International Women’s Day has been celebrated since the early 1900s. In 1977 the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution inviting Member States to proclaim a United Nations Day for Women’s Rights and International Peace – International Women’s Day– to be observed on any day of the year in accordance with their historical and national traditions. Since then, the United Nations has observed March 8th as International Women’s Day, which serves to highlight the fact that securing peace and social progress and the full enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms require the active participation, equality and development of women; and to acknowledge the contribution of women to the strengthening of international peace and security.

The 52nd session of the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women in New York took the same theme: Financing for gender equality and the empowerment of women and examined one emerging issue: Gender perspectives on climate change. The report of the Secretary-General on financing for gender equality and the empowerment of women (E/CN.6/2008/2) guided the work of the Commission. It identifies and discusses key issues in financing for gender equality and the empowerment of women and suggests policy recommendations. A second report of the Secretary-General (E/CN.6/2008/5) assesses the extent to which financing for gender equality and the empowerment of women is mainstreamed in policies and programmes at the national level.

The 52nd session of the CSW included a high-level roundtable on financing for gender equality and the empowerment of women. Interactive expert panels were also held, two of them addressed the priority theme, a third one, held on 28 February, focused on the emerging theme gender and climate change, and on 29 February, an interactive dialogue evaluated progress in the review theme “Women’s equal participation in conflict prevention, management and conflict resolution and in post-conflict peacebuilding.” A number of informal events were also held. On 5 March NGLS co-hosted with UNIFEM a side event entitled “From Beijing to Doha: Financing MDG 3.” NGLS and UNIFEM also led a series of “Economic Literacy Workshops” designed to improve the capacity of grassroots women’s groups in national and international finance and budgetary discussions. The CSW officially observed Internat! ional Women’s Day during the morning of 6 March with a commemorative event that included a high-level panel.

Further information on the 52nd session of the CSW is available online. A large number of NGO side events were also scheduled. A comprehensive listing of these events is available online.