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Parliamentary Meeting on the occasion of the 63rd session of the Commission on the Status of Women

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New York,
United States

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Investing in gender equality: Parliaments ensuring social protection, public services and infrastructure deliver for women and girls

Watch the videos of the Parliamentary meeting:
Sexism, Harassment and Violence against Women Parliamentarians
Investing in gender equality: Parliaments ensuring social protection, public services and infrastructure deliver for women and girls (Part 1)
Investing in gender equality: Parliaments ensuring social protection, public services and infrastructure deliver for women and girls (Part 2)
Press Conference: Launch of the Map on Women in Politics 2019, in the context of CSW63​


See detailed agenda

The Parliamentary Meeting at the 63rd session of the Commission on the Status of Women, hosted by the IPU and UN Women, will contribute to the Commission’s main theme, Social protection systems, access to public services and sustainable infrastructure for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls.

The event will focus on the vital role parliaments have to play in ensuring adequate resources are allocated and policies adopted in pursuit of gender equality, in particular in the areas of social protection schemes, public services and infrastructure. Participants will share good practices and discuss mechanisms to ensure that all women are accounted for in social protection schemes and have effective access to public services and infrastructure. The meeting will also explore how to ensure the money allocated to social protection, public services and infrastructure advances gender equality.

In addition to the Parliamentary Meeting, two side events will take place on 14 March at the Ex-Press Bar: From Critical Mass to Gender Parity—Women in Decision-Making Do Make a Difference! (10 - 11.15 a.m.) and Data on Women in Politics: Getting to Equal? (3:00p.m. – 4:15p.m).

Wednesday, 13 March 2019

- Welcome remarks
Åsa Regnér, Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director, Intergovernmental Support and Strategic Partnerships, UN Women, and Ms. Gabriela Cuevas Barron, IPU President
- Session 1: What do gender-responsive social protection policies look like?
Ms. Christina Behrendt, head of the ILO Social Policy Unit; Ms. Ingrid Van Niekerk, Executive Co-Director and Senior Researcher at EPRI; Mr. Yasir Naqvi, Former Attorney General, Province of Ontario, Canada; Mr. Johnson Sakaja, Senator, Kenya.
- Presentation on “Women in parliament”
Hon. Paddy Torsney, Permanent Observer of the IPU to the United Nations
- Lunch break
- Session 2: Ensuring public services and infrastructure are responsive to the needs of and accessible to all women
Ms. Azzouha El Arrak, MP, Morocco; Ms. Karla Dominguez, Gender Task Force for Transportation; Ms. Zuleika Frost, Youth Speaker for NAWO.
- Session 3: Parliament’s role in ensuring the money allocated to social protection, public services and infrastructure advances gender equality
Ms. Zohra Khan, UN Women’s Policy Advisor on Governance and National Planning and Acting Chief of the Leadership and Governance Section; Ms. Alejandra Reynoso Sanchez, Senator, Mexico; Ms. Helena Bouveng, MP, Sweden.
- Concluding remarks