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By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press Writer - UNITED NATIONS February 23, 2010 (AP) What do actress Geena Davis, Britain's Duchess of York, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the head of the World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists have in common? They're all committed to empowering women.

At a U.N. event Monday promoting gender equality, they were joined by heads of foundations, corporate leaders, academics, diplomats, representatives of voluntary organizations and several other celebrities, including Miss USA Kristen Dalton and Sweden's Princess Madeleine.

The U.N. Economic and Social Council chose International Corporate Philanthropy Day to focus on women's rights and generate support for one of the U.N.'s Millennium Development goals — promoting equality between women and men.

Ban told several hundred participants that "full empowerment requires more progress in two key areas: expanding economic opportunity and ending violence against women."

"Our goal must be clear," the U.N. chief said. "No tolerance of the use of rape as a weapon of war. No excuses for domestic violence. No looking the other way when it comes to sex trafficking, so-called `honor killings' or female genital mutilation."

The secretary-general also urged the private sector to promote women at all levels of corporate responsibility and the philanthropic community to "make sure that female beneficiaries are treated equally."

Davis, who won a best supporting actress Oscar for "The Accidental Tourist" in 1989 and starred in "Thelma & Louise" and the ABC television series "Commander in Chief" where she played the first female U.S. president, called for a radical change in the way women and girls are portrayed in the media.

"At the dawn of a new millennium — in a world that is over 50 percent female — the message the media sends is that women and girls have far less value than men and boys," she said...

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