April 2021

The 65th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW65) took place from March 15 - 26, 2021, for the first time in an all virtual format. CSW64 in March 2020 was the first major UN conference to be cancelled due to COVID. All of the disappointment of 2020 was channeled into enthusiasm for 2021's virtual CSW. Over 60 FAWCO members registered to participate online, saving $$, air miles, CO2, and wear and tear. (A good thing too, since the FAWCO Biennial Conference happened in the middle of the two weeks of CSW65!) You can read the latest CSW blog posts by members of the FAWCO delegation and check out recommended events on video. 

In his address at the opening of CSW65 on March 15, 2021, Secretary-General António Guterres said that the COVID-19 pandemic has shown how deeply embedded gender inequality is in the world’s political, social and economic systems. The UN chief noted that women work in jobs that have been hard hit by the pandemic, and that women’s and girls’ unpaid care work has increased due to stay-at-home orders, school and childcare closures, and more need for elder care.

Read more here and watch a video of the S-G's statement here.

You can also watch a video of Secretary-General Guterres' Town Hall Meeting with Civil Society during CSW (March 16, 2021). 

The 65th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) came to a close on March 26 after pushback from regressive governments caused negotiations to stretch into the final day. The CSW65 Agreed Conclusions were adopted at the eleventh hour, late on the final day, after a marathon of difficult negotiations. You can watch the Closing Session and hear Member States' statements here. While the international community finally did reconfirm commitments to gender equality, commitments must be backed by action and resources. Civil society activists, including FAWCO, who had called for more progressive language in the Agreed Conclusions, were disappointed. Read more here.

CSW65's theme was women in decision-making and public life, so when the US speaker at the Opening Session on March 16 was the first woman - and the first woman of color - Vice President Kamala Harris -- our hearts burst with pride. Her words were so true and so important: “Eleanor Roosevelt, who shaped the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, once said, 'Without equality, there can be no democracy. In other words, the status of women is the status of democracy."

The CSW world was watching and breathing a sigh of relief. The US was back at the UN and on the multilateral stage again. Watch the video here.  
 

Photo: UN Women

• "The very difficult situation that a global pandemic has put us in has also allowed so many more of us in the FAWCO family to attend virtually, sharing ideas, venting anger but most importantly stoking the fire of hope, determination and knowledge!"
• Being a part of UN CSW65 for the first time has shown me the sheer strength of civil society, of thousands of ordinary women fighting tirelessly for rights that some of us may take for granted, in constantly pushing for a more just society – that we are so much stronger and more effective when we come together in organizations like FAWCO.
• I was immensely proud of the increasing role that FAWCO played in CSW.
• Being a part of such a broad, supportive and exhilarated team of FAWCO feminists all attending simultaneously, the feeling of being part of a much larger force that was gaining momentum...
• I thought you may be happy to hear of the collaborations going on as a result of bringing together so many FAWCO members for the virtual CSW this year!!
• The "silver lining"? How many of us would really have been able to be part of it in NYC? I am sorry for "the regulars" who missed out, but I am grateful to have been able to participate.

There were over 200 official CSW side events organized by UN Member States, UN agencies and other partners, and 700 (!!) NGO CSW Forum events. It was too much to take in during the two weeks of CSW. Several events included FAWCO members as panelists, speakers or moderators. FAWCO co-sponsored an NGO Forum event on Femicide in Germany, where UN Rep Sue England (IWC Munich) spoke about the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. With NGO CSW Vienna, I was one of the organizers of the NGO Forum event "Beijing-COVID-What Next?" FAWCO UN Rep Erica Higbie (FAUSA) was one of the organizers of a series of NGO Forum events on the Women's Human Rights Teaching, Learning and Advocacy Resource. You can find links to videos of these events and many more here and here. 

I'm proud to announce that FAWCO UN Rep Erica Higbie (FAUSA) led a team of 50 academics, researchers, civil society leaders and UN experts in the development of The Women's Human Rights Teaching, Learning and Advocacy Resource (WHR TLAR), a user-friendly compendium of lesson plans for educators and activists. Developed collaboratively, this resource is organized into six modules dealing with the most pressing challenges to women's human rights today:

• Inclusive development, shared prosperity, and decent work
• Poverty eradication, social protection and social services
• Freedom from violence, stigma and stereotypes
• Participation, accountability and gender-responsive institutions
• Peaceful and inclusive societies
• Environmental conservation, protection and rehabilitation

More information about WHR TLAR is available on the FAWCO website, and we're planning to offer a webinar in the near future on how FAWCO members can make use of this incredibly rich material on issues we all care deeply about. 

The FAWCO UN Advocacy Team and the FAWCO Board have been busy reviewing and endorsing a variety of important advocacy statements, position papers and letters in the past months. FAWCO has signed on to statements submitted to CSW65, the Commission on Social Development, the Human Rights Council, UN Women and the UN Security Council, on issues ranging from women in decision-making and leadership, risks and opportunities of e-learning and digital education, climate-induced migration, the situation of women in Myanmar, and the selection process for a new Executive Director of UN Women. You can find links to all of these advocacy statements on the website. 

The inspiring plenary session ‘Women and Transformative Leadership for Generation Equality’ highlighted women’s leadership as a key driver for gender equality. Prime Minister of Finland Sanna Marin, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohamed and other panelists talked about the transformative effect of inclusive leadership for girls and women, and shared their leadership strategies. Watch the recording here.