Guest Post from Ananya, a Girl Scout from Girl Scouts of Wisconsin Southeast
This past week, I was lucky enough to attend the 59th
commission on the status of women at the United Nations headquarters in New
York, New York. I was selected as one of 4 girls in my state to come here for a
week and make sure that as a girl, my voice was being considered and my rights
were being protected. As part of Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) and The World
Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS), there were a few mandatory
events on the schedule, but for the most part I attended as many side events
that I could in order to get the most out of this experience.
During the semiweekly webinars leading up to this event, I
chose to take on a speaking role for this week. On Monday, I was one of three girl
panelists talking about the The Girl Scout Research Institute’s report The State
of Girls: Thriving or Surviving? (2014), and the steps we can take to make
the areas in which we live safe and beneficial to girls. The other panelists
included Dr. Kamla Modi, a co-author of the state of girls reports; Serena, a
Girl Scout from New Jersey; Kharissa, a Girl Scout from Alaska; and Christy
Brown, the CEO of my council, Girl Scouts of Wisconsin Southeast. Christy also
talked about the creation of these reports in Wisconsin and what we can do to
empower girls to take on more leadership positions. We each brought a different
perspective to the discussion: Dr. Modi, as a collector of data; Serena, as a
minority girl; Kharissa, as a connection to violence against girls; Christy, as
an educator and a mom; and me, as a leader and an agent of change in my
community.
One interesting piece of information that I learned from
this experience was the difference between how a woman and a man generally
apply for a job. A man usually sees one out of 10 qualifications in an
application that he meets and says, "Oh, I'll go for this job!" On
the other hand, a woman will see 9 out of 10 qualifications that she meets but
one that she does not, and thinks she is not good enough for the job. I myself
have fallen prey to this kind of thinking, and no doubt many other girls have
as well. We need to do everything we can in our communities in order to make
sure our girls feel confident and empowered enough to put themselves out there
and follow their passions. When girls are motivated to fight for a worthwhile
cause, that is how we can make a change in this world.
Throughout my experience at the CSW, my favorite part was
just connecting with all of the participants; we did not know each other
personally, but we shared a common goal of empowering women and girls and
protecting our rights. I was also able to see a side of the issue that I had
not considered before - the male perspective. As Bollywood star and UN Women's
Goodwill Ambassador Farhan Akhtar said at the kickoff event for Planet 50-50 by
2030, this is an issue for men as well. "It's not just because we have
mothers, wives, sisters and daughters. We're here because it's a human rights
issue and we are all human beings."
But by far, the best session that I attended was titled
"Women fighting extremism: in the name of God? The role of CEDAW." This
event was sponsored by France, and had a panel consisting of the former French
Minister, the Secretary of State in France, the UN Coordination director and
the director of Amnesty International. The topics that were discussed were
basically how extremism affects women and girls, and what we can do to build
resilient communities and combat extremism. This session was particularly
appealing because its topic was unique when compared to those of the other
sessions, and it was sponsored by France. I'm currently taking AP French, so I
thought it would be good exposure. A couple of us arrived at the event early
and got seats in the very front of the conference room. After a few minutes, I
heard a woman speaking in French to a group behind us, so I decided to go up
and introduce myself to her, in French. She was pleasantly surprised that I
spoke French as a high school-er in America, but we were able to speak for a
while. I learned that she was a member of the Belgian Parliament!
I got her
contact information and she was really excited to keep in touch with me. When
it was time to start the session, we all took our seats as the moderator began
speaking. He and another panelist spoke English, but the other two panelists
only spoke in French. Luckily, since we were in the UN conference room, there
were little table-side translators do everyone could understand what was being
said. However, I wanted a comprehensive audio recording to look back on after
the session, so I placed the translator on my phone speakers and just listened
to the conversation. Surprisingly, I was able to understand everything, as I alternated
between taking notes in French and in English. But after hearing all of the
panelists speak about those issues, I noticed that they didn't mention girls at
all. I wanted to know how the girls affected by the extremists were being cared
for and what kind of education they would receive, because they were in camps
for a long period in their lives. I raised my hand and got called on for the
second round of questions. Since this was in the big conference room, there was
a camera that put the speakers ok the big screen for everyone to see. Everyone
in the room was able to hear my question in whatever language they preferred,
and the panel was really glad that I brought girls back into this issue. Since
girls can be in these camps for up to 10 years at a time, it's critical that
they receive a quality education so that they can be future agents of change
and take control of their actions later in life. 
At the end of the session, a woman came up to me and
congratulated me for asking that question and thinking of the girls. In the
introductions, I introduced myself as a Girl Scout, and she caught on to that.
She was actually a troop mom, and wanted to tell her daughter about the great
things that Girl Scouts were doing on a global level. Other people also came up
to me and were genuinely glad to see that as a girl, I was taking charge of my
own destiny and caring about fellow girls and their futures.
This event just really made me feel empowered and glad that
I was making a difference that others could see and appreciate. My overall
experience at CSW made it so interesting and stimulating that going back to
school is definitely going to be hard. Even though the hours were longer and
there were more hours of sitting and taking notes, I was able to see the direct
impacts and changes that this information would have on the world. I made many
connections with girls, boys, adults, parents and legislators from all over the
world. The girls from my council and I became inseparable due to the amount of
time we spent in sessions and in discussions together. I definitely hope to
attend a world conference like this again, because as a girl and an up and
coming leader, I want to be able to live in a world where women and men have
equal rights and are considered equal. By voicing my opinions to adults and
legislators, I can make sure that is girls are being considered when important
decisions are being made about our lives.