Women Are Working Together To Support Girls Worldwide

Women and girls deserve the same rights, resources, opportunities and protections as men and boys. But poverty and conflict disproportionately affect women and girls. Girls are still more likely than boys to never set foot in a classroom. An estimated 15 million girls are still married every year. And every 10 minutes, somewhere in the world, an adolescent girl dies as a result of violence. As the voices of women grow louder and stronger across the globe, women are coming together to combat these injustices, and to improve the lives of women and girls everywhere.

In March 2018, thousands of women, men, girls and boys from around the world came together in New York City for the  62nd annual session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). Representatives of United Nations Member States, local governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) met to focus on the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls, sharing their concerns and identifying actions to further their rights and opportunities at national, regional and local levels.

For UNICEF USA, the CSW is an important milestone to highlight and strengthen our partnerships with organizations focused on the empowerment and well-being of women and girls. At the core of these partnerships is the commitment to support women. These organizations are working to create a world where future generations of girls do not face the same injustices, deprivations or violence, and have the opportunity for safer, healthier, more prosperous futures.

With our partners Zonta International and Dining For Women, UNICEF USA organized two important CSW panel discussions on child marriage and gender-based violence (GBV). Panelists at both events emphasized the important role civil society actors play in building awareness and action at all levels, from local communities to the national government, and stressed the need for global support to end child marriage and GBV (including sexual abuse and exploitation and female genital mutilation) among the hardest to reach. As Executive Director of UN Women Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said in her closing remarks at the 62nd CSW, "We work to ensure that we leave no one behind."

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