On March 8, 2023, the board members of WomenSport International along with four other women’s sport organizations presented at the UN CSW 2023.
UN Commission on the Status of Women 67
March 2023
International women’s sport advocacy groups celebrate as we near 30 years of presentations to UN CSW and UN Women events.
WomenSport International and Women’s Sports Foundation presented workshops at the 4th World Conference on Women, 1994 in Beijing. Since that time, almost annually, these two organizations have been joined by the International Working Group and IAPESGW to present at the annual March meetings of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. This year, after three years of virtual only events, groups could petition to participate by virtual or in-person means. Our collaborative chose to petition for an in-person event as we wanted to reach out to participants not already affiliated with sport and physical education. On Mar. 8, 2023, we were awarded one of the coveted in-person slots.
Our event, at the Church Center, NYC, attracted a packed house of over 100 participants, as our theme was almost perfectly matching the overall theme of contributions of digital technologies. Following on to years in which virtual was the only way to conduct programs, great strides have been made by all our organizations. Kendra Williams, from Women’s Sports Foundation, presented on their marquee program in this area “We Play Interactive”. Lisa O’Keefe, Secretary General IWG, presented on technology enhancing programs in Asia-Pacific. Dr. Rosa Diketmueller, President of IAPESGW, presented on Digitalization and Quality Physical Education while Gama Mothibi, Treasurer of WomenSport International (WSI) represented both TAFISA and WSI in presenting on the manner in which digitalization enhances accessibility in sport programming especially for development.
The program was moderated by Dr. Carole Oglesby, Board of Director Emeritus with WSI, and extraordinary technical support was provided by Morgan Powell and Sarah Axelson of Women’s Sports Foundation. The overall coordination support of Dr. Becky Clark, Vice President of WSI ensured the program was well promoted and the UN CSW requirements were met.
Apart from the UN CSW parallel session, Diane Huffman, President of WSI, and taking advantage of the fact that all four organizations were in the same country at one time, coordinated a meeting on March 7th, of the four major women in sport organizations working internationally to enhance opportunites for all women in sports. The Women Sport Foundation (WSF) having their offices in New York City hosted the meeting and IAPESGW, IWG, WSF and WSI attended. The objective of the meeting was to review occasions for collaboration since our goals are similar. The meeting was productive and resulted in stronger relationships, understanding of each other’s priorities and needs and a strong commitment toward advocacy and research that would benefit from a diverse partnership approach.
See you next year!
