Erasmus Centre for Entrepreneurship kicked off United Nation’s 67th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW67) with an engaging workshop to draft action points to contribute to a fairer future, together with 75inQ and Equals. In honour of International Women’s Day, on the 6th of March, we addressed key challenges in our path towards achieving gender equality with solutions to empower all women and girls in their communities.  

Katty Hsu (Senior Researcher at Erasmus Centre for Entrepreneurship) and Fenna Timsi (UN Youth Representative Human Rights & Security) shared the main conclusions from the workshop at a follow-up panel session with government officials, policymakers and corporates. A live connection to the UN Women Delegation in New York was also made to initiate a dialogue regarding the changes to implement and the opportunities to leverage in the Dutch context. 

This year’s CSW67 theme is innovation and technological change & education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. Keeping this in mind, as well as our research insights from SHE LEADS, a group of changemakers and young professionals tapped into their entrepreneurial skills to come up with concrete action points for a fairer future.  

To arrive at these action points, the participants first formulated the following visions for gender equality: 

All participants had the opportunity to share their individual contributions to realising each of visions. By collaboratively addressing key challenges that we need to overcome, we arrived at specific short- and long-term action points. Despite the differences across the challenges tackled and envisioned solutions, the 3 breakout sessions arrived at similar outcomes – each highlighting the importance of: 

• Education to break the gender bias 

• • This starts at home and from primary school, where gender stereotypes & norms should not dictate the behaviour of young girls and boys 

• Leveraging technology to ensure (institutional & organisational) accountability  

• • Clear monitoring processes for governments and companies should keep track of policies and laws that eliminate discrimination and promote gender equality  

• Including intersectional perspectives to ensure representation  

• • Women do not represent the interest one homogenous group, but rather a multitude of voices that need to be heard in decision-making processes  

Overall, creating a fairer future for women and girls requires a coordinated effort across all levels of the ecosystem. It is essential to consider the needs and rights of women and girls and ensure their full participation in all aspects of life.  

Interested to find out more about our research and educational activities empowering female entrepreneurship? Check out https://ece.nl/sheleads/ or reach out to us via communication@ece.nl!