Current Status: Beijing + 30 and the Future of 5WCW
Three decades have passed since the last UN World Conference on Women in Beijing (1995), and the international community has yet to convene a 5th conference. In 2025, we mark the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action, with only five years remaining until the deadline for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The call for 5WCW remains vital, especially considering global challenges: the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, rising conflicts, and slow progress in achieving SDG 5 (Gender Equality).
The spirit of the 2012 joint statement by the Secretary-General and the President of the General Assembly is more relevant than ever. The 30th anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action (Beijing + 30) provides the ideal, powerful moment to formally return 5WCW to the UN agenda. It is time for a Member State to lead this initiative and approve a global action plan to achieve gender parity by 2030.
Why Have a UN World Conference on Women?
“Given that women make up half of humanity and given the importance and relevance of women’s issues for global progress, it is high time that such a world conference be convened.” These are the words of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the President of the General Assembly in a joint statement for International Women’s Day, March 8, 2012, urging the General Assembly to convene a global conference on women. The last was held in Beijing in 1995.
They noted that a conference could address emerging issues since Beijing, including implementing UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000), equal access to decent work, aid effectiveness, food security, trafficking, drugs, migration, environment, climate change, and information technology—each with significant impacts on women.
Our hope is that India be that Member State. On India’s Independence Day, in his first major address (August 14, 2014), Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke of stopping violence against women and India’s rape culture. For him to propose hosting 5WCW in New Delhi in 2018 would support his words and the women of India.
Historical gains show a consistent principle: meaningful change happens when top leadership is motivated by bottom-up feminist movements. In India, mass protests against sexual violence generated political will for stronger laws. A study spanning four decades and seventy countries (Htun and Weldon, 2012) found that grassroots feminist movements—not partisan politics, not descriptive representation, not wealth—drive women’s policy advances.
Why hold 5WCW in India?
India has the most active grassroots women’s movement in the world and a government whose prime minister has prioritized stopping violence against women. Hosting 5WCW and a parallel Forum in New Delhi would spread effective solutions worldwide.
An estimated 100,000 women would attend, boosting India’s economy. In 1995, 40,000 came to Beijing for the Forum—learning, networking, forming friendships, mentorships, and alliances. Relationships are the foundation of how women empower and inspire each other, and how organizations grow.
Through 2030, high-level and regional meetings will review the Beijing Platform for Action and the SDGs. Yet none can mobilize grassroots women or create the emotional and political momentum of a UN-sponsored 5WCW.
Visas, sponsorships for young leaders (“sisterships”), recognition of elders, and convenings of wise-women councils would catalyze grassroots leadership development at scale.
Research describes women’s “tend and befriend” response—dialogue and cooperation—contrasted with “fight or flight.” Ending violence requires both mobilized communities and political will at the top.
Geneva & Outreach
In Geneva, India Supera and Winter Safronoff will distribute brochures and a Hindi translation. They plan to meet NGO and government officials in New Delhi; should a meeting with Prime Minister Modi materialize, Dr. Bolen will travel as well.
In India, critical actors are often one or two degrees apart. With aligned intent—and a bit of synchronicity—5WCW in New Delhi can become a reality.
Action Click here to view or download the full 5WCW brochure.
Women’s participation and leadership are crucial to peace — UN Security Council
The Security Council reaffirmed that sustainable peace hinges on integrating political, security, development, human rights, and gender equality concerns. It urged Member States and UN entities to ensure women’s full and meaningful participation in peace and security and to enhance access to justice in conflict and post-conflict settings. (Read full article.)
Address by Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury
Ambassador Chowdhury—Chair of the GA drafting committee for the Declaration and Programme of Action on the Culture of Peace—underscored that without women’s equality in all spheres, neither the human right to peace nor the culture of peace is achievable. He called for education for global citizenship and emphasized that sustainable peace is impossible when women are marginalized.
He reminded the assembly of the power of non-violence—Gandhi and King—and urged a turn from force to reason, from conflict to dialogue. Peace education and human security must be prioritized.
“Without women, neither peace nor development is possible.”
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka Appointed Executive Director of UN Women
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed Ms. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, former Deputy President of South Africa, as Executive Director of UN Women. She brings strategic leadership and deep experience advancing gender equality, including founding the Umlambo Foundation to support schools in underserved areas.
Joint Announcement: Proposal for a Global Conference on Women (2015)
The President of the General Assembly and the Secretary-General proposed convening a global conference on women, 20 years after Beijing, to review progress and address emerging issues: women’s political participation, UNSCR 1325, decent work and decision-making, the role of rural women and girls, aid effectiveness, food security, trafficking, drugs, migration, environment, climate change, and information technology—with robust engagement of young women.
Momentum Grows for a 21st-Century Women’s Conference
At the 56th Commission on the Status of Women, support swelled: large blue 5WCW buttons, speeches, and panels echoed the call. Advocates included Dr. Jean Shinoda Bolen; Ambassador Gertrude I. Mongella (Secretary-General of the Beijing Conference); and Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury (key to UNSCR 1325).
New challenges since 1995—terrorism, climate change, food scarcity, water insecurity, economic shocks—demand renewed global mobilization. Technology can connect simultaneous satellite conferences worldwide. A petition in support of 5WCW gathered 13,000+ signatures.
General Assembly: Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser Elected President
The GA elected the experienced Qatari diplomat by acclamation to preside over the 66th session.
San Francisco Begins to Vie as Potential Host City
The San Francisco Commission on the Status of Women issued a resolution enthusiastically supporting hosting a UN 5WCW and urged U.S. leaders to pursue support among Member States. Advocacy efforts engaged Senators Boxer and Feinstein and Speaker Pelosi.
Security Council Action & Building UN Women
On 30 September 2009, the Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution mandating peacekeeping missions to protect women and children from sexual violence during armed conflict and requested a Special Representative to lead this effort.
In the same period, the Gender Equality Architecture Reform (GEAR) campaign by CSW NGOs succeeded, culminating in GA authorization to form a stronger UN women’s agency—what became UN Women. Coverage included “Super Agency” reports and GA votes for a more powerful structure for women’s rights within the UN system.
Sources reflect statements and advocacy spanning 2009–2014 and are provided here to inform and inspire renewed action toward convening a UN 5th World Conference on Women.