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Introduction to the CSW
from IFMSA report from the 66th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women
by International Federation of Medical Students' Associations
1. Introduction to the CSW:
UN Women is the United Nations entity dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women. (1) UN Women supports the UN Member States as they set global standards for achieving gender equality, and work with governments and civil society to design laws, policies, programs and services needed to ensure that these standards are effectively implemented and truly benefit women and girls worldwide (1).
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Working for the empowerment and rights of women and girls globally, UN Women’s main roles are (1): To support inter-governmental bodies, such as the Commission on the Status of Women, in their formulation of policies, global standards and norms (1). To help Member States implement these standards, standing ready to provide suitable technical and financial support to those countries that request it, and to forge effective partnerships with civil society (1). To lead and coordinate the UN system’s work on gender equality, as well as promote accountability, including through regular monitoring of system-wide progress (1).
The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is the principal global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women (2,3). It 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 (2,3).
In 1995, during the Fourth World Conference on Women, 17,000 participants and 30,000 women’s rights advocates came together in Beijing, China to discuss the future of women empowerment and gender equity. Together they drafted the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action which outlined the commitments that all countries collectively made to advance women’s rights in 12 critical areas of concern (4).
In 1996, the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in resolution 1996/6 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, and in mainstreaming a gender perspective in UN activities (2).
