in 1946 as a mechanism to promote, report on and monitor issues relating to the political, economic, civil, social and educational rights of women. It was a unique official structure for drawing attention to women’s concerns and leadership within the UN. UNCSW first met at Lake Success, New York, in February 1947. All 15 government representatives were women, which distinguished UNCSW from other UN movements, and UNCSW has continued to maintain a majority of women delegates. During its first session, the Commission declared as one of its guiding principles: to raise the status of women, irrespective of nationality, race, language or religion, to equality with men in all fields of human enterprise, and to eliminate all discrimination against women in the provisions of statutory law, in legal maxims or rules, or in interpretation of customary law. One of UNCSW's first tasks was to contribute to the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Commission members inserted gender-sensitive language — arguing against references to "men" as a synonym for humanity and phrases like "men are brothers". They received resistance from members of the Commission on Human Rights, but succeeded in introducing new, inclusive language. Original members The first session (1947) had 15 members/delegates in attendance, all women: Jessie Mary Grey Street, Australia Evdokia Uralova, Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic Zee Yuh-tsung, China (at the time the Republic) Graciela Morales F. de Echeverria, Costa Rica Bodil Begtrup, Denmark Marie-Hélène Lefaucheux, France Sara Basterrechea Ramirez, Guatemala Shareefah Hamid Ali, India Amalia C. de Castillo Ledón, Mexico Alice Kandalft Cosma, Syria Mihri Pektaş, Turkey Elizavieta Alekseevna Popova, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Mary Sutherland, United Kingdom Dorothy Kenyon, United States of America Isabel de Urdaneta, Venezuela Reproductive rights and the Commission Early Work and CEDAW The Commission began working after its founding in 1946 to directly introduce women's rights to the international arena. This was achieved through a variety of means, most commonly through attempts to collect data that showed discrimination occurring against women. In conjunction with the emerging global women's movement, the UN and the CSW named 1976 through 1985 the United Nations Decade for Women. During this time, reproductive rights were included in the central action of the Commission, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which entered into force in 1981. This convention stipulated that with regards to reproductive rights, reproduction "should not be a