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COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES
Members Present Staff Present
President Angela Williams Executive Director Emily Murase, Ph.D
Commissioner Dorka Keehn Justice & Courage Analyst Colleen Montoya
Commissioner Jing Xu Lee (5:25 pm) Policy Analyst Carol Sacco
Commissioner Carolene Marks Commission Secretary Cynthia Vasquez
Commissioner Andrea Shorter Graduate Intern Laura Marshall
Members Excused
Commissioner Andrea Evans
Commissioner Katherine Munter
I. CALL TO ORDER/AGENDA CHANGES
President Williams called the meeting to order at 5:07 pm. President Williams announced an imperative agenda item, a resolution honoring Nancy Pelosi as the speaker-elect of the U.S. House of Representatives, and asked Commissioners to approve inclusion of this item on the agenda.
Action: Approved agenda including the imperative agenda item. m/s/c/ (Keehn/Williams/Unanimous).
No public comment.
President Williams announced that due to a conflict, Commissioner Shorter would have to depart at 6:00 pm.
II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Action: Approved draft minutes from October 25, 2006. m/s/c/ (Keehn/Shorter/Unanimous).
No public comment.
III. PRESIDENT’S REPORT
President Williams thanked staff and Commissioners for a successful and informative community meeting held in October. President Williams reported she participated in the review panel for the Mayor's Office of Community Development's Women's Micro-Enterprise Initiative.
President Williams congratulated staff member Kim-Shree Maufus who has been elected to the San Francisco Board of Education and how pleased she is to see that, in San Francisco, such leadership positions as the Police Chief and Fire Chief are both women and how important it is to continue to have women in key policy positions.
IV. EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS REPORT
A. Executive Director
Executive Director Murase referred Commissioners to her written report, but highlighted the fact that 2006 Combined Charities Campaign contributions are due on Friday, November 16. Currently the Department has released two requests for proposals, one for a Domestic Violence Response Cross-Training Institute Evaluator and the other a Needs Assessment in the specific area of services to address violence against women in San Francisco.
The Department will also be posting a job announcement for two part-time Junior Administrative Analyst Positions who should be hired by early January.
Commissioner Keehn requested to a follow-up presentation on data gathering done by the Human Rights Commission on the Local Business Enterprise Ordinance.
Commissioner Shorter encouraged House Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi to take CEDAW and the implementation of CEDAW seriously and hopes that Speaker Pelosi will keep CEDAW in the public eye. Eventually we hope to have CEDAW adopted across the nation.
V. CONSENT AGENDA
All matters listed hereunder constitute a Consent Agenda and are considered to be routine by the Commission on the Status of Women. They will be acted upon by a single roll call vote of the Commission. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless a member of the Commission so requests, in which event the matter shall be removed from the Consent Agenda and considered as a separate item. Members of the public may speak on each item listed on the Consent Agenda.
Action: Approved Consent Agenda. m/s/c (Marks/Munter/Unanimous)
Res. 2006-056: Resolution Recognizing December 1 as World AIDS Day
Res. 2006-057: Resolution Recognizing the Leadership of Representative Nancy Pelosi
VI. REPORTS
A. HEALTH
Commissioner Marks acknowledged the dedicated efforts of Department Intern Miwa Hashimoto who gathered data for the Cancer Detection Program: Every Woman Counts and hopes to continue to work with Kim-Shree Maufus on this project. Commissioner Marks would like to see a mammography van go out to the Bayview/Hunters Point area to provide this community with services so desperately needed since African American women in this area are dying from breast cancer due to lack of testing and detection.
Commissioner Marks continues to attend the San Francisco Health Access Plan Advisory Committee Meeting. The Golden Gate Restaurant Association recently filed a lawsuit challenging the mandated employer contributions. She stated that she will be out of the country for the next meeting, scheduled for December 1, and has requested that Executive Director Emily Murase attend in her place.
B. Justice & Courage
Commissioner Keehn reported that the results of the Safety Audit are still being evaluated. The Audit Team is in the process of scheduling meetings with Department Heads to review the findings of the audit, which should become publicly available in early 2007.
C. Violence Against Women Prevention and Intervention Grants Program
Executive Director Murase reported that all VAW contracts have been signed by the City Attorney’s office.
There is a Request for Proposals (RFP) currently being solicited by the Department for a Needs Assessment. The Bidders Conference was held on November 15.
