The priority theme of the 67th session of the Commission on the Status of Women is “Innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls”. This publication includes findings and recommendations of the Expert Group Meeting (EGM) on the priority theme; summaries of EGM background papers, expert papers, and informational notes; and analysis of relevant normative frameworks.

This report on the proceedings of the global conference “Gender-inclusive peace processes: Strengthening women’s meaningful participation through constituency building” explores current challenges, best practices, and recommendations on how best to leverage the practice of constituency building to further gender-inclusive peace.

This background paper was prepared ahead of the high level seminar, organized by UN Women in collaboration with the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, on “Strengthening women’s participation in peace processes: What roles and responsibilities for States?” in Rome, Italy, on 3 and 4 December 2019. The paper analyzes policies and strategies adopted by Member States and other international actors to foster women’s meaningful participation, particularly related to mediating peace.

This report reflects the main arguments presented during the the high-level seminar, organized by UN Women in collaboration with the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, on “Strengthening women’s participation in peace processes: What roles and responsibilities for states?” in Rome, Italy, on 3 and 4 December 2019, including the persistent barriers to women’s meaningful participation in peace and mediation processes and the opportunities that exist to remove them.

This research stems from the development of Regional Women Mediator Networks and the increased value these networks have acquired in recent years. With a focus on the Mediterranean Women Mediators Network, the paper aims to analyze the significant contribution this initiative can offer to the global agenda of Mediation for the 21st century and its unique added value for the next 20 years of the women, peace, and security agenda.

This research explores the causes of the under-investment in gender-inclusive peace in conflict and post-conflict settings and the significant gaps in financing that make the implementation of Women, Peace and security commitments more difficult. This paper focuses on the three case studies of Colombia, Iraq, and the Philippines.

This report on the proceedings of the 2018 conference “Women’s meaningful participation in peace processes: Modalities and strategies across tracks”, explores innovations, trends, and challenges in the interplay between official, high-level processes and unofficial processes in which civil society plays a leadership role.

This brief series recognizes that, despite advancements, we have to build a stronger bridge between empirical scholarly work, new policy directions, and actual practice on the ground. The series seeks to address that gap and contribute to the realization of the women, peace and security agenda through the promotion of evidence-based policy and practice.

Confidence building is an area that is receiving significant attention in mediation processes around the world. Meanwhile, feminist analysis of the theories and practices of confidence building is nascent. Based on conference discussions, this report summarizes perspectives and early analysis on confidence building from a women, peace, and security perspective. It also offers preliminary recommendations for further research and action.

This brief addresses the importance of women’s full, equal, and meaningful participation to an effective pandemic response and to peacemaking efforts, and how the women, peace and security agenda can provide a critical framework for inclusive decision-making and sustainable solutions. It also provides preliminary analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on women’s participation in ceasefires and peace processes and offers a series of recommendations, including on “building back better”.

This short history of the Commission on the Status of Women from its inception in 1946 to today highlights the Commission’s advocacy for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. It summarizes the Commission’s key achievements in developing the global legal and normative framework, and in advancing its follow-up and implementation at the national level, for the benefit of women and girls everywhere.

This discussion paper views the whys and hows of feminist engagement with the Sustainable Development Goals in a broader context: the key UN-related processes from the time women began getting involved with them in the 1970s. It was produced for the UN Women flagship report, “Turning promises into action: Gender equality in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, and released as part of the UN Women discussion paper series.

Around the world, young women are working to prevent violent conflict, recover from crises, and build peaceful, tolerant communities, yet most peace and security interventions are blind to the needs and contributions of young women. This paper examines the diverse roles that young women play in these contexts and offers recommendations for ensuring their meaningful inclusion and participation in building and sustaining peace.

The 61st session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW61) took place at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, from 13 – 24 March 2017, at a critical juncture in the changing political landscape and realignment of forces mobilized around the gender equality and women’s empowerment agenda.

The CSW60 Agreed Conclusions laid out the strategy and road map for gender-responsive implementation of all Sustainable Development Goals. “Driving the Gender-Responsive Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” highlights the key messages and presents an analysis of the CSW60 Agreed Conclusions.

This paper critically evaluates this potential contradiction with a focus on the key financing strategies of trade and investment liberalization, sovereign debt resolution, international private finance, and public-private partnerships, as well as the role of the global partnership for development. This paper was produced for an expert group meeting convened by UN Women on 'Women's empowerment and the link to sustainable development', in preparation for the 60th session of the Commission on the Status of Women in 2016.

The Beijing Platform for Action mandates the full participation of women in the decision-making, including within the UN system. Twenty years later, statistical trends and future projections on representation within the UN system are analysed, and action points to overcome obstacles and accelerate progress are presented.

The biennial MDGs Gender Chart depicts the situation of women and girls in developing regions as reflected in a number of indicators that are used to monitor the MDGs. This is a special edition of the MDGs Gender Chart produced by the UN Statistics Division and UN Women, with contributions from other agencies, such as ILO, OECD, UNESCO’s Institute for Statistics and UNAIDS, for 58th session of the Commission on the status of women whose priority theme is Challenges and achievements in the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals for women and girls.