Beijing +15

Fifteen years ago, representatives from 89 national governments and 2,100 non-governmental organizations met in Beijing for the World Conference on Women. Out of this conference came the Beijing Platform, which remains the most comprehensive global policy framework for the full realization of women’s rights.

From March 1-12, 2010, member states and NGO and UN representatives are convening in New York for the 54th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women to revisit the platform’s implementation and to plot the way forward for gender equality and women’s empowerment.

The world has seen many successes in the wake of the 1995 Beijing conference, most significantly in the area of girls’ education, but we still have a long way to go.

If you aren’t participating in the conference but would like to experience the excitement as the global women’s empowerment agenda is reshaped, you can visit one of these sites to follow the action:

Inter Press Service has a special page devoted to Beijing +15 coverage.

AWID offers daily blog posts from the conference and hosts a discussion forum you can access here.

UN Division for the Advancement of Women is archiving video webcasts of the proceedings here.