Since its formation in 1946, the UN has worked hard on women’s inclusion and equality. The Commission on the Status of Women, created in February 1947, held its first World Conference on Women in 1975. This Conference put a 10 year plan to reduce the inequalities between men and women. Since then, women’s rights have substantially progressed all around the globe. For the last 40 years, illiteracy among women decreased significantly, but Member States recognize there is more to do when it comes toward empowerment. Many Member States in the General Assembly Second Committee are working on Women in Development. Member States seem eager to collaborate on this topic.

 Representative Rayan Dos Passos of Brazil said, “We consider inequality in terms of justice, economic approaches and public policy access. We are trying to promote equal access to everyone, including men, women and children. We are also working closely with our partners as we definitely want to introduce a resolution for the development of the economic sector including health care.”

Japan, Ireland, Republic of Korea and other European States expressed their willingness to prioritize providing education for women. Representative Payton Willis of Japan said, “We are collaborating with a lot of countries since we take education very seriously in our country, and we believe it is the key to advancing women in our country. We are trying to get 30 percent of our leadership positions filled with women, right now.”

African States also hope to engage in order to reduce the numbers of women leaving the education system for reasons such as taking care of children. Representative Nicole Alvarez of Egypt said, “We already have one of the strongest educational systems within the African continent. We are looking to promote better education for women, specifically to make a greater economic impact, but we still want to support our state sovereignty. We still want to preserve traditionalism and the nuclear family to have a more stable society that we believe is morally good, even though we have a different stand from other Member States. We will be supporting resolutions that promote education for women.”