From 14 to 25 March 2022, the sixty-sixth session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW66) is taking place in New York.

It is the first time that disaster risk reduction has been considered within the Priority Theme of the CSW, "Achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls in the context of climate change, environmental and disaster risk reduction policies and programmes.”  CSW66 will shine a spotlight on tackling structural gender inequalities that put women at higher risk to disasters, and their important role as agents of change in disaster risk reduction.

IOLG is engaging across the CSW66, calling for a gender-responsive approach to disaster risk reduction and risk-informed development, a key enabler to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Ahead of the 2023 Midterm Review of the Sendai Framework 2015-2030, now is the moment to accelerate action towards gender-responsive disaster risk reduction policies, plans and programmes that are resourced and implemented and empower women to lead disaster risk reduction efforts.

Across different events this week, IOLG and partners will be setting out how this can be achieved. Specifically, IOLG is calling for the following actions:

• Uphold women’s rights and fully leverage the potential of women’s leadership in disaster risk reduction and integrate gender-responsive disaster risk reduction into the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.
• Apply a gender lens in all risk finance, including gender-responsive budgeting for disaster risk reduction across sectors, and dedicated financing for gender-responsive DRR strategies.
• CSW66 is the moment to commit to ensuring that a gender lens is integrated in the ongoing Midterm Review process of the Sendai Framework and that it provides forward-looking recommendations towards gender-responsive disaster risk reduction for the remainder of its implementation. The Midterm Review process will culminate in a High-level Meeting in New York in May 2023, and adopt a concise and action-oriented political declaration to renew commitment and accelerate the implementation of the Sendai Framework, a key enabler to achieve the 2030 Agenda.