What is our Zonta Vision

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What is our Zonta Vision?

• Zonta District 7
• United Nations Chair
• Kay Moss

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Zonta Visionfrom our most recent Welcome to
Zonta presentation

• Zonta International envisions a world in which
  womens rights are recognized as human rights and
  every woman is able to achieve her full
  potential. In such a world, every woman is
  literate and has access to education, health
  care, legal and economic resources on an equal
  basis with men.
• In such a world, no woman lives in fear of
• violence.

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Zonta Vision

• In July of 2006, each of your Club Presidents
  received a request that began with As your
  representatives at the UN in New York, we are
  following closely the progress of the development
  of the Secretary Generals study on Violence
  against Women, which will be distributed to the
  United Nations General Assembly during the 61st
  Session this fall.
•  

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Responses to International Request

• From Jamestown, ND ... We work closely with the
  local SAFE Shelter and some of our members do
  service projects and counseling for the SAFE
  Shelter.
• From Jefferson City, MO Our club works with the
  local womens shelter for victims of domestic
  violence in a variety of ways. Over the past two
  years, our members have provided babysitting for
  more than 150 children for 75 mothers. Our club
  had a Counselor from the Rape and Abuse Crisis
  Services (RACS).
• From St. Charles, MO Co-sponsoring a 5K Walk
  Against Violence in April 2007. The walk took
  place during Crime Victims Week. They have been
  working with partners Bridgeway Counseling
  Service (provider of a domestic violence shelter
  and counseling ), Business and Professional Women
  (ESPW) and also E-Womens Network.

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Responses to International Request

• Johnson County, KS Heightened Awareness and
  motivation to observe International Womens Day
  and World AIDS Awareness Day.
• Kansas City II Research on CEDAW and 16 Days of
  Activism, and the commitment of local membership,
  one of whom serves as a Program Director for
  Women's Health - Truman Medical Center
• St. Louis, MO Working with SAWERAA (Southern
  Asian Womens Empowerment Regional Assn.) to
  serve (these) women who are victims of domestic
  violence through Support, Education and
  Empowerment.

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Responses to International Request

• Many times your responses included the
  commitments by specific members to heighten
  awareness and spur action on the part of our
  Clubs ..
• Janae Schaeffer - research on CEDAW and 16 Days
  of Activism
• Fran Jaeger - Program Director for Women's Health
  at the Truman Medical Center
• Sherrill Mulhern - Medical anthropologist
  specializing in Religious and Psychiatric
  Anthropology, particularly cultural systems that
  reveal socially concealed violence.
• Joan Halvorson (Status of Women Chair - District
  7) - the director of the Stutsman County Victims
  Assistance and a resource, as well.

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In August 2006, Zonta observed the 16th
anniversary of16 Days of Activism Against Gender
Violence Advancing Human Rights to End Violence
Against Women

• The Center for Women's Global Leadership (from
  Rutgers University) - The campaign has been
  utilized by groups all over the world to demand
  support services for survivors, enhance
  prevention efforts, press for legal and judicial
  reform, and use international human rights
  instruments to address violence against women as
  a human rights violation, a public health crisis
  and a threat to human security and peace
  worldwide.
• The 16 Days campaign celebrates activists who
  have made the campaign a success and honors women
  human rights defenders who have suffered
  intimidation and violence for their activism
  and/or have given their lives fighting for gender
  equality.

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The request from Jackie Shapiro who is the Zonta
International United Nations Committee Chair
asking us to Advocate for CEDAW

• The Convention to Eliminate All Forms of
  Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)
• The CEDAW Convention is often termed an
  international bill of rights for women. It is the
  only international treaty to comprehensively
  address basic rights for women in politics,
  health care, economics, education, employment,
  law, marriage and family relations.
• 185 countries have ratified the CEDAW Convention.
  The United States has signed this Convention, but
  has not ratified it. Other countries that have
  not ratified are Iran, Sudan and Somalia.

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Then the ICRW International Center for Research
on Women asked ..

• For organizational endorsements for the Child
  Marriage Prevention and Protection Act of 2006.
• Child marriage is prevalent in many developing
  countries, putting millions of girls at risk.
  Girls who marry young are more likely to live in
  poverty, experience violence at home and much
  less likely to continue attending school. 
• And we were encouraged to write our Senators to
  encourage attention to the distressing facts of
  child marriage.
• It was meant to also encourage the U.S. State
  Department to regularly report on child marriage
  in their annual Human Rights report. 

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And just this week!

• Zonta International is joining Womens Edge
  Coalition and other co-sponsoring organizations
  in an advocacy campaign to endorse The Global
  Resources and Opportunities for Women to Thrive
  Act
• the GROWTH Act (HR 5858). 
• The GROWTH Act is legislation that proposes to
  increase the United States contributions to
  promote economic opportunities for women in
  developing countries. This could make the U.S. a
  leader in reducing poverty and promoting
  opportunities for women and families around the
  world.
• Since a fundamental element of Zonta
  Internationals mission is to promote the
  economic status of women through service and
  advocacy, weve been requested to take this
  opportunity to stand up and speak out about the
  feminization of poverty - Support the GROWTH Act!

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And from the UN Secretary Generals Fact Sheet -
Fighting violence against women - What works ?

• In countries around the world, a number of
  promising practices to prevent or respond to
  violence against women have been developed by
  States, NGOs and civil society organizations.
• These include - Enacting clear policies and laws
• Establishing strong enforcement mechanisms
• Hiring effective and well-trained personnel
• And involving many parts of government and the
  community.
• Now tell me - Who better than ZONTA to advocate
  for these actions?

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Zonta Vision

• Zonta International envisions a world in which
  womens rights are recognized as human rights and
  every woman is able to achieve her full
  potential. In such a world, every woman is
  literate and has access to education, health
  care, legal and economic resources on an equal
  basis with men.
• In such a world, no woman lives in fear of
• violence.