The 66th session of the United Nations Commission on the status of women opened at the United Nations headquarters in New York on the 14th. The theme of the session is "achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls in climate change, environment and disaster reduction policies and projects". In his speech, UN Secretary General Guterres said that gender discrimination resulted in only a small proportion of landowners and leaders being women. Women's needs and interests are often overlooked in decision-making on land use, pollution, environmental protection and climate action. Only one third of decision-making positions under the framework of the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris agreement of the United Nations Framework Convention on climate change are held by women, and women account for only 15% of the world's environment ministers. He said that the patriarchal consequences of excluding women and suppressing women's voices for thousands of years have not been eliminated. Everyone must strive for women's rights and promote gender equality. Gender equality and women's rights must be at the core of a new social contract adapted to today's social and economic situation. Shahid, President of the 76th UN General Assembly, said in his speech that only four of the 76 presidents of the general assembly are women, and the post of Secretary General of the United Nations has always been held by men. In terms of gender equality and women's empowerment, the United Nations cannot implement the gold standard in the United Nations system at a time when it calls for the implementation of the gold standard around the world. Shahid called on the next UN Secretary General to be a woman. Bahus, executive director of UN women, called for putting women and girls at the heart of climate change and environmental policies. She said that climate change and gender inequality are two major challenges facing the world today, and all countries must make great efforts to deal with them. The United Nations Commission on the status of women is one of the nine functional commissions of the United Nations Economic and Social Council. It is committed to accelerating the realization of gender equality globally and meets once a year. The session ended on 25 March. (Xinhua News Agency)