“What we need now is to continue the revitalisation process, ensuring it has teeth. To rebuild trust in the CSW, we need to strengthen its impact, accountability mechanisms, and the leadership of feminist movements.”
For generations, feminist movements, particularly in the Global Majority, have fought to ensure systems that were never designed with the rights of all women and girls in mind are reformed, revitalized, and strengthened.
When the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action was adopted in 1995, it was a momentous leap forward and the result of decades of fighting for rights, justice, and equality. As young people, we stand on the shoulders of the women’s movement that has paved the way for progress, honouring their legacy and carrying the torch forward.
As we commemorate 50 years since the First World Conference on Women and 30 years since the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, Member States have adopted a resolution that commits to revitalize the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). CSW revitalisation, borne from the Pact for the Future, has presented a critical opportunity to unite and to reimagine the CSW we need.
As the principal intergovernmental body dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, CSW is a global norm setting space. Over 50 years of partnership between feminist, women’s and girls’ movements and the UN have shown how civil society has leveraged institutional mechanisms, especially the CSW, to push forward progress for all women and girls.
That is why feminists continue to engage with CSW, because of what it has achieved since 1946, the impact of its outcomes, and because the Commission has the power to deliver transformative progress. While the CSW has not unleashed its full potential and the transformation it promised in its founding mandate, feminists have not walked away. We have persisted, transforming the corridors of the UN into arenas of strategy and solidarity.
Therefore, what we need now is to continue the revitalisation process, ensuring it has teeth. To rebuild trust in the CSW, we need to strengthen its impact, accountability mechanisms, and the leadership of feminist movements.
What does revitalisation look like for civil society and young people? Feminist coalitions, including the Women’s Rights Caucus, Young Feminist Caucus, and NGO CSW NY, have rallied around several priorities:
- Deepened civil society and youth participation must be non-negotiable, not just in parallel events or side events, but in decision-making, agenda-setting, and follow-up.
- Protection of human rights defenders and expanding civic space must be central to all revitalization efforts.
- Robust accountability mechanisms for the commitments made in the outcomes of CSW, with change measured to reflect realities in countries are essential.
- Cross-sectoral integration must be prioritized at all levels. Gender equality cannot be siloed. CSW must feed into the entire UN system from peacebuilding and climate action to financing and digital governance.
With the multilateral system in flux and sweeping reforms across the UN system, we are at a crossroads. A moment where revitalisation becomes a choice between a genuine shift in power or another procedural rollover.
We can reimagine and strengthen systems that are rooted in inclusivity, trust, and partnerships, led by grassroots movements who have driven progress for decades.
The feminists whose shoulders we stand on did not come this far to simply to validate the status quo. They came to pave the way for progress, reimagine, and re-build.
CSW is a home for many of us. It is where we gather, influence, and bring back the normative outcomes to our countries and communities. Collectively, we will continue to protect it and strengthen it to meet the promises of Beijing and beyond.