Solo mum needs help to get to UN women's conference

Kimberley Kilgour, with her son Dodge, needs to raise $6500 to be able to give young women of Aotearoa a voice at the 2015 Commission on the Status of Women.

Tauranga's Kimberley Kilgour will represent New Zealand at the United Nations 59th session of the Commission on the Status of Women next month.

But the 22-year-old solo mother needs a little bit of help raising the $8000 to get there.

Miss Kilgour was selected by the Young Women's Christian Association of New Zealand to attend the annual event at the United Nations in New York .

Miss Kilgour was 15 when she gave birth to her son, Dodge.

Despite solo parenthood, she finished school and is about to complete a Bachelor of Law and a Bachelor of Social Sciences majoring in political studies at Waikato University.

Throughout the past five years, as well as studying, the determined young woman has worked part-time, raised her son, commuting back and forth to Tauranga so he could spend time with his father.

"I have become more determined to make the world a better place and to raise Dodge in a way to appreciate women.

"That really has been a determining factor on why I have put in so much effort even when the shit has hit the fan, I've had to pick up and keep going and it is because of him I do what I do."

The conference will see representatives from UN member states, UN entities, and UN economic and social council accredited non-governmental organisations from around the world gather to discuss the how far the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action has come since it was set 20 years ago.

"I will get to meet with government delegates from Malawi, El Salvador, Australia, UK, Brazil, Liberia, United States, and of course New Zealand to lobby for the dignity and rights of women and girls in relation to education, ending violence against women, economic opportunities, fulfilment of sexual reproductive health and rights, and ending child and forced marriages," Miss Kilgour told the Bay of Plenty Times yesterday.

She will also have the opportunity to speak at several parallel and side events at the conference such as gender justice, young women's leadership and violence against women and girls in Aotearoa, she said.

"I couldn't quite believe it, I always liked the idea of doing something that would have such an impact on women and the community, that has always been a dream of mine. I'm passionate about making a difference in the community and see law as a tool in doing that. It has been something I have been working towards but I just didn't expect it it would come so soon."

To help Miss Kilgour get to New York please visit her Givealittle page here.