Saudi Arabia to Lead UN’s Commission on Status of Women

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been appointed chair of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). The Kingdom first joined this commission, which is the principal global governmental body dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women, in 2017.

The CSW meets once a year for a two-week session that gathers UN member states’ representatives, civil society organisations, and UN officials to craft legal tools for advancing women’s rights and to review progress on goals set out in previous sessions.

The announcement that Saudi Arabia will chair this body comes after the CSW’s 68th session, which had the priority theme of addressing gendered poverty and strengthening womens’ access to financial institutions. This session also reviewed progress on goals set in previous sessions regarding women’s access to social protection systems and access to public services. During this year’s session, Saudi Arabia presented an event on women’s comprehensive empowerment in collaboration with Sweden and the United Nations Development Program.

Saudi Arabia’s candidacy was supported by 47 states, securing its leadership position on the commission.