Good afternoon. I saw this thread and just wanted to clarify some points about the UN and about the side event run by Outright in mid-July. Apologies if these are things you already know -- I thought it worth setting them out just in case it is helpful to anyone here.
The UN is made up of 193 member states, and is served by the secretariat, funds, programmes, and agencies. This means that major decision, like the scope of work of a UN body like UN Women, must be approved either by the General Assembly (if it is a secretariat body) or by the states that sit on what is like a steering group or board of the relevant fund, programme or agency.
Civil society organisations provide crucial expertise to the UN and the member states, including such organisations that are accredited by the UN being able to run side events in UN buildings. Those events may be attended by state delegates and by UN staff, and in set circumstances by civil society organisations, media, or other members of the public. Side events are often co-hosted between civil society and a UN body, and sponsored by a member state. They may have speakers from the UN or member states, amongst others. Recommendations made and expertise provided is not binding on the UN, but rather is informative and may (or often may not) be taken up by states who then seek to use the information to implement the recommendations.
The process of making changes at the UN is similar to any multilateral diplomatic exercise -- it is a process of negotiation between states, regional groups, and political blocs. For non-contentious issues this may be swift, for others it may take some time and may be deeply politicised.
The side event in mid-July was webcast on UN WebTV, as are many events as part of the drive to ensure access and transparency as opposed to the UN being a closed and elitist space. It was held in the margins of the High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development.
UN Women has a mandate on gender equality and empowerment of women. Its definitions can be found here: www.un.org/womenwatch/osagi/conceptsandefinitions.htm For the mandate of UN Women to change, there would need to be state approval. UN Women has focused on SOGI as part of that mandate, but not in terms of conflating sex and gender identity but rather as part of understanding intersectional challenges and issues.
It would require state approval for the mandate of UN Women to change. And there seems to be little or no indication of that being forthcoming either by consensus or majority.