The theme of CSW61 was “Women’s Economic Empowerment in the Changing World of Work.” It highlighted the vulnerability of women and girls as the most likely to be left behind economically and in status in the workplace. The theme echoed GOH’s goals to reduce gender-based violence, fight gender inequalities in the workplace, and ensure Asian girls have equal opportunity to access continued and higher education.

Therefore, GOH hosted a parallel event named “Respect Girls, Respect the World – Asian Girls Speak Out” on March 17 to provide a chance for feminist and women’s organizations to unite and discuss the theme. We invited the 2016 Asian Girl Ambassadors from Pakistan, Mongolia, and Armenia to give presentations on the topics of strategies against child marriage, the division of household chores between teenage girls and boys, and the relationship between gender and environment. A GOH-empowered vulnerable Taiwanese girl Lei-na Lai was also invited to share her experience in advocacy for safe spaces and autonomy for girls.

In the beginning of the event, the moderator, Lai, took a relaxing approach in showing those present how she has faced the challenges of a broken home and created a whole new life after experiencing major depression. She eventually initiated “Dream Lighter” through support from GOH. The project combines counseling and experiential education to provide services for teenagers and allows them to travel to several countries based on the principle of “not using money,” which has helped teenagers learn how to communicate with others and face unknown challenges, boosting their confidence.

Following that, 2016 Asian Girls Human Rights Award winner Hadiqa Bashir took Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan as an example to show how widespread and serious child marriage is. She fights against child marriage because she was a victim of it. She advocated with prayer leaders with open minds and parliament members to assure the importance of females’ status through an alternative interpretation of the Quran compared with the traditional one. She also lobbied with police and soldiers to protect girls’ safety. Most importantly, she fundraised to help vulnerable girls return to school and appealed to the solidarity of the international community to improve the current situation of child marriage in Pakistan.

Unequal division of household chores impacts girls’ education rights too. Zolzaya Ganbold from Mongolia first discussed the major challenges that local girls face, including sexual violence, domestic violence, trafficking, teen pregnancy, and the right to development. She indicated the social expectations of boys require them to be physically and emotionally strong and brave, whereas girls are simply to be tidy and good at all household chores. This causes girls to have few opportunities to invest in themselves; they are only expected to be good as mothers and wives and thus tend to rely on others. The Princess Center, which Zolzaya belongs to, hopes to improve the situation through girl empowerment, advocacy, and research.

The last presenter was Inessa Arshakyan from Armenia, who talked about the impact of environmental pollution on females. She said that burning waste, mining, and smoking in Armenia all result in serious health problems for females. Smoking is the biggest cause of lung cancer and heart diseases. She initiated Eco-Generation to raise awareness among the public to use reusable bags for shopping. She also taught 12- and 13-year-olds, especially girls, how to make eco-friendly handmade products. She said she would keep advocating for environmental protection even though there are financial limits.

Lai concluded that these girls often not only faced challenges and doubts from the public but also lacked financial support while conducting their campaigns. However, they could make highly significant accomplishments in their daily lives if they kept working to make more people care about the status of girls and women.