UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) New York March 2026

I joined thousands of women from around the world at the United Nations for the 70th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).


The Commission has convened annually for 70 years and traditionally takes place each March at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, bringing together governments, civil society organisations and activists to advance gender equality and the rights of women and girls worldwide.


As a member of Soroptimists International Great Britain and Ireland (SIGBI), I joined their delegation, which is a member of the UK Civil Society Women’s Alliance (UKCSWA). The Alliance is an umbrella body comprising over 500 organisations and individuals across the UK. It works to promote and protect the rights of women and girls, both in the UK and globally, with a particular focus on the full implementation of international legal instruments to which the UK is a signatory. Collectively, its members represent millions of women and girls and address the full range of issues affecting their lives. The Alliance celebrates its strong relationship with civil society, particularly in championing the voices and experiences of women and girls.


This year’s priority themes at CSW were “Access to Justice” and “Women in Decision-Making.” Delegates explored the barriers women and girls face in seeking justice, as well as strategies to increase women’s leadership and representation at all levels.


There were hundreds of events taking place across New York City, and I participated in events daily, looking at the impact of education on all women' s and girls’ lives. Below is a snapshot of some of my meetings.


I met with the Minister for Women, Baroness Smith and Uma Kumaran, U.K. MP, who chaired an event on Education, Entrepreneurship and Justice at the Baha'i International Centre (BIC), where I was part of a working group looking at the barriers young people face when trying to access education and find possible solutions.


I attended a side event, “Knowledge is Power: Education as the First Step to Justice for Women and Girls”, at the Permanent Mission of Ireland to the United Nations, where I heard from a panel of experts exploring the powerful connection between education and access to justice. This highlighted policy actions, partnerships and evidence-based approaches aligned with the CSW70 priority theme and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); notably SDGs 4 (Quality Education) and SDG 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions).


I was honoured to attend a CSW parallel event hosted by Isa Buencamino of Wow (Women of The World Coaching) and Ivanna Dela Torre, founder of Herrd. I was an expert voice on a panel looking at Women’s Leadership and Access to Justice. There were three fishbowl panels where the audience joined the table and discussed a topic. One topic was Women’s Barriers to Economic Participation.


Education as a First Step to Justice Hosted by the Permanent Mission of Ireland in collaboration with Soroptimist International and Graduate Women International, this event focused on formal, nonformal, and vocational education as a foundation for legal empowerment and access to justice.


I took the opportunity to connect with other women working collectively to improve the lives of all women and girls globally. It was inspiring to listen to many speakers, including Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations, who encouraged us all to continue to work on the challenges to achieving gender equity for all women and girls.


One of our SSF Ambassadors, Helen Porter, also attended the conference as part of the SIGBI delegation. She said, “ I was fascinated to learn that for young widows in sub–Saharan Africa, their number one concern is that their children remain in school. The poverty brought on by widowhood often prevents this. Keeping their children in school reduces child marriage and the risk of terrorist recruitment.“)


Share your knowledge and remember a small drop of information can cause a ripple and may even cause a wave.” Berthe De Vos Neven, Director of Advocacy, Soroptimist International

Ann Beatty • April 3, 2026

In Harmony With Peace Concert

By Ann Beatty • June 1, 2026
On Friday evening ( 29 May, 7.00 pm The Actors Church Covent Garden) we had the pleasure of listening to this very special concert, bringing together the Choir of King's College London and the Princeton High School Orchestra in a celebration of international friendship, collaboration, and shared values. This project reflects a commitment to peace, sustainability, equality, and cultural exchange, uniting young musicians from the United Kingdom and the United States through the universal language of music.

36 Bicycles. Countless Futures in The Gambia.

By Ann Beatty • May 20, 2026
How a simple act of practical solidarity is transforming the journey to school in The Gambia’s Central River Region North Policies have been written. Schools have been built. Yet for many children in The Gambia’s Central River Region North, access to education is still measured in kilometres, not opportunity. 

Education for Hope in Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous Times

By Laura Griffin • May 13, 2026
‘In a single hour vast tracts of shaded woodland became a jumble of torn trees and upturned soil, exposed to the glare of the summer sun. Such land-clearing events are rare, but forests exhibit remarkable resilience in the face of disaster. I’m told that the Chinese character for ‘catastrophe’ is the same as that which represents the word ‘opportunity’. And, the blowdown, while catastrophic, presented opportunities for many species.’ (Wall Kimmerer, 2003: 89). In the context of a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world (Stein, 2021) what kinds of education for hope might support children’s and young people’s critical engagement in local and global issues? In the spirit of exploring the possibilities of hope further, this short article focuses on the area of global citizenship and sustainabilityrelated education. It will briefly open by sharing commonalities across pedagogical approaches that take up the concept and act of hope more critically, and close by offering reflective questions for educators, with suggestions for further reading. Perhaps it is a kind of hope that is grounded in the present, in future reimagining(s), in ethical solidarity, and an acknowledgement of our deep entanglement with the living metabolism of planet earth 1 our singular home (UNESCO, 2021); a hope that engages with complex root causes and lived realities of multiple overlapping crises in critically reflexive and contextually relevant ways. As McCloskey notes, ‘Hope can fire our collective imagination and critical consciousness as a mainspring to activism and intervention in the world.’ (2025: 3). Commonalities across critical pedagogical approaches to hope include: Acknowledging the context of a ‘seamless single story of progress, development and human evolution’ (Andreotti, V.D.O., 2021b Relating to social and ecological justice and the wellbeing of people and planet Using participatory, action-orientated and inquiry-based learning processes Exploring diverse worldviews and perspectives Practising grounding in the present with opening up possibilities for change (relational, embodied, response-able 2 ) Experiencing ‘struggle’ in different forms (dialogical, selfreflexive, open-ended) Engaging individual and collective agency, action and activism Looking for lifelong and life-wide learning and unlearning. 1 See ‘Co-sensing with Radical Tenderness’, in Machado de Oliveira Andreotti. 2021a 2 See ‘Crossing Borders’ in 2 Depth Education “Depth Education and the Possibility of GCE Otherwise, 2021b. Source: Andreotti, V. 2021a & 2021b., Atif, A. (2025)., Bourn, D. 2021., Bryan. A. and Mochizuki,Y., 2024., Giroux, H.A. 2025., Meade, E. 2025. Whilst engaging in the concept and act of hope more critically reflect upon: What kinds of education for hope might you explore further and why? How might you provide generative spaces for engaging in diverse worldviews and perspectives? In what ways can you facilitate individual and collective agency? How might you support learners’ practice grounding in the present in order to relate differently? In what ways can you support learners in navigating complex root causes and lived realities of local and global issues? As Chief Ninawa Hini Kui affirms, ‘The future depends much less on the images we project ahead than on our capacity to repair relations and build relationships differently in the present.’ (Andreotti et al, 2023: 73. An invitation for further reading: Transformative Learning for a Sustainable Future . d’Abreu, C., Belgeonne, C., Bourn, D. and Hatley, J. (2025) ‘Transformative Learning for a Sustainable Future’. DERC Research Paper 24. London: UCL Institute of Education. Hospicing Modernity: facing humanity’s wrongs and the implications for social activism. Machado de Oliveira Andreotti, V. (2021a) ‘Hospicing Modernity: facing humanity’s wrongs and the implications for social activism’ , London: Penguin Random House. Development Education and Hope . McCloskey, S. (2025). (ed) ‘Development Education and Hope’. ‘Policy and Practice: A Development Education Review’ , Vol. 41, Autumn. Centre for Global Education, Belfast. Link to and download the full reference list here