Dear friends,
As you probably know, the World March of Women in the Year 2000 is a
seven-month community awareness campaign involving women in 155 countries
around the world. Its two main aims are: the elimination of poverty
worldwide, greater equity in the sharing of wealth between women and men;
and the elimination of violence against women.
The World March of Women was launched internationally on International
Women's Day this year and will conclude with a number of events in the
lead-up to the world rally in New York on October 17th (International Day
for the Elimination of Poverty) when millions of cards from people around
the world will be presented to secretary general Kofi Annan at United
Nations headquarters. There will also be a mass rally in Washington on
October 15th. Part of this march will parade outside the World Bank and
International Monetary Fund. General and logistical information on the mass
actions in Washington and New York City is available on the World March web
site http://www.ffq.qc.ca/marche2000/ and will be continuously updated.
In addition, there will be innumerable events of varied formats around the
world in most of the 155 participating countries between October 1st and
17th. Around Australia, there will be Women's Song and Dance Fests for
women of all cultural backgrounds on Saturday October 7th. For further
information about the Australian events, please contact us and we can put
you in touch with the organising group in your nearest centre.
I'm writing writing now on behalf of the committee to invite applications
from women to represent Australia at the concluding events in the United
States. There are two categories of application:
1. Women can apply to be representatives of the national organising
committee at one or both of the two mass events in the US. It is envisaged
that a number of representatives will participate in this capacity.
2. Women can apply to be considered to fill the one vacancy for Australia
on the international delegation to meet (on at least two separate
occasions) with personnel from the International Monetary Fund, the World
Bank and the United Nations. In addition, this woman would need to be
available to participate in an unspecified number of other meetings to be
held in Washington and/or New York between 12th and 18th October.
Each participating country can appoint one member to the international
delegation team. Although there are now 155 participating countries, it is
unlikely that all participating countries will be sending a representative.
The IMF, WB and UN personnel will include the UN secretary general, Kofi
Annan who has made one and a half hours available for a meeting with the
international delegation on 17th October.
Applications need to be received in writing (and preferably by email) by
Thursday July 13th 2000 at 5 pm.
The Selection Criteria are:
1. Demonstrated experience in women's issues
2. Written support of a women's organisation
3. Agree to support articles of CEDAW
4. Ability to self-finance travel and other expenses involved
5. Agree to report back to the national organising committee on outcomes of
the US meetings.
Applicants should include a copy of their CV and send it to us preferably
by email at the address below. If unable to send via email, applicants are
asked to include a copy of their application on disk. Please also include
contact details: postal address, phone and fax numbers, email address.
Please note that since the national organising committee is operating off
no budget, the women concerned are expected to pay their own travel fares
and other expenses.
And finally, the selection of women in the two categories mentioned above
will not affect the decision of any individual woman or women who may
choose to participate in the mass rallies as individuals since these mass
rallies are open to any person wishing to participate. As it will be in the
interests of all Australian women intending to travel to the US for the
Washington and NY events to be in touch with each other prior to travel, an
invitation is also extended to any woman intending to travel to the US for
the concluding events to make contact as soon as possible with the national
organising committee. Please let us know your name, address, phone and fax
numbers, email address; date of departure; contact details while in
Washington or NY; which of the two events you will be attending. Women may
also be interested to subscribe to the World March of Women, Australian
Information email list. If so, please make contact.
Many thanks for your assistance in circulating all of this information
among your networks.
Please feel free to contact us in any case at the address, phone and email
below if further information is required.
all the best,
Cathy Picone
for the national organising committee World March of Women - Australia
c/o Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF),
GPO Box 2094, Adelaide, SA, 5001
Phone: 08 8296 4357
