With a focus on women’s economic empowerment, the UN’s member States have agreed to key steps that can bring about change for women in the world of work by tackling unequal pay and poor working conditions, gender stereotypes, violence against women, work-life balance and the uneven share of unpaid care work.

The outcome document from the Commission on the Status of Women, consists of a set of agreed conclusions, were adopted after many days of late nights negotiations and will serve the international community as a roadmap for it efforts in advancing women’s rights in the world of work.

In her final statement to the plenary session, UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo Ngcuka lauded the delegates for their perseverance in negotiating a set of agreed conclusions that provides some of the critical tools needed in achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment.

She also thanked member States, the UN system and NGOs for their support in “affirming the importance of framing documents, such as the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, CEDAW, ICPD, the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, the recognition of the importance of relevant ILO standards that relate to the realization of women’s rights to work and women’s economic empowerment, and of course the decent work agenda of the ILO and the 1998 Declaration of Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.”

The 61st Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), under the Chairmanship of Ambassador Antonio de Aguiar Patriota from Brazil, drew the participation of 162 member States with 89 Ministers and nearly 4,000 representatives from governments and various stakeholders, including around 200 trade union representatives.

Much of the discussion over the Commission’s two week meeting focused on the importance of removing structural barriers to women’s economic empowerment, including ending all forms of violence against women the transition of informal workers into the formal economy, and the need to promote decent work and paid care as well as increasing the provision of social protection and ensuring safe working conditions for women.

There was also acknowledgement of the right to work and rights at work, for the promotion of full and productive employment and decent work by the Commission.

Delegates also recognised the important role of trade unions, dialogue in the workplace and collective bargaining as important tools in addressing persistent economic inequalities, including the gender pay gap and in promoting equal pay for equal work or equal value.

In addition to the Agreed Conclusions, the delegates for the 61st Session of CSW adopted two resolutions, namely “Preventing and eliminating sexual harassment in the workplace” and the “Situation of and assistance to Palestinian women”.

In his remarks to the Commissions’ closing plenary session, the chair of this as well as last year’s sessions, Ambassador Antonio de Aguiar Patriota stated that “all sectors in society have a role to play in achieving gender parity”. He also made specific mention of “the fundamental role of the private sector in assuring equal pay for work of equal value”.

In order to provide greater insight into the range of issues addressed in the Agreed Conclusions, which will give direction to the international community’s activities for women’s economic empowerment, we have excerpted text and identified the ILO’s work in these areas.

