Short History of the CSW now available.

Short History of the Commission on the Status of Women

1946: Birth of the Commission on Status of Women

United Nations commitments to the advancement of women began with the signing of the UN Charter in San Francisco in 1945. Of the 160 signatories, only four were women -Minerva Bernardino (Dominican Republic), Virginia Gildersleeve (United States), Bertha Lutz (Brazil) and Wu Yi-Fang (China) – but they succeeded in inscribing women’s rights in the founding document of the United Nations, which reaffirms in its preamble “faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of Nations large and small”.

During the inaugural meetings of the UN General Assembly in London in February 1946, Eleanor Roosevelt, a United States delegate, read an open letter addressed to “the women of the world”:
“To this end,we call on the Governments of the world to encourage women
everywhere to take a more active part in national and international affairs, and
on women who are conscious of their opportunities to come forward and share in the work of peace and reconstruction as they did in war and resistance.”

A few days later, a Sub-commission dedicated to the Status of Women was established under the Commission on Human Rights. Many women delegates and representatives of non-governmental organizations believed nevertheless that a separate body specifically dedicated to women’s issues was necessary.