51³Ô¹Ï

Washington, DC - 28 March 2024 - Women¡¯s History Month ends when March does ¨C but work focused on women and girls continues throughout the year. International Women¡¯s Day, which has been celebrated annually since the early 1900s, was expanded to a month-long celebration on its 100th anniversary.

On 8 March 2024, the focus at the UN was ¡°Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress,¡± to underscore : Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.

That is just part of the Goals¡¯ focus. The SDGs build on decades of work by countries and the UN and together comprise the  That blueprint for peace and prosperity was adopted by all UN Member States in 2015.

It recognizes that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth ¨C all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.

Each year, Member states gather for a , to review developments and gauge progress. The UN Secretary General presents an annual SDG Progress report. This is the most recent one:

Commission on the Status of Women

Each March, some of the most sustained attention to women¡¯s achievements and challenges comes when the Commission on the Status of Women draws thousands of people to 51³Ô¹Ï Headquarters in New York. Since it was established in 1946, representatives of UN Member States, UN organizations, civil-society organizations, experts and activists have gathered for intense work and debate on a broad range of priorities ¨C and networking to help amplify disparate initiatives.

This year¡¯s CSW68 highlighted the challenges that find 10.3 percent of women in extreme poverty and progress on many fronts far too slow. Some 2.6 billion people vote this year ¨C making 2024 an exceptional moment to demand smarter investments. As noted, opportunities abound:

• ¡°°¿±¹±ð°ù&²Ô²ú²õ±è; if governments prioritized education and family planning, fair and equal wages, and expanded social benefits.
• ¡°´¡±ô³¾´Ç²õ³Ù&²Ô²ú²õ±è; through investments in care services.
• ¡°°ä±ô´Ç²õ¾±²Ô²µ&²Ô²ú²õ±è;.¡±

Its Executive Director, Sima , congratulated the Commission on its accomplishments, on X: ¡°You adopted robust Agreed Conclusions, a blueprint to end women's poverty that envisages a world that will:

-No longer accept that 1 in 10 women lives in poverty.

-Accelerate the investment in women and girls.¡±

At meetings and in the field

Women and girls also get dedicated attention throughout the year at meetings, and in the field. Learn more about what some UN organizations are doing to support women and girls, and harness their contributions ¨C

• UN Women -
• UNDP -
• UNFPA -
• UNICEF -
• WFP -
• WHO -

Leadership

Women also play a growing leadership role throughout the UN, and many observers expect Member States to select a women when they choose the next Secretary-General in 2026. They elected Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit as the first woman to serve as President of the General Assembly in 1953. Women already have served as the Deputy Secretary-General, including the current DSG, Amina Mohammed.

Many other women serve in senior posts throughout the Un including five Americans:

• Rosemary DiCarlo, Under Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs
• Melissa Fleming, Under Secretary-General for Global Communications
• Shireen Dodson, UN Ombudsman
• Catherine Russell, Executive Director of the 51³Ô¹Ï Children's Fund
• Cindy McCain, Executive Director of the World Food Program
• , Director General of the International Organization for Migration

Other women who have held leadership posts at the UN include the best-known of all: Eleanor Roosevelt. The First Lady of the US for 12 years went on to serve as the first US delegate to the UN General Assembly from 1945 to 1954. She was the first chair of the UN Commission on Human Rights and led exhaustive negotiations that produced the  Universal Declaration on Human Rights in 1948. Since translated into more than , the Universal Declaration for the first time set out fundamental human rights to be universally protected. It is widely recognized as having paved the way for more than 70  human rights treaties, and inspired untold millions of people and movements.

 Writing for the UN Chronicle after the UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration in December 1948, Roosevelt captured its essence: ¡°In appealing to our sense of the inherent dignity of every human being, the Declaration gives meaning to our ability to know human rights violations when we see them.¡±

In the United States, Roosevelt was outspoken in promoting civil rights for African-Americans and Asian-Americans, greater roles for women in the workplace, and the rights of World War II refugees. She later chaired the during President John F. Kennedy¡¯s administration.

UN Women

One of the UN¡¯s newest organizations, established in 2010 to focus on gender equality and the empowerment of women, brings varied approaches together. Among these --

• The (annually)
• the (launched in 2014)
• the Inter-agency Network on Women and Gender Equality (first convened in 2001)
• CEDAW, the (1979)
• the (1946)

World Conferences

To sustain attention before the creation of UN Women, the 51³Ô¹Ï organized four world conferences on women, in Mexico City (1975), Copenhagen (1980),  Nairobi (1985), and Beijing in 1995. The work culminated in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, adopted unanimously by 189 member states. Its implementation has been reviewed regularly, most recently at the conference.

Peacekeeping

Elevating the role of women in negotiating and keeping peace also has commanded significant attention at the UN.

The first woman to head a UN Peacekeeping Mission, Major General Kristin Lund, worked closely with Special Representative Lisa Buttenheim when they were both serving in the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus .¡° For once I did not need to convince my boss that gender was important,¡± Maj. Gen. Lund said. ¡°Both of us had gender equality in our spine.¡±

• The Security Council¡¯s landmark Resolution 1325 (2000) demanded women¡¯s greater participation in decision-making, a role they deserve but also one that produces better results in protecting civilians. ¡°This is not just a question of numbers, but also of our effectiveness in fulfilling our mandates,¡± . The Secretary-General issues an update on women, peace and security each October.
• The further integrates women as participants in every step of peacekeeping operations, while ensuring gender perspectives are included in all aspects of missions.
• The highlights gaps where women are underrepresented and ensures an ¡°enabling environment that allows and encourages uniformed women to serve in peace operations.¡±
• Other measures of note include measures to address gender-based discrimination and harassment and other concerns; the ; and the .

Another priority is improving the UN¡¯s response to sexual exploitation and abuse. The Secretary-General¡¯s Special Coordinator, Christian Saunders, detailed  of an inquiry into the effect of frameworks, policies and procedures on progress. It documented risks that have risen along with humanitarian crises, particularly in high-risk and complex contexts. ()

Special Envoys and Rapporteurs

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict is a member of the Secretariat¡¯s senior leadership team with a wide-ranging mandate.

The deploys independent experts and working groups to investigate priority concerns. Women and girls¡¯ equities are considered as part of mandates, and examined specifically by --

• ,
• The Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences, and
• .

2024 Dates to Remember

At the end of each year, women and girls get extra attention during the ¡¯s 16 days of activism between the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (25 November) and Human Rights Day (10 December) ¨C the anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948).

But work continues throughout the year, particularly on these international days and during the annual Commission on the Status of Women:

• International Day of Zero Tolerance of Female Genital Mutilation ¨C 6 February
• International Day of Women and Girls in Science ¨C 11 February
• International Women¡¯s Day ¨C 8 March
• Commission on the Status of Women ¨C 11-22 March
• International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict ¨C 19 June
• World Breastfeeding Week ¨C 1-7 August
• International Day of the Girl Child ¨C 11 October
• International Day of Rural Women ¨C 15 October
• International Equal Pay Day ¨C 18 October
• International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women ¨C 25 November