Excerpts of the CSW61 Agreed Conclusions
ILO Relevant Paragraphs

Paragraph	Excerpted text from Agree Conclusions
3	The Commission recognizes the importance of relevant International Labour Organization (ILO) standards related to the realization of women’s right to work and rights at work and that are critical for women’s economic empowerment and recalls the decent work agenda of the ILO and the 1998 ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.
8	The Commission acknowledges the important role played by regional conventions, instruments and initiatives in their respective regions and countries in the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, including for women’s economic empowerment and their right to work and rights at work, and for the promotion of full and productive employment and decent work.
15	The Commission acknowledges that structural barriers to gender equality and gender-based discrimination persist in labour markets worldwide, which impose greater constraints on women in balancing work and family responsibilities and that these structural barriers need to be eliminated in order for women to be able to participate fully in society and equally in the world of work.
16	The Commission recognizes that the sharing of family responsibilities creates an enabling family environment for women’s economic empowerment in the changing world of work, which contributes to development, that women and men make a great contribution to the welfare of their family, and that in particular women´s contribution to the home, including unpaid care and domestic work, which is still not adequately recognized, generates human and social capital essential for social and economic development.
17	The Commission expresses its concern about the continuing significant gender gaps in labour force participation and leadership, wages, income, pensions and social protection and access to economic and productive resources. It also expresses its concern about the structural barriers to women’s economic empowerment, including discriminatory laws and policies, gender stereotypes and negative social norms. It is also concerned about unequal working conditions, limited opportunities for career advancement, as well as about the growing high incidence of informal and non-standard forms of employment in many regions.
19	The Commission recognizes that women constitute the majority of those employed in the health and social sectors, that by working in these sectors they make important contributions to sustainable development, and that investments in these sectors could enhance women’s economic empowerment and transform unpaid and informal care roles into decent work by improving their working conditions and wages and by creating opportunities for their skills enhancement and career advancement.
21	… recognizes the important role of trade unions and social dialogue in addressing persistent economic inequalities, including the gender pay gap.
29	… equal opportunities for women for full and productive employment and decent work, and equal pay for equal work or work of equal value.
40	The Commission urges Governments at all levels and as appropriate, with the relevant entities of the United Nations system, and international and regional organizations, within their respective mandates and bearing in mind national priorities, and invites civil society, the private sector, employer organizations and trade unions, as applicable, to take the following actions:
(b)	Consider ratification and, for those who have done so, implementation of ILO core conventions: Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98), Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29), Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105), Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138),Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182), Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100), Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111), in order to contribute to the realization of women’s right to work and rights at work;
(c)	Enact or strengthen and enforce laws and regulatory frameworks that ensure equality and prohibit discrimination against women, in particular in the world of work, including their participation and access to labour markets…
(f)	Enact, strengthen or enforce laws and regulations that uphold the principle of equal pay for equal work or work of equal value in the public and private sectors as a critical measure to eliminate the gender pay gap, provide in this regard effective means of redress and access to justice in cases of non-compliance, and promote the implementation of equal pay policies through for example social dialogue, collective bargaining…
(g)	Enact or strengthen and enforce laws and policies to eliminate all forms of violence and harassment against women of all ages in the world of work in public and private spheres, and provide means of effective redress in cases of non-compliance; ensure safety for women in the workplace; address the multiple consequences of violence and harassment, …
(h)	Develop and apply gender-sensitive measures for the protection from, prevention and punishment of all forms of violence against women and girls in public and private spaces, including domestic violence, sexual harassment, trafficking in persons and femicide, among others, to promote the realization of women’s and girls’ economic rights and empowerment and facilitate women’s full and productive employment and contribution to the economy…
(i)	Strengthen laws and regulatory frameworks that promote the reconciliation and sharing of work and family responsibilities for women and men, including by designing, implementing and promoting family responsive legislation, policies and services, such as parental and other leave schemes, increased flexibility in working arrangements…
(r)	Promote decent paid care and domestic work for women and men in the public and private sector, by providing social protection, safe working conditions and equal pay for equal work or work of equal value, thus facilitating the transition of informal workers, including those engaged in informal paid care and domestic work, to the formal economy;
(u)	Work towards establishing or strengthening inclusive and gender-responsive social protection systems, including floors, to ensure full access to social protection for all without discrimination of any kind, and take measures to progressively achieve higher levels of protection, including facilitating the transition from informal to formal work;
(y)	Recognize the social significance of maternity, paternity, motherhood, fatherhood and the role of parents in the upbringing of children, and promote paid maternity, paternity or parental leave and adequate social security benefits for both women and men, take appropriate steps to ensure they are not discriminated against…
