Economic and Social Council: Meetings Coverage

The Commission on the Status of Women today sent a strong message to ensure that gender equality was woven tightly into a blanket of initiatives spanning armed conflict to natural disaster assistance, as it approved seven draft texts, one by recorded vote, to be sent to the Economic and Social Council for adoption.

Meeting this morning on the penultimate day of its fifty-sixth annual session, the Commission on the Status of Women heard introductions of a number of draft texts — tackling topics ranging from the particular needs of indigenous women to the release of women and children hostages — on which the body was expected to take action tomorrow.

Since young people had great ideas, but trouble implementing them, the United Nations should lead by example, allowing those under age 16 to take part in conferences, the Commission on the Status of Women heard during a lively interactive panel discussion today on engaging youth to advance gender equality.

Calls to incorporate gender equality into a wide array of challenging global issues — from sustainable development to migration to urbanization — were at the forefront of discussions today, as the Commission on the Status of Women concluded the general debate segment of its fifty-sixth annual session.

Accounts of programmes and policies aimed at narrowing the gender gap and empowering rural women continued to dominate discussions as the Commission on the Status of Women continued its fifty-sixth annual session today.

To ensure Government funding for women’s empowerment and gender equality, budget-makers must call on all ministries to identify their top gender-related priorities and teach staff how to mainstream them into sectoral budgets, State finance officials told the Commission on the Status of Women today, as it held an interactive panel discussion on that subject.

“Crystal clear” priorities – many of which would require major shifts in the attitudes of world leaders - began to take shape in the Commission on the Status of Women today, with senior-level Government officials calling for innovative strategies to improve the health of rural women, protect their rights and facilitate their engagement in economic and public life.

The use of microcredit had financially empowered millions of impoverished women in rural areas around the world, but had not been enough to improve their economic lot, a senior official of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) told the Commission on the Status of Women today as it held a panel discussion on “Economic Empowerment of Rural Women”.

Unleashing the potential of rural women — a quarter of the world’s population — was critical to ending global poverty and hunger, high-level speakers said today as the Commission on the Status of Women opened its fifty-sixth annual session. “Empowering women is not just good for women, it is good for all of us,” Michelle Bachelet, Executive Director of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women).

Wrapping up what its Chairperson described as “another tough and highly intense” session, the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations today adopted its draft 2012 report and took action on a number of outstanding matters.