Chairpersonship Conference on Gender Equality: Building resilience through inclusion and empowerment

VIENNA, 8 May 2025 – Over 400 participants from across the OSCE gathered in Vienna for the “Building resilience through inclusion and empowerment” Conference on Gender Equality organized under Finland’s 2025 OSCE Chairpersonship on 6 and 7 May 2025.

By hosting the conference, Finland encouraged OSCE participating States to uphold their commitments on gender equality, address challenges faced by women and girls due to unequal opportunities, discrimination, and persisting violence, and take collective action to foster inclusion and empowerment.

"Promoting gender equality is not just about fairness—it is about resilience, security, and building stronger societies. As Chair, Finland calls on all OSCE participating States to take tangible action to ensure that women and girls have equal opportunities to participate, lead, and shape the future," said Ambassador Vesa Häkkinen, Finland’s Permanent Representative to the OSCE and Chair of the Permanent Council.

The conference featured discussions led by high-level speakers, including Mariana Betsa, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and Laura Rissanen, State Secretary at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health of Finland. Representatives from OSCE Structures and Institutions, international organizations, and civil society also participated in the discussions.

Key sessions addressed current trends in gender equality: rethinking the Women, Peace and Security Agenda against multiplying crises, preventing gender-based violence, promoting equal opportunities in the digital era and engaging men and boys for gender equality. In line with Finland’s strong priority to support Ukraine, the conference also featured a special session on amplifying Ukrainian women’s voices.

Launch of the OSCE-wide Women, Peace, and Security Roadmap

As part of the conference, the Chairpersonship launched an OSCE-wide Roadmap for the effective implementation of Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) commitments. The Roadmap provides a comprehensive overview of the OSCE’s efforts in advancing the WPS agenda and guides participating States towards concrete action.

“In the year of the 25^th Anniversary of 1325, we wanted to use our Chairpersonship of the OSCE to showcase the good work of the OSCE on WPS. We chose to put focus on concrete action, and to provide participating States with practical ideas for doing more on WPS,” said Ambassador Vesa Häkkinen.