Women's movements' engagement in the SDGs: lessons learned from the Women's Major Group

The Women's Major Group's role is to assure effective public participation of women's non-government groups in the United Nations (UN) policy processes on Sustainable Development, the post-2015 development agenda, and environmental matters. It works alongside eight other ‘Major Groups’ representing different elements of civil society. This article focuses on the role of the Women's Major Group in the negotiations of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which enabled women's rights and feminist organisations to participate in the process. The article assesses the ways in which this model of civil society participation in a UN process offers a route for feminist activism and women's movements to influence international development agendas and policy processes effectively. The next challenge is to ensure that women's rights organisations will participate in the planning of national implementation processes and adjusting national indicators to reflect the gender dimension in each of the goals.