Today, March the 3rd, was International Women's Day at the UN

Today was International Women's Day at the UN, with a special program. The Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon attended for some of it, but the real story was how the NGOs, wanting to get the message about the need for a stronger women's entity at the UN (the GEAR campaign) were organized. There were to be special labels with GEAR on them for us to wear. We were to congregate at 9:00 - and many of us did. But we could not get into the rooms - the doors were locked. It is obvious that the NGOs are not welcome as the official UN business is trying to get done. There is no accommodation for some of the older women, or women with disabilities. But the women persevere, and when the doors finally open, after many had been standing for over an hour, we were prepared. We had our GEAR labels, and found seats in the balcony. It was full.

Fortunately, the Secretary General said good things about the need for more resources for a women's agency, and advised the diplomats to approve the resolution that would be coming forward. We applauded his speech.

The interactive panel that followed basically reviewed the Platform for Action - and what remains to be done. The theme was Beijing at 15 - the Unfinished Agenda. I was impressed with an speech by H.E. Ms. Meng Xiaosi, Minister and Vice-Chairperson of the National Committee on Women and Children, People’s Republic of China.

We knew that Mary Robinson was speaking at an event - but it was a ticketed event, and we were out of luck. One of the real frustrations with this year's CSW is that events that are taking place in the temporary building are ticketed - under higher security and it is very difficult to find out where and when to get the tickets.