CSW63 side event: What cultural change is needed to consign sexual harassment to the dustbin of history?
Event description
We know that ending sexual harassment is a matter of cultural transformation, not only change in mechanisms or law, though these matter, too.
In line with the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals, UN Women supports efforts to prevent and respond to violence, including addressing sexual harassment. As an institution born from the demand of women’s and feminist movements, it supports and adds to their efforts to achieve gender equality, end discrimination and violence.
Unprecedented recent global mobilization is profoundly challenging sexual harassment. We should not assume that any workplace is immune from sexual harassment; its prevalence remains unacceptable. Women have taken to the streets and mobilized the power of social media to expose the inequalities of power that sustain sexual harassment, as well as their pain and harm. They have used the hashtags #MeToo, #NiUnaMenos, #BalanceTonPorc, #PrimeiroAssedio, #Babaeko, and #WithYou, among others. The leadership and knowledge of the MeToo, Time’s Up, and similar movements strongly shape work to end sexual harassment.
This session will focus on the nature and means to achieve lasting and substantive change to ensure that everyone everywhere can live free from sexual harassment. A parallel conversation on social media will take place using the hashtag #EndSexualHarassment.
This event is accessible to UN grounds pass holders.