Canon Alice Medcof, the new co-ordinator of the International Anglican Women's Network (IAWN) and Annette Graydon, the Canadian link to IAWN, have been appointed by Archbishop Andrew Hutch-ison, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, to join women around the world as members of the Anglican Consultative Council delegation to the meeting of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women scheduled in March 2005.

The delegation will join women's rights activists in reviewing the implementation of the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action, which outlined an agenda for women's empowerment.

Ms. Medcof, who was appointed in 2003 by Canon John L. Peterson, secretary general of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC), is urging Canadians to get involved with IAWN, which provides women with a voice at the ACC and the Lambeth Conference of Bishops.

"Stories of women who live with the constant threat of HIV/AIDS, the devastation of war, the curse of hunger, and the ever-present danger of drought or flooding, need to be told and heard, for this is the reality that many women face daily in the Anglican Communion," said the IAWN Web site, www.iawn.org.

Ms. Medcof may be reached at (416) 924-9199 ext. 218 or amedcof@national.anglican.ca.