UN Mothers Day motorcycle ride to Seneca Falls Womens Rights National Park
Date:
As many countries around the world celebrate Mother’s Day, on 12 May a group of United Nations staff and their friends will ride their motorcycles from the United Nations headquarters in New York City to Seneca Falls Women’s Rights National Park, in upstate New York. The ride is hot off the back of other “Speak Out” events including Climb Up, Speak Out and a similar motorcycle ride around Southern Africa last November-December.
UN Women will lead a convoy of motorcycles, in which 15 women and men riders are expected to take part. Those motorcyclists and a support driver will leave United Nations headquarters in New York City at 9.30 a.m. on Saturday 11 May and make their way up to Seneca Falls in order to raise awareness of both the importance of the convention and site and the continued fight for gender equality and women’s rights around the world.
The Women Right’s National Park celebrates the site of the historical 1848 Seneca Falls Convention, organized by Reformist leaders such as Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who were frustrated by the marginalization of women in the United States. Men were allowed to attend the conference but were asked to remain silent – a very unconventional move at the time. Believed to be the first convention staged by women in the Western hemisphere, it became an important step in the efforts of women to gain greater civil, social and economic rights. It concluded with a bold declaration calling for a range of women’s rights, including the right to vote.
At 10 a.m. on Sunday 12 May, the UN group will gather in the Wesleyan Hall next to the visitors’ center of the Park in Seneca Falls for a short presentation, followed by a tour of the historical site.
For more information please contact UN Women’s Andrew Thornton andrew.thornton[at]unwomen.org