Our last full day at CSW61!!

"You cannot role model what you cannot see." If we don't see more women in politics, how can we expect more women to be encouraged to enter this field?

Transformative politics needs women. In an International Council of Women sponsored event on women's leadership in transformative politics, we were struck by the awful statistics surrounding female political representation.

There are only 17 prime ministers or presidents across the whole globe. This doesn't even make up 10% of the global leaders. Only 18.1% of all ministers are female. Shockingly, Rwanda, one of the least economically developed countries in the world, leads on equal gender representation. They have a 63% female dominated parliament, as well as 40% of businesses in Rwanda being owned by women. Here, perceptions of gender have changed and a generation has been created that views women in a different light. An equal light.

As a young women seeking to enter the field of politics, I am often perturbed by the negative attitudes of my male counterparts who believe that women are too weak to assume positions of such responsibility. Yet, women are just as imperfect as men. In order to be transformative, we need feminist men to encourage women to bring their perspectives and values to the decision making or peace table. When we both asked the panellists questions about their views on male perceptions of women in politics Dr. Charlotte Bunch claimed that "women must organise organise organise" in a sense that they should organise themselves to show their capabilities. To prove that women are as effective as men in leadership and in politics.

We must be the agents of change. We must think of ourselves, as young women, as the potential future Secretary General of the United Nations or Prime Minister of the UK.

The overall message we took away from this event is that we must not restrict ourselves based on societal views or traditions. Once women are empowered within themselves they have the ability to empower others through transformative politics.

After such inspiring events, as well as the UK Mission to the United Nations again this evening, we enjoyed a delicious meal as a group as it is our final night in New York City. Reflecting on our time here so far really reinforces how much of a fantastic time we have had, how much we have learnt, and how much we hope to implement when we return!