French President Emmanuel Macron has unveiled a gender-balanced cabinet in accordance with an earlier pledge, with 11 of 22 posts taken by women. Sylvie Goulard is defence minister while Olympic fencing champion Laura Flessel is sports minister.  Other women ministerial appointees include: Agnès Buzyn - health, Murielle Pénicaud - labour and Françoise Nyssen - culture.  And Marlène Schiappa, whose successful blog Maman Works saw her dubbed the "spokeswoman for working mums", becomes junior minister for equality between women and men.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-39948523

It was announced at the recent Annual Global Summit of Women in Japan, a prestigious international business summit which focuses on women’s advancement in the global economy, that the next Global Summit of Women will be held in Sydney in 2018.

Listen to Anne Fulwood's presentation to the W20 as Australia’s representative to the W20 (Women20) Engagement Group – along with Dr Susan Harris Rimmer of Griffith University – at this annual gathering of women from G20 Nations. Scroll down to her video.  Anne is Co-Chair of the W20 Financial Inclusion Committee.

https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/soapbox/week-womens-empowerment-workforce-participation-became-global-issue-ivanka-trump-helped/

The Conversation: Professor Miranda Stewart, Director, Tax and Transfer Policy Institute

Australia was a pioneer in gender budget analysis. From 1983 to 2013, the federal government produced a Women’s Budget Statement, while state and territory governments were also among the first in the world to scrutinise annual budgets for their impact on women and girls. But in recent years we have fallen behind. In a 2014 OECD study, the Australian Government compared poorly on gender analysis. The study found that, apart from the occasional specific programs, Australia had no systematic process to assess the impact on women and men of taxing, spending or government programs, either before or after the government enacts legislation, appropriates funds or initiates policy.

https://theconversation.com/gender-neutral-policies-are-a-myth-why-we-need-a-womens-budget-55231

An ambitious new program to elevate the profiles of women working in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) has launched today, and applications are now open.

An Australian first, Science & Technology Australia's Superstars of STEM program will train and support 30 female STEM professionals to become prominent role models for young women and girls. They will develop the skills to share their work with the public via social media, public speaking, and as spokespeople in the media. 
Participants will also be given the opportunity to speak with schools, connect with mentors, and attend events promoting gender equity in science and technology around Australia.
https://scienceandtechnologyaustralia.org.au/what-we-do/superstars-of-stem/

This report collates the insights on the value of achieving gender diversity on boards from members of the 30% Club - chairs of ASX 200 companies that have at least 30% women on their boards.

Catherine Brenner, Chair of the AMP Board, observes that diversity is the insurance policy against group-think; it is how we ensure we make the best decisions to take the organisation forward.

http://aicd.companydirectors.com.au/~/media/cd2/resources/advocacy/board-diversity/pdf/30-club-interviews-with-asx-200-chairs-with-30-female-directors.ashx  [copy and paste link]

Wendy McCarty has been a strong advocate for accessible, affordable child care for 40 years, and is currently the Deputy Chair of Goodstart Early Learning.  Her analysis of the childcare funding changes was published on Women's Agenda. She acknowledges that the workforce participation objectives are well and truly met, but the new package falls short on meeting early learning objectives.  https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/soapbox/wendy-mccarthy-3-steps-forward-1-back-child-care-early-learning/ 

The 61st session of the Commission on the Status of Women took place at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from 13 to 24 March 2017.  Representatives of Member States, UN entities, and ECOSOC-accredited NGOs from all regions of the world attended CSW61 this year. The draft report of the agreed conclusions can be accessed at  http://www.unwomen.org/en/csw/csw61-2017 and here: CSW61 agreed conclusions 2017.pdf

The CSW61 Theme was Women's economic empowerment in the changing world of work, which aligns strongly with the Aims and focus of BPW International.

BPW can be very proud of the contribution our members made throughout CSW, including our BPW Australia Director of Policy Elena Rorie who was one of BPW International's accredited representatives at the CSW61 session. Our BPW Asia Pacific Regional Coordinator Susan Jones extends her congratulations to all of those BPW members who contributed to this final document and especially thanks those members from the Asia-Pacific region who attended, many of whom spoke at both the parallel and side events and contributed directly to the language in the final document. 

A short summary of the Agreed Conclusions is provided here: CSW61 summary of conclusions.docx

Women's equality won't just happen — not unless more women are put in positions of power, says Sandi Toksvig. In a disarmingly hilarious talk, Toksvig tells the story of how she helped start a new political party in Britain, the Women's Equality Party, with the express purpose of putting equality on the ballot. Now she hopes people around the world will copy her party's model and mobilise for equality.  https://www.ted.com/talks/sandi_toksvig_a_political_party_for_women_s_equality

It's not personal. Women don’t need fixing. It’s men who need to change the system – and themselves

An article in The Deal, a magazine of The Australian issued 17 March 2017, provides a good summary of the gender equity argument extracted from the book by Catherine Fox: Stop Fixing Women.  Accessible online at http://specialreports.theaustralian.com.au/727000/its-not-personal/