The Commission on the Status of Women is dedicated exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women. It monitors and reviews progress and problems in the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, and the 23rd special session of the General Assembly held in 2000 (Beijing+5) the Member States agree on further actions to promote women’s rights in political, economic, social and social fields. The Economic and Social Council’s (ECOSOC) current session is being held in Geneva, with a focus on gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. Among the topics discussed are measured to accelerate implementation and measures to build capacities for mainstreaming gender equality across policies and programmes. The Commission also reviews progress in implementing agreed conclusions from previous sessions as a review theme.
A new multi-year programme of work for the years 2021-2024 is contained in ECOSOC resolution 2020/15.
Based on the resolutions from 2018 and 2020, priority and review themes for 2020–2024 are:
- 2020: 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, and its contribution towards the full realization of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
- 2021: Priority theme: Women’s full and effective participation and decision-making in public life, as well as the elimination of violence, for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. Review theme: Women’s empowerment and the link to sustainable development (agreed conclusions of the sixtieth session).
- 2022: Priority theme: Achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls in the context of climate change, environmental and disaster risk reduction policies and programmes. Review theme: Women’s economic empowerment in the changing world of work (agreed conclusions of the sixty-first session).
- 2023: Priority theme: Innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. Review theme: Challenges and opportunities in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls (agreed conclusions of the sixty-second session).
- 2024: Priority theme: Accelerating the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls by addressing poverty and strengthening institutions and financing with a gender perspective. Review theme: Social protection systems, access to public services and sustainable infrastructure for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls (agreed conclusions of the sixty-third session).
