GOAL OF THE MONTH – GOAL 5Gender Equality

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Where We Are

Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world.   

While progress has been made towards gender equality in recent years – female genital mutilation (FGM) and child marriages have both declined, and women’s representation in political sphere is at an all-time high, we are not on track to achieve gender equality by 2030. 

And although women and girls make up half of the world’s population, they still face legal, social and economic barriers that hinder their empowerment. Many women across the globe lack agency over their sexual and reproductive health, more than a third have been victims of physical and/or sexual violence, and the COVID-19 pandemic has compounded persisting inequalities by disproportionally affecting women & girls. Gender equality is essential for healthy, sustainable, resilient societies and is a cross-cutting objective: by unleashing women and girls’ untapped potential, we can make progress towards the other SDGs.  

We can dismantle systemic barriers to gender equality with strong political leadership, policy reforms and targeted investments. Individual actions from girls, women, boys and men, will help us achieve gender equality: through promoting access to reproductive health services and funding education campaigns, embracing respectful relationships and addressing biases and detrimental associations, we can deliver equal opportunity for all, enable women and girls to reach their full potential, and leverage their transformative power for sustainable development. 

The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) will meet for its 68th session on 11-22 March at UN headquarters in New York. As a functional commission of ECOSOC dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women, CSW plays a crucial role in monitoring progress, promoting women’s rights, documenting challenges, and shaping global standards and policies to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment worldwide. 

Read more about Goal 5: https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/gender-equality/ 


8 March | INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY 

This year’s International Women’s Day shines a spotlight on gender investment. Financing is a key challenge for gender equality with a staggering USD 360 billion annual deficit persisting in spending on gender-equality measures, threatening women’s and girls’ rights across all aspects of life. 

UN Women’s call to “Invest in women: Accelerate progress” highlights the need for stable and sustained financing for Goal 5. It also feeds into broader conversations on financing for sustainable development: 

The official UN International Women’s Day commemoration will be held in the ECOSOC Chamber and live streamed on 8 March 2024, from 10:00 am to 11:30 am ET. 


The ‘We the Women‘ campaign will launch a Global Survey on International Women’s Day, collecting insights into the opinions and aspirations of thousands of women worldwide. The primary objective is to gain a comprehensive understanding of women’s perspectives on a variety of global issues and how the international community can address them.  The key messages from the survey will be inputted into the Pact for the Future, to be adopted by Head of States and Governments at the United Nations during the September 2024 Summit of the Future. The survey will be available here from 8 March. 


The climate crisis does not affect everyone equally. Women and girls face disproportionate impactsfrom climate change — largely because they make up the majority of the world’s poor, who are highly dependent on local natural resources for their livelihood. Find out why empowering women and girls is key to climate action: https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/page/why-women-are-key-climate-action.


Read the opening remarks of Ms. Sima Bahous, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women, at the UN Women Executive Board, First Regular Session 2024, where she covers past successes and priorities for the year ahead. 

Speech: Shared vision, effective collaboration, and unswerving determination 


Learn more about gender equality through the first-person accounts of gender-based challenges, the stories of UN Women staff who fight for goal 5 every day, and the experts’ perspective of UN Women’s Editorial Series in the UN Women Editorial series. 

 Half of humanity can’t wait centuries for their rights. We need equality now. That means accelerating the pace of progress. And that relies on political ambition, and on investment – the theme of this year’s International Women’s Day.António Guterres, UN Secretary-General, March 2024

SDG 5 IN NUMBERS

  • At the current rate, it will take an estimated 300 years to end child marriage, 286 years to close gaps in legal protection and remove discriminatory laws and 140 years for women to be represented equally in positions of power and leadership in the workplace. 
  • Nearly 2.4 billion women globally don’t have the same economic rights as men. 
  • 178 countries maintain legal barriers that prevent women’s full economic participation.

Highlights

11-22 March | Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68, New York) 

The Commission on the Status of Women will convene this month for its annual two-week session. The priority theme for CSW68 is Accelerating the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls by addressing poverty and strengthening institutions and financing with a gender perspective. Participants will also review social protection systems, sustainable infrastructure for gender equality and the empowerment of women, and access to public services. With only 15% of Goal 5 indicators “on track” for 2030, Member State representatives, UN entities and ECOSOC-accredited NGOs will discuss progress and implementation gaps.  

Follow the CSW68 page for updates on the agenda, side events and outcomes. 

