The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) met in New York from 22 February to 4 March 2011 (55th session). The theme was access and participation of women and girls to education, training, science and technology. This included the promotion of women’s equal access to full employment and decent work. The CSW 55 draft of agreed conclusions is found in this on-line blog by the National Council of Women of Canada (NCWC). Draft conclusions include: affirming the Beijing Fourth World Conference on Women Declaration and Platform for Action; recalling the Budapest Science Agenda - Framework for Action adopted at the World Conference on Science, the Dakar Framework for Action adopted at the World Education Forum, and the United Nations Millennium Declaration; stressing that education and training is a human right and essential for the empowerment of women, including economic empowerment; expressing concern about the persistence of gender stereotypes, under-representation of girls and women in some sub-fields of science and technology, and the under-representation of boys and men in care-related sectors. The Commission also agreed to urge Governments, relevant United Nations system entities, international and regional organisations, and civil society to take specific actions to strengthen national policies and programmes.

Recommendations for actions:

• Collection, compilation and dissemination of sex- and age-disaggregated data on education, training and employment
• Monitoring and evaluation of existing gender equality policies and programmes in education and training, science and technology, and employment access
• Public and private investment in education and training to expand women's and girls' access to quality education and training, including science and technology research and development that directly benefits women
• Expanding the use of gender-responsive budgeting
• Supporting the transition from education to full employment and decent work
• Formally recognising women's prior learning gained from unpaid and/or informal work
• Conducting local communications campaigns to improve women’s access to information on new and existing technologies, including ICT, particularly in rural and remote areas