United Nations Commission on the Status of Women

The United Episcopal Church Women have a long history of support the United Nation’s efforts for gender equality. Throughout the years the ECW has worked with local and international representatives to understand the needs of woman and children around the world. Through their efforts they are able to establish grants to support local communities and provide valuable information the United Nations role as a global leader.

Update – Canceled Due to Covid-19

2 March, New York— Following the UN Secretary-General’s recommendation to Member States to amend the format of the 64th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women in light of the current concerns regarding coronavirus disease (COVID-19), an informal meeting took place today.

The Commission decided that the 64th session of the Commission will convene on 9 March, at 10.00 a.m. (EST), for a procedural meeting. The meeting will include opening statements, followed by the adoption of the draft Political Declaration and action on any other draft resolutions. The session will then suspend until further notification. No general debate will take place and all side events planned by Member States and the UN system in conjunction with CSW64 will be cancelled.

Read the full letter from the Chair of the Commission on the Status of Women

It’s impossible to say how long The Episcopal Church, as an institution, has participated at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW). Certainly, we can imagine that Episcopalians may have been present from the beginning, such as Eleanor Roosevelt, but not necessarily on behalf of The Episcopal Church.

The sixty-second session of the Commission on the Status of Women took place at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from 12 to 23 March 2018.

Representatives of Member States, UN entities, and ECOSOC-accredited non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from all regions of the world attended the session.

Themes

• Priority theme:
  Challenges and opportunities in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls;
• Review theme:
  Participation in and access of women to the media, and information and communications technologies and their impact on and use as an instrument for the advancement and empowerment of women (agreed conclusions of the forty-seventh session);

The sixty-first session of the Commission on the Status of Women took place at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from 13 to 24 March 2017.

Representatives of Member States, UN entities, and ECOSOC-accredited non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from all regions of the world attended the session.

• Priority theme:
  Women’s economic empowerment in the changing world of work
• Review theme:
  Challenges and achievements in the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals for women and girls (agreed conclusions of the fifty-eighth session)
• Emerging issue/Focus area:
  The empowerment of indigenous women

The Episcopal Women’s Caucus and The Episcopal Church Women are pleased to announce a joint initiative to support our Episcopal delegates to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women to be held this year, March 14-24. Of the 18 delegates from throughout The Episcopal Church selected by then-Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, seven have responded to our invitation to assist them in raising the funds needed to attend, each anticipates needing about $4,000 to attend the two-week event.