The Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (GI-ESCR) will be attending the 68th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68) to advocate for substantive gender equality and women’s equal rights.

The CSW is the principal global intergovernmental body dedicated exclusively to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women. Each year, the CSW convenes a wide diversity of stakeholders that address emerging issues and new approaches to questions affecting the situation of women worldwide. As a result, by the end of the session, Member States annually adopt a document of agreed conclusions focused on a thematic priority, which establish key international standards for the advancement of gender equality.

For the CSW68, the priority theme is focused on addressing poverty and strengthening institutions and financing. Additionally, there will also be discussions on a review theme, which will be centred on social protection systems, access to public services and sustainable infrastructure.

Accordingly, GI-ESCR will seek to contribute to the discussions at the CSW68 focusing on the following key interrelated topics:

· The just transition to sustainable societies for the eradication of poverty;

· The advancement of progressive and green tax policies to finance the realisation of women’s rights, and;

· Gender-transformative public services to address the root causes of gender inequality.

Taking these key issues forward, GI-ESCR is participating at CSW68 with the following initiatives:

Official Side-event: A Care-led Transition Towards a Sustainable Future: Pathways to Address Poverty and the Climate Crisis with a Gender Lens

GI-ESCR, alongside the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the International Labor Organisation and the Governments of Costa Rica, Chile, Colombia, and Finland will host a side event on ‘A Care-led Transition Towards a Sustainable Future: Pathways to Address Poverty and the Climate Crisis with a Gender Lens’ to be held on Monday, March 11 at 4:45 pm on the room CR-F.

This will be an opportunity for the high-level panel of leaders, policy-makers and experts on gender equality, care, economic, and environmental justice to discuss how can the transition to environmentally sustainable societies support care systems, including by fostering robust gender-responsive social security systems, combating women’s time poverty, increasing women’s climate-resilience and ensuring sufficient and adequate funding to the care economy.

This conversation will draw on recent research published by GI-ESCR on a A Care-led Transition Towards a Sustainable Future, which you read here.

Join us in this dynamic conversation that will explore how can a just transition lead to societies and economies centred in care!

Moderator:

· Magdalena Sepúlveda, Executive Director at GIESCR and former UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights.

Speakers:

· Cindy Quesada Hernández, Minister of the Status of Women, Costa Rica.

· Paula Narváez Ojeda, President of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and Permanent Representative of Chile to the United Nations.

· Laura Rissanen, State Secretary to the Minister of Social Security, Finland.

· Lucia Scuro, Social Affairs Officer, Division for Gender Affairs, United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

· Laura Turquet, Deputy Chief of Research and Data, UN Women.

· Chidi King, Gender, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Branch Chief, International Labour Organization.

· Wedgan Hussein, Bibliotheca Alexandrina Solidarity Staff Union, Africa and Arab countries WOC vicechair.

Parallel-event at the NGO CSW Forum: Rebuilding the Social Organisation of Care: a key to dismantling womxn's poverty

GI-ESCR jointly with key partners, including Public Services International (PSI), Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN), ActionAid, OXFAM, Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR), Global Alliance for Tax Justice (GATJN), Tax Justice Network (TJN), Womankind, African Women's Development and Communications Network (FEMNET), International Domestic Workers Federation (IDWF), and ESCR-Net will co-host a parallel event at the NGO CSW68 Forum on March 11, 2024, 2:30 pm at Tillman Chapel, 1st Floor CCUN.

The event will touch upon the unjust social organisation of care in societies built on the coloniality of power and the intersectionality of women's labour extraction. It will furthermore share evidence of current trends towards the commodification, monetisation, financialization and privatisation of care and the impact of the climate emergency in care- givers and care-receivers.

This event will be held at the civil society gathering parallel to the CSW68 and held outside of the UN headquarters known as the NGO CSW68 Forum. Join us in this event that will convene feminist movements, women’s rights organisations, and trade unions to envision the transformation of care systems!

Written Statement on Gender- Transformative Public Services

As a contribution to the general debate at CSW68, the GI-ESCR submitted a written statement emphasising the crucial role of public services in addressing the root causes of gender inequality. It highlights that the privatisation and commercialization of public services such as education, health, water and sanitation have a disproportionate impact on women and girls in all their diversity and result in increased economic barriers that violate their fundamental human rights.

Against this backdrop, the declaration puts forward policy proposals that emphasise the need for gender-transformative public services. For example, GI-ESCR points out that progressive fiscal polices should be implemented to restore the balance of power, distribute resources and create opportunities for people of different genders by addressing the underlying factors that contribute to gender inequality.

Read the full statement here!

Agreed Conclusions on the thematic priority

GI-ESCR will join partners in following the negotiations of the Agreed Conclusions that will establish new international standards for the achievement of gender equality on the thematic priority.

Together with other partner organisations, we will work to ensure that the principles of progressive and green tax policies are reflected in the agreed conclusions to ensure that they reflect the need for corporations and the super-rich to contribute their fair share to public revenue. The mobilisation of resources through tax justice is indispensable to invest in the realisation of women’s rights.