Diana Miller

Southern Region United Nations Chair

Soroptimist and the Commission on the Status of Women

Each year, a Soroptimist delegation attends the Commission on the Status of Women meeting at the United Nations Center in New York City. The next meeting will take place February 25-March 7, 2008 and will focus on financing for gender equality and the empowerment of women.

The Commission on the Status of Women (often referred to as “CSW” or “the Commission”) is a functional commission of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), dedicated exclusively to gender equality and advancement of women. It is the principal global policy-making body. Every year, representatives of Member States gather at United Nations Headquarters in New York to evaluate progress on gender equality, identify challenges, set global standards and formulate concrete policies to promote gender equality and advancement of women worldwide.

The Commission was established in June 1946 with the aim to prepare recommendations and reports to the Economic and Social Council on promoting women's rights in political, economic, civil, social and educational fields. The Commission also makes recommendations to the Council on urgent problems requiring immediate attention in the field of women's rights. The Commission's mandate was expanded in 1987 by ECOSOC to include the functions of promoting the objectives of equality, development and peace, monitoring the implementation of measures for the advancement of women, and reviewing and appraising progress made at the national, regional and global levels.

Forty-five Member States of the United Nations serve as members of the Commission at any one time. The Commission consists of one representative from each of the 45 Member States elected by the Council on the basis of equitable geographical distribution:  thirteen members from Africa; eleven from Asia; nine from Latin America and Caribbean; eight from Western Europe and other States and four from Eastern Europe. Members are elected for a period of four years.

Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) like Soroptimist International that are accredited to, and in good standing with, the Economic and Social Council are invited to designate representatives to attend the sessions of the Commission.

NGOs can participate in several ways during the session:
observe the meetings
present written and/or oral statements
meet official government delegations
lobby delegations in the context of negotiations of agreed conclusions and resolutions
and organize parallel events during the session
NGO representatives may attend all open meetings of the Commission. They may also attend informal consultations held during the session of the Commission, if the chairperson of the informal consultations grants them permission.

Soroptimist's Disaster Relief Fund for Women and Girls targets the special needs of women and girls during natural and man-made disasters. Women and girls are particularly vulnerable during disasters and lack access to resources. They also have special abilities to respond to disasters, which is often overlooked. Soroptimist's disaster relief program mitigates the barriers facing women/girls during disasters. In addition, the program honors the commitments made by the United Nations in the Beijing Platform for Action and the Outcome Statement of the 46th Session on the Commission on the Status of Women. Soroptimist grants funds to local clubs for use in communities needing disaster relief. Funds are pooled from voluntary contributions sent in from Soroptimist members throughout the world. Soroptimist recently disbursed disaster relief grants to: the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to support Iraqi educational programs for returning women refugees; the Ramona, California, Soroptimist club to help women recovering from the fires in Southern California; and women in El Chaco, Ecuador, to help rebuild the community's farming infrastructure following an earthquake.