International Federation of University Women

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Finnish Federation presents seminar She Says YES to Power

At the occasion of the Commission on the Status of Women 2010, the Finnish Federation of University Women will be holding a special seminar in tribute to Helvi Sipilä, the first female Assistant Secretary-General of the UN. The seminar has been entitled She says YES to Power. Women’s political participation is a prerequisite for gender equality and genuine democracy. Empowerment of women in politics begins with increasing the number of women in decision-making positions, but it cannot stop there. What is required, are gender-sensitive governance reforms and a boost to women’s participation in economic policy-making. For more information on the seminar, click here.

JAUW reports on Work-Life project

For the last two years members of the Japanese Association have studied work-life balance in their own country and around the world. Survey responses from IFUW national affiliates offered insights into policies regarding provisions of childcare and elderly care leave, employment options such as flexible work hours and work-sharing, and promotion of progressive attitudes. The study was timely as the Commission on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), in its 2009 recommendation to the Japanese government called for greater efforts to eliminate stereotypical attitudes about the roles of men and women. For the full report, click here.

Call for Articles

IFUW members are invited to submit articles about actions taking place at the national or local level. This includes conferences, workshops, seminars, community projects, advocacy initiatives, coalition work with other NGOs and membership strategies. Selected articles, up to 500 words, will be used on the IFUW website. Good quality photographs are encouraged. Articles and photographs should be sent to with a message stating the submittor's full name, national federation or association, local group and contact information.

Excerpts from an Education Report from Pakistan

Two members of the Pakistan Federation shared a moving account "From Gloom to Chase" of a series of special camps designed to promote science subjects, particulary physics, at secondary school level in rural areas of the country. "We discovered that life is worth living still in the backdrop of the current social and economic upheaval and the bomb blasts..." At the first workshop about 100 students and 20 teachers from government schools took part, 50% were girls. It was amazing that "in an era where girls’ schools and colleges are being destroyed by militants and suppression of the female child is the norm, so many girls could stay away from their homes for five straight days." We were impressed by the students trying to understand the principle of an experiment and its underlying concept to later discuss them amongst themselves. Only a real teacher can understand our joy on the responses of those eager learners. In Nawabshah, we repeated the exercise for another 100 students , again 50 per cent were girls. Informal sessions of spontaneous oratory, poetry, jokes and music unearthed the hidden talents. "How we wish that our leaders could organise a huge EXCEL camp for the entire nation in order to dissolve the ethnic, racial, language and religious prejudices." (read the full report here)

The Network of Nordic University Women holds successful workshop on the Leaky Pipeline

KANN, the Network of Nordic University Women, ran a workshop during the 6th European Conference on Gender Equality in Higher Education (Stockholm, August 2009) called “Understanding the Mechanisms of the Leaky Pipeline”. The Leaky Pipeline is a metaphor for the question of why women drop from PhD and Post-doctoral programmes. Some of the factors presented were: hidden discrimination, lack of encouragement, lack of visibility, male gate-keepers and a masculine power structure. Dr Steven Sampson from the Department of Social Anthropology (University of Lund) reformulated the issue asking: What kind of people remain at the universities? During the last 15-20 years, universities have adopted a new management culture, a steering process which diminishes peoples’ ability to develop and increase their knowledge. University employees have become exposed to an “audit culture”, where everything is to be weighed and measured, thus freezing creativity and development. Perhaps women are critical of this new way and that is why they leave? (read the full report here)

Geneva Association offers Human Rights series

The Geneva section of the Swiss Association of University Women is organizing a four-part series on human rights starting in September, which will be open to the public. The first session will present the evolution of human rights concepts and the structure of the UN's human rights bodies. Subsequent sessions will look at the various human rights conventions and discuss some of the more pressing issues covered, such as racism and the elimination of discrimination against women. The goal of the series is to promote a human rights culture and to encourage a human rights approach to political decision-making and implementation.

Canadian Federation receives recognition for work on Resolution 1325

The Canadian Federation (CFUW) was recently invited to take part in "Until the Violence Stops" a special national event organized by the Canadian All Party Parliamentarian Group for the Prevention of Genocide and Other Crimes Against Humanity. The meeting looked at ways Canada could help end the use of sexual violence as weapon in war. The invitation reflects growing recognition of the CFUW's role as one of the leading national proponents of Resolution 1325. This landmark resolution, adopted unanimously in 2000, calls for women and a gender perspective to be an integral part of all conflict resolution and peace-building efforts. Among its many provisions, the resolution specifically calls for special measures to protect women and girls from gender-based violence, particularly rape and other forms of sexual abuse, and all other forms of violence in situations of armed conflict.

Egyptian Young Members to lead illiteracy eradication project

The Cairo Association has announced that illiteracy eradication classes are to be offered at the Cairo Headquarters beginning the first of October. The project, which will be supervised by a new group of young members, addresses a critical national problem. According to official estimates, 17 million of Egypt’s population of 80 million are illiterate.

