Hundreds Participate in the Virtual CSW64 Forum Consultation Day

Written by Tamara Starr

In a time when many have to stay inside due to COVID-19 (otherwise known as the Coronavirus), over 1500 people signed up to attend the virtual NGO CSW64 Forum Consultation Day on  March 16.

“A big huge welcome to our sisterhood”, Mallika Dutt said as she welcomed everyone to a virtual meditation session for Gathering Our Collective Power to find inner dignity, peace, and to connect with “mother earth” to help open up the forum.

Also during the forum, there was a panel that included Lopa Benerjee, Director of Civil Society Division & Executive Coordinator, Generation Equality Forum, UN Women; Delphine O Ambassador, Secretary General of the Generation Equality Forum; and Yanerit Morgan Ambassador, Executive Secretary, Generation Equality Forum, Mexico. The panel was moderated by Moderated by Xenia Kellner, Co-Founder, Young Feminist Europe.

During the panel, Benrjee expressed how disappointed she was that the CSW64 Forum needed to be canceled.  But she was very inspired to see that 1500 people were able to register for the call and spoke about what gender equality meant for her, especially after the Fourth World Conference on Women, 1995 in Beijing.

“What Beijing brought in 1995 was that women moved from being the story, to becoming the storytellers,” she said. “Beijing was about the feminist movement, the gender quality advocate from within government and outside of government- coming together to talk about gender quality.”

Speakers also included Shannon Kowalski of the International Women’s Health Coalition; Melissa Upreti,, Krishanti Dharmaraj, and Emilia Reyes.

On March 17, NGO CSW/NY announced on its Twitter page that 600 people were able to participate in the virtual event.

“Thank you to the almost 600 people who joined our Virtual Consultation Day…,” the organization said in the tweet. “We are so heartened by and proud of the feminist and women activists who are still galvanizing and working toward gender equality during this difficult time.”