In March 2026, Dr. Amy Nantkes, associate professor of political science, and then-seniors Laine Moraes (26) and Jessica DeYoung (26), attended the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).
“It’s a gathering of people from all around the world, with member states of the United Nations officially representing their governments, and folks from what they call civil society — nonprofits, city government, education, students,” said Nantkes. “Gender equality is one of the UN’s sustainable development goals. This year’s focus was ending gender-based violence and improving access to justice for women and girls.”
Nantkes has been at PLNU for nine years, the last three full time. Her specialties include American politics and public policy. She teaches in both PLNU’s political science and public administration programs. In her spare time, she volunteers as a commissioner on the San Diego County Commission on the Status of Women and Girls.
“That’s where the connection to this delegation for CSW 70 came from,” she explained. “I went two years ago and had an amazing experience, but the whole time I wished I had students with me. I came back vowing that if I got the chance to go again, I would only say yes if I could also take students with me — and it worked out.”
Moraes and DeYoung were both highly involved students with a passion for civic engagement. Moraes was a political science major with a women’s studies minor. An athlete on the women’s soccer team, she also interned at the San Diego mayor’s office and with the San Diego Wave in their operations and facilities department. She also got to work on a campaign with Lauren Cazares (20), who currently serves on the La Mesa City Council as vice mayor.
DeYoung was a double major in political science and philosophy. She was the president of Pi Sigma Alpha, the political science honor society, and was involved in Point Radio, including managing the station’s social media. As a student worker, she did communications for the School of Humanities, Arts and Public Engagement as well as the Department of History and Political Science.
Moraes and DeYoung also joined Nantkes in giving a presentation at one of the NGO parallel events during the conference.
“Our presentation was titled ‘From Commitment to Impact: Drafting and Implementing Local CEDAW Legislation,’” Moraes said. “CEDAW is a human rights treaty — the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. The panel was about how we can implement this U.N. treaty into localities, which is already happening across the country. Dr. Nantkes is involved with that process at the San Diego level and supporting other localities. Jessica and I contributed by talking about our advocacy and what it is to be a young person in the U.S. right now, trying to be civically engaged, and how CEDAW legislation is helpful to us — and how we can also be helpful to the movement.”
The panel was held on Zoom to accommodate participants from Hawaii, New Zealand, and Chile.
“The important part of having Laine and Jessica on the panel was that we often say we need youth voices at the table, but sometimes that’s performative,” Nantkes said. “We wanted them there to share ideas for making more space for young people.”
For Moraes, another highlight was a roundtable with people working on CEDAW ordinances in their localities, including representatives from Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, San Diego, and New York City.
“It was a small meeting where we discussed strategy, roadblocks, and successes,” Moraes said. “It was interesting to see how people implement something as big as a human rights treaty into everyday life.”
The relationships and connections built were also a highlight for all three women.
“Making close connections with people — not in a transactional way, but in solidarity — and being with others who want the same things was life-changing,” DeYoung said.
“That struck me too,” Nantkes said. “Everyone you meet is doing something extraordinary. I met someone who was a national basketball player in Kenya building a leadership initiative for girls. We were constantly adding people on LinkedIn to stay in touch. The energy was really exciting.”
Some of their connections were forged at a dinner with a Taiwanese delegation from Taipei and Taoyuan as well as representatives from LA County working on their CEDAW implementation.
“They had a lot of data analysis and implementation work already done, so we learned a lot from them,” Moraes said.
Shortly after the group returned home, they shared about their experience and next steps with the San Diego County Commission on the Status of Women and Girls.
In May, Moraes and DeYoung graduated from PLNU. They plan to continue supporting and empowering women and girls. Moraes hopes to pursue government relations work, and DeYoung plans to go into education.
“I’m thrilled they’re graduating, but I’ll miss our regular discussions,” Nantkes said. “Working alongside Laine and Jessica has been wonderful.”
