67th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women

New York. To mark International Women’s Day (8 March), which fell during the CSW, Caritas held a webinar titled ‘Embrace equality, encounter, renewal’ , in connection with the UN’s 2023 theme ‘DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality’, which brought together over 100 people from around the world to reflect on the empowerment of women in the Church and in society. The participation of Caritas at the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) was significant as it enabled the global Caritas confederation to share its unique experience, knowledge and expertise on issues affecting women at all levels on a truly international platform. Over 8,000 participants registered to attend the CSW, the UN’s largest annual gathering on the promotion of women and girls, giving Caritas the opportunity to build relationships with key stakeholders also working to advocate for women’s empowerment, education and participation in leadership. This year, discussions focused on the full participation of women and girls in the digital space and in the areas of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). In 2021, Caritas formed its Women’s Leadership, Equality and Participation Committee to strengthen its ongoing commitment to promoting women’s leadership at the grassroots, national, regional and international levels. This committee comprises representatives from all regions of the Caritas Confederation who are working together to promote the equal participation of women within the Caritas network and with external stakeholders and communities.In his keynote address at the ‘Embrace equality, encounter, renewal’ webinar, Msgr. Robert Murphy, Head of the Peace and Security Sector at the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the UN, spoke about the strongly-felt presence of women leaders in the ambit of multilateralism: “Women have real lead roles and made very real decisions that affect how the Church interacts with religious communities and with communities around the world. The Holy See is very frequently represented in the multilateral fora by women.” According to Andrea Sanchez, theologian and Advisor to the Latin America Women in Church and Society Commission, and Mónica Santamarina de Robles, Treasurer General for the World Union of Catholic Women’s Organisations (WUCWO), listening and dialogue are key in enabling the equal participation of women in Church structures. Ms. Sanchez said she hopes the upcoming April meeting on ‘women in synodality’ will be an opportunity for women to be heard and “to raise awareness of the human rights of women to live a life free of violence and discrimination”. During the webinar, both Radio Nyapui’s Fatima Sesay and Advisor to Caritas Brasileira, Clarissa Paiva, highlighted how technology can benefit migrant women seeking to work and better integrate in new communities. Ms. Sesay said that 60 per cent of those unemployed in Sierra Leone are women, and cited their lack of technical skills as a key cause behind these statistics. This year, Caritas Internationalis will also publish a booklet titled ‘Equality, encounter, renewal: A Caritas commitment to the promotion of women’s leadership and participation’, based on sacred scripture and the values and principles of Catholic Social Teaching. This booklet gathers more than 30 testimonies of women working at all levels in the Caritas network which share how to put these principles into practice in order to achieve equality between men and women. (abstract)