Unlike previous conferences on the Commission on the Status of Women, this year’s official opening of 54th session which also marked the review calendar of the Beijing Platform for Action was seen by majority of women who thronged the conference hall as an anti-climax.

The Unites States prides itself as an industrialised country and a leading democracy that upholds human rights of its citizens, but at the ongoing 54th session on the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, this super power is unable to stand tall.

As of November 2009, women held only 18.8 percent of seats in single/lower chambers of Parliament globally. Although these figures may look like a drop in the ocean, they are seen as modest improvement compared to 1995 when they were at only 11.3 percent.

In a bid to avoid controversy, governments have opted for a declaration to be adopted instead of an outcome document following the Beijing+15 review. Activists are divided on what this means, with some decrying the way that the historic meeting is being dumbed down; others say it’s safer not to open up debates that could risk fragile gains made 15 years ago on such touchy issues as sexual and reproductive rights.

The old adage “another man’s food is another man’s poison”, reverberated the predicament non-government organisations faced during the 54th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, that also commemorated 15 years since the Beijing conference on women.