News & Events    
Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Girls' caucuses, forums give students
power to be heard on concerns

Students in the SSND delegation to the CSW include, from left, Vanessa de los Milagros Juarez Arevalo, Peru; Yasmin Karimian, Maryland; Jennifer Testi, New Jersey; Caitlin Byrnes, New York, and Jamie St. Eve, Missouri.

           The Commission on the Status of Women, with a focus this year on discrimination and violence against the girl child, is providing a forum for youth to organize and be heard on concerns that affect them.
           The chance to speak out in daily girls’ caucuses and workshops is an empowering opportunity for the eight students attending the CSW with the delegation from the School Sisters of Notre Dame, said Stephanie Braun, a student at Theresias-Gerhardinger-Gymnasium in Munich.
           “There are so many girls, and they are really interested in what I say,” Stephanie said. “I feel like I can really achieve something. The youth in these groups can learn from each other and get ideas about what we can change all over the world, each in her own part but all together with one mind.”
           In a “Girl Talk” break-out session sponsored by the International Women’s Tribune Center on Tuesday, participants had the opportunity to discuss issues such as sexual exploitation, HIV/AIDS, media influences, and physical and non-physical abuse with girls from other countries, said Yasmin Karimian, a senior at Notre Dame Preparatory School in Baltimore, Md..
           Yasmin, who participated in the break-out group on sexual exploitation, said she was moved by the student from Tanzania who spoke about the common practice of branding tribal marks onto girls’ faces and child marriages as young as age 10. Although the participant attended boarding school and had been sheltered from abuses, Yasmin said she still worried about the teen’s future.
           “That was hard for me,” Yasmin said. “I don’t want her to go back. She’s our age, and it’s her last year of high school. She’s like use, and we don’t know what will happen to her.”
           Caitlin Byrnes, a junior at St. Saviour High School in Brooklyn, N.Y., recalled another incident that was shared with the group from a teacher at a boarding school who was powerless to stand up to a headmaster about his inappropriate behavior with the girl students.
           Stephanie, 16, participated in a discussion on issues relating to the media, including stereotyping of women and inappropriate role models promoted through the media.
           “I think it is a big problem,” Stephanie said. “I don’t have a problem because I want to be what I am, and that’s o.k. But some girls are not so confident. The problem is that it can turn into violence against your own body if you try to be someone you are not. You have to eliminate the stereotypes in the media. But how do you do this? You just cannot cancel the media.”
           The message must reach the girls who are vulnerable, Caitlin said. The girls from other countries who come to the United States will be able to tell their experiences to their peers at home.
           “The most important thing is to help them become equal is for them to see girls who do have the same rights as boys,” Caitlin said. “By being here and seeing what else there is, it shows them what is possible for them, what they can be.”
           Nadine Binder, 16, from Gymnasium Brede in Brakel, Germany, participated in the discussion group on empowerment with students from Africa, Switzerland, Asia, German and North America.
           “Empowerment means independence for the girl and control of her life so she can decide what she should do,” Nadine said. “How can we be empowered? We agreed that education is the key.”
Stephanie Braun, from Germany, and Caitlin Byrnes, from Brooklyn, take a seat in a U.N. conference room before the start of one of the CSW sessions. Both students are attending the conference with the SSND delegation.

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Notes from the CSW


 German teachers Felizitas von Boeselager and Juliane Bungartz are part of the SSND delegation at the CSW.

Briefing with the German
minister for family affairs, senior citizens, women and youth
           More can be done to improve the status of women in the European Union, a German ministry official told two German students and their teachers who are attending the Commission on the Status of Women meeting with the delegation from the School Sisters of Notre Dame.
           About 40 representatives from Non-Governmental Organizations with a presence in the European Union attended Tuesday’s private briefing by Ursula von der Leyen, German minister for family affairs, senior citizens, women and youth.
           “She told us a lot about what she is going to change regarding women’s conditions in labor, having to do with pay equity,” said Stephanie Braun, a student at Theresia-Gerhardinger-Gymnasium in Munich. “Listening to her gave me a lot of hope, especially if so many people care and so many people want to change something.”
           Stephanie, 16, is one of eight students who are participating in the Commission on the Status of Women with the School Sisters of Notre Dame Delegation. She is attending with Juliane Bungartz, a French and English teacher at the school.
           Von der Leyen’s work for reform in the areas of parental leave, and equitable wages for women has earned her a high level of credibility, Bungartz said. She believes that gender inequity in the workplace is evident by the number of highly educated women who remain shut out of jobs traditionally held by men.
           “Her vision is for women not only to have a job but to have a career and to have realistic career objectives,” Bungartz said. “I think she really does want do something for women and gender equity.”
           Felizitas von Boeselager, a teacher from Gymnasium Brede in Brakel, also attended the reception with her student, Nadine Binder, 16. Von Boeselager had written to von der Leyen and told her about the School Sisters of Notre Dame delegation attending the Commission on the Status of Women. She also offered to share a questionnaire that Nadine created to assess the opinions of youth ages 15-18 on the issues of violence and discrimination against the girl child.
           Human rights issues do exist in Germany, issues although they may not be as dramatic or atrocious as the abuses found elsewhere in the world, von Boeselager said.
           “This minister is really good” von Boeselager said. “She says what she wants to do, and she pushes it through. She focuses on the life of the child and improving the situation of the children. The problem is that if you compare the European Union with other countries, such as Africa, we are better off so not so much has to be done.
           “There are labor issues. She said that up to age 30, there are the same number of men and women in the workforce, but then when women get older and start to have children, the number falls back and their salaries decline.”