The sixty-eighth Commission on the Status of Women considered as its 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”. It considered as its review theme “Social protection systems, access to public services and sustainable infrastructure for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls”, evaluating progress in the implementation of the agreed conclusions of its sixty-third session.

The session included a ministerial segment comprising four ministerial round tables and one general discussion. The session also included an interactive expert panel on the priority theme, an interactive dialogue to facilitate exchanges among youth representatives from delegations of Member States on the priority theme, and an interactive dialogue on the emerging issue of artificial intelligence to advance gender equality: challenges and opportunities. The Commissions considered its review theme through a series of presentations, made on a voluntary basis, by representatives of 10 Member States from various regions on lessons learned, challenges and achievements in the implementation of the agreed conclusions of its sixty-third session, which were followed by comments and an interactive dialogue among representatives of 21 partner countries and one United Nations entity that provided comments and posed questions at the invitation of the presenting countries.

The Commission adopted agreed conclusions on the priority theme, in which it reaffirmed existing commitments and set out areas and issues requiring attention in conjunction with the priority theme and a series of actions to be taken by Governments and other stakeholders to:

(a) Integrate a gender perspective into financing for development commitments;

(b) Implement gender-responsive economic and social policies and strengthen public institutions;

(c) Expand fiscal space for investments to end poverty for women and girls;

(d) Foster new development strategies towards sustainable economies and sustainable societies;

(e) Engage and finance women’s organizations and collectives;

(f) Enhance multidimensional poverty data and statistics.

The Commission recognized its primary role in the follow-up to Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and called upon the United Nations system entities, relevant international financial institutions, and UN　Women to support efforts towards achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls in addressing poverty and strengthening institutions and financing with a gender perspective.

The work of the Commission on the priority theme and its agreed conclusions as well as the interactive dialogue on the emerging issue constitute inputs to the work of the Economic and Social Council and to the high-level political forum on sustainable development.

The Commission also adopted draft resolution E/CN.6/2024/L.5, E/CN.6/2024/L.4, entitled “Release of women and children taken hostage, including those subsequently imprisoned, in armed conflicts”.

The Commission also decided to take note of the report of its Working Group on Communications on the Status of Women and to include it in the present report.  

(Source: Report of the 68 CSW)