Your guide to CSW68 | UN Women – Headquarters

The world is at least 131 years away from closing the gender equality gap. Women and girls around the world continue to face disproportionate burdens, gender biases and systemic discrimination, which hinder their autonomy, deny them equal opportunities and obstruct their fundamental human rights. 

CSW68 is a key moment to take stock of some of the most pressing issues and emerging challenges that are holding back progress on gender equality and build consensus on policies and action that can reduce the disparities in wealth, income, and access to opportunities that women and girls face.

Women’s poverty has stark implications for the Sustainable Development Agenda. If current trends continue, some 342 million women worldwide will live in extreme poverty in 2030. Poverty increases the risk of violence against women and girls, limits education and employment opportunities, as well as their access to health care and financial inclusion. In turn, these factors keep women poorer. 

With rising conflicts, climate and humanitarian crises, women are the first to absorb the deepest shocks, lose their income, and take on more unpaid care and domestic work. Women and girls living in fragile contexts are nearly 8 times more likely to live in extreme poverty.

Despite the clear need for investing in gender equality, financial investment in women remains alarmingly low. Data from 48 development economies shows that an additional $360 billion is needed per year to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Burdened by debt, more countries, often the poorest, are unable to spend on essential public services that poor women and girls depend on. In the meantime, women’s organizations that are vital to advancing and protecting women’s rights, get insufficient financial aid. Less than one percent of the official development assistance (ODA) is going to organizations advocating for women’s rights.

These gender equality gaps are not inevitable. CSW68 will be an opportunity for Member States, civil society and experts to discuss and agree on actions to increase investment in policies and programmes that address gender inequalities and boost women’s agency and leadership.