The UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) holds the internationally renowned NGO CSW every March in New York on women’s issues, gender equality, and related international developments. CSW61 had the theme of women’s economic empowerment in the changing world of work. It focused on gender and women’s economic issues and looked to help achieve women’s equal participation in the labor force via international and public-private partnerships in order to break the glass ceiling and allow them to get to higher-level jobs (management positions, etc.). Once this happens, women can fully protect their economic autonomy.

In response to the theme this year, the Garden of Hope Foundation (GOH) and partner organizations in the Global Network of Women’s Shelters (GNWS) from Australia, the United States, and the Netherlands organized a parallel event entitled “Economic Empowerment: An Important Strategy for Prevention of Violence Against Women.” Based on their experiences in service, civil service groups that have helped women shared about the social policies and new service programs in their countries and how the policies have allowed women to gain economic independence to move towards living independently.

Firstly, GOH CEO Chi Hui-jung shared about the service program “Go the Second Mile,” which GOH started in 2013 to assist women who have been removed from the danger of violence. The program provides vocational training, help with financial planning and business-plan writing, childcare services, and short-term independent dormitories with low rent so they may save money on rent while making a transition in employment. Then, Julie Oberin from WESNET Australia, an alliance composed of 180 women’s organizations in the country, talked about how the organization has been funded by the government for a long-term initiative to provide online courses on women’s economic safety on the website of eS4W. The website has the main themes of Australian female employment status, salary negotiation skills, personal financial situation assessment, pension information, and retirement preparation.

Cindy Southworth from NNEDV in the United States shared about financial management courses offered by Washington State since 2010 for women who have suffered economic abuse in intimate relationships. The course is divided into five categories: understanding economic abuse, basic classes on financial management, basic classes on personal credit management, personal financial configuration, and budget planning. The course teaches women basic financial concepts and helps them understand their personal finances and asset planning. In this way, they can stop depending on their abusers for their material needs and become independent.

Finally, Essa Reijmers from Blijf Groep in the Netherlands shared about the launch of a government service program in 2014 aimed at securing the future for those who have left a shelter. The training, which lasts ten weeks, covers the subjects of understanding the self, intimate relationships, and employment preparation. It teaches six steps to rejoining the community: isolation, interaction with family and friends, social activities, volunteering or internship, employment, and economic independence.

To sum up, shelter services for women should not only provide temporary shelter to vulnerable and disadvantaged women in emergencies but should be committed to assisting women in ending economic dependence on their abusers. If a country is willing to provide systematic and long-term support for such education, women will become empowered to manage their own finances and thus be more independent. GOH believes in women’s well-being and financial independence!