THE 8th Annual CNMI Women’s Summit was held Tuesday at the Pacific Islands Club, led by the CNMI Women’s Association and the CNMI Women’s Affairs Office.
The summit began with welcoming remarks by CWA board chair Cecilia Taitano and WAO special advisor and co-chair Shirley Camacho-Ogumoro.
500 Sails co-founder Emma Perez presented the summary of Sustainable Development Goal 5, focusing on “Women and Culture.”
Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation medical director of public health and emergency medicine physician Dr. Lily Muldoon then gave a talk on “Women and Health,” specifically regarding reproductive health and the key to gender equality.
Rep. Sheila J. Babauta, in her capacity as lawmaker and as secretary of Our Common Wealth 670, talked about “Women and Peace,” as well as militarization in the CNMI.
After lunch, the women in attendance gathered in breakout sessions on each of these three topics, discussing targets and objectives for the CNMI.
Representatives from each of the three breakout groups then reported on the goals of the summit. A resolution, supported by the women in the House of Representatives, the Senate, and local women’s groups, will soon make its way to both chambers to highlight these concerns.
Closing remarks were given by CWA board vice president Joaquina L. King who spoke primarily in Chamorro. She thanked the women for their efforts and contributions to the CNMI.
The co-mistresses of ceremonies were Frances Sablan and Lucinda R. Selepeo.
In an interview, Taitano said, “The turnout was huge and successful. Three very, very important topics were discussed…. We had a group of panelists that targeted discussions that are very, very important and that are real and exist in our community today. We were also surprised by the presentation of a House resolution by our women leadership from the Legislature, from both the House and the Senate, and so that was a great addition to the whole summit.”
Taitano said the breakout sessions allowed for more in-depth and highlighted conversations on what the real important issues are within each of the three topics.
“After gathering a unified consensus of what we believe should be further discussed in our community, we’re adopting that, which will now become the CNMI economic development plan, which will be forwarded to the [Office of Planning and Development], and then get pushed forward to its next focus, and that is to basically add weight to the discussion and resound the voices of these important issues shared at our summit today,” she added.
To the women in the community, Taitano said, “Come out and join us. Break the barriers. Talk about real issues in our community and join us at the CNMI Women’s Association so we can multiply the effort, the passion, the commitment to continue to serve not just our women, but our community, and the things that are very important to us.”
In a separate interview, WAO special advisor Camacho-Ogumoro said, “We had a lot of interesting topics. The audience and participants were really engaged, so that was great. I think that we had a good turnout. We postponed the summit from last year due to Covid-19, and now we have resumed. One down, more work to be done.”
To the women in the community, she said, “Get involved… I believe that today, we have made a ripple effect. When we bring out the awareness of women’s month, women’s history, and the achievements of women, if you compare history to today, we’ve made that change to have more women in government, more women in the House and Senate than before. We’ve made history. We’re progressing forward.”
