For the very first time, UN Women Australia has included a youth delegate on their delegation to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.  I have had the honour of filling this role, which has been a great learning experience so far.  The purpose of this post is to update you on what I have been up to here at the CSW and, in particular, how young women are making a great contribution to the conference.  

The CSW has a Young Women's Caucus.  This caucus, made up of about 30 young women from around the world, has been working on suggestions that we can add to the final agreement of the conference.  The purpose of this is to make sure that the final agreement (also called 'agreed conclusions' in UN jargon), is working in the favour of young women and girls everywhere.  We have been focused on including points about the importance of involving young women in the creation and delivery of policies that affect us, as well as urging countries to create or expand comprehensive education programmes on sexuality and reproductive health.  These two points came up a lot throughout my consultations with young Australian women, so it is great to see that there is a real push here to get these points into the agreement.  The youth caucus has also come up with an oral statement to deliver to the CSW plenary - this is the main meeting where countries sit and debate the priority theme.  I was lucky enough to have the chance to deliver this statement on behalf of the caucus, so as I write this, I'm waiting in the plenary for my turn to speak and listening to what the country delegations have to say!

Of course, one of the best things about being at this conference so far has been the amazing other young women here!  I have been really impressed by how professional they have been in delivering talks and workshops, and in negotiating amendments to the final agreement.  Many of them have also been brave enough to share their stories about what it is like to be a young women in their own countries.  Something that has struck me is how, although there are cultural differences, many of the issues affecting young women around the world are very similar.  These are physical and sexual violence, negative depiction of women in the media and gender stereotyping, and the difficulties in attaining full-time, decent work and the challenges posed by having and raising children. It is my hope that the strong representation and participation of young women here at the conference will lead to action on the ground.  

As you may know, I have also been doing a video blog (click here) and have been using Twitter (click here) and facebook (click here) regularly to update you all on what's happening here.  I have also set up an online discussion where you can ask me questions about what is going here at the conference and I encourage everyone to get in touch!  Click here to get involved in the discussion!  
I shall be bloggin again very soon!

Catriona 

UN Women Australia Youth Delegate to the CSW