By OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C., March 11, 2024 – Bahamas First Lady Ann Marie Davis, who is presently in New York participating in 68th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women, today posted a collection of photos Facebook, and I absolutely had to share some of them with readers of my Washington, D.C. – based online publication, BAHAMAS CHRONICLE, which has a huge following among the Bahamian diaspora across the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom as well as in The Bahamas and the wider Caribbean.
Mrs. Davis posted the collection of photos with the following narrative:
Commission for The Status of Women in NY – CSW 68th Session.
Listening to Antonio Guterres – Secretary General of the United Nations. “Governments have a responsibility to end poverty… this takes taxes and commitment…..” Guterres is not happy with the way the level of improvements are made GLOBALLY. “Businesses still dominated by men”.
The UN managed to place more women in higher level positions. If the UN can do it, so can countries and establishments. He is slamming today.
Health and Dignity to women everywhere need improvement.
Lots of Bold, Strong, Focused Women in this General Assembly room, with committed men in support like our Minister Hon Myles La Roda.
Personally, I would also like to see a ceasefire in Gaza and Ukraine and an end to the conflicts in Haiti. These situations do not help women as they have no seat at the table to represent these countries. Women are the ones that suffer the most in conflict situations.”
BAHAMAS CHRONICLE EDITOR’S NOTE: The 68th annual Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68), the UN’s largest annual gathering on gender equality and women’s empowerment, is being held from March 11 – 22, under the theme, “Accelerating the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls by addressing poverty and strengthening institutions and financing with a gender perspective”.
As noted in information on CSW68 gleaned from the Internet, “The world is at a crucial crossroad for gender equality. Globally 10.3 per cent of women live in extreme poverty today, and they are poorer than men. Progress towards ending poverty needs to be 26 times faster to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
“Accelerated progress requires investment. Data from 48 developing economies shows that an additional $360 billion is needed per year to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment across key global goals, including to end poverty and hunger.
“In this decisive year, as 2.6 billion people go to the polls to cast their votes, they have the power to demand higher investment in gender equality.
“Solutions to end women’s poverty are widely recognized: investing in policies and programmes that address gender inequalities and boosting women’s agency and leadership. Such investments yield enormous dividends: Over 100 million women and girls could be lifted out of poverty if governments prioritized education and family planning, fair and equal wages, and expanded social benefits. Almost 300 million jobs could be created by 2035 through investments in care services. Closing gender gaps in employment could boost Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita by 20 per cent across all regions.”
