Reporting from the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in New York

The United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is the principal global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women. The CSW is instrumental in promoting women’s and girls’ rights, documenting the reality of their lives throughout the world, and shaping global standards on gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. The 69th session of CSW took place from 10 to 21 March 2025. Representatives of Member States, UN entities, and ECOSOC-accredited non-governmental organizations from all regions of the world were invited to contribute to the session. Our speakers presented seminars at the event are Belinda Mason Knierim OAM, Dixie Link-Gordon, Professor Shirley Randell AO, Emilia Randell.

About the Speakers: 

Belinda Mason OAM is founder of MUTTI, the Museum of Understanding through Tolerance and Inclusion and an award-winning human rights social documentarian

Dixie Link-Gordon is a First Nations communicator, a connector, a knowledge portal for women dealing with abuse who need reassurance that they deserve better and that their lives can be different.

Belinda and Dixie were two of the contributors to their event “Unseen Women” featuring diverse women with lived experience of violence, disability and homelessness.

Shirley Randell AO is President of GWNSW City Branch, and is one of six speakers on “Women Leadership: How ethics and traumatic experiences shape women leaders’ identities, power and decision making”. She will draw on her leadership experiences in Vanuatu, Bangladesh and Rwanda. 

Emilia Randell is Senior Caseworker, Unaccompanied Humanitarian Minors Program, Marist Youth Care and is participating in her first CSW. She will give her impressions of the events she attended.