30 years after Beijing Declaration: Reflections on the 69th Commission on the Status of Women

2025 marks 30 years since the historic Fourth World Conference on Women and the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in 1995.

The sixty-ninth session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) took place at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on March 10-21, 2025, gathering together delegates from Member States, UN agencies, and non-governmental organizations with UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) accreditation from across the globe to participate in the sessions.

This summary outlines the key events attended by HB staff during the second week of the 69^th session of the CSW (March 17-21, 2025) and presents key highlights from the discussions.

The priority theme for this year focused on evaluating the ongoing challenges affecting the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and advancing gender equality and the empowerment of women. It also examined the Platform’s role in contributing to the full realization of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. These discussions took place against the backdrop of an increasingly complex global political climate, marked in part by the resurgence of conservative rhetoric and policies worldwide, including those associated with the political agenda of U.S. President Donald Trump, which raised concerns about the rollback of hard-won gains in women’s rights and gender equality.

One of the recurring discussion topics in various spaces and formats was women’s political representation and empowerment. Ensuring that women have the same equal access to decision-making processes as men not only strengthens democratic governance and leads to more inclusive and effective policies, but also plays a vital role in advancing healing justice by addressing historical inequities, amplifying marginalized voices, and fostering collective well-being within communities. As of January 2025, national parliaments worldwide were 27% women, a significant increase from 11% in 1995. In 2024, women held approximately 21% of ambassadorial positions worldwide (at the United Nations, it was not until 1999 that the total number of female ambassadors surpassed 5%).

In this context, Ukraine has made notable strides by introducing gender quotas (20%) in 2015 and has expressed its intention to raise the threshold to 40% in the upcoming parliamentary elections, signaling a continued commitment to enhancing women’s political participation. However, Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine has impeded progress in advancing women’s political representation, as many women who were forced to flee and seek refuge abroad are now ineligible to run for office under current legislation, which requires candidates to have resided in Ukraine for the past five years.

Thanks to the quota system, women now hold 33% of the seats in the Indian Parliament, demonstrating how such mechanisms can effectively enhance women’s political representation and contribute to more inclusive governance. Mexico is now led by a woman president, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, with women the majority in the Senate (65 senators out of 128), while in the U.S. Congress, they account for 24%. Brazil went one step further and elected two transgender women to its congress in 2022.

Despite the significant progress achieved, women politicians and activists continue to face numerous challenges, including gender-based discrimination, harassment, and violence. They often encounter systemic barriers that limit their full participation and influence in political processes, as well as societal biases that undermine their authority and contributions. For instance, despite advancements made in Brazil in 2022, the country remained the deadliest place for transgender individuals in 2024, with 106 reported murders, maintaining this tragic distinction for the past 17 years. Overall, women politicians often face the “likability problem,” where assertiveness leads to negative perceptions. They must balance being strong leaders without appearing abrasive, facing greater scrutiny over behavior and appearance. This bias affects public support, media coverage, and career advancement, creating significant barriers to success.

One approach to mitigating these negative consequences is the “zipper approach.” This strategy involves alternating male and female candidates on party lists to ensure balanced gender representation in elected bodies. By systematically integrating women into political positions, the zipper approach helps overcome barriers to women’s participation and promotes greater gender equality in politics. Implementing this or any other approach aimed at women’s empowerment, it is important to avoid tokenism: the superficial inclusion of women (or individuals from other underrepresented groups) without granting real influence or decision-making power. Tokenism creates the illusion of progress while preserving existing power structures, undermining women’s credibility and reinforcing harmful stereotypes. True gender equality requires not just representation, but meaningful participation and authority.

To support this, it is also vital to criminalize political violence against women, which includes harassment, threats, and physical or psychological attacks aimed at discouraging their political engagement. Some countries have taken important steps in this direction. For example, Bolivia passed a landmark law in 2012 specifically criminalizing political violence and harassment against women in public office.

Beyond the political sphere, gender-based violence (GBV) remains a pervasive and deeply rooted issue affecting women and girls globally, cutting across all social, economic, and cultural contexts. According to the World Health Organization, approximately 1 in 3 women worldwide have been subjected to physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime. Most of this violence is intimate partner violence. Worldwide, almost one third (27%) of women aged 15-49 years who have been in a relationship report that they have been subjected to some form of physical and/or sexual violence by their intimate partner. Additionally, globally, as many as 38% of all murders of women are committed by intimate partners.

Another deeply entrenched form of GBV is child marriage, which disproportionately affects girls and is both a cause and consequence of gender inequality, often exposing them to early and sustained abuse and denying them their rights to health, education, and safety. In the United States, child marriage was legal in all 50 states until 2018, and as of now, only 13 states have enacted full bans. Notably, in California, the law does not specify a minimum legal age for marriage, effectively allowing marriage at any age. Between 2000 and 2018, nearly 300,000 minors were legally married in the United States, according to a study by Unchained At Last, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending forced and child marriage in the U.S. The majority of these cases involved girls aged 16 or 17 marrying adult men, with some children as young as 10 years old. Notably, approximately 60,000 of these marriages occurred at ages or with spousal age differences that would typically be considered statutory rape under state laws, but were legally sanctioned due to marriage exceptions. Women’s rights organizations are actively campaigning to end child marriage nationwide by 2030. However, this goal remains highly ambitious amid a shifting political climate that is increasingly conservative and resistant to advancing the broader women’s rights agenda.