Multimedia | Podcast 

Press play to Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications Melissa Fleming’s inspiring interview with Catherine Marchi-Uhel, Head of the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism (IIIM), where she discusses her unique career path and the struggle of women in Syria. Find out more

22 March | World Water Day 

The theme of this year’s World Water Day is ‘Water for Peace’, shining a light on how water can spark tensions and conflict or, through cooperation, create a foundation for peaceful, harmonious, prosperous and resilient societies. Learn more about the link between water and peace and click here to find resources to participate in WWD 2024. 

A press briefing will take place at United Nations Headquarters on March 22nd, at 12:30pm EST (Room S-237). The briefing can also be followed live on UN WebTV

ACTNOW for our Common Future 

ActNow is the United Nations campaign to inspire people to act for the Sustainable Development Goals. Join the global movement for change!  

Actions you can take on gender equality: 

Challenge gender stereotypes at home and at your work place; Support women’s empowerment initiatives; Advocate for policy change – make sure your voice is heard and vote for candidates that support the rights of women and girls. 

Find more everyday actions that you can take to make a difference –> un.org/actnow 

In Focus

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6 March | Digital Transformation Dialogue (Paris & online) 

On the road to the Summit of the Future’s Digital Compact ratification, join the first edition of UNESCO’s Digital Transformation Dialogues. The Dialogue will hold 5 sessions covering the transformation of public administrations to address digital governance challenges, the empowerment of public administrations in fostering, innovating and securing digital enabling environments; internet universality assessments, challenges of frontier technologies (AI and Quantum), as well as enhancing digital cooperation. 

Learn more and register to attend in person or online here. 

7-8 March | Buildings and Climate Global Forum (Paris) 

UNEP and France, supported by the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction, will convene the Buildings and Climate Global Forum this month in Paris. It will bring together first-time ministers and high-level representatives of key stakeholder organizations (local authorities, NGOs, private sector) to spur forward international collaboration for the decarbonization of the building value chain. Sessions will include plenary meetings, CEO and ministerial roundtables, solution exhibitions and pitches. Governments will also be invited to endorse a common declaration. 

Learn more and explore the draft agenda here. 

Upcoming International Days

3 March | World Wildlife Day 

World Wildlife Day 2024 will explore digital innovation and highlight how digital conservation technologies and services can drive wildlife conservation, sustainable and legal wildlife trade and human-wildlife coexistence, now and for future generations in an increasingly connected world The high-level event for WWD2024 will take place at UN Headquarters in New York on March 4thIt will feature high-level speaker statements, multimedia performances and presentations, expert interventions and segments hosted by WWD partners (CITES Secretariat, United Nations Development Programme, WILDLABS, IFAW and Jackson Wild). Tune in to the livestream on UN WebTV.  

21 March | International Day of Forests 

The International Day of Forests celebrates and raises awareness about all types of forests. It encourages countries to take local, national and international actions to organize activities involving forests and trees. Countries are encouraged to undertake local, national and international efforts to organize activities involving forests and trees, such as tree planting campaigns. Organized by the United Nations Forum on Forests and FAO in collaboration with the Collaborative Partnerships on Forests, Governments and relevant field organizations, this year’s celebration will focus on forests and innovation. 

23 March | World Meteorological Day 

“At the Frontier of Climate Action” is this year’s theme for World Meteorological Day. The international day commemorates the establishment of the World Meteorological Organization in March 1950. The WMO plays an indispensable role climate action by serving as an authoritative source of research and delivering weather-, climate-, and water-related services. It notably recently confirmed 2023 as the warmest year on record.
Read more about the World Meteorological Day and this year’s theme right here

30 March | International Day of Zero Waste 

Join UNEP and UN-Habitat in observing the 2nd International Day of Zero Waste! Without urgent action, annual municipal solid waste generation will reach 3.8 billion tonnes by 2050: the International Day of Zero Waste highlights the need to enhance waste management at the global level and to promote sustainable consumption and production to change the trajectory of waste generation. Member States, UN organizations, civil society, academia, the private sector, youth and other stakeholders are invited to partake in awareness-raising activities and the promotion of zero-waste initiatives.
Register your activity and locate an event near you here. 

Summit of the Future 

The Summit of the Future, to be held in New York 22-23 September 2024, is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to strengthen the multilateral system to address existing and emerging challenges, improve global governance and accelerate the implementation of existing commitments, including the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.  The Summit will have as its outcome an inter-governmentally agreed Pact for the Future. Stay tuned for more: https://www.un.org/en/summit-of-the-future 

Awake at Night Podcast

Season 8 of the UN’s award-winning podcast is now streaming! Hosted by UN Communications Chief, Melissa Fleming, Awake at Night gives exclusive insights into the inspiring lives of the extraordinary people that make up the United Nations. 

Discover all the episodes here: https://pod.link/1429922419