World needs to move from commitment to action on gender equality by United Nations Commission on the Status of Women 11:38am 2nd Mar, 2010   March 2010    Gender equality and women’s empowerment are a fundamental goal of the United Nations to achieve equal rights and dignity for all. This is a matter of basic human rights, as enshrined in the UN founding Charter and the Universal Declaration.    But equality for women and girls is also an economic and social imperative. Until women and girls are liberated from poverty and injustice, all our goals - peace, security, sustainable development -stand in jeopardy.    Fifteen years ago at the Fourth World Conference on Women, Governments pledged to advance equality, development and peace for all women everywhere. The Beijing Declaration sent a clear message to women and girls around the world that equality and opportunity are their inalienable rights.    Violence against women remains a cause for global shame. In particular, sexual violence during conflict is endemic. Gender stereotyping and discrimination remain common in all cultures and communities.    Early and forced marriage, so-called “honour killing”, sexual abuse and trafficking of young women and girls are disturbingly prevalent and, in some areas, on the rise. Whether looking through the lens of poverty, or in times of disaster, we see that women still bear the greatest burden. When women are denied the opportunity to better themselves and their societies, we all lose.    While there have been some advances over the past 15 years to advance gender equality and the empowerment of women, there is still a clear need to move from commitment to action.    Addressing the opening of the 54th session of the United nations Commission on the Status of Women, UN Deputy Secretary-Genera Asha-Rose Migiro said “More and more people now understand that gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls is not just a goal in itself, but a key to sustainable development, economic growth, and peace and security”.    This year’s session of the Commission marks the 15th anniversary of the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action – the outcome of the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995 – which remains the most comprehensive global policy framework to achieve the goals of gender equality, development and peace.    The Platform called for action on 12 key issues: poverty, education and training, health, violence against women, armed conflict, economy, power and decision-making, institutional mechanisms, human rights, media, environment, and girls.    Among the areas where progress has lagged is in tackling the scourge of violence against women, said Ms. Migiro. “Violence is the most blatant manifestation of discrimination against women, but it is not the only one. Injustice and inequality persist in developing and developed countries and in all regions.”    In addition, she also noted that women still outnumber men among the world’s poorest people, and that two-thirds of illiterate adults are women – a statistic that has not changed in 20 years.    “We have also seen limited progress on reproductive health. Maternal mortality remains unacceptably high. Almost all these deaths could be prevented”.    “So, while we have seen advances in the past 15 years, we have not seen enough,” she stated. “The message is clear we need to move from commitment to action.” Visit the related web page
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