D. Girls Committee
Commissioner Shorter reported that 2 girls have applied for appointment to the Girls Committee and that she hopes to have all 7 members on board for a December meeting. Kim-Shree Maufus is working in collaboration with the Youth Commission, the San Francisco Unified School District Student Advisory Council, and the Center for Young Women's Development to continue to recruit for the Girls Committee. Commissioners suggested expanding the outreach to additional organizations in order to fully populate the committee.
E. Family Violence Council
Executive Director Murase reported that the Family Violence Council met on November 2 to discuss amendments to the original ordinance. The next meeting will be held on Friday, December 15 at 2:00 pm at the Institute on the Aging at 3330 Geary Boulevard, 3rd Floor. A rollout of the reconstituted Council is being planned for early 2008.
F. CEDAW Committee
President Williams reported that the CEDAW Committee met on November 9th to discuss the gender analysis of the Department of Public Works. At that time, Debra Liebowitz, Ph.D., introduced herself as the consultant engaged by Women's Institute for Leadership Development to evaluate San Francisco's implementation of CEDAW. President Williams emphasized the importance of tonight's CEDAW training.
VII. NEW BUSINESS
A. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) Training
Policy Analyst Ann Lehman and Executive Director Murase presented the training materials for the CEDAW Training. The following is a summary outline of the training.
· What are Human Rights?
- The inherent right of all people to be treated with dignity and respect
- Human rights set moral and ethical standards
- Human rights are inalienable, interdependent, and indivisible
· Human Rights & CEDAW History
- Human rights include: Civil Rights, Political Rights, Economic Rights, Social Rights, and Cultural Rights
- In 1979 CEDAW – The United Nations Convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination is an international bill of rights that outlines human rights through the lens of barriers and discrimination faced by women and girls.
· San Francisco CEDAW
- Reviewed the CEDAW in San Francisco timeline from 1975-2006
· Five-Year Action Plan
- 5-Year Action Plan Approved by the Commission on the Status of Women
- CEDAW Vision: Strategic plan for implementation and everything that happens in the City and County framed by CEDAW
- Implementation of Women and Girls' Human Rights
- Right to an adequate standard of living.
- Right to Bodily Integrity Right to access adequate health
- Human rights of girls to education and social services
· Gender Analysis Tool
- Explained what the Gender Analysis is, how to collect data, analyze data, make recommendations based on the data, the implementation of an action plan and how to monitor the analysis.
· Reviewed as an example the Gender Analysis of the VAW Data
Executive Director Murase reported that the Department in currently working with a law firm to implement CEDAW, and evaluate how CEDAW can be implemented in the private sector.
Commissioner Keehn would like to see the Mayor’s office more involved with the CEDAW Committee, and hopes that the Mayor’s office would advocate for the implementation of CEDAW within all city departments.
Ms. Murase welcomed feedback from Commissioner on the presentation as the Department hopes to make future presentations before different City Departments.
Several Commissioners asked that concrete examples be included in the presentation. Ms. Murase responded that citing examples from the gender analysis of City Departments would not be difficult to do and that this would enhance the value of the presentation.
VIII. PUBLIC COMMENT
Maxine Doogan expressed her concern that the Sex Workers Outreach Project held a symposium on violence against sex workers and not all interested parties where invited. She also requested hearings on women who are being deported after the massage parlor raids. Ms. Doogan asserted that these women were victims of human trafficking, yet were still being deported.
Victoria Powell with the Sex Workers Outreach Project (SWOP) reported that the symposium held by SWOP was a public meeting.
IX. ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 6:55 pm.
Action: Adjourn meeting. m/s/c (Marks/Keehn/Unanimous)
The ringing of and use of cell phones, pagers, and similar sound producing electronic devices are prohibited at this meeting. Please be advised that the Chair may order the removal from the meeting room of any person(s) responsible for the ringing or use of a cell phone, pager or other similar sound-producing electronic devices.
Explanatory documents: For copies of explanatory documents listed in this agenda, and other related materials received by COSW, please contact the Department on the Status of Women at 25 Van Ness Ave, Suite 130, San Francisco, CA 94102; phone: 415-252-2570, fax: 415-252-2575. Also, to the extent possible, documents will be available on the COSW website at http://www.sfgov.org/cosw.
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