Advancing the ending child marriage agenda at CSW68
The sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) will be held from 11 to 22 March 2024 at the UN Headquarters in New York.
CSW68 will bring together representatives of UN Member States, UN entities, and NGOs from all regions of the world and conclude with the adoption of Agreed Conclusions - a politically negotiated outcome document, which in 2024 will focus on CSW68’s priority theme: accelerating the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls by addressing poverty and strengthening institutions and financing with a gender perspective. Throughout CSW68, Girls Not Brides will advocate for the inclusion of child marriage considerations in the agendas for inclusive public financing, health and education.
How are we advocating to end child marriage at CSW68?
Together with Girls Not Brides members and partners, we are advocating before UN state delegations and multilateral organisations to strengthen the language of the CSW68 Agreed Conclusions and ensure that the recommendations we collectively submitted in October 2023 are reflected in the outcome document. Our key asks focus on: reforming the international financial architecture in a way that supports critical public services that impact on girls’ rights to education and health; guaranteeing access to 12 years of quality, free, compulsory, safe and gender-transformative education for all girls; gender responsive budgets to realise girls’ and women’s human rights; advancing girls’ autonomy and sexual and reproductive health and rights; and addressing the gendered impact of unpaid care work.
Where can you find us at CSW?
We are hosting three in-person events at CSW highlighting the importance of ending child marriage to achieving gender equality, particularly in the context of the CSW68 priority theme.
Addressing Poverty and Access to Education to End Child Marriage
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Co-hosts: Girls Not Brides, Pan-African Alliance to End Child Marriage, Hunger Project, Human Rights Watch
Date/time: 12 March | 4.30-6pm EDT
Location: Church Centre for the United Nations (CCUN), 11th Floor
Speakers: Roberto Baeza, The Hunger Project – Mexico; Jo Becker, Children's Rights Advocacy Director, Human Rights Watch; Michelle Kubvoruno and Taonga Zulu, Pan-African Alliance to End Child Marriage; Naomi Nyamweya, Research and Policy Manager (Education Financing and Economics), Malala Fund; Dr. Faith Mwangi-Powell, CEO, Girls Not Brides; Georgiana Epure, Global Advocacy and Campaigns Interim Manager, Girls Not Brides.
About: Child marriage is both a driver and consequence of poverty, perpetuating harmful gender stereotypes and denying girls their rights to education, health, and autonomy. Gender inequality and lack of universal free education means most families with limited resources prioritise the education of sons over daughters. Taking girls out of school when they marry or enter a union limits their opportunity to earn an income, and they tend to live in poverty along with their families. This parallel event seeks to centre the issue of child marriage at CSW68 and contextualise it within larger civil society advocacy regarding ending poverty and improving access to free, safe and quality education for girls from policy, legal and financing perspectives. The event will take place in the form of a panel, centering civil society voices on addressing poverty and access to education to end child marriage. More information on this event can be found on the CSW NGO Forum virtual platform.
Registration: No registration needed. Entry on a first come first served basis.
Ending Child Marriage: A Key Path Towards Gender Equality
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Co-hosts: Girls Not Brides; Government of Canada; Government of Malawi; Government of Sweden; Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; Plan International
Date/time: 13 March | 2-3.30pm EDT
Registration: Invite only. Please email Sophia.Lane@girlsnotbrides.org for details.
Speakers: H.E. Jean Sendeza, Minister of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare, Malawi; Megan Dersnah, Deputy Director, Gender Equality Strategic Policy, Global Affairs, Canada; Dr. Faith Mwangi-Powell, CEO, Girls Not Brides; Kathleen Sherwin, Chief Strategy & Engagement Officer, Plan International; Angela Nguku, Executive Director of White Ribbon Alliance, Kenya; Mabel Bianco, President of Fundación Para Estudio e Investigación de la Mujer (FEIM), Argentina; Petra Tötterman Andorff, Secretary General of Kvinna till Kvinna, Sweden; Nankali Maksud, Coordinator, UNFPA/UNICEF Programme on Ending Child Marriage; Georgiana Epure, Global Advocacy and Campaigns Interim Manager, Girls Not Brides.
