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The General Commission on the Status and Role of Women (COSROW) was established by the 1972 General conference of The United Methodist Church. Emerging from the social climate of the Civil Rights era of the 1960s, the General Commission on the Status and Role of Women was conceived when a 1968 report presented by the Women's Society of Christian Service, known today as United Methodist Women,requested that a study commission be established to research the involvement, or lack thereof, on women in all aspects of the United Methodist Church. By 1972, a group of fifty women from the Wheadon United Methodist Church in Illinois, which would later become the Women's Caucus, joined the Women's Division in supporting the idea of a new commission that would address the various levels of access that women had to power in the life of the church. All of this coalesced when Thelma Stevens, a Women's Caucus representative, presented a proposal to establish a quadrennial commission that would address the inclusion of women in all levels of decision making in the United Methodist Church.

After the proposal was accepted and ratified the General Conference charged the new commission with the responsibility of fostering awareness of problems and issues related to status and role of women with special focus on full participation in the life of the church at least commensurate with its total membership in the United Methodist Church. In the tradition of the Woman's Division, and other predecessors, the commission continued to accumulate statistics documenting the presence of women in the life of the Methodist Church. The Commission understood itself as an advocate for affirmative action, personnel policies, grievance procedures and as an ally to victims of sexual harassment. Over time, it has sought to eradicate discriminatory language, combat homophobia and provide regional training for those interested in challenging sexism and other forms of oppression.