Women’s Rights and Gender Equality at the United Nations

The United Nations with their entity UN-Women and the annual sessions of the Commission on the Status of Women have a decisive role in defining legal norms and standards.

Austria is a member of the UN Commission on the Status of Women for a period of four years from 2021 to 2025. Austria regularly sends a high-level delegation to the annual meeting, which traditionally also includes representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGO).

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) which was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1979, and the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action of 1995 are of particular importance in the area of women’s rights and gender equality. The Agenda 2030 on sustainable development includes a stand-alone goal on achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls (SDG 5).

Documents and Links