Connecting Women

Michelle Bachelet, Kathy Calvin International Women's Day Press Conference by UN Dispatch

On the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day on March 8, 2011, the United Nations Foundation will host a special tele-briefing for media, live from Monrovia, Liberia, with UN Women Executive Director, Michelle Bachelet.  UN Foundation CEO Kathy Calvin will host the conversation.  

Ms. Bachelet, former President of Chile, is joining President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf – the first democratically elected woman President in Africa -- in Liberia to highlight the importance of women’s leadership in forging strong democracies, economies and re-building societies after conflict. Ms. Bachelet will be briefed by Liberian women leaders, women entrepreneurs, and women in the security sector. While in Liberia, she will launch a programme to re-build markets for women that is being supported by UN Women.

During the teleconference, Ms. Bachelet shares her vision for the newly formed UN agency and discusses the support that UN Women will provide to increase the opportunities and capacities for women to take leadership in all sectors.

“We are honored to host UN Women Executive Director Bachelet for this conversation on March 8, and hear first-hand about her experiences and conversations in Africa on this special anniversary.  There is no more fitting way to commemorate International Women’s Day’s century of advancing the global agenda for women than for us to be talking about the issues impacting all women, including the world’s adolescent girls - its next leaders,” Calvin said.

In anticipation of spending 8 March in Liberia, Ms. Bachelet noted, “I am very pleased to celebrate this milestone in Liberia, a country where women’s influence in forging peace and recovery offers lessons for all countries committed to advancing gender equality and women’s human rights.”