About: Despite the need for urgency to reduce child marriage rates, progress on advancing girls' rights continues to consistently face opposition. This is hindering efforts to advance the ending child marriage agenda as it diminishes the likelihood of change in crucial areas where progress is still pending, such as sexual and reproductive health and rights; free access to safe, quality and gender-transformative education; addressing gender-based violence; and advancing transforming gender norms. This side event will bring together civil society and Government voices to explore some of the key ways in which the ending the child, early and forced marriage and unions (CEFMU) agenda can be advanced at both national levels and at the global level – particularly in 2024, in the context of the ICPD30, the upcoming UN General Assembly Resolution on child, early and forced marriage, and the Summit of the Future.
Strategic Conversation and Donor Reception: Strategy & Sustainability of Funding to End Child Marriage
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13 March, By invitation only
Co-hosts: Girls Not Brides, Girls First Fund and VOW for Girls
About: The co-hosts and attendees will discuss and reflect on their experiences from their funding journeys and their collective efforts to sustain and grow the CEFMU ecosystem. A major part of this conversation will be around the sustainability of funding work to end child marriage in an increasingly challenging context – one where we are seeing gender equality being deprioritised and a pushback on women and girls’ rights. The event will provide an opportunity to discuss some of the main challenges impacting the ending child marriage space and help us think strategically about the role they can play in helping civil society respond.
Girls Not Brides’ members and partners CSW68 CEFMU-related events
Many Girls Not Brides member and partner organisations will also be attending CSW and holding events on topics highly relevant to the ending child marriage agenda. Details of some of these events can be found below, listed in chronological order:
US Economic Inequality: The Equal Rights Amendment - Catalyst for Change
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Co-hosts: The ERA Coalition and Equality Now
Date/time: 11 March | 2.30-4pm EDT
Location: Church Centre for the United Nations (CCUN), Floor 8. (Register here)
About: Join Equality Now and the ERA Coalition for an interactive discussion and Q&A featuring experts on women’s rights and economic security. Panelists will discuss the impact of systemic gender and racial inequality on women’s economic security rights in the United States, particularly for women of color and other marginalized groups, and the role an Equal Rights Amendment in the Constitution could play in reducing female poverty and accelerating economic progress.
Parental leave and beyond: care policies and informally employed workers
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Co-hosts: Sonke Gender Justice and Equimundo
Date/time: 11 March | 2.30-4pm EDT
Location: Salvation Army Lower level (221 E. 52nd Street)
About: This event will highlight the viability and implications of care focused policies for formally and informally employed working parents in low and middle income countries. The State of the World’s Fathers report 2023 provides insights about parents, care and care policies across varied economies in 16 countries, and global findings from the WORLD Policy Center highlights nuances of providing parental leave to workers in informal employment.
Addressing Gendered Poverty: Best Practices and Lessons Learned
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Host: Soroptimist International
Date/time: 11 March | 4.30-6pm EDT
Location: Church Centre for the United Nations (CCUN), Floor 8
About: This event will draw upon best practices and lessons learned from Soroptimist International grassroots projects that are working to alleviate gendered poverty.
The Intersections of Gender, Poverty, and Climate Change
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Host: Soroptimist International
Date/time: 12 March | 10.30-12pm EDT
Location: Virtual
About: This event will discuss the intersections of gender, poverty, and climate change and how these intersecting challenges are hindering the achievement of the SDGs.
Centring girls' rights in international financial architecture reform (IFAR)
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Host: Malala Fund
Date/time: 12 March | 10.30-12pm EDT
Location: Armenian Cultural Center, Room Y, 630 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10016.
Reaching the Last Mile: Comprehensive SRHR for ALL Women & Girls
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Host: Women Deliver
Date/time: 12 March | 12.30-2pm EDT
Location: Armenian Cultural Center, Y Room, 630 2nd Av. (Register here – not required)
About: This event will discuss the intersections of gender, poverty, and climate change and how these intersecting challenges are hindering the achievement of the SDGs.
