On March 12th, at the 59th sessions of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW59) in New York, Equality Now and UN Women presented a 20th anniversary edition of Women Can't Wait! The performance piece is based on their long running "Words & Deeds" campaign to end sex discrimination in the law.
This video of the event begins with opening remarks by Equality Now Global Executive Director, Yasmeen Hassan, and the United Nations Assistant Secretary-General, Lakshmi Puri, while the performance is skillfully introduced by Jane Fonda, actor, author, activist and Equality Now Adolescent Girls’ Legal Defense Fund Advisory Board Member.
Written and performed by Sarah Jones, prize-winning playwright, activist and Equality Now Advisory Board Member, the heartfelt and humorous performance highlights the consequences of unequal legal treatment of women and girls, as well as the progress we've made to end it. Jones uses comedy and acting to bring to life a number of different characters – women of different ages and from different cultures – to present urgent issues in a refreshing and powerful way.
Jones touches upon such issues as Israel’s discriminatory marriage laws (particularly for women wishing to get divorced, as well as gay rights), infringements of Jordanian women’s rights, and the troubles facing young women from around the world as seen through the eyes of a young, excitable, and very nervous young mother from the Dominican Republic.