Un Women Promotes Gender Equality

To: Michelle Bachelet, Executive Director, UN Women
From: Onni Milne, Canada

Congratulations on your appointment to the position of Executive Director of UN Women. I cheered when I heard that the UN amalgamated four underfunded women's departments to create this new department. I cheered when I heard that you had been appointed to lead it.

I am a woman from a Western country, Canada. I have not had to deal with many health and social issues that women from underdeveloped countries live with. Yet, every day I live with and hear about issues that all women experience.

As a "flower child" of the 1960s, I remember the joy of that time, the sense of freedom and moving forward to new possibilities. I was part of a group that was going to change the world. Our Prime Minister was Pierre Elliott Trudeau and there was a sense of electric excitement in the air.

My hope is that the same electric excitement is happening for you and your team as you create new possibilities and realities for the women of planet Earth. For too long, women have been punching bags for men who do not know how to handle their feelings in a constructive way or governments who relegate women to second class status in pay equity or job opportunities.

In my area of the world, over 30 First Nations women were murdered on William Picton's pig farm in the Lower Mainland. He bragged that he had murdered 50. Numerous First Nations women have disappeared on the "Highway of Tears" in northern BC. They were deemed dispensable by the authorities of the day who did not follow up to investigate when women started to disappear.

My hope is that stories like these will no longer be part of women's stories and women's lives thanks to your efforts.

As the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women officially begins its work this month, World Pulse is asking women worldwide: What is YOUR vision and recommendation for UN Women? We invite you to raise your voice by writing a letter to UN Women Executive Director Michelle Bachelet outlining your recommendation for how this new UN agency can truly affect change on the ground to promote gender equality and uphold the rights and needs of women both on a local and global scale.
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