“Should I submit an application to represent Episcopal Church at UNCSW?” you ask.  “What might I contribute?” “Is it worth the juggling I must do to cover my responsibilities at home and work to make it possible?” “After returning home, what could possibly change - with the problems women share worldwide, in the lives of those I touch directly in my work, or, possibly, in my own life?” If you are asking these questions, know that those who have attended UNCSW in the past did also. But if you have a passion to serve women - in your work, your community, your world - whose lives are adversely affected by their gender, you have much to give and gain from participating in the UNCSW.

“Think globally, act locally,” we hear.  While attending the presentations, caucuses, workshops, worship services at UNCSW, you reflect on your work and experiences at home, you think locally and have the opportunity to participate and act globally. You are humbled by the women you meet who have created unique, concrete solutions to significant problems in their tiny villages with the most modest of resources. You see the many ways large, powerful international agencies and governmental organizations are working for positive change in our sisters' lives. You feel the power of the United Nations at one small moment in time as you help create the words for formal statements to governments and petitions to be signed pressing for action. It is an exhilarating and exhausting experience of learning, bonding and networking, of touching and being touched by the issues women share. As an Episcopal Church delegate, you have the incomparable benefit of sharing, processing, grounding the daily experiences within our shared faith and with your sisters representing the Anglican worldwide communion.  

When you return home, as you act locally, you will see your work as within its true global framework of empowering women. Your work becomes a real piece of the work we have in common with our sisters worldwide - and the passion we have to remove every obstacle limiting women's access to the rights, resources, and opportunities to which all humankind is entitled. You will return home better informed by the experience, inspired by the many courageous women you have met, and spirit renewed through your Anglican communion.

Kathy Deasy- 2006 UNCSW delegate from Arizona