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Women’s Rights Advocates Want Action, Professor Claudia Flores Tells UN

A speaker is at the podium of the U.N. General Assembly Hall, a large room with a gold back wall and rows of people seated
Professor Claudia Flores speaks at the U.N. General Assembly Hall.

On the opening day of the United Nations’ largest annual forum on gender equality, Clinical Professor of Law Claudia Flores said there is a persistent gap between the expectations of women’s advocacy groups and states’ fulfillment of their obligations.

Flores delivered her remarks at United Nations Headquarters at the opening of the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women on March 9. Speaking as chair of the U.N.’s Working Group on Discrimination Against Women and Girls, she helped set the tone for the 10-day conference of member states, civil society, and the United Nations.

The focus of this year’s forum is “Rights, Justice, Action.” Speakers stressed the need for stronger action to ensure women and girls can fully access justice and equal rights worldwide. Flores pointed to the frustration of advocates with the continuing lack of implementation of commitments to women’s rights.

“This observation is sobering,” Flores said. “But we have the knowledge, the tools and the experience needed to move forward. The task before us is to translate that knowledge into action.”

WATCH: Professor Claudia Flores addresses U.N. (remarks at 1:15:50)

The group’s most recent thematic report examines the gendered dimensions of care and support systems and highlights the direct connection between rights in the care sector and access to justice.Even when equality exists on paper, women aren’t always able to claim their rights when claiming those rights conflicts with caregiving — an act that disproportionately falls to women, Flores explained. Advancing women’s rights requires addressing the structural conditions that shape everyday life, Flores said. She cited two guidance documents from the working group to support this work: one on substantive gender equality and one on the rights of women and girls in family life. 

“If our institutions are to remain credible, they must deliver change where justice is lived — in everyday realities and in the systems that shape them,” Flores said.

Flores, Flores, Megan Manion Umer Ranjha standing outdoors in a park-like setting in front of a bronze sculpture with tall buildings in the backdrop
Flores, left, outside U.N. Headquarters with Clinical Lecturer Megan Manion and Umer Ranjha ’26 LLM, all with the Lowenstein Clinic

Later in the day that Flores spoke, the commission adopted its draft Agreed Conclusions “Ensuring and strengthening access to justice for all women and girls, including by promoting inclusive and equitable legal systems, eliminating discriminatory laws, policies, and practices and addressing structural barriers.” The text received 37 votes in favor. The United States voted against the draft and six member states abstained.

In her remarks, Flores noted that declarations made during the session are only a first step.

The true measure of our commitments is whether they lead to tangible improvements — and to lives of dignity — for women and girls,” Flores said.

This was Flores’s second time speaking at the U.N. in on behalf of the working group in less than a year. In the fall, she spoke on the anniversary of a landmark women’s rights convention. In June, she will present the working group‘s forthcoming thematic report on women’s and girls’ rights in digital technologies and artificial intelligence to the U.N. Human Rights Council. 

Flores was appointed to the working group by the U.N.’s Human Rights Council in 2023, becoming chair in 2025. Composed of five independent experts, the working group has a mandate to intensify efforts to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women and girls throughout the world.

At Yale Law School, Flores directs the Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic and is faculty co-director of the Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International Human Rights. Her teaching, scholarship, and practice center on international human rights, constitutional reform, global inequality, and state accountability.