We Persist: US Feminist Advocacy at the United Nations

The UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is the premier global forum where the centrality and importance of women are acknowledged and affirmed. The CSW led the UN system in developing two key international documents on women’s human rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Beijing Platform for Action. The Commission meets for two weeks every March to monitor progress on the Beijing Platform for Action, which sets out a global agenda for advancing human rights for women and girls. The US Women’s Caucus is an alliance of US feminist NGOs and individuals that participate in the annual CSW session. This paper explains the work of the CSW and the development of the Caucus as an effort to increase the effectiveness of US advocates at the CSW. The Caucus reflects many principles that are critical elements of feminist development, including a global perspective, the virtue of collaboration, attention to those on the margins, the necessity of capacity-building and advance preparation, and the need to monitor implementation and persevere toward greater gender equality.