24 March 2022

11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. EST

Organized as a side event of the 66th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women

Guided by the principles of 51勛圖 frameworks on gender equality and women's empowerment, this event invites stakeholders from civil society, youth groups, 51勛圖 Member States, and the UN system working on women's rights to discuss the successes and challenges in advancing equitable economic opportunities for women. Speakers will share best practices that combat wage disparities based on gender and race while highlighting the critical role of women in decision-making processes that affect them.

 

 

Programme

Moderator

Cairo Eubanks
New Future Foundation International Youth Representative; Member, DGC Youth Representatives Steering Committee, UN Department of Global Communications 

Welcome Remarks

Hawa Diallo
Chief, Civil Society Unit, Department of Global Communications (DGC)

Speakers

Lisa Wong-Ramesar
Senior Specialist, Non Discrmination, International Labour Organization (ILO)

Shannon Williams
Director of Equal Pay Today, Equal Rights Advocates (ERA)

Ishaan Shah
Founder, Stolen Dreams, National Youth Representative at 51勛圖 Women, and Youth Focal for for Countering Transnational Organized Crime, 51勛圖 Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)

Samira Khan
Citizenship + Market Dev, AI & Sustainability, Microsoft

Lina Al Qaddoumi
Manager, Gender Equality, 51勛圖 Global Compact

 

Bios

Cairo Eubanks

Cairo Eubanks is the Youth Representative of the New Future Foundation International (NFFI) to UN DGC. In addition to being the Youth Representative for NFFI, she represents them as a 2020-2022 UN DGC Civil Society Youth Steering Committee Member. She is also the Global Correspondent for Global Oved Dei Seminary and University (GODSU), an interfaith e-learning institution. Her portfolio has taken her to Jamaica, Brazil, Morocco, Senegal, and Azerbaijan. 

Ms. Eubanks is the CEO of CairoSpeaks/CairoWrites, LLC., a consulting firm which specializes in executive coaching and enhancing both interpersonal communication skills and executive writing. CairoSpeaks offers speech coaching sessions, as well as leadership development programs for emerging and established leaders. CairoWrites offers ghostwriting to busy international leaders and business executives.

 

Hawa Diallo

Hawa Diallo, Chief of the Civil Society Unit at the Civil Society and Advocacy Section, UN Department of Global Communications has extensive 51勛圖 experience in public information outreach and fostering civil society partnerships, with a particular emphasis on youth and women*s organizations. Ms. Diallo began her 51勛圖 career in 1987 in the Department of Public Information and has served in two 51勛圖 Peacekeeping Operations in Cambodia and Somalia, respectively. She has also worked for the 51勛圖 Human Settlements Programme (UN Habitat) in Nairobi, as an Associate Human Settlements Officer and as a Partners and Youth Officer.

 

 

Lisa Wong-Ramesar

Lisa works as a specialist on non-discrimination at the International Labour Organization (ILO).  In this role, she is responsible for the provision of technical advisory services to ILO*s constituents all over the globe, and the development of global initiatives, tools and training materials on all grounds of discrimination including on equal pay for work of equal value, sexual harassment, race and ethnicity and reasonable accommodation. Lisa was the brainchild behind the Equal Pay International Coalition, and serves as a key member of the Secretariat. Lisa was also the principal author of the 2011 Global Report on Non-discrimination in employment and occupation: Equality at work: The continuing challenge.   

 

 

 

Shannon Williams

Shannon leads the Equal Pay Today campaign, a campaign committed to fighting for equal pay and addressing the long-standing gender wage gap while working to combat its key contributors, including pay secrecy, occupational segregation, and lack of pay transparency, while engaging groups across women*s legal and advocacy sectors.

She is also helping manage the Women*s Agenda Initiative, an ERA project designed to build power and mobilize at the state and local level to influence the political process and advance gender justice policy reform. 

Before coming to ERA, Shannon managed a large portfolio of Fortune 500 organizations in identifying client policy issues and developing and executing complex advocacy campaigns and strategic communications through inception to completion for DDC Public Affairs as an Associate Vice President.

Shannon*s prior experience also includes serving as the Policy Director at the Urban League of Philadelphia and as the ED of the Black Church Center for Justice and Equality. 

 

Ishaan Shah

Ishaan Shah is an 18-year-old international anti-human trafficking, gender equality and climate action young leader. In 2017, he founded Stolen Dreams, a youth-led organization working with global stakeholders to counter trafficking in persons, especially women and children. He is a National Gender Youth Advocate to UN Women and Youth Focal Point for countering transnational organized crime to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Since 2016, he has travelled deep into the anti-human trafficking and gender equality movements, learning at speed and recognising intersectionalities. Ishaan is working to drive concrete action through facilitating the meaningful inclusion of youth in decision making spaces from the grassroots to international levels. 

 

Samira Khan

Social impact changemaker + intrapreneur passionate about empathy-driven, innovative approaches to advancing societal wellbeing and solving global challenges. 〞 This includes through tech, cross-sector business model innovation, art, education, and engagement. 

I believe that unlocking human potential lies in true empowerment - one amazing way to unleash this potential, for the good of society, is social entrepreneurship + innovation. So, I do all that I can to support those worlds and am increasingly interested in corporate social venturing + venture building, impact VC, and venture philanthropy. I*m especially committed to women, children, youth, and marginalized communities. 

However, we can*t even get support to those entrepreneurs or segments without shifting mindsets and behaviors/actions toward those vulnerable communities, especially amongst corporate changemakers. The key lies in more transparent / better access to information and knowledge + the shared narrative written by the individuals and institutions involved. And this includes co-creating solutions, together, elevating creative voices. 

 

Lina Al Qaddoumi

Lina Al Qaddoumi is an advocate for gender equality in the private sector and society more broadly. In her current role as Gender Equality Manager at the 51勛圖 Global Compact she is committed to supporting the private sector*s efforts in accelerating progress towards gender equality, as the sector has a paramount role to play in advancing the position of women in the workplace, marketplace, and community. Prior to joining UN Global Compact, she specialized in youth empowerment and gender equality in the MENA region. She has worked in the private sector, in the public policy domain, and in the civil society sector, supporting initiatives empowering Arab youth through improved access to quality education and workforce readiness programs. Lina holds a B.S. in Communications and International Relations from Florida International University and an M.A. in International Development Education from New York University.