CSW70 in a Challenging Multilateral Moment
The seventieth session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70), convening at United Nations (UN) Headquarters from March 9 to 19, 2026, is both a milestone and a reckoning. Seventy years after the Commission was established as the principal intergovernmental body dedicated to gender equality, it meets at a moment when the rule of law is receding, democratic space is shrinking, and the rights of women and girls are being rolled back in plain sight.
The timely selection of the priority theme for CSW70, ensuring access to justice for all women and girls,[i] resonates with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 of achieving peaceful, just and inclusive societies. In this sense, CSW70’s priority theme positions gender equality squarely within the broader architecture of the rule of law and access to justice that underpin the SDG framework as a whole.
This year’s review theme also speaks directly to the ambitions of SDG16 and the 2030 Agenda, focusing on effective participation and the elimination of violence against women and girls.[ii] Addressing these challenges by strengthening accountability and ensuring women’s equal participation contributes to the equitable foundations SDG16 seeks to build.
But what CSW70 has revealed, in its process as much as its product, is that a fundamental shift is underway in the logic of multilateral negotiations on women’s rights. This new normal has shifted from advancing progress to defending hard-won gains. During the Commission, diplomats devoted more energy to protecting previously agreed language than to negotiating new standards. Progress is no longer assumed, and the preservation of existing rules has itself become a central objective of diplomatic negotiations.
The implications for multilateralism and the international community are significant and extend well beyond the gender equality agenda. How multilateral institutions set norms and standards during a period of geopolitical fragmentation and polarization will shape the credibility and strength of the post-2030 development framework, even before it is designed.
[i] The full priority theme for CSW70 is “Ensuring and strengthening access to justice for all women and girls, including by promoting inclusive and equitable legal systems, eliminating discriminatory laws, policies, and practices, and addressing structural barriers.” See Webpage, “Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70/2026),” UN Women, n.d., https://www.unwomen.org/en/how-we-work/commission-on-the-status-of-women/csw70-2026.
[ii] The full review theme is “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.” Ibid.