The 65th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW65) recognized the need to significantly accelerate the pace of progress to ensure women’s full participation and leadership at all levels of decision-making in executive, legislative and judicial branches of government and the public sector. Youth leaders were present throughout the session, like the National gender Youth Activist, Renata Kotch Alvarenga, who participated at the Opening of CSW65:
At a high-level dialogue, young leaders critically examined the meaning of shared intergenerational co-leadership and mutual accountability. You can read the full article here.
The CSW65 Youth Forum opened the space for over 150 young participants who had the chance to share and reflect upon their context-based experiences. Participants explored feminist leadership in new forms of social justice by the use of social media, and opened up a conversation on how safer digital spaces for all people of different genders, LGBTQ+, women, girls, and young activists can be built. It was evident that the growing awareness of the struggles and the lessons learned from the local, national, regional and global level in terms of accountability shaped youth demands to end all forms of gender-based violence, ensuring active participation in public life and foreground young people's voice in framing the agenda. The Forum also highlighted how UN Women is committed to engaging with young people in shaping and co-creating and co-leading future programmes and policies as well as the challenges faced by young activists at the grassroot level and how to form collective agendas to work on the same from a feminist lens.
Girls’ Caucus offered a public forum for girls to discuss the progress at CSW in regard to the interests and needs of girls, and propose edits to, and offer suggestions on girls' leadership in the implementation of the Agreed Conclusions. The three main suggestions that came out of the Caucus were intersectionality, separating women from girls, and making sure to address issues starting from the local level and are sustainable over time.