The sixty-sixth session of the Commission on the Status of Women will take place from 14 to 25 March 2022. Due to the continued impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, CSW66 will take place in a hybrid format. All side events and parallel events will be fully virtual.

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: Achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls in the context of climate change, environmental and disaster risk reduction policies and programmes;

• Review theme: Women’s economic empowerment in the changing world of work (agreed conclusions of the sixty-first 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 2002, in order to improve its work and ensure continuity, the Commission decided to hold the first meeting of its subsequent session, immediately following the closure of the regular session, for the sole purpose of electing the new Chairperson and other members of the Bureau (ECOSOC decision 2002/234).

The Bureau for the 66th session (2022) of the Commission on the Status of Women comprises the following members:

• H.E. Ms. Mathu Joyini (South Africa), Chair (African States Group)

• Ms. Pilar Eugenio (Argentina), Vice-Chair (Latin American and Caribbean States Group)

• H.E. Ms. Antje Leendertse (Germany), Vice-Chair designate (Western European and Other States Group)

• Mr. Māris Burbergs (Latvia), Vice-Chair designate (Eastern European States Group)

• Ms. Hye Ryoung Song (Republic of Korea), Vice-Chair designate (Asia and Pacific States Group)

Preparations

• Expert Group Meeting: Achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls in the context of climate change, environmental and disaster risk reduction policies and programmes

Organization of the Session

The Commission's two-weeks session includes the following activities:

• Organization of Work

Side Events

• All side events will take place virtually. Information about side events and activities organized outside of the formal programme of the session

Session Outcomes

The outcome of the Commission’s consideration of the priority theme during its 66th session will take the form of agreed conclusions, to be negotiated by all Member States.

• CSW66 Draft Agreed Conclusions

The Commission will review, as appropriate, its methods of work, taking into consideration the outcome of the process of alignment of the agendas of the GA and ECOSOC and its subsidiary bodies, with a view to further enhancing the impact of the work of the Commission.The Commission will make a recommendation on how best to utilize the year 2025, on the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women.

NGO Participation

• Overview

• Eligibility

• Arrangements

• Opportunities for NGOs to address the Commission

African Views 2022 Parallel event is scheduled for March 21, 2022

The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is the principal global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women. The CSW is instrumental in promoting women’s rights, documenting the reality of women’s lives throughout the world, and shaping global standards on gender equality and the empowerment of women.

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. They discuss progress and gaps in the implementation of the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the principal global policy document on gender equality, and the 23rd special session of the General Assembly held in 2000 (Beijing+5), as well as emerging issues that affect gender equality and the empowerment of women.

After years of negotiations between UN Member States, women’s groups and civil society, on 2 July 2010 the United Nations General Assembly unanimously adopted resolution 64/289, creating UN Women by merging four women’s entities at the UN: the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW); the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW, established in 1976); the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues Advancement of Women (OSAGI, built in 1997), and the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM, established in 1976). Its primary roles are to support the inter-governmental bodies, such as the Commission on the Status of Women, in their formulation of policies, global standards and norms. It also helps Member States to implement these standards and hold the UN system accountable for commitments on gender equality.

African Views Organization has been promoting efforts to garner consensus on a particular sustainable strategic solution for effective localization of the universal agenda on Gender Equality in Africa with its Anti Violence Against Women Act (AVAWA) advocacy. African Views Organization facilitates a collaborative global intelligence initiative for the Advancement of Women and Girls. Together, and collaboratively, African Views work with several organizations in various countries and has satellite organizations that has been created to promote programs and services advancing the status of women. Many of our partners have been travelling across the distances from all continents to attend the CSW conferences. Our first participation in the CSW55 was our first. And since then we have reached many milestones, touched on different topics and have had the privilege to learn and work side by side with the best visionaries in the field, namely: the Late Professor Surendra Kaushik founder of the Helena Kaushik Women’s University in India, Dr. Sorosh Roshan founder of the International Health Awareness Network (IHAN); The Social and Human Development Influencer Lady Regina Askia-Williams – a Nigerian-born, American-based family nurse practitioner, healthcare and educational activist, television producer, writer, and public speaker, fame as an actress and model, Dr Padmini Murthy, physician, Professor and Global Health Director at New York Medical College awarded the Elizabeth Blackwell Medal by the American Medical Women's Association for her contribution to the field of women in medicine in 2016; Elvira Beracochea, MD. MPH, an international development project manager and coach in over 30 countries, Mrs. Innocence Ntap Ndiaye – High Commissioner of the Senegalese Ministry for Social Dialogue and several Dialogues, and the list goes on.

African Views Organization’s tenure in this field has been consistent since its founding in 2010, when we marked the CSW55. From 2010 -2014, African Views Organization conducted more than 500 episodes of the AV Teleforum, among which 250 were dedicated to topics covering the advancement of women featuring experts on various aspect of the subject from all parts of the world.

AV Teleforum is a virtual forum that connects the local individual to global resources eliminates the challenges of distance, cost of travel, and resources by allowing people to take part in a professionally moderated and coordinated forum conducted by phone and compatible VOIP apps from the comfort of their private domain. The audience can listen live online, social media platform, phone, mobile, devises or on the radio. Audience can ask questions in writing and verbally, it is platform to teach and learn, as well as merely share information about local scale challenges and connect with the global community to explore and find collaborative interest and support worldwide in real time. All these experiences have prepared us all for engaging the historical, contemporary, and future challenges on gender issues more objectively. In 2015, African Views Organization launched three interconnected programs, which are: 1) Anti Violence Against Women Act (AVAWA), 2) Anti Violence Against Women Association, 3) The PINK Africa Project. In 2016, African Views announced its first book publication titled, 100 Peaceful Solutions for Women’s Advancement Across Cultures. The book covers the history of women’s struggles around the world and identifies several types of abuses women face in various cultures with a peaceful solution contributed by different women authors across scholastic and professional disciplines as well as across cultural and national backgrounds..

Just as the Commission on the Status of Women produce different theme every year, African Views Organization has had a different and complementary title for all its parallel events to the CSW. The UN Women, a global champion for women and girls, is calling on countries to commit to establishing gender equality through their 'Planet 50/50 by 2030' campaign. According to the UN’s website, the Executive Board is the governance structure for UN-Women’s operational activities and provides operational policy guidance to UN-Women. The Board consists of 41 Member States elected by the Economic and Social Council members for a term of three years based on equitable geographical distribution, across regions. The UN-Women Board consists of 10 from African States; 10 from Asian States; 4 from Eastern European States; 6 from Latin American and Caribbean States; 5 from Western Europe and Other States; and 6 from top contributing countries.