All women should boycott the UN’s Commission of the Status on Women
Ludicrously and shamefully, last month, without a single protest from any UN member state, Saudi Arabia was elected to chair the UN’s forum set up to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment, and eliminate gender-based discrimination and violence (Report, 27 March). In response to the appalling appointment of a delegate of a country with such an egregious record on the treatment of women, we call on all women to boycott the CSW69 meeting in March 2025 – the next session of the Commission on the Status of Women – unless this arrangement is rejected and another more suitable candidate from the Asia region is selected.
Margaret Owen
Co-chair, international working group, UK Civil Society Women’s Alliance
Dr Carol Mann
Université Paris 8
• When, aged 10, I complained about the small egg I had been given for my tea (Letters, 3 April), my mother told me: “It was a day’s work for a hen.” I’m now 84, and it has remained the most effective putdown I have ever experienced.
Peter Occleston
Penicuik, Midlothian
• It’s easy to counteract the effect on the passing public of “screaming tabloid headlines” on newsstands (Letters, 4 April). Just place a copy of the Guardian on top of each pile.
Mary Hutty
Bath
• My mother’s wall sign reading “Only dull women have immaculate houses” (Letters, 7 April) is always left at a rakish angle.
Margaret Pedler
London
• Is MP the only job where you can hand colleagues’ phone numbers to a potential sex blackmailer and not be fired (Report, 5 April)?
John Newsinger
Portslade, East Sussex
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