Our Story
The Women’s International Forum (WIF) was founded in 1975 by the spouses of the Permanent Representatives to the UN, to provide members of the diplomatic community, the UN Secretariat and the UN community with a forum for briefing and discussion on international issues and global concerns.
At this moment, we have more than 200 members mainly professionals from the diplomatic community, New Yorkers and from Non-Governmental Organizations affiliated with the UN.Women’s International Forum (WIF)
We are honored to have Mrs. Catarina Vaz Pinto, Spouse of the Secretary- General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres as our Patron.
Our Executive Board is composed by Pamela Jacovides (USA), Miriam Oueslati Khiari (Tunisia), Tanya Rattray (Jamaica), Dace Mazeika (Latvia), Ingrid Ružičková (Slovakia), Lista Damayanti Djani (Indonesia), Manipreet Tina Kaur Koonjul (Mauritius), Padma Akbaruddin (India), Zarina Varukatty (Singapore), Adriana Arriola (Paraguay), Mongolmaa Dorjnamjaa (Mongolia), Amy Gertze (Namibia), Paula Lopes (Portugal), Cathleen de Kerchove (Belgium), Latica Tomašić (Austria) and Sonia de Meza-Cuadra (Peru), Vice Presidents, and Sofia Herrera Cubillo (Costa Rica), President.
All the work that is being done in WIF is voluntary because we believe in a forum for Spouses where women and men can engage in meaningful discussions.
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The United Nations General Assembly had declared 2021-2030 as The Decade of Healthy Ageing. The objective of the initiative is to improve the lives of older people, their families and their communities. In conjunction with that initiative, the Women’s International Forum held it’s May Forum with Dr Naoko Muramatsu, Professor, Division of Community Health Sciences at the School of Public Health and Fellow at the Institute for Health Research and Policy at the University of Illinois, Chicago. She presented a snapshot of the demographic challenge of an ageing population being faced by all countries in the world and best practices on a policy level as well as community level to meet this challenge.
The United Nations General Assembly had declared 2021-2030 as The Decade of Healthy Ageing. The objective of the initiative is to improve the lives of older people, their families and their communities. In conjunction with that initiative, the Women’s International Forum held it’s May Forum with Dr Naoko Muramatsu, Professor, Division of Community Health Sciences at the School of Public Health and Fellow at the Institute for Health Research and Policy at the University of Illinois, Chicago. She presented a snapshot of the demographic challenge of an ageing population being faced by all countries in the world and best practices on a policy level as well as community level to meet this challenge.#undecadeofhealthyageing
WIF’s April Event “Peace and Security- the UN’s Role from an insider’s perspective with Ambassador Bob Rae of Canada was held at the Permanent Mission of Canada. It was a really interesting, insightful and thought provoking discussion on the UN Charter, role of the UN in peace building, peace keeping and conflict prevention.
Women breaking barriers and being pioneers in a field where no women has lead. Providing infrastructure and incentives for women to participate in the economic life of their countries and making education accessible to the most vulnerable and poor segment of society were some of the themes addressed in today’s WIF March Event. We were honored to have Qatar’s Minister of Social Development and Family, H. E. Mariam Al Misnad as the speaker at today’s event which was held in conjunction with the 66th session of the Commission on the status of women. The lively discussions were followed by a screening of the documentary “HER” in the presence of Director/Producer Melodie Carli.
Achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls in the context of climate change, environmental and disaster risk reduction policies and programmes is theme of this year’s Commission on the Status of Women(CSW).
During an informative and interactive WIF event, Amb. Mathu Joyini of South Africa, Chair of the 66th CSW outlined the components of CSW 2022, emphasizing the need for policies and action plans to achieve economic inclusion, social protection, resilience building, employment empowerment and promoting the participation of women and young girls in the macroeconomic and social framework. The CSW will bring together important players in government and civil society.
WIF’s January Event « Designing Babies: How Technology is changing the way we are Creating Children » had a record attendance. In an insightful discussion, Dr. Robert Klitzman, expert in bioethics at Columbia University, described how biomedical technologies, such as in vitro fertilization can assist with reproduction or the postponing of it, and how pre-implantation genetics can allow parents to ‘select’ their child’s s*x and traits, mitigate the risk of passing on diseases and possibly enhance capabilities. These procedures are mostly unregulated creating ethical, social, equitable, policy and legal questions. Dr Klitzman advocates for closer regulations on gene editing since ‘the science will happen before we are ready for it.
“Women in Conflict Zones: From Advocacy to Action” a conversation with Zainab Salbi, celebrated humanitarian and journalist was our December WIF event. A fascinating and inspiring discussion on Zainab’s work as grassroots humanitarian helping women and girls directly in conflict zones in different parts of the world. Her work involves helping women survivors of war/conflict get the support and tools and access to life changing skills to move from crisis and poverty to stability and economic self-sufficiency. Zainab was the founder of Women for Women International and and of the co-founders of Daughters of Earth. She is also a journalist and author.
Demystifying the Blockchain Revolution and how it can be a game changer for women was the topic of the Women’ international Forum’s November event. Our speaker Professor Marina Niforos from HEC, France identified the benefits to the use of Blockchain and how this can revolutionize all aspects of our lives in the near future.
It was an honor and privilege for WIF to have as our October speaker, our Patron, Ms. Catarina Vaz Pinto, former Deputy Mayor for Culture of Lisbon City. She is also the spouse of the United Nations Secretary-General, H. E. Antonio Guterres. She has been instrumental in promoting Lisbon as a Cultural Hub.
Ms. Vaz Pinto shared with us her commitment to having Cultural education become an intrinsic part of the SDG's. She spoke of her vision and accomplishments in expanding library networks in Lisbon; to fight illiteracy, spotlight cultural literacy, make the internet and other diverse educational tools more accessible, enhance civil education, create inter-generational links and to bridge in community cultural divides by being "a tool for Cultural Democracy." All development, including economic, must be linked to cultural development which includes our art and heritage, beliefs, values, sense of belonging and our identity. She further iterated that education can change social/cultural norms leading to greater gender parity.
Our first Forum in the 2021-2020 season was on « The Shadow Pandemic: Gender based violence and s*xual reproductive health"
A conversation with Dr. Natalia Kanem, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). It was moderated by our President Zarina Varukatty.
Dr Kanem began with the words, 'One step at a time, makes a difference.' It is her, the agency's and the UN's call to action 'to end: the unmet need for family planning, preventable maternal deaths and gender-based violence... and to ensure that 'no one is left behind'. She addressed the importance of education and equally important: family life education so that the Covid-19 Pandemic and 'Shadow Pandemic' do not 'sweep' women and girls' rights and issues, 'under the rug'. Thank you to the big turnout from our existing members and newly arrived friends in the diplomatic corps.
