We Were in the Room: A Young Feminist Archive of CSW70
Participants share their experiences during “Intergenerational Approaches to Access Justice Across the Life Course” at CSW70. The event, part of the Youth Forum at CSW, was co-created and led by girls and women. Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown
In March 2026, more than 4,600 civil society representatives came to New York City for the largest annual gathering on gender equality at the UN: the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). This level of engagement from civil society is critical:
“We owe progress on gender equality to civil society, feminist, and women’s rights organizations and coalitions that lit the flame and carry its torch within multilateral spaces, who dream of a common language for the rights of women and girls in all their diversity, and who advance a vision of a world that recognizes their humanity and transforms their lived realities.”
One such group that engaged at the 70th session of CSW was the Young Feminist Caucus, a global, intersectional caucus working to advance young feminist leadership, human rights, and gender equality.
“We Were in the Room: A Young Feminist Archive of CSW70” is a multilingual report featuring contributions from 15 youth activists in the Young Feminist Caucus who engaged at CSW70, in-person or virtually. In their stories, these activists document young people’s engagement and experiences — including both their victories and the challenges they faced. As the editors of the report note:
“It serves as a collective archive of youth participation, organizing, advocacy, resistance, and movement-building within multilateral spaces.”
This critical report was made possible by support to the Young Feminist Caucus through their membership in the Birdsong Collective, a collaborative of legacy and emerging gender equality civil society coalitions and caucuses convened by the Girls and Women Strategy team at the UN Foundation to revitalize feminist advocacy infrastructure at the UN.
