Global showdown at UN for women's rights as advances falter in wartime

The United Nations served as a global town square this month for a series of roiling diplomatic, political, religious, and cultural battles over women’s rights, as women from around the world gathered at headquarters for a conference of the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women.

Israeli and Palestinian diplomats brought large high-level delegations to New York to highlight sexual crimes against women and girls in the ongoing conflict in Gaza. Russia and the United States skirmished over the impact sanctions have on the plight of impoverished women, while Ukraine proposed amendments underscoring the need to address conflict-related sexual violence, and Saudi Arabia recommended language addressing the use of “starvation as a method of warfare,” a likely bid to end Israel’s blockade in Gaza.  

In closed-door negotiations, global diplomats are trying to hammer out an agreement on a 36-page draft declaration outlining the path to achieve gender equality at a time when indicators have been trending down. The official theme of the session — which is scheduled to conclude on March 22 — is titled “Accelerating the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls by addressing poverty and strengthening institutions and financing with a gender perspective.”