CSW60 – National Women’s Alliances Submission – Australian Priorities
Gender equality and women’s rights are essential to the realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We recommend that Australia advocate in all forums for a strong position on the role of gender equality and women’s empowerment in the SDGs process, both in both goal five and throughout all of the SDGs, regardless of whether gender is mentioned in the goal, targets or indicators.
We view the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as an opportunity to revitalise the conversation about the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPFA) and to support the implementation of the strategies in the BPFA. The BPFA remains the best standard for achieving gender equality for women – it contains the most detailed and specific plan of action on gender equality and the language in the BPFA is stronger than the language on gender in the ADGs. However, there is a level of political energy and focus attached to the SDGs on which we should capitalise at the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). We recognise that there is an opportunity for CSW themes to be grounded in the BPFA and emerging issues, with clear linkages to relevant SDGs. Consequently, we support the evolution of CSW into a space for tracking and considering the SDGs.