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When I came out of the
building where the Global Forum on Migration
and Development was held in Brussels, Belgium
on 9 July 2007, it was raining. Most participants
walked in the rain to go to the bus. I was
one of the few who brought an umbrella.
At organization level,
we have to prepare for the changing conditions
and the challenges of 21st century. One
of goals of organizations Renew and Reform
is for BPW to continue to grow in the world
of change. International Migration is one
of the issues for which BPW definitely has
to prepare an “umbrella”.
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When we work on strategies to recruit and
retain members or conduct activities to
enable women to achieve their full capacity,
we need to bear in mind the impact of international
migration. As of 2006, abou half of the
migrants (over 95 million) are women. Because
of globalization, transnational corporations
and demands for skilled labour from developed
countries, many migrants today are highly
skilled and well educated. Yet, they face
obstacles in integrating into the new society
and their rights are at risk. Female migrants
face double discrimination, as a woman and
as a migrant. Migration will only get worse
in the twenty first century due to climate
changes, natural disasters and water shortage.
We need to be well prepared so that our
organization will be at the gaining end
and not the losing end.
It
is interesting that even a new BPW club
in Cambodia, a potential new club in Belgium,
and a club with the highest growth in New
Zealand have many expatriates / migrants
as members. International migration is an
important issue that will be discussed in
the organization review and reform, hearing
in Valencia, Spain on 18-19 October 2007
especially in the context of how to retain
/ grow membership. For more background,
please visit www.bpw-international.org
to download my talk on this issue at the
APEC Women Leaders’ network at Port
Douglas, Australia and the findings from
Global Forum on Migration and Development
in Brussels, Belgium.
Even the
XXVI BPW International Congress will migrate
to Mexico City, Mexico!
Dr.
Chonchanok Viravan
International President
27 August 2007
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