InternationalWomen'sDay1997

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Special Event Question and Answer with UN Women Questions for Dorota Gierycz (Who is she?) Dear Ms Gierycz, My name is Shannon Randall, I am thirteen years old and I live in South Africa. I feel very strongly about equality and Women's Rights. What are some of the ways in which women from all over the world are helped and made aware of their rights? Do you think that women could be instrumental in helping the peace process in warring countries, and how could they be instrumental? What sort of things do you teach at your courses? What sort of jobs are available to women in the political world? I ask this because their are far too few female politicians and I think that a woman's point of view is important. Where could I find out more information on women's rights? Thank you very much. Sincerely, Shannon Randall Ms.Dorota Gierycz A few of us have been told to ask you some questions on what sort of a job you have. 1. What sort of impact does your job have on your social life? 2. what does your job consist of? 3. What kind of women do you help/provide for? 4. what ages do they range from? 5.are there alot of people who need providing? 6. how do you benefit from doing this? Thank you very much Celeste Saville (grade 9BD) Dear Miss. Gierycz My name is Hayley MacKenzie and I live in South Africa. What are some of the the ways that the UN has helped women? What can we do? What type of courses do you do? Is the UN able to help women who have been battered? If so what is being done? Do girls as well as women take these courses? What type of jobs are there for women in the political world? Do you enjoy your job? If I wanted to become a politiation, what would my chance of succsses be? Thank you for your time! Hayley MacKenzie Dear Ms Dorota Gierycz, I trust you are well, and will be able to answer a couple of questions for me - well maybe more, hope you don't mind. I really admire women with with power, especially in a high post like the UN; makes me wonder what actual post they hold there, could you please explain to me what the women are actually trained to do? are they trained for particular jobs or have equal access to anything like the men, and will we ever have a woman UN secretary general? anyway I am from Ghana and a Ghanaian man is now the un secretary general. I'm sure you know but I'm very proud, my full name is Nana Serwaa Prempeh but you can call me Nana. How old do you have to be to join the UN? can anyone join? And I hear you are a lecturer, well my father was one too but the students gave him a headache and he stopped. Do you sometimes get really tired of talking so much it makes you want to quit? If you do please don't quit, we need people like you. It was very nice talking to you I hope you reply soon. CHEERS NANA Dear Ms Dorota... I've heard lots about you but the funny thing is I've never really asked anyone what this UN meant and what it is about and so I thought I should just write to you and hear all about it from you. So I hope you don't mind me asking you quite a few questions, okay maybe lots but I hope you don't mind... I don't know anything about it so please bare with me... Oh! My name is Nelisa I'm in grade 9 at the Wykeham Collegiate in South Africa, I live in the Eastern Cape which is five hours away from my school so I'm a border at the school... I'm interested in what the UN is about, and what women do in the UN. I also would love to know what you have to do or be to be in the UN, for how long you've been a member of the UN and why you chose to do that? And I hear you are lecturer. Are you enjoying being a lecturer? is being a lecturer more difficult than being a teacher? I would also love to know more about the UN, what kind of things you deal with whether its working, how many members you have, where it goes on, what type of personality you have to have in order to do this work, is it fun do you enjoy it... How old would you have to be in order for you to join the group? is it a huge or a small group? Hope to hear from you soon... Nelisa is where the party is !!!!!!!! Nelisa Makongwana (grade: 9G) Thank you for providing me with so many interesting questions. I will do my best to answer them, trying to group them, so my replies can be more coherent. 1. With reference to the questions about helping women: I believe that the best way to help women is to strengthen their self-reliance and self-confidence through education, economic independence, and other forms of empowerment, such as the knowledge of their rights. Then women would know themselves how to develop their own careers, family lives and professional prospects, and also how to contribute to society, development, eradication of violence and aggression. The UN tries to play the role in this respect setting international standards of equality and providing a forum at which the Governments, non-governmental organizations and representatives of civil society discuss those issues and enter commitments to implement those standards in practice. It means, for example, to ensure that boys and girls have equal access to education at all levels; that violence against women, in all its forms constitutes a crime and will be treated as such by the justice system and the police; that women have an important role to play not only in their families but also, for example, in politics, to share decisions concerning the future of their countries. I hope that Shannon, Celeste, Nana and Hayley find this answer helpful. 2. With regard to my work at the UN, I can only say to Nelisa and Nana, and Celeste that it is fascinating work, although we have to work very hard. Sometimes we report from the conferences, which means that we have to spend long hours in the office. For example, during the 1995 Conference in Beijing I used to sleep between 7 - 9 a.m.... My work also involves travel, meeting people in different parts of the world, from various cultures. It is really an enriching experience. In terms of education, in order to join the UN you have to have at least a M.A., better a Ph.D. I have M.A in international law and Ph.D. in international relations. You also have to know languages and be open to a variety of different cultural and social perspectives in order to work successfully with people from different cultures. 3. Yes, Shannon, I believe that women are most needed to build peace. Did you notice that women have not been among decision-makers who decided on wars and spending money on military budgets, but, together with children constituted most of the refugees, due to those wars? As long as women are not involved in the peace process, including peace and security operations by the United Nations we can not achieve a lasting peace. To Q&A Main Page

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