Andrea Ferenczi, President and Chair of the European NGO Association for Women’s Career Development in Hungary (AWCDH), recently appointed Lynn Gardner Heffron (Diversity Spectrum President and winner of the 2009 AWCDH  Equality Award and AWCDH Advisory Board member) as an ongoing delegate to the United Nations. 

Together Ms. Ferenczi and Ms. Heffron attended the March 2010 UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) at the United Nations in New York City.  They were part of the many government delegations attending CSW, which was convened to assess progress made in the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA) 15 years after it was adopted at the UN Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing, China in 1995. Over 8,000 women attended.

The CSW was undertaking a fifteen-year review of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcomes of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly.   Emphasis was placed on the sharing of experiences and good practices, with a view to overcoming remaining obstacles and new challenges, including those related to the Millennium Development Goals.  Member States, representatives of non-governmental organizations and of UN entities participated in the session. 

Ms. Ferenczi and Ms. Heffron participated in multiple events that addressed topics such as human trafficking, engaging men for gender equality, women and girls with AIDS, women and girls with disabilities, gender equality in economic crisis, gender-based violence, gender equality in post-conflict recovery and reconstruction,  and institutional mechanisms for promoting gender equality and empowerment of women.

The United Nations commitments to the advancement of women began with the signing of the UN Charter in San Francisco in 1945. Throughout its sixty years of existence and its fifty sessions, the Commission on the Status of Women has consistently promoted the advancement of women.

The Commission on the Status of Women is a functional commission of the United Nations Economic and Social Council ( www.un.org/docs/ecosoc ), dedicated exclusively to gender equality and advancement of women. It is the principal global policy-making body. Every year, representatives of Member States gather at United Nations Headquarters in New York to evaluate progress on gender equality, identify challenges, set global standards and formulate concrete policies to promote gender equality and advancement of women worldwide.

The Commission also makes recommendations to the Council on urgent problems requiring immediate attention in the field of women's rights.

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Diversity Spectrum will host a special Executive Diversity Council meeting on March 25 at the World Bank. This special Council meeting is being hosted by the World Bank and its Chief Diversity Officer, Julie Oyegun as part of their week-long celebration of diversity and inclusion.

The Diversity Spectrum Council members will be joined by World Bank personnel for special presentations featuring the American Red Cross, the
U.S. State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). Other special guests include the former Ambassador to Rwanda, John Upston, SBA officials, former and current Department of Commerce and Labor officials, and U.S. Coast Guard diversity officials.

Director of Government Operations at the American Red Cross, Larry Decker, will provide disaster updates on Chile, Haiti, American Samoa and within the United States.

Chief Diversity Officer of the American Red Cross, Floyd Pitts, will provide an overview of their diversity infrastructure and challenges.

John Robinson, Director, Office of Civil Rights & Chief Diversity Officer at the U.S. State Department will address "Leadership and Diversity" and offer insights into their programs at the State Department and USAID.

The Human Rights Campaign's Cuc Vu, Global Head of Diversity & Daryl Herrschaft, Director, Workplace Diversity will address HRC'S  research, surveys, and identify workplace issues relevant to LGBT communities.

Vu has launched a new HRC Women’s Initiative, convened a Diversity & Inclusion Council supported by leaders from both the corporate, non-profit and community sectors, and initiated a ground-breaking program called Equality Forward that engaged 5,000 LGBT people of color in partnership with more than 100 organizations.  The first of its kind, the Equality Forward research results reveal the attitudes and opinions of African American, Latino/a, and Asian Pacific Islander American lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, a part of the LGBT community that is often not heard.

Since 1998, Daryl Herrschaft has overseen the Workplace Project of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. In this capacity, he monitors and evaluates corporate policies surrounding lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees, consumers and investors. He is the editor of the HRC Foundation’s annual Corporate Equality Index and The State of the Workplace for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Americans.

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