reported that several Latin American and Caribbean countries have elected women heads of state in the last five years, many countries have put political quota systems in place, and have made gains in education for women and gender based violence. The legal frameworks of most countries must still be changed to give women greater equality and to ensure that the changes reach the targeted women.

The U.S. delegation to CSW also gave a briefing today at the U.S. Mission. Meryl Frank, Ambassador to CSW, stated that this year’s delegation strived to achieve balance among its representatives, including politicians, academics, and business leaders. According to representatives Beth Brooke, Connie Evans and Ellen Chelser, they highly value the input of NGO delegates that are working similar issues. Ambassador Susan Rice explained the U.S. government’s commitment to the new gender entity at the UN, ending violence against women in war, and improving access to education for girls in the Muslim world. Finally, Tina Tchen from the White House Council on Women and Girls outlined the objectives of the Council, including integrating a gender perspective into all government agencies and budgets and advocating for issues of women in the workplace, such as equal pay, paid leave models, and work/life balance.

Women | Tools | Technology: Building Opportunities and Economic Power
Ashoka’s Changemakers, ExxonMobil, and The International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) have issued a global challenge for innovations which enable women to access and use the power of tools and technology to expand their opportunities for economic advancement. See Women | Tools | Technology for competition details and deadlines.

Women ONE2ONE
Women ONE2ONE is a growing voice made up of people who know that maternal health, girls’ education, economic opportunity and women’s empowerment are key to fighting poverty and preventable disease for everyone. This campaign recognizes women as change-makers, community-builders and peace builders. Harness your power to connect, take action and shape the future. Learn more about Women ONE2ONE.

Women for Women International
Join Me on the Bridge
To honor the resilience of millions of women survivors of war around the world, Women for Women International is hosting a global campaign called Join Me on the Bridge on International Women’s Day: March 8, 2010. Women from Rwanda and Congo will come together in peace on a bridge between their countries to demand an end to war and to demonstrate that women can build the bridges to peace and development. At the same time and in solidarity, women (and men!) will come together on bridges throughout the world, creating a truly global movement that says NO! to war and YES! to peace and hope. Learn more about Join Women on the Bridge.

This morning, in honor of International Women’s Day, Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and other high-level UN officials addressed the CSW delegates about the progress made since Beijing as well as the remaining challenges. He also discussed his goals for implementation of gender equality within the UN system by hiring and appointing more women to senior positions. He said, “Until women and girls are liberated from poverty and injustice, all our goals – peace, security, sustainable development – stand in jeopardy.”

A few of the parallel meeting highlights…

Leveraging Arab Women’s Power, sponsored by Karama.
This day-long session on various efforts made by Arab countries to implement international human rights norms for women, such as CEDAW, the Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA), and Millennium Development Goal 3, featured activists, politicians, NGO representatives and academics from many Arab countries. Panelists discussed the particular issues affecting the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, such as high rates of illiteracy, violence against women, lack of employment opportunities, regional conflicts, lack of economic resources for women, access to healthcare, and the interpretation of international law with shari’a principles. Many of the panelists suggested that governments give greater budget allocations to women, in areas such as education, maternal health, economic resources, judicial training and implementation of national laws.

From Turbulence to Transformation, sponsored by The National Council for Research on Women, Deloitte, and Goldman Sachs.
Goldman Sachs hosted a high-level panel of speakers, including Ambassador Melanne Verveer, Edith Cooper of Goldman Sachs, Chris Grumm of Women’s Funding Network, and Letty Chiwara of UNIFEM. The panelists discussed the economic crisis and the need for financial capacity building for women. As NGOs, governments and businesses come together and collaborate, they can achieve amazing results that transform communities. Funding specifically designated for women is also a source of leveraging power behind some of today’s largest issues. Ambassador Verveer mentioned that the U.S. believes strongly in investing in women overseas as a method of eradicating extremism and that the way we talk about investing in women must change, moving from a soft power tactic to a hard power strategy.