National Women’s Education Center of Japan

The 62nd session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW62) was held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from Monday, March 12 to Friday, March 23, 2018. Held with “Challenges and opportunities in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls” as its priority theme, CSW62 comprised statements by country representatives, UN entities and NGOs; ministerial round tables; and interactive expert panels. The Review session was held under the theme of “Participation in and access of women to the media, and information and communications technologies and their impact on and use as an instrument for the advancement and empowerment of women” which sought to evaluate progress made on previous CSW themes. Over a period of ten days, participants engaged in discussions from various angles regarding challenges and country policies surrounding rural women.

During the “General Discussion” held on the third day of CSW, Wednesday, March 14, Japan representative Ms. Yumiko Tanaka presented Japan’s statement. In the statement, she reported efforts being made by Japan to promote the empowerment of rural women, such as “Family Management Agreement”, “Nougyo-joshi (Agricultural Women) Project”, “Day of Rural Women” held annually on March 10, as well as “One Village One Product Movement” which is also spreading overseas.

A number of events relating to the priority and the review theme are held in and around the United Nations Headquarters building during CSW sessions. The Japanese government held a side event themed “Actions to Empower Rural Women and Girls” in partnership with three NGOs, as well as a follow-up event of WAW! 2017 (World Assembly for Women) held in 2017 in Tokyo. Attendance at these events exceeded seating capacity, indicating the high level of interest in efforts being made in Japan for gender equality.

US Economic and Social Council requires CSW to summarize the results of discussions on the theme of the year in the form of “Agreed Conclusions”. Every year, country representatives engage in discussions until late at night, occasionally until early morning, and pass a resolution on the final day after reaching consensus on each and every word of the contents.

Discussions on the Agreed Conclusions start in the second week in full swing. This year, however, representatives fell into substantial disagreement over some items during discussions held in the second half of the first week. So, those who were interested in these specific items met on the first day of the second week, March 19, to have group discussions, and plenary discussions began next day. A heavy snow warning was issued in New York City on March 20 and 21. Since the UN facilities were closed and there was concern that the meeting itself had to be cancelled, discussions that started at 10 o’clock in the morning of March 20 continued until 4 o’clock following morning. However, negotiations ran into rough waters, and the representatives reached consensus only on 14 items that day.

In the morning of March 22, the weather in New York City improved, and discussions on the Agreed Conclusions resumed again at 10 o’clock. On the last day, March 23, discussions on the Agreed Conclusions finished at 3 o’clock in the afternoon. Though two items on which no consensus was gained had to be deleted, the CSW session held in 2012 was unable to present any Agreed Conclusion on the theme of the empowerment of rural women. Having gone through difficult negotiations and finally succeeded in forming the Agreed Conclusions after several years’ standing, the venue was filled with a thunder of applause and jubilation.

The Agreed Conclusions were duly adopted at the subsequent closing ceremony held in the same venue, and the CSW62 came to an end. The final document of the Agreed Conclusions was 19 A4-size pages long with 52 items, and 123 items including sub-items.