Our own Grace parishioner, Char Rusnak, has been selected by Presiding Bishop Curry to be one of twenty Episcopal delegates to the UN Commission on the Status of Women March 13-24, 2017. This year the Priority Theme is Women’s Economic Empowerment in the Changing World of Work. The Episcopal Church will focus on initiatives to: 1) increase access to education for women and girls; 2) support gender equality by working against gender-based violence and supporting socioeconomic benefits such as equal pay, childcare, maternity leave, and women in senior leadership, and; 3) program and finance projects supporting marginalized personnel including migrants, refugees, minorities and those with disabilities.
The Episcopal Church has non-voting delegates, so Char and the other delegates will be advocating the official Church position on these issues to the voting representatives of the member states and identifying ways the Episcopal Church (and Grace, Region IV, and the Diocese of Virginia) can support these goals.
Char will be reporting on her experiences on Facebook, so be sure to like and follow her page for updates.