For the fourth year in a row, Lehigh University students have been selected to present a Parallel Session at the annual United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).

The presentation, to be offered during the CSW conference March 9-20, 2020, will focus on reports on the status of gender equality in Nigeria and on university campuses in the United States. The student team will also highlight the creation of educational materials to be used as online resources for health care professionals in Nigeria.

Outside of the Parallel event, students will have the opportunity to volunteer and speak as part of other events during the CSW conference. In collaboration with two of our Lehigh University-United Nations Partnership NGO partners and the Center for Gender Equity at Lehigh, we are working on a pre-conference event to be held at Lehigh with a focus on gender equality and university women. Representatives from UN Women, the American Association of University Women, and the Centre for Public Health (Nigeria) have agreed to be guest speakers during the event.    

Lehigh has been directly involved with the CSW for more than a decade, including having students serve as rapporteurs and discussion facilitators. Attendees at the CSW include more than 1,000 female leaders of NGOs from around the world, heads of state, Nobel Prize winners and other female global notorieties.