National Women’s Education Center of Japan

The sixty-seventh Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW67) was held from March 6 to 17, 2023.

The sixty-seventh Session of the Commission on the Status of Women was held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. 181 delegates including heads of state and ministerial government officials from UN member states and observers gathered for the session. Focusing on the priority theme of “Innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls” and the review theme, "Challenges and opportunities in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls,” (agreed conclusions of CSW62), ministerial round tables, interactive dialogues, and interactive expert panels were held. CSW has addressed issues such as women’s access to information technology and communication networks in its previous sessions. This year’s priority theme also focused on the digital divide, transparency in digital technology, inclusion of diversity in digital technology development, ethics in digital field, and gender-based harassment and violence in the digital world. Also, of note this year was the inclusion of an interactive dialogue with youth in the plenary session.

From Japan, at the general discussion (held on the 6th), OGURA Masanobu, Minister of State for Gender Equality and Minister in charge of Women’s Empowerment, gave a statement in the form of a video message. In his statement, he emphasized the importance of realizing “women’s economic empowerment” through promoting the shift of industries and occupations to the digital sector. To this end, Japan has formulated the “Digital Human Resources Development Plan for Women” and is working to improve digital skills and promote labor mobility into the digital sector, and in cooperation with universities, the business community, etc., create opportunities for female students to develop an interest in science and technology and promote understanding among female students, parents, teachers, and others regarding career choices in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields.

At the ministerial round table (held on the 7th), TANAKA Yumiko, Representative of Japan, made a statement about progress in information and communication technology (ICT) education at elementary and middle schools and provided cases of how Japan has supported training of Syrian refugee women in basic ICT skills through UN Women.

At the interactive youth dialogue (on the 13th), the youth representative of Japan made a statement on the need for creating a safe environment online and offline and emphasized the importance of gender statistics and mental health support.

At the interactive dialogue (on the 16th), it was mentioned that the use of digital technology and flexible work styles were promoted as Covid-19 spread.

On the 8th, the Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations and three of Japan women’s NGOs (Japan Women’s Watch, National Women’s Committee of the United Nations NGOs, and International Women’s Year Liaison Group) co-hosted a side event, “Transforming Innovation and Technology to Empower Women and Girls: Is Establishing New Faculties of Engineering at Women’s Universities the Panacea for Gender Equality?”

Every year, topics discussed at previous CSW sessions are taken up as review themes, and their state of progress is gauged. This year there was a report and Q&A session on the challenges and opportunities for achieving gender equality and empowerment of women and girls in rural areas, as agreed in the conclusions of CSW62. According to the report of the UN Secretary-General, it was confirmed that during the last five years among member states aiming for implementation of the agreed conclusions, there has been a strengthening of programs and various measures for the empowerment of women and girls in rural areas. On the other hand, it was also pointed out that the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change, and rising prices of food, fuel, etc., are hindering women’s participation in society. Empowerment of women and girls in rural areas, including indigenous peoples, and gender-based violence continue to be challenged. Countries reported measures implemented through public-private partnerships such as measures for land ownership and management by women, improving access to finance, promotion of small businesses development such as agri-processing, training to equip women and girls with skills including information technology, and educational support for women who have dropped out of school due to pregnancy or other reasons.

The Economic and Social Council determined that the results of discussions on the theme for that year should be summarized in the form of ‘agreed conclusions.’ Negotiations of the texts of the agreed conclusions was a lengthy process. On the late hour of last day of the Session, agreed conclusions comprising 89 paragraphs and eight resolutions and decisions were adopted.

At the closing ceremony, Executive Director for UN Women stated that the agreed conclusions for this year were game-changing and called on member states to act collectively to promote a more equal and connected world for women and girls in all their diversity.

The agreed conclusions reaffirmed the importance of ensuring full and effective women’s participation and equal opportunity for leadership by women in the STEM fields while expressing extremely deep concern that only modest progress has been made in closing the gender gaps in access to and use of technology and about online violence and harassment. The Commission called for increased public and private sector investments to bridge the gender digital divide, more inclusive innovation eco-systems, and the promotion of safe and gender-responsive technology and innovation. It also called for inclusive and equitable quality education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, information and communications technology and digital literacy to ensure that all women and girls can thrive in a rapidly changing world. To end gender-based violence using technology, it called on governments and businesses to prioritize its prevention and elimination.

At this session of CSW, many government representatives and civil organizations expressed grave concerns about online violence and hate speech against women and girls, human rights violations against women and girls in disaster- and conflict-affected areas, and the need to strengthen protection for all women and girls.

During the Session, efforts by civil society organizations to improve the status of women are actively reported and discussed every year. This year’s NGO CSW/NY prepared venues inside and outside the UN Building and an online platform and a number of events related to priority and review themes were held. More than 750 events were held including parallel events hosted by Japanese organizations.

The National Women’s Education Center (NWEC) also opened a virtual exhibition booth on the online platform to distribute information about the work of NWEC. The booth featured a greeting from the President of NWEC, the leaflet of gender statistics and other materials introducing NWEC’s activities as well as flyers of parallel events, etc., hosted by Japanese organizations.

NGO CSW67 NWEC Booth

In addition, a virtual open house and an event, “Gender Equality and Youth: Dialogue for Change,” were held.

The Virtual Open House was held three times during the event, introducing the activities of NWEC and providing an opportunity for participants to exchange opinions and network on topics such as violence against women, the role of women’s center, gender statistics, etc.

On the 14th, the event, “Gender Equality and Youth: Dialogue for Change,” was held. At this event, young people working on gender issues around them gave presentations on what motivated them to action, how they could work together with schools, businesses, men, etc., toward gender equality, and their outlook for the future.