The Economics of Family Law: A Domino Effect on Gender Equality
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Co-hosts: The Global Campaign for Equality in Family Law, Equality Now, Act CoS, Musawah, MPV, CLADEM, FEMNET, WLP, UN Women, ACT Alliance, Women Business and the Law (World Bank), Government offices of Sweden, Government of Chile
Date/time: 13 March | 5.30-7pm EDT
Location: Church of Sweden, Chapel room, 5 E. 48th St. (register here)
About: This side event, hosted by the Global Campaign for Equality in Family Law, will bring together speakers from governments, UN, World Bank and global, regional, and national campaigns to shed light on how the economic rights of women around the world are impacted by discriminatory family laws. They will make the case that to advance economic rights, eliminate poverty, and accelerate the achievement of gender equality, reforming family laws and practices must be made a global, regional and national priority.
Access to Finances Locally for Women through Gender Budgeting
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Host: Soroptimist International
Date/time: 14 March | 10.30-12pm EDT
Location: Virtual
About: This event will demand that donors and sponsors revisit the way in which grants and other finances for local activities to local women are disbursed; and how the tool of gender-sensitive budgeting can be helpful for choices and monitoring.
True Crime: Forced Marriage in the U.S.
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Host: Unchained At Last
Date/time: 14 March | 12.30-2pm EDT
Location: Church Centre for the United Nations (CCUN)/ Zoom (register here)
About: Crime Junkie’s Ashley Flowers event explores the United States’ forced marriage problem.
Accelerating Gender Equality in Fragile Setting: A focus on women and girls
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Co-hosts: Sonke Gender Justice and Norwegian Embassy
Date/time: 14 March | 1.15-2.30pm EDT
Location: UN Complex, CR12
About: The event will focus on women and girls living in fragile and humanitarian settings as they face unique challenges that demand tailored solutions. Through dynamic discussions, knowledge sharing, and strategic planning, the event aims to accelerate efforts in achieving gender equality in these vulnerable contexts.
Launch event: Phase III of the UNFPA-UNICEF Global Programme to End Child Marriage at CSW68
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Co-hosts: UNICEF and UNFPA
Date/time: 14 March | 5-7pm EDT
Location: Danny Kaye Visitors Centre, UNICEF House (register here)
About: This event will bring together esteemed leaders, influencers, advocates, and changemakers from around the world as we embark on this crucial phase in our journey. Be part of the transformative discussions, inspiring initiatives, and empowering collaborations that aim to eradicate child marriage globally.
Is technology-facilitated gender-based violence real?
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Co-hosts: Generation G, Rutgers, Sonke Gender Justice
Date/time: 15 March | 10.30-12pm EDT
Location: Church Centre for the United Nations (CCUN), Floor 8
About: This parallel event aims to challenge ideas on the real and unreal(ness) of technology-facilitated gender-based violence. This promises to be a dynamic exploration, centering specifically on women in the public eye.
Child Marriage: Deep Dive
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Co-hosts: World Vision Canada, Global Affairs Canada, Save the Children Canada, Islamic Relief Canada
Date/time: 15 March | 12.30-2pm EDT
Location: Church Centre for the United Nations (CCUN), Floor 11. (Register here)
About: Deep dive that will explore how Canada has responded to the intersection of child, early and forced marriage and unions (CEFMU) as both a sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) issue and a sexual and reproductive health and rights(SRHR) issue, identifying what they are doing that is working well and share good practice integrating social protections and poverty reduction.
The Imperative of Financing SRHR for Climate Justice
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Host: Women Deliver
Date/time: 15 March | 2.30-4pm EDT
Location: Church Centre for the United Nations (CCUN), Floor 8
Feminist Youth-Friendly Funding
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Co-hosts: CHOICE for Youth and Sexuality and AMREF
Date/time: 19 March | 2.30pm EDT
Location: Church Centre for the United Nations (CCUN), Floor 10. (Register here)
About: This event will use youth storytelling to shed light on feminist youth-friendly funding practices and includes a fun bingo!
More information on the above events taking place at the CCUN/ virtually can be also found on the CSW NGO Forum virtual platform.
In the time it has taken to read this article 128 girls under the age of 18 have been married
Each year, 12 million girls are married before the age of 18
That is 23 girls every minute
Nearly 1 every 2 seconds