Thousands of women from around the globe will be descending on New York City for the next two weeks to participate in the United Nations' (U.N.) official discussion about the role and status of women in society.

The 54th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), the U.N.'s oldest standing committee, will take place from Mar. 1-12 and will commemorate the 15th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, considered by many to be the most comprehensive document formed about women's rights

A reported influence in the formation of the U.N.'s Millennium Development Goals (MDG's), the platform was adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Sept. 1995 in Beijing, China by 189 U.N. member states.

The platform includes 12 strategic objectives and actions for addressing women's issues and gender inequalities, covering the areas of women and poverty, violence against women, women in power and decision-making and several others.

While an accomplishment in itself, many view the platform's implementation as being too slow, including faith-based coalition group Ecumenical Women, who write in a statement that, "Despite 15 years of national policies and international agreement to advance women's rights, the goals of the Platform and the MDG's remain unfulfilled. Implementation has failed to recognize the full diversity of women's situations and conditions and the particular ways different women are disadvantaged."

Over 200 side events will be hosted by various women's rights groups throughout the CSW session for advocacy and informational purposes.

The faith community will be hosting 40 of those events, including daily chapel services on the weekdays at 8 a.m. at the Church Center for the U.N. (CCUN).