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The event on
“Women’s Mental Health and Wellbeing in the Post-2015
Agenda,” held March 9 at New York’s Armenian Convention
Centre as part of the two-weeklong annual meeting of the
United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW)
drew a packed room. Called Beijing+20 in honor of its
20th anniversary
since gathering in Beijing, China in 1994, the CSW
sessions discuss progress towards achieving gender
equality, women’s empowerment, and women’s rights like
freedom from violence,
participation in land ownership and equal pay for equal
work.
Moderated by Professor of Africana Studies at Rowan
University Dr. Corann Okorodudu, the event was a unique
mixture of panelists with professorial perspectives and
performances, all from diverse cultures.
Powerful presentations covered challenges of
pregnant women in India, by Dr. Padmini Murthy of the
Medical Women’s International Association; women
suffering from fibroids, by UN NGO representative for
the International Association of Applied Psychology
Grace Charrier; child victims of trafficking by Pace
University professor Dr. Yvonne Rafferty; and violence
against women, presented by Drs. Janet Sigel and
Florence Denmark, UN NGO representatives.
Men also suffer and need to be part of the CSW
conversation, emphasized Chair of the Psychology
Coalition Dr. Judy Kuriansky, producer of the event. She
showed a riveting video of young men describing their
stress working in a burial team in Sierra Leone, during
a workshop she conducted with them on a recent mission
there.
Since CSW often emphasizes the importance of
involving young women, the event opened and closed with
teenagers singing. 16-year-old Sheimyrah Mighty of
Jamaican-Haitian heritage, captivated the audience with
her powerful performance of the song “Every Woman, Every
Child.” The original anthem written by Dr. Judy
Kuriansky and international composer Russell Daisey,
supports the theme of the UN Secretary General’s
campaign of the same name.
Also16 years old, Hispanic-born Sophia Angelica
equally wowed the audience when closing the event
singing “I Will Always Love You,” the song made popular
by Whitney Houston’s performance in the movie, “the
Bodyguard.”
Also earning a standing ovation was Japanese
operatic soprano and international recording artist
Tomoko Shibata, who sang a Japanese version of an
original song. “Towers of Light,” written by the team of
Daisey and Kuriansky, to honor the victims of New
York’s 9’11 and Japan’s 3/11 tsunami/earthquake, given
the 4th anniversary
of that event. Shibata spoken of the need to honor
values of the older generation of women while being more
open in self-expression as younger Japanese girls.
A powerful original dance by two young medical
students from Albany Medical College, Indian-born Shilpa
Darivemula and Rohini Rau-Murty, dramatized their
interpretation of women healing within to integrate her
self and feel empowered.
A duo of Chinese-born virtuoso musical artists,
Feifei Yang and Jiaju of F J Music Fusion, played
ancient Chinese instruments in their original
composition of “Rose: Women’s Strength and Empowerment
from Early Days to Beijing+2 to Beyond 2015.”
In the spirit of CSW, the participants pledged
partnerships to advance women’s rights, empowerment,
mental health and wellbeing.
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