“Support us and include us in intergovernmental processes,” said Ema Meçaj, a medical student and member of Albania’s youth steering committee, who was among young men and women panellists from around the world at an interactive dialogue at the 69th session of world’s largest annual conference on women (CSW69), which runs from 10 to 21 March.
In tackling gender-based violence and poverty, prevention is key alongside inclusion, Ms. Meçaj said, emphasising that efforts must centre on reaching the most vulnerable and recommending the establishment of a holistic approach to existing international commitments for gender equality.
Driving towards equality
The dialogue rounded up a busy first week, with thousands of delegates from around the world seeing the adoption of a landmark declaration on Monday as they continue to take stock of the rights of women and girls and identify challenges and paths forward to realise gender equality while gauging progress on the historical 1995 Beijing Platform for Action.
During the afternoon dialogue, youth leaders from Canada, Nepal, Nigeria and Panama identified challenges and proposed concrete solutions to pressing issues, from violence against women to equality for all, including Indigenous Peoples and women and girls with disabilities.
They also described what the Beijing Platform for Action meant for them, from a blueprint for equal rights to a “cry of resistance”.
Read our explainer on the UN Commission on the Status of Women here
Gender justice for all
Eva Chiom Chukwenele, an amputee peer counsellor at the Mobility Clinic Limited in Nigeria, said as a child, the Platform for Action meant that all girls would have the right to education, healthcare and leadership.
“But, gender justice is incomplete when women with disabilities are not included,” she said. “The world was not designed for women with disabilities.”
Lamenting the current dearth on data about them, she wondered “if there is no data, how can you be counted?”
She proposed a range of actions, including inclusive data collection, accessible schools and sharing positive stories in the media to shed light on this “invisible” group.
“When history looks back on this moment, will you be remembered as someone who broke all the barriers or as someone who allowed them to remain?” she asked the audience. “The time to act is now.”
When history looks back on this moment, will you be remembered as someone who broke all the barriers or as someone who allowed them to remain?
Men and boys are key players
The active, central participation of men and boys is essential in collective efforts to realise gender equality, but this has been challenging, said Ahdithya Viseweswaran, coordinator of the Young Diplomats of Canada.
“The stakes have never been higher,” he said. “We must stop placing the burden on women to endure and navigate the toxicity of patriarchal systems and instead confront patriarchal masculinities as a root cause of their oppression.”
He proposed a framework for tackling the roots of inequality and violence, he said, with men and boys being seen as “indispensable” actors for change. At the heart of these efforts is reaching boys, who are not born with an inherent attachment to patriarchy, he said, adding that “we are shaped how we are raised.”
“As men’s rights influencers and State actors weaponise their platforms to undermine the hard-won gains of gender equality, we cannot afford to falter,” he said.
“Instead, we need to present young men and boys with a compelling alternative, one rooted in self-liberation, empathy and justice, a redefinition of masculinity that prioritises partnership over domination, liberation over oppression and shared humanity over rigid hierarchies.”
Without us, there is no future
We still have a long road to go … being an Indigenous woman in Latin America is not easy
Laura Dihuignidili Huertas, a youth leader from the Guna Yala province in Panama, said collective action is key to changing the current grim realities as many of the commitments made in Beijing 30 years ago remain unfulfilled, especially in rural areas.
“We still have a long road to go,” said Ms. Huertas, a human rights activist who founded ANYAR, a youth-led organization. “Being an Indigenous woman in Latin America is not easy.”
Forced displacement, discrimination and poverty are among pressing daily challenges, she said, stressing that progress cannot be made if people are left behind and that the Beijing Platform for Action was “a cry of resistance”.
“We want firm commitments and concrete results,” she said. “We are the generation that can make a reality of the dreams of Beijing, but this can only be possible if we rise up, organise and mobilise all those who have yet joined the fight because without us, there is no future.”
Young people at the UN Headquarters, in New York, attending the Commission on the Status of Women.
Leading and inspiring change
Joining the dialogue, Sima Bahous, head of UN Women, applauded participants and encouraged their efforts to advance gender equality at a time when rights are being trampled.
“You are leading and inspiring change,” she said.
Young feminists are not just participants in change, but are mobilising online and off to work towards a future free of violence, inequality and poverty.
“We cannot build a just future without those who will inherit it,” she said. “Let this be our call to action.”
Focus on Afghan women and girls
In a parallel side event, conference participants gathered to raise international support for and take stock of the rights of Afghan women and girls in light of a bevy of restrictive laws passed since 2021, when the Taliban seized power in the country.
Upholding the Rights of Afghan Women and Girls Women, Peace, and Security is one of dozens of side events being held during CSW69. Check the full side events schedule here.
Watch the full event on UN Web TV here