The UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), part of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), promotes gender equality and the advancement of women. Its charge is to measure progress towards equality and highlight challenges, set standards and formulate concrete policies to promote equality and women’s empowerment, and encourage mainstreaming of the gender perspective in all UN activities worldwide.
FAWCO is a member of the NGO Committees on the Status of Women (NGO CSWs) in NY, Geneva and Vienna. FAWCO members and UN Representatives regularly attend the annual CSW in New York. You can read blogs by members of FAWCO's delegations to CSW.
FAWCO signs on to Written and Oral Statements submitted to UN Women for consideration by CSW, joining our partner women's NGOs with consultative status to ECOSOC. You can read these statements on the Advocacy page.
| Key Links | |
| UN CSW | http://www.unwomen.org/en/csw |
| NGO CSW New York | www.ngocsw.org |
| NGO CSW Geneva | www.ngocsw-geneva.ch/ |
| NGO CSW Vienna | https://ngocswvienna.org/ |
March 2026
I am a classroom history teacher. Many of my students see the world around them and do not see avenues for their voices. I took this opportunity at CSW70 to look into how children can engage in discourse, exercise their agency and enact justice in their own communities.
One session that spoke to...
The schedule at CSW is overwhelming (as Karen and Alex have told us all!). As recommended, I focused my attendance on sessions related to youth engagement, peace relations and child marriage. Two very different sessions that really impressed me were Child Marriages (UNICEF & UNFPA) and Youth in STEM (GIRLS SCOUTS).
From Protection...
The quote that haunts me…
“Why are you here?
I know you will say, ‘I have come here to learn…’
NO! You’ve come to get an assignment.”
It was later in the day when I encountered Faith Mwangi-Powell of Girls Not Brides: The Global Partnership to End Child Marriage.
I had spent the morning with young women...
The 70th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70) in March of this year (2026) came at an existential moment for women’s rights—not just in the US but worldwide. This year’s priority theme, “Ensuring and strengthening access to justice for all women and girls,” cuts across all areas affecting women’s rights and...
When people come together for advocacy, there’s real energy in the room. There’s also, sometimes, a quiet question: what will this actually change? If the answer doesn’t look like immediate policy change, it can be deflating. But that disappointment might say more about the standard we’re using than the event...
The impacts of artificial intelligence (AI) are disproportionately negative for women and girls—particularly the non-consensual distribution of intimate images (NCII). FAWCO sponsored a parallel event at the Commission on the Status of Women in March 2026 (CSW70as a parallel event of the NGO CSW New York Forum. Four brave women...
In November of 2024, I had the privilege of attending a FAWCO regional meeting hosted by AWC Berlin. There I asked a fellow member about her experience attending past CSW sessions. She used adjectives such as “amazing, inspiring, overwhelming” and enthusiastically encouraged me to go. After considering logistics for about five minutes, I was convinced. Four short months later, after...
This year, for the first time, I joined the United Nations Commission of the Status of Women (UN CSW69) for its second week. I was looking forward to exploring all avenues, attending a variety of sessions and venues offered, so in February when I received an email request for CSW Forum volunteers from NGO...
This was my first time attending CSW in person – it was, as I was warned, overwhelming – in a very good way! As a newbie, being surrounded by FAWCO sisters throughout the three days I attended was wonderful. Alex and Karen gave helpful guidance in the weeks leading up to CSW69 and...
My first impression was that I’ve never been in a room with so many women! I attended a predominately male technical college, then worked in the investment banking field, including training. While I’ve attended plenty of large conferences and have been fortunate enough to work with a number of internationally diverse groups, I have never...