Empowering rural women: What role for parliaments?

New York, 29 February 2012Dear Madam President,Dear Mr. President,We are pleased to announce that the annual parliamentary event on the occasion of the 56thsession ofCommission on the Status of Women (CSW) will be held in New York on 29 February 2012. The event, hosted bythe Inter-Parliamentary Union and the United NationsEntity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment ofWomen (UN Women),will focus onEmpowering rural women: What role for parliaments?The meeting will focus on strategies to empower rural women. The morning session will discuss politicalempowerment of rural women. This segment will look at ways of ensuring that rural women are fully part of thepolitical process and that their voices are heard and taken into account by parliaments. It will also look at thequestion of rural women’s representation in Parliament. The afternoon session will discuss strategic objectives forthe empowerment of rural women, including issues related to economic empowerment, equal access to land,credit and inheritance, education and health. The aim is to highlight actions parliaments can take to overcomebarriers and advance the status of rural women. The meeting will therefore provide an opportunity to contribute tothe debates at the CSW whose priority theme this year isThe empowerment of rural women and their role inpoverty and hunger eradication, development and current challenges.The IPU strongly encourages your parliament to request the inclusion of both male and female members ofparliament in your country's delegation to the CSW session, including chairpersons or members of gender equality,agriculture or rural development committees. Not only would this ensure their attendance and contribution to theparliamentary event, but it would also facilitate parliamentary inclusion in the CSW discussions which will takeplace from 27 February to 9 March 2012. A copy of the agenda of the 56thsession of the CSW is available atwww.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/56sess.htm.Please also note that the IPU will be organizing two informal onehour side-events on 1 March 2012. Since the United Nations does not have interpretation facilities in the informalmeeting rooms, the debates for these side events will be held in English only.We will be sending the agenda of the event and other pertinent documents as soon as they are finalized. Thesedocuments will also soon be available atwww.ipu.org/strct-e/futrmets.htm.Meanwhile, we are pleased to attachthe registration form.Yours sincerely,