..Press Release................................ UNESCAP News Services

Date: 31 July 2008
Press Release No. N/26/2008

UN ESCAP Forum to Explore Women’s Empowerment

10:00 a.m., Monday, 4 August, UN Conference Centre, Bangkok

Bangkok (ESCAP Information Services) -- The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) is holding a forum, entitled “Where’s the Power in Women’s Empowerment?” at which leading experts from the Research Programme Consortium on Women’s Empowerment in Muslim Contexts will share their views and analyses.

The key focus of the forum is the cutting-edge research that the Consortium has carried out across several countries to deepen understanding of women’s empowerment and how the stumbling blocks to achieving this empowerment may be overcome. A further aim of the forum is to examine what analysis and strategies are necessary to achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals.

The forum will be attended by policymakers and other stakeholders who will share their insights on the need to re-assess current development thinking, planning and implementation on gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Members of the press are invited to attend the forum, which will take place on Monday, 4 August, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. in Room 3, Level 1 of the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok.

Dr. Noeleen Heyzer, UN Under-Secretary-General and ESCAP’s Executive Secretary, will chair a panel of speakers that will include:

• Ms. Yakin Ertürk - UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women; Professor of Sociology at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey;
• Ms. Vivienne Wee - Director of the Research Programme Consortium on Women’s Empowerment in Muslim Contexts; Associate Professor and Associate Director, Southeast Asia Research Centre, City University of Hong Kong, China;
• Ms. Bina Agarwal - Professor of Economics at the Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi University; member of the UN Committee for Development Policy, the Prime Minister’s National Council for Land Reforms and founding member of the Indian Society for Ecological Economics;
• Ms. Farida Shaheed - Deputy Director of the Research Programme Consortium on Women’s Empowerment in Muslim Contexts; Adviser at Shirkat Gah Women's Resource Centre, Pakistan; member of the Government’s Punjab Task Force on Women’s Development.

The speakers will also be available for media interviews prior to and following their panel discussion.

For more information, please contact:

UN Information Services
Tel.: +66-2-288-1861-9
Fax: +66-2-288-1052
Email: unisbkk.unescap@un.org