The CSW is the UN’s largest annual gathering on gender equality and women’s empowerment. This year’s edition, CSW65, focused on the theme, “Women's full and effective participation and decision-making in public life, as well as the elimination of violence, for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls”.

The first parallel event was organized by the Gender Equality Committee of the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) in collaboration with ICA-EU partnership (#coops4dev), focusing on the importance of women in leadership positions for a just COVID-19 response and recovery. Around 180 people participated in the event that had two segments: Regional updates from the GEC regional representatives and Policy and Sustainable Development perspectives. A recording of the session can be viewed here.

As a speaker during the second segment of the webinar, ILO COOP Manager Ms Esim shared what the ILO does to support women’s economic empowerment and gender equality in cooperatives. She also reflected on the work of ILO COOP in relation to the global COVID19 pandemic, conducting assessments, undertaking policy advisory services for governments and social partners regarding measures needed, revamping projects to address these needs and designing and implementing new projects and interventions. She noted that the operationalization of the ICA Declaration on Decent Work and Against Harassment, adopted in 2018, could help cooperatives further advance their record on women economic empowerment and gender equality.

The second parallel event, organized by the Working Women’s Forum (India), took place on March 24th. In her special address to the event, ILO COOP Manager Ms Esim noted why women in leadership is an important issue for cooperatives. Reflecting on the benefits of the cooperative model for women, she noted that women-led cooperatives provide an opportunity for women to engage in decision-making and power sharing. She said that many women leaders in cooperatives carry their leadership experiences to other social, political and economic organizations in their communities. For women rural and informal economy workers’ cooperatives to achieve sustainability, she underlined, support institutions that provide education, legal advice, market links and policy advocacy services are crucial. Her address can be viewed here.