Every March thousands of government officials, activists and policy makers descend on the United Nations (UN) headquarters in New York City for two weeks of both high-level meetings and side-events at the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).

The CSW began in 1946 as one of the original sub-commissions of the UN’s Economic and Social Affairs Commission (ECOSOC). Its purpose, according to the UN website, is to promote “gender equality, the rights and the empowerment of girls.” 

Since March 10 when the 69th CSW session began, the streets around UN headquarters on East 45th have been filled with men and women from every corner of the world. African women, wearing traditional dress underneath hastily purchased sweaters as protection against the East River wind, walk alongside young female urbanites carrying tote-bags that proclaim, “Women belong in all places where decisions are being made,” that a quote of the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

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In the line-up in front of the UN Pass and ID office, waiting to receive my press pass, I was sandwiched between a woman who was a director of “Gender Equality and Social Inclusion” at a UK-based think tank and a tiny, red-lipsticked New Yorker who works for NGO Girls Not Brides. The two women were quite excited when they heard I was a journalist but went completely silent when I told them I worked for The Catholic Register.

According to the CSW website, the commission is a “one-of-a-kind platform for feminists from around the world to advocate, learn and share experiences.” 

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This year is a particularly important one for the CSW as it marks 30 years since the fourth World Conference on Women at which the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action was adopted. Signed by 189 countries, the 1995 global policy document outlines 12 focus points which includes women and the economy, human rights and the environment. Since the adoption of the declaration, subsequent commissions have been engaged with member countries monitoring and reporting on progress in those 12 areas.

Sima Bahous, executive director of UN Women, introduced the 69th CSW with the note, “while we have not yet known a world of full equality for all women and girls, the global community collectively imagined it in the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.”

Every year, much of the work of the commission takes place in the hundreds of side events both on the grounds of the UN headquarters and offsite in nearby hotels. Organized by non-governmental organizations in conjunction with member state delegations, the topics range from the realities of sex-selective practices to the role AI might play in combating human trafficking. 

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The Canadian delegation co-hosted several side events in the first week, including one co-hosted with Sierra Leone, Plan International, UNICEF and CHOICE for Youth & Sexuality, entitled, “Stories from the future: Charting a path towards the future girls want.”

This year, Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth of Canada Marci Ien leads the Canadian delegation. Ien has stated that the primary focus of Canada’s advocacy at the commission will be “Women’s empowerment and the advancement of 2SLGBTQI+ rights.”