In Focus: CSW67 (2023)

Date: Friday, 10 February 2023

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About the Commission on the Status of Women

The sixty-seventh session of the Commission on the Status of Women will take place from 6 to 17 March 2023.

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

Themes

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)

Bureau

The Bureau of the Commission plays a crucial role in facilitating the preparation for, and in ensuring the successful outcome of the annual sessions of the Commission. Bureau members serve for two years. In line with ECOSOC decision 2002/234, the Commission holds the first meeting of its subsequent session, immediately following the closure of the regular session, to elect new members of the Bureau as needed.

The Bureau for the 67th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (2023) comprises the following members:

H.E. Ms. Mathu Joyini (South Africa), Chair (African States Group)
H.E. Ms. Antje Leendertse (Germany), Vice-Chair (Western European and Other States Group)
Mr. Māris Burbergs (Latvia), Vice-Chair (Eastern European States Group)
H.E. Ms. Maria del Carmen Squeff (Argentina), Vice-Chair designate (Latin American and Caribbean States Group)
Ms. Chimguundari Navaan-Yunden (Mongolia), Vice-Chair designate (Asia and Pacific States Group)

Preparations

Expert Group Meeting: Innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls

Side events

Achieving Digital Justice and Rights Through Inclusive Policy Making

7 March, 8:00-9:30 AM Eastern Standard Time [8:00-9:30 PM Thailand Standard Time (GMT+7)]

The side event aimed to discuss and interrogate the realities and the impact of 'digital transformation' on women in Asia-Pacific and to take stock of the situation with regards to gender-based violence in digital spaces and the gendered impact of digitalisation on labour rights of women and girls. It also provided concrete policy recommendations for human rights-based and gender-responsive digital initiatives and policies that cam ensure the safety and security of women and girls in virtual platforms and address sexual and gendered cyber violence, harassment and abuse in an effective manner.

This side event was co-sponsored by the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD), UN Women, International Labor Organization (ILO), Fiji Women’s Rights Movement (FWRM), Korea Women’s Association United (KWAU) and the Permanent Mission of Fiji.

Recording: CSW67 Side Event: Achieving Digital Justice and Rights Through Inclusive Policy Making

Women, Peace and Cybersecurity: Safeguarding online civic spaces and women’s digital rights using Artificial Intelligence and other emerging technologies for peaceful and socially cohesive societies across Asia and the Pacific

14 March 9:00-10:00 AM Eastern Standard Time [8:00-9:00 PM Thailand Standard Time (GMT+7)]

Cybersecurity is an increasingly recognized priority area for international and national security policies and its prominence has grown in parallel with the accelerated rate of digitalization in the slipstream of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, gendered dynamics of digital technologies and security tend to be overlooked, particularly in conflict and crisis contexts.

Under the priority theme for the 67th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, the importance and potential of innovation and technological change for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls was highlighted. In this context, the UN Women's Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific organized a virtual side-event to discuss how the Women, Peace and Security agenda can be leveraged to safeguard online civic spaces and women’s digital rights through the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and emerging technologies. This is the recording of the webinar.

Recording: UN Women virtual side-event to the CSW67: Women, Peace and Cybersecurity

Bridging the Gender Gap in the Digital Economy: Leveraging technology and innovation to advance women’s economic empowerment in Asia Pacific and Africa

16 March, 9:00 -11:00 AM Eastern Standard Time [8:00-10:00 PM Thailand Standard Time (GMT+7)]

Co-organized by China Federation of Internet Societies, the Ant Foundation, UN Women China and other partners, the side event highlighted key gender responsive policies and good practices from the Asia Pacific and Africa regions that can be scaled up to advance women’s digital and economic empowerment including women’s entrepreneurship. The event also brought women MSMEs’ digital empowerment under the spotlight and convened key stakeholders to accelerate gender mainstreaming into technology, innovation, and entrepreneurial policies and programmes. Read more [here]

[Recording: English]

[Recording: Chinese]

Asia-Pacific Regional Consultation

The Asia-Pacific CSW67 Regional Consultation was jointly organized by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific and The Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) in collaboration with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

The Regional Consultation provided an interactive forum for ESCAP member States and key stakeholders in the Asia-Pacific region to explore ways to accelerate progress on key frameworks including the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (in particular, the 2019 Asia-Pacific Declaration on Advancing Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment: Beijing+25 Review), the Financing for Development, Addis Ababa Action Agenda (FfD), and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Regional Consultation also provided an opportunity to examine trends, needs, gaps in policy responses, and good practices, as well as potential areas for joint interventions to address innovation, technological change, and education in the digital age in order to provide recommendations to encourage a more inclusive and equitable digital evolution which ensures that ‘no one is left-behind’. The Regional Consultation provided a set of recommendations on areas for accelerated action within the region, which can inform member state contributions to the agreed conclusions of the session.

The Regional Consultation brought together participants from the Asia-Pacific countries (from both National Coordination Mechanisms for gender equality and women’s empowerment and other relevant ministries) as well as experts and practitioners from a variety of fields, including academia, civil society, inter-governmental organizations, United Nations entities, private sector and international financial institutions.