Grassroots U.S. Rural Women Against Poverty - Beyond Exploitation and Harassment -
The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), part of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), was established in 1946 to promote women's rights around the world.
CSW monitors the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, works to mainstream a gender perspective in UN activities and endorses progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals, as part of realizing gender equality and the empowerment of women.
During the annual two-week session of CSW representatives of UN Member States, there are "parallel events", organized by Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) like the Rural Development Leadership Network. We organize a panel on the CSW theme for the session, presenting the perspectives of diverse grassroots rural women on that topic.
Click on speaker videos below. Then click "Youtube" for larger window.
Gardenia White
Former Executive Director,
Institute for Community Development, SC;
Former Advisor for an RDLN Leader,
Board Member of the Southern Partners Fund
- Introduces Moderator
Teresa Younger, Moderator
President and CEO,
Ms. Foundation for Women
- "This panel is really about listening to experts..."
Michelle Cole Barnes
LPN; Ordained Minister;
Adult Group Home Owner,
Credit Repair Specialist
- "We have a terrible history of oppression and discrimination..."
Leticia Carreón
Bernalillo County, NM
- Immigration
- "I came to the United States undocumented when I was fifteen years old..."
Mily Treviño-Sauceda
RDLN Board Member and Graduate;
Vice President, Alianza Nacional de Campesinas
- Farmworker Women, Growing Up,
The Union, Sexual Harrassment
Amber Bell
Program Director,
Southwest Georgia Project
(headed by RDLN Vice Chair and graduate Shirley Sherrod)
- Building a new food system
Shirley Williams McClain
RDLN Graduate, Playwright
Former Executive Director, NC Hunger Network
- Sharecropping Family,
Organizing, Older Women