(z)	Undertake all appropriate measures to recognize, reduce and redistribute women’s and girls’ disproportionate share of unpaid care and domestic work by promoting policies and initiatives supporting the reconciliation of work and family life and the equal sharing of responsibilities between women and men, through flexibility in working arrangements without reductions in labour and social protections,…
(aa)	Take steps to measure the value of unpaid care and domestic work in order to determine its contribution to the national economy…
(bb)	…encourages men and boys to engage fully as agents and beneficiaries of change with the aim to eliminate all forms of discrimination and violence against women and girls in both the public and private spheres…
(cc)	… through policies and programmes aimed to the elimination of structural barriers and stereotypes that young women face in the transition from school to work and also to address the challenges faced by women returning from care-related career breaks…
(dd)	...take measures to ensure that women with disabilities have access to decent work on an equal basis with others in the public and private sectors, that labour markets and work environments are open, inclusive and accessible to persons with disabilities…
(ee)	Strengthen and support the contributions of rural women and women farmers to the agricultural sector, food security and nutrition and the economic well-being of their families and communities…
(nn)	Promote the transition to formal employment for women employed in informal paid work, home-based work and in micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as work in the agricultural sector and own-account and part-time work by extending social protection and wages that allow for an adequate standard of living, and take measures to address unsafe and unhealthy working conditions that can characterize work in the informal economy by promoting occupational safety and health protection to workers in the informal economy;
(pp)	Recognize the significant contribution and leadership of women in migrant communities and take appropriate steps to ensure their full, equal and meaningful participation in the development of local solutions and opportunities, and the importance of protection of labour rights and a safe environment for migrant workers and those in precarious employment, protection of women migrant workers in all sectors and promotion of labour mobility, including circular migration, in line with the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants;
(qq)	Devise, strengthen and implement comprehensive anti-trafficking strategies that integrate a human rights and sustainable development perspective, and enforce, as appropriate, legal frameworks, in a gender and age-sensitive manner, to combat and eliminate all forms of trafficking in persons; raise public awareness of the issue of trafficking in persons, in particular women and girls; take measures to reduce the vulnerability of women and girls to modern slavery and sexual exploitation; and enhance international cooperation, inter alia, to counter with a view to eliminating the demand that fosters all forms of exploitation, including sexual exploitation and forced labour;
(tt)	Take measures to ensure women’s full, equal and effective participation and access to leadership and high level positions, including through temporary special measures, as appropriate, in economic decision-making structures and institutions at all levels, as well as in enterprises, corporate boards and trade unions;
(ww)	Protect and promote the rights to freedom of association, peaceful assembly and collective bargaining to enable all women workers to organize and join unions, cooperatives and business associations while recognizing that those legal entities are created, modified and dissolved in accordance with national law and taking into account each State’s international legal obligations;
(xx)	Support tripartite collaboration among Governments, employers and women workers and their organizations, including trade unions or other representative organizations, to prevent and remove barriers to gender equality and the empowerment of women in the world of work;
(yy)	Encourage and support women’s participation and leadership in trade unions, workers’ organizations and employers’ organizations, and urge all leaders of these organizations to effectively represent the interests of all women workers;
(bbb)	Promote a socially responsible and accountable private sector that acts in line with, among others, the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: Implementing the United Nations “Protect, Respect and Remedy” Framework, the International Labour Organization “Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work”, labour, environmental and health standards, and the Women’s Empowerment Principles established by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UNWomen) and the Global Compact, in order to promote the economic empowerment of women in the changing world of work and achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls and the realization of their full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms;
(mmm)	Encourage and facilitate women’s entrepreneurship, including by improving access to financing and investment opportunities, tools of trade, business development, and training, in order to increase the share of trade and procurement from women’s enterprises, including micro, small and medium, cooperatives and self-help groups in both the public and private sectors;
(nnn)	Work with the private sector to take into account a gender perspective while undertaking value chain analyses to inform the design and implementation of policies and programmes that promote and protect women’s right to work and rights at work in global value chains;
44	The Commission calls upon the United Nations system entities, within their respective mandates, to support States, upon their request, in their efforts to achieve women’s economic empowerment in the changing world of work.
45	The Commission calls upon UN-Women to continue to play a central role in promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls and in supporting Governments and national women’s machineries, upon their request, in coordinating the United Nations system and in mobilizing civil society, the private sector, employers’ organizations and trade unions and other relevant stakeholders, at all levels, in support of the full, effective and accelerated implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the gender-responsive implementation of the 2030 Agenda towards women’s economic empowerment in the changing world of work.