The United Nations opened the seventieth session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70), with Secretary-General António Guterres declaring that “gender equality is – and always has been – a question of power,” as senior officials called for stronger access to justice for women and girls worldwide and warned that equality remains an unfulfilled promise.
Guterres told delegates that progress on women's rights has never come easily. “Not a single step forward for women's rights has ever been given,” he said. “It has been won. Won by generations of women and girls, advocates and activists, community leaders and justice seekers.”
Guterres painted a sobering picture of persistent inequality, noting that women hold only 64 percent of the legal rights enjoyed by men globally. “Here we are, well into the 21st century, yet justice remains a distant dream for millions upon millions of women and girls,” he said. “Discriminatory laws persist. Patriarchal norms endure.”
The Secretary-General also warned that women continue to be sidelined in peace efforts despite evidence that their inclusion improves outcomes. While agreements last longer and societies heal more deeply when women participate meaningfully in peace processes and transitional justice, he said, “the world continues to fall short. Inclusion is proclaimed, yet women are absent from negotiating tables. Protection is pledged, yet sexual violence persists with impunity.”
Guterres described justice as “the guardian of human rights and human dignity,” warning that when women's testimony is dismissed or discriminatory laws go unchallenged, rights erode for everyone. He called for confronting what he termed “the epidemic of violence against women and girls in all its forms: domestic abuse, trafficking, sexual violence in conflict, and the harassment that limits women's freedom every single day.”
General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock framed the fight for women's rights as inseparable from the pursuit of justice itself - in law, in implementation, and in power. “Justice around the world demands the active choice to believe survivors everywhere around the world, to hold perpetrators accountable every day and dismantle systems that perpetuate abuse and discrimination,” she said.
UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous warned that the session was taking place against a backdrop of compounding crises. “We meet at a time of multiple global crises. Peace eludes us. And the world is extremely and increasingly fragmented,” she said, adding that gender inequality is being worsened by conflict across Afghanistan, Haiti, Iran, Myanmar, Palestine, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, Yemen “and beyond.” She echoed calls for a return to diplomacy and dialogue and “an end to the killing across the Middle East, Africa and beyond.”
