I've been selected as one of fifteen delegates from the Episcopal Church USA to the UN Commission on the Status of Women, meeting February 23 until March 9, 2007 at the United Nations headquarters in New York City. I was stunned at the news of being chosen; I applied mostly to appease a friend who keeps up with these things.

What can I do with this information and how do I use this opportunity to advocate for women and girls around the world? How can what I learn, here, make a difference? Since my selection, I feel a great sense of responsibility to gather as much information as possible (1) about the UN and its ability to address these issues with positive outcomes and (2) about how the women with which I'll be teamed might carry a message to our communities that will stir the hearts and minds of others to care, and translate that caring into action.

While in New York, I'll attend plenary sessions at the UN and participate in dialogue, with other delegates, regarding women's concerns around the globe. Twelve areas have emerged as focus priorities, divided between national/international concerns and internal church structure issues. The national/international areas include:

I've worked with the disenfranchised of developing nations and in U.S. Native reservations and inner cities since 1989. What has arisen from these experiences—and experiences from my own past—is a growing concern for young girls and women and the rapidly growing business of the trafficking of both. The situation of women and children, worldwide, is dire. For instance:

In 1995, Beijing was the site of the Fourth World Conference on Women sponsored by the United Nations. It was there that the Beijing Platform for Action was produced. This year, we'll be taking a look at what has been done in the last ten years. Following is a summary of the Mission of the Beijing Platform for Action from 1995:

I know there are women in the world who don't define women's empowerment as I do. In fact, many people in the world look at American women and don't want to respond to freedom in the same way. I'm confident that I have a lot to learn from others, and that I may be required to change my understanding, my beliefs about women's issues, and even my life. I can't expect to change what I feel is wrong with the world if I don't realize that we all have to bend and flex, grow and stretch.

I've also lived long enough to know it'll be uncomfortable.

One statement I read on the Web site of the intercontinental Anglican Women's Empowerment, representatives of the Anglican Consultative Council to the UN, really struck me.

That, I realize, is the common bond. There's a sisterhood of suffering, and it's gathering at the UN in February—despite language and cultural barriers, differing habits and occasional misconceptions. It's not about who suffers more or in what way, but that we share the tie of sisterhood and jointly stand to determinedly turn suffering into joy.

Over the course of this year, I hope to share, in this column, what I learn, how the process unfolds, and where this new path will lead me. I'll be brave and expose my blunderings and naïveté, too. But I hope that my experience will open the door to real communication—the kind that creates understanding. I want to share the information I'm given to "spread the wealth" of a growing collective of people who believe and act for a better world.