Subject: Message from Zonta International President From: "Zonta International" Date: Tue, 06 Jul 2010 14:07:50 -0500 6 July 2010 Dear Zontians, On Friday 2 July, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously decided to establish UN Women, the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. For those of you who were able to attend the Zonta International Convention in San Antonio, you heard firsthand from Keynote Speaker Carolyn Hannan, former Director of the Division for the Advancement of Women at the United Nations, how critical it is to combine the efforts of the four UN organizations working on gender issues – United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW), the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women (OSAGI) and the UN International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW). The creation of a single entity with adequate resources will focus and enhance efforts to promote and advance the rights of women and girls around the world. This announcement is an historic one, and I wanted to share this news with all of you. Inés Alberdi, Executive Director of UNIFEM, has issued a statement which I encourage you all to read. Read the complete statement in English, French and Spanish. Dianne K. Curtis Zonta International President Zonta International Foundation President