11.3.2026 New York: 20th International Helvi Sipilä Seminar

In March 2026, we will hold the 20th International Helvi Sipilä Seminar at CSW70 in New York. Registration for in-person attendance opens in February. The seminar recording will be made available afterwards. Thank you for your patience.

INTERNATIONAL HELVI SIPILÄ SEMINAR AT THE CSW SINCE 2006

Helvi Sipilä (1915 – 2009) was a Finnish lawyer, diplomat and world’s first woman Assistant Secretary-General of the UN in 1972. Thanks to her, 1975 was declared the International Year of Women, and the first UN World Conference on Women was held under Sipilä’s leadership in Mexico.

The International Women’s Decade Voluntary Fund started in 1977 on Sipilä’s initiative and later became the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).

Helvi Sipilä thought that every woman should have a profession and a job. The driving force behind her ambition was that everyone should think about what they could do to support women.

Despite society’s outcry, she ran her own law firm for 30 years. She also led several associations, including the International Federation of Women Lawyers and the International Council of Women.

To honor her tireless work for women’s rights, the first international Helvi Sipilä Seminar was organized at the CSW50 in 2006 by the Finnish Federation of University Women (FFUW) and four other Finnish Women’s organizations. The Helvi Sipilä seminars continue her legacy by addressing challenging issues that affect women locally and globally.

To learn more about the CSW, please visit UN Women’s website: https://www.unwomen.org/en/how-we-work/commission-on-the-status-of-women/csw70-2026