Bennett Belle Takes NYC: Day 5

Good evening everyone!
First off I want to say that I am a little saddened that my time here in the "Big Apple" is coming to an end. However, I am blessed and will forever be thankful for the wonderful opportunity that WomenNC has provided with here at CSW 63. I am still amazed at the education and networking opportunities that I was exposed to this week. For that I say thank you Beth and Dr. Riemann!

Now back to business! Today, I attended a side event for Zimbabwe. This was entitled, "Community Based Initiatives for Building Resilience". The president of the Zimbabwe Senate was one of the panelists and she was extremely pleasant. I went up to thank her for sharing so much information with us and as soon as I introduced myself she embraced with a warm hug.

At a later rate, I attended the parallel event: The Thriving Family: Providing the Best Social Protection and Empowerment for Women and Girls. I can honestly say that this event was by far the best session that I attended all week! The presenters were well educated and I found the content to be very engaging. According to Lynn Walsh, MSW (one of the panelists) marriage decreases the chances of poverty and risk on instability in a girl's life. She also went on to explain that marital stability improves children's mental health, single moms are more at risk for domestic violence, and boys exposed to violence in the household are 3 to 4 times more likely to be violent towards their wife and children. Lynn Walsh also went on to say that relationship education makes a huge difference not only in the households, but in the lives of women and girls.

"Thriving relationships are what people care about the most" -Lynn Walsh

The second panelist was Dr. Tim Rarick. His presentation was entitled, "Involved Fathers Strong Daughters". Dr, Rarick defined empower as:
1. Giving the girl authority or power to do something (externally).
2.Making the girl stronger and more confident, especially in controlling her life (internally).

Dr. Rarick also explained that girls with fathers do not have:

• Issues with being emotionally dependent on men
• Eating disorders
• Behavioral Problems

His advice was that men need to show their daughters that they love their mothers in front of them because it sets the tone for the girls. When asked what can we do to increase the number of  involved fathers his answer to a participant in the audience was that "there needs to be a cultural shift to encourage accountability for fathers."

The nigh ended with dinner at Romas Pizza with the WomenNC team and a Bennett alumna :)