Swiss Association helps students integrated into the job market

The Swiss Association of University Women (SVA/ASFDU/ASL) was one of three women’s organizations offering a series of career advice workshops “Approaching the beginning of your career in full knowledge of all the facts” to students and postgraduate students at the University of Zurich. The workshops addressed difficulties young women face starting their careers and entering the job market. Sessions covered topics ranging from wages (“earning, what I am worth”), job applications, active networking, employment law and work contracts, to balancing career and family. Around 60 students took part. The exercise was so successful that it will be repeated in Basel and Lucerne.

2009 Irish FUW Public Speaking Competition for girls aged under 15

The Irish Federation of University Women held its yearly Public Speaking Competition for girls. This cross-border and cross-community competition offers girls under the age of fifteen the opportunity to gain self-confidence by developing public speaking skills in an encouraging and enjoyable atmosphere where they will meet their peers from a broad range of social and cultural backgrounds.

The IrFUW has presented workshops on the competition at IFUW conferences in Graz and Perth. You can contact them if you would like to know more about how it works.

French Association wins prestigious award

The French Association of University Women (AFFDU) has been awarded the 2009 Irene Joliot-Curie Prize for mentoring. This prize, awarded annually by the Ministry of Education and EADS Foundation, was created in 2001 and is awarded every year by Ministry of Education and EADS Foundation to promote women in research and technology in France and to highlight women's exemplary scientific career paths marked by excellence and dynamism. AFFDU was honoured its outstanding work over the years encouraging and mentoring young women entering scientific careers.

Australian duo seeks ways to help genocide survivors

Members from the Australian Federation of University Women (AFUW) including two graduates from Murdoch University in Australia recently visited members of the Rwanda Association of University Women (RAUW), to discuss ways of assisting genocide survivors overcome trauma. With a view towards understanding the mechanisms of human flexibility, Dr Ebert, a clinical psychologist, is studying how people recover from extreme trauma without intervention. In addition, Dr Third is dedicated to the study of cultural and communication practices. She has a research interest in the social and cultural dimensions of new media technologies. The full Media Release is available on RAUW's website.

RAUW member wins top honours in Korean women's varsity

Rwanda Association of University Women (RAUW) member, Mediatrice Kagaba, a student who was pursuing a Master’s Degree in International Development Cooperation at Ewha Women’s University in Seoul, South Korea, has been crowned Miss Ewha-Koica 2008. Please read the full article, which was originally published in "New Times", Rwanda's daily newspaper.

Project 100

Project 100 is a joint initiative of Queen's Women Graduate's Association (QWGA) in Belfast, and the Rwanda Association of University Women (RAUW). The project aims to enable disadvantaged and parentless children in Rwanda to access secondary education.

Project 100 is part of celebrations marking 100 years of the Royal Charter granted to the Queen’s University in Belfast. When thinking of a way to celebrate, QWGA members remembered a paper on rebuilding society after conflict, presented by Rwandan members at the 29th IFUW Conference. As Belfast is itself also rebuilding after years of conflict, QWGA thought it fitting to mark the centenary via a joint initiative.

At the 2008 Women of the Year awards ceremony, Dr Marion Gibson, a QWGA member, was named Woman of the Year in the voluntary sector for her work with Project 100.

Links of friendship

When the Dijon local association of the Association Française des Femmes Diplômées des Universités called for information on friendship links between branches and associations, we received many interesting stories. One of them was about a Finnish-Dutch friendship link between The University Women of Salo, Finland and its sister club in the Netherlands: The University Women of Friesland in Leeuwarden. The friendship started about 25 years ago and they have visited each other every three or four years since. Here is a photo from one the visits, on a forest trip to Teijo Nature Park situated near the town of Salo, Finland.

Support the Mexican Federation's Museum of Women petition

The Mexican Federation of University Women (FEMU) is asking IFUW members around the world to support their petition to the Mexican Government for a permanent facility to house the Museum of Women that  they are planning.  This will the first women's museum in Mexico and only the second in all of Latin America.  The museum will be a cultural center showing the history of women in Mexico and promoting respect for human rights.  They wish to show that support for museum comes not only from Mexican women, but from women throughout the world. 

Sign the Mexican petition online or send an email with your name, city and country to femumex@yahoo.com.mx and indicate you are submitting a signature for the Museum petition.

NFA activities on International Women's Day, 2008

Eariler this year, the Status of Women Committee asked NFAs to report on the activities they had carried out for International Women's Day. A summary of the responses received is now available online.

First "Girl's Day" proclamation ceremony in Seoul

The Korean Association of University Women (KAUW) co-organized the first “Girl's Day” at the Olympic Park in Seoul on the 26th April 2008 which was attended, among others, by members of Parliament and NGO leaders. Twenty NGO booths introduced girls to their respective programmes and activities. >

The KAUW presented a "Mentoring for the Girls" booth with different areas of interest. This was very popular with the many girls who visited. Members were there to answer their questions and give the girls suggestions to on how to prepare their studies and select study areas at the university.

KAUW worked closely with the national Project 5-0 leadership (International Council of Women, International Federation of Business and Professional Women, International Federation of University Women, Soroptimist International, Zonta International) and Girl Scouts of Korea to initiate this "Girl's Day" programme. It has been officially submitted to make this a yearly event.

Submitted by Sun Young Kim, President KAUW