Stepping into CSW70
Attending the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70) in New York was one of those experiences that is difficult to fully capture in a single post. It was a week of learning, unlearning, and engaging with people from across the world who are all, in different ways, working towards a more just and equal future.
As part of the FEMNET delegation, I had the opportunity to sit in rooms where conversations on access to justice, climate, digital rights, and feminist movement building were not just theoretical, but deeply grounded in lived realities.
What stood out
A recurring theme across many sessions was that the challenge is often not the absence of laws or frameworks, but the gap between these commitments and people’s lived experiences. Justice, in many cases, is not denied—it is simply out of reach.
Whether we were discussing digital access, family law, or climate impacts, the conversation kept coming back to the same question: how do we make systems work for those who need them most?
Key takeaways we are carrying forward
A few priorities consistently came up across different sessions:
- The need to invest in community-led and feminist data systems, particularly in climate action, to better reflect lived realities and inform more inclusive policies.
- The importance of centering women’s leadership in climate and agrifood systems, especially in relation to land rights, financial inclusion, and decision-making.
- A stronger recognition of care as a fundamental right, and the need to invest in systems that value and support both paid and unpaid care work.
- The urgency of addressing digital inequalities and emerging harms, including ensuring that technology and AI systems are inclusive, accountable, and accessible.
These are not new ideas, but seeing how consistently they emerged across contexts reinforced their importance. Many of these conversations strongly resonate with the work we are doing at the Decarbonize Initiative particularly in grounding climate solutions in local realities, strengthening community-led approaches, and thinking more critically about the systems that shape both climate outcomes and equity.
The power of feminist movements
I was particularly struck by the strength and resilience of feminist movements across different contexts. Despite shrinking civic space and increasing resistance, there is a clear commitment to continue building, organising, and imagining alternatives.
From grassroots organisers to policymakers, there was a shared understanding that progress requires both persistence and collaboration.
The FEMNET experience
Beyond the sessions, what made the experience especially meaningful was being part of the FEMNET delegation. As a first-time CSW attendee, it can be quite overwhelming to navigate the scale, pace, and number of parallel conversations happening at once. Having FEMNET’s support made a significant difference in helping me find my footing and engage more confidently throughout the week.
Their clear and consistent communication made it much easier to navigate the space, understand what was happening, and make the most of each day. FEMNET also organised daily debrief sessions, which created a valuable space to pause, reflect, and make sense of the many conversations happening across different sessions. Being able to hear different perspectives and collectively process the experience added a lot of depth.
More broadly, there was a real sense of community within the delegation. It was an environment where people were open, supportive, and willing to share, which made the experience feel collaborative rather than overwhelming.
Looking back, the experience would not have been the same without FEMNET. Their support, coordination, and sense of community played a big role in shaping what was a very meaningful and impactful first CSW.
Moments in between
And of course, there were the quieter moments in between the walks between sessions, stepping out of busy conference rooms into the energy of the city, and taking a moment to pause and take it all in. Passing through the famous Grand Central Station, and later making my way to the Brooklyn Bridge, I found myself reflecting on the contrast between the intensity of the conversations during the day and the stillness of those in-between moments.
Those pauses created space to process what I was hearing and experiencing. CSW can feel fast-paced and overwhelming, but those small moments of reflection made it easier to step back and think more deeply about the discussions, the people, and the broader significance of being in that space.
Looking ahead
I left CSW70 with a much clearer sense of the work ahead and a deeper appreciation of how interconnected these issues are. The conversations reinforced the importance of grounding global discussions in local realities, and of ensuring that the work we do is inclusive, responsive, and rooted in lived experience.
For me, this experience also reinforced the direction of our work at the Decarbonize Initiative. We are already working on approaches that centre community voices and use locally driven data to better understand climate realities on the ground. The discussions on the gendered impacts of climate change particularly on women’s health and wellbeing highlighted how important it is that these realities are reflected in both data and policy.
CSW70 reaffirmed that investing in community-led, feminist-informed approaches is not just important for equity, but for building more effective and accountable climate solutions.
I am incredibly grateful to FEMNET for making this experience possible. Their support, coordination, and the strong sense of community they created made a real difference not just in navigating CSW, but in shaping how I experienced it. As a first-time attendee, I do not think I would have had the same depth of engagement or clarity without that support.
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