Given these challenges, it is clear that addressing child marriage, and GBV more broadly, requires more than legal reform alone; it demands a holistic and intersectional approach that tackles the underlying social, cultural, and economic drivers. In response to this crisis, it is essential to adopt comprehensive, intersectional strategies that address the root causes of GBV, ensure accountability, and prioritize long-term prevention. A critical part of this effort is shifting from a survivor-centered to a survivor-led approach.1 While a survivor-centered framework ensures that support services are sensitive and responsive to survivors’ needs, a survivor-led paradigm goes further by placing survivors in positions of leadership and decision-making. This shift is vital not only for empowering those directly affected, but also for ensuring that policies and programs are shaped by lived experience, fostering more effective, just, and transformative solutions. It is important to recognize individuals who have experienced GBV not as “trophy survivors,” but as agents of change with the insight and experience to actively contribute to policy development and implementation. Their leadership should be valued not symbolically, but as a vital force in shaping effective and inclusive responses to gender-based violence. A strong example of this approach is the Victim Survivors’ Advisory Council (VSAC), established in Australia in 2016. VSAC was created to ensure that the voices of those with lived experience of family violence directly inform policy, service design, and systemic reform. Its members work in partnership with government bodies to co-design initiatives, advise on strategic priorities, and hold institutions accountable—demonstrating how survivor leadership can drive meaningful change.

This model of survivor engagement is particularly relevant in the context of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), where the inclusion of survivors in peacebuilding and transitional justice processes is essential for achieving lasting and inclusive recovery. In Ukraine, where CRSV has been documented as a consequence of Russia’s full-scale invasion, the importance of survivor-led responses has become increasingly evident. One notable initiative is SEMA Ukraine, a survivor-led network launched in 2019 as part of the global SEMA movement. The network advocates for the rights of survivors of CRSV and works to amplify their voices through policy engagement, awareness campaigns, and support services. In collaboration with ALUMNI, NUMO Sisters, and December 29th, SEMA Ukraine has been actively involved in initiating The Call to List Russia in the SG Report on CRSV (aka UN ‘List of Shame’) for committing crimes of sexual violence.

A critical challenge in addressing GBV in humanitarian settings is the chronic underfunding of prevention and response initiatives. Globally, less than 1% of humanitarian aid is allocated specifically to GBV. For instance, in 2022, only 0.2% of overseas development assistance was directed toward reducing GBV, with a mere 5% of that reaching civil society organizations in developing countries. This level of investment is vastly inadequate and must change to reflect the scale and urgency of the issue.

One of the subjects that is consistently underrepresented in both CSW and broader Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) dialogues is mine action and its impact on communities in war and post-war settings. This gap was addressed by a side event organized by the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining, UN Women, and United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and focused on examples from Ukraine and other countries.

A gender-sensitive approach to demining is part of Ukraine’s National Action Plan for the Implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security (NAP), which expires by the end of 2025.

The NAP emphasizes the importance of gender-sensitive approaches in demining efforts, ensuring that the needs of women, men, girls, and boys are considered. This includes creating communication channels to inform the population about demining activities (early warning notifications); training local communities, including women’s initiative groups, to enhance their ability to detect, prevent, and respond to security challenges; and integrating gender and inclusive approaches into infrastructure planning for shelters and safety audits to identify risks and vulnerabilities, with a focus on gender-specific needs. These measures aim to reduce risks, enhance community resilience, and support post-conflict recovery.

A notable development in Ukraine is the growing participation of women in the demining sector, who now represent approximately 35% of the workforce. Their involvement enhances both the effectiveness and community engagement of these operations. However, the WPS agenda and mine action remain disconnected and the current NAP does not incorporate humanitarian mine action, despite its critical role in post-conflict recovery. This lack of formal recognition is problematic for several reasons. First, without institutional acknowledgment, policies and funding may fail to support the specific needs, contributions, and safety of women in the sector, potentially limiting their professional development and reducing operational effectiveness. Second, overlooking the role of women reinforces outdated gender norms and undermines the inclusive approaches necessary for sustainable peacebuilding. Third, when women’s roles are not reflected in national strategies, it becomes harder to systematically collect sex-disaggregated data, assess gender-specific risks, and design appropriate training or protective measures. The Ukrainian government has acknowledged the necessity for these developments and endorsed the new National Action Plan (2026-2030) to address the identified requirements of a gender approach.

CSW 69 marks a significant milestone in the global fight for women’s rights and gender equality. Amid an increasingly uncertain geopolitical landscape, it offers a crucial opportunity to revitalize civil society coalitions, enhance member-state accountability, and reaffirm the CSW’s role as a vital platform for international advocacy. By strengthening its structure and impact, CSW 69 can help renew global momentum toward gender equality and women’s empowerment and drive more effective, coordinated responses to GVB and CRSV that affect women all over the world.