55th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women

The 55th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women took place at United Nations Headquarters in New York from Tuesday, 22 February to Friday, 4 March 2011. The theme of this session was “Access and participation of women and girls in education, training, science and technology, including for the promotion of women's equal access to full employment and decent work.” Representatives from Member States, the United Nations and the civil society gathered to discuss the theme of this session. In addition to the official CSW events and the United Nations' parallel events; civil society arranged hundreds of panels, workshops and session. The many events held during these two weeks, provided a unique forum for the global civil society to voice issues regarding gender, education, science and technology.

WILPF partnered with UN Women and OneVoice.org to discuss “Gender, Technology & Peacebuilding: Bridging the Israel-Palestine Divide,” February 22nd. The event featured the voices of two extraordinary young women peace leaders, Roza Helou and Dana Sender. See summary>>

WILPF also partner with Global Action to Prevent War (GAPW) and Soka Gakk to host a reception and discussion on peace activism and women's leadership on Feb 24th with Felicity Hill and Gillian Kitley. See summary and video>>

In addition to our events, PeaceWomen tracked other women, peace and security (WPS) related events. We approximate that seventy events during CSW 55 involved the women, peace and security (WPS) agenda. The official theme of CSW 55 intersected with WPS mainly with regard to the full implementation of SCR 1325 (2000), the participation of women in peace processes and all decision-making, the protection of women during conflict and how education and ICT-training can empower both women and men to further strengthen the pursuit of this agenda.