On Monday, 14 March, the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) turned the focus of the United Nations towards women and gender related issues worldwide. This year stood as a landmark year for CSW, as it was the first global meeting of governments, NGOs, civil society and experts since the agreement of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals, to focus wholly on the impact and role of gender.

“Soroptimists were amongst the 8100 NGO representatives attending the sixtieth Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW60), advocating on how best to include and empower women through sustainable development, through the elimination of gender-based violence, and the promotion of the human rights of women and girls.

CSW60 Primary Theme: Women’s Empowerment and its Link to Sustainable Development

SI’s ‘Educate, Empower and Enable’ underpin the project work done by clubs across the globe. Already a key issue for SI; women’s empowerment is now increasingly a key issue in sustainable development. Empowerment can be thought of as a multi-dimensional process that helps people to gain control over their own lives, and for them to be contributors and leaders in the communities. For women and girls, without empowerment it will be impossible to achieve gender equality.

Sustainable development approaches look to balance social, economic and environmental needs, whilst also trying to improve the lives of people. Previously, women and girls have not felt the full benefits of development processes, with their roles being undervalued. Women still take on the majority of domestic responsibilities, are paid 10-30% less in employment, and are disproportionately affected in times of crisis, amongst other issues.

In response to these continuing problems, the new 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) contain a stand-alone goal on gender issues: ‘Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls’. The inclusion of this goal is a huge achievement, and acknowledges that there is no development without the full participation of women and girls. Furthermore, through the 2030 Agenda, governments have agreed that gender is a cross-cutting issue. This means that every issue is a ‘women’s issue’; how infrastructure is built, how education systems develop, and how decisions are made are just as relevant to women and girls as they are to men and boys. This supports the understanding that due to social roles and current disparities, women are effected differently by development processes and have different needs from men.

One of the main issues that connects women’s empowerment and sustainable development is the question of ‘how to include women and mainstream a gender-sensitive approach’? Women’s absence in leadership, decision making, policy development and implementation is notable. By better involving women at all these stages, gender mainstreaming would become almost automatic, and would drive empowerment of women and girls.

As the 2030 Agenda will determine the actions of governments over the next 15 years, it is crucial that the needs of women and girls are properly included and addressed. Soroptimist International’s CSW60 written statement examines what needs to be done to achieve the empowerment of women and girls. (You can read the written statement here.) Add link.

CSW60 Review Theme: The Elimination and Prevention of All Forms of Violence against Women and Girls

Violence against women and girls can take many forms, from sexual violence, to human trafficking, to domestic abuse and other types of discrimination. With one in three women experiencing gender-based violence in their lifetime, violence against women and girls is a human rights violation on a pandemic scale. Although there have been efforts made by law-makers and law enforcement, NGOs, communities and others, not enough progress has been made. That any woman or girl must live with the effects of violence is one too many.

Why has progress on eliminating gender-based violence been so slow? It is important to appreciate that although this is a global problem, the challenges facing communities and countries are often specific and are affected by culture, traditions and other factors. The knowledge that those working in communities have is therefore critical to eliminating gender-based violence. However, the discrimination and wide-spread violence against women and girls also indicates this problem has common factors. By gathering together at a global event, such as CSW, civil society, NGOs, governments and other experts are able to share information on effective approaches to combatting this issue. By doing this, the aim is to accelerate the elimination of violence faced by women and girls.

Connecting the impact of policy, good legislation and social change is critical for eradicating gender-based violence. This is also acknowledged by the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs; Goal 5 of the SDGs has specific targets on this widespread problem. As well as being a review theme for CSW60, eliminating and preventing all forms of violence against women and girls is relevant to how sustainable development progresses. For as long as women are not considered and treated equally to men it will be impossible to eradicate gender violence, which is rooted in discriminatory attitudes.
This year, SI’s oral statement for CSW60 focused upon what universal actions can be done to eliminate violence against women and girls across all countries and communities. Supported by twenty other organisations who all contribute to the global effort to eradicate gender-based violence, the statement looks at how it is possible to improve accountability, address structural inequalities experienced by women and girls and how to ensure that legislation supports the needs of victims and survivors. (You can read the oral statement here.) Add Link.

These two issues are kick-starting the discussion of how best to improve the lives of women and girls and will set the scene for future discussions and negotiations at the UN. By advocating on eliminating violence and empowering women and girls, Soroptimists at CSW60 are contributing to actions that will be taken by NGOs, civil society, government and international agencies over the next 15 years.