Commission on Status of Women – Striving for Equality, Rights and Empowerment

The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is the principal global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality, the rights and the empowerment of women. A functional commission of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), it was established by ECOSOC in June 1946.

Women and girls from (left to right): South Africa [1993], Laos [1972], Afghanistan [2001], Bangladesh [1989]

At Hunter College in May 1946, the Sub-commission on the Status of Women meets.  From left to right are: Mrs. Hansa Mehta, India; Mrs. Way Sung New, China; Miss Fryderyka Kalinowski, Poland; Miss Angela Jurdak, Lebanon; Mrs. Marie Helene Lefaucheux, France; and Mrs. Bodgil Begtrup, Denmark and Chairman of the Committee.

Women from (left to right): Bangladesh [1983], South Africa [1983], Mali [1983] and Mozambique [1972]

The CSW is promoting women’s and girls' rights, documenting the reality of their lives throughout the world, and shaping global standards on gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls.

Upper left: Alice Kandalaft Cosma from Syria speaks with Begum Hamid Ali from India, before the opening of the Second Session of the Commission on the Status of Women in 1948. 

Upper right: Margaret K. Bruce, Chief of Section Status of Women, UN Secretariat, speaks with the Chairman of the seventeenth session, Maria Lavalle Urbina (Mexico) during the seventeenth session of the Commission of the Status of Women in 1963.

Lower left: Mrs. Eugenia A. Stevenson (centre left), of Liberia, chairs the Twenty-Fourth Session of the Commission on Status of Women, in Geneva in 1972. At left is Mrs. Margaret Bruce, representative of Secretary-General; at centre right is Mrs. Sol Nahon, Secretary and at right is Mrs. Irma Mazelis. 

Lower right: Miss Dorothy Kenyon, of United States, speaks with Mrs. Bodil Begtrup, of Denmark, before the opening of the Second Session of the Commission on the Status of Women in 1948.

During the Commission’s annual two-week session, representatives of UN Member States, civil society organizations and UN entities gather at UN headquarters in New York. 

Women in Sharga, North Darfur, prepare food at the village’s SAFE Centre in 2012.

Participants work with Member States towards agreements on further actions to accelerate progres and promote women’s and girls' rights in political, economic, and social fields.

At left: A townhall meeting held during the sixty-third session of the Commission on the Status of Women in 2019. At right: Participants react to the adoption of the draft resolution titled "Political Declaration on the occasion of thirtieth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women" during the opening of the sixty-ninth session of the Commission on the Status of Women in March 2025. The resolution, adopted by consensus, reaffirms the commitments of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, originally adopted in 1995 at the Fourth World Conference on Women, stressing the need to uphold all human rights and fundamental freedoms for every woman and girl, without exception. 

The seventieth session of the Commission on the Status of Women will take place at United Nations Headquarters in New York from 9 to 19 March 2026.

Priority theme for 2026: Ensuring and strengthening access to justice for all women and girls, including by promoting inclusive and equitable legal systems, eliminating discriminatory laws, policies, and practices, and addressing structural barriers

Review 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

Women bake bread in a mobile oven in a community bakery in their neighbourhood in Monrovia, Liberia, 2018. 
 

The UN Photo Library holds an extensive collection of images documenting the work of the United Nations. For detailed information on the images in this photo essay, follow the links below. Images are listed in order of appearance.

UN Photo/Peter Magubane: UN7547169, UN Photo/John Robaton: UN7759064, UN Photo/Luke Powell: UN7524928, UN Photo/M. Wild: UN7549750, UN Photo: UN7617890, UN Photo/S. Paul: UN7475185, UN Photo/Peter Magubane: UN7767736, UN Photo/Kay Muldoon: UN7778885, UN Photo/N. Basom: UN7496453, UN Photo/Kari Berggrav: UN7445638, UN Photo/MH: UN7766100, UN Photo: UN7766089, UN Photo/Kari Berggrav: UN7445637, UN Photo/Albert Gonzalez Farran: UN7304076, UN Photo/Amanda Voisard: UN755852, UN Photo/Manuel Elías: UN71089453, UN Photo/Albert Gonzalez Farran: UN7111284