Commission on the Status of Women

BPW/UN matters, including deadlines, can be found on the BPW and UN website

CSW69 / Beijing+30 (2025)

In 2025, the global community will mark the thirtieth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women and adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995).

The sixty-ninth session of the Commission on the Status of Women will take place at United Nations Headquarters in New York from 10 to 21 March 2025.

Representatives of Member States, UN entities, and ECOSOC-accredited non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from all regions of the world are invited to attend the session.

Themes

The main focus of the sixty-ninth session will be on the review and appraisal of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcomes of the 23rd special session of the General Assembly. The review will include an assessment of current challenges that affect the implementation of the Platform for Action and the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of women and its contribution towards the full realization of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

BPW Canada has Special Consultative Status through ECOSOC and is able to have 20 Delegates attend CSW each year. Watch this page for details on applying to be one of the In Person Delegates.

NGO Guidance for National Parallel Reports
- Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Of The Fourth World Conference On Women And The Beijing Declaration And Platform For Action (1995)
Canada’s National Parallel Report: Unfinished Business – A Parallel Report on Canada’s Implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, October 2019.
Canada Review: Implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995) in the Context of the Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women, May 2019: English; French.

Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) 68: March 11 to 22, 2024.

The Commission on the Status of Women is the principal global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women. A functional commission of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). It was established in 1946. The CSW is instrumental in promoting women’s rights, documenting the reality of women’s lives throughout the world, and shaping global standards on gender equality and the empowerment of women.

In 1996, ECOSOC expanded the commission’s mandate and decided that it should take a leading role in monitoring and reviewing progress and problems in the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (the key global policy document on gender equality) and in mainstreaming a gender perspective in UN activities.

During the commission’s annual two week session, representatives of UN Member States, civil society organizations and UN entities gather at UN headquarters in New York. They discuss progress and gaps in the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action as well as emerging issues that affect gender equality and the empowerment of women.

Member States agree on further actions to accelerate progress and promote women’s enjoyment of their rights in political, economic, and social fields. The outcomes and recommendations of each session form the “Agreed Conclusions” document which is forwarded to ECOSOC for follow-up.

Parallel events held by Non-governmental Organizations

Parallel events organized by NGOs are coordinated by the NGO Committee on the Status of Women (NGO CSW/NY), which is a group of New York–based women’s NGOs in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council. For more information on the NGO CSW67 Forum and on NGO parallel events, please visit the website of NGO CSW/NY at https://ngocsw.org/

LINKS AND INFORMATION

UN Women: https://www.unwomen.org/en/how-we-work/commission-on-the-status-of-women

NGO CSW/NY: https://ngocsw.org/

UN Web TV: https://webtv.un.org/

igniteHER - Parallel Event NGO CSW

VIEW PRESENTATION: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0kYEiSZp38

CSW66 NGO CSW66 Parallel event:
Access to Clean Water in Indigenous Communities in Canada

Access to Clean Water in Indigenous Communities in Canada event was hosted by the Canadian Federation of Business and Professional Women. It was our pleasure to welcome to the discussion moderator Patricia Crowe with our dynamic speakers Jessica Vandenberghe, Nicole Hancock and Tasha Beeds. We were truly in awe of the work these women do and their willingness to share their time with us.

If you missed the event please check out the recording.

View moderator and panelist’s bios and links here.

Europe and North America CSW Caucus Statement – Statement on Ukraine – Women, Peace and Security

Generation Equality Forum

“The Generation Equality Forum is a civil society–centred, global gathering for gender equality, convened by UN Women and co-hosted by the governments of Mexico and France. Kicking off in Mexico City, Mexico, on 29–31 March 2021, and culminating in Paris, France, in June 2021, the Forum will secure a set of concrete, ambitious, and transformative commitments to achieve immediate and irreversible progress towards gender equality. The landmark effort will bring together governments, corporations and change to define and announce ambitious investments and policies.

The Forum responds to the fact that—despite the commitments made in Beijing in 1995 to take strategic, bold action on gender equality—progress and implementation has been slow. Not a single country today can claim to have achieved gender equality. With women’s rights at risk of rolling back further as a result of the COVID-19 crisis—due to heightened poverty and risks of gender-based violence—the Forum is a rallying point to finally achieve the human rights of all women and girls…” ~ Source

“Over twenty-five years after the historic Fourth World Conference on Women and the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the Forum will take stock of progress and drive concrete actions to accelerate progress towards gender equality…” ~Source