{"id":1434,"date":"2015-03-08T18:38:26","date_gmt":"2015-03-08T18:38:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/?p=1434"},"modified":"2018-04-22T12:11:48","modified_gmt":"2018-04-22T16:11:48","slug":"on-international-womens-day-un-urges-more-action-to-achieve-gender-equality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/blog\/2015\/03\/on-international-womens-day-un-urges-more-action-to-achieve-gender-equality\/","title":{"rendered":"On International Women’s Day, UN urges more action to achieve gender equality"},"content":{"rendered":"

To mark International Women’s Day today, senior United Nations officials highlighted the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, a historic roadmap signed by 189 governments 20 years ago that set the agenda for realizing women’s rights.<\/p>\n

They noted that while much has been achieved since then in areas such as education, healthcare and the economy, many serious gaps remain, stressing that the UN will be in the forefront of efforts to highlight gender equality, holding a number of major events in the next week, including an International Women’s Day<\/a> march from UN Headquarters to New York’s Times Square.<\/p>\n

In addition, the annual, two-week long session of the Commission on the Status of Women<\/a>, opens tomorrow, on 9 March, and will bring representatives of UN Member States, civil society groups and UN entities together to take stock of where women stand today.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must acknowledge that the gains have been too slow and uneven, and that we must do far more to accelerate progress everywhere,\u201d said UN Secretary-General<\/a> Ban Ki-Moon.<\/p>\n

Mr. Ban said that the Beijing Conference<\/a> took place amid the conflict in the former Yugoslavia, which had prompted deserved attention to rape and other war crimes there against civilians.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo decades later, with girls as young as seven not only targeted but used as weapons by violent extremists, it would be easy to lose heart about he value of international gatherings,\u201d he said, urging the world to come together in response to the targeting of women and girls by violent extremists.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom Nigeria and Somalia to Iraq and Syria, the bodies of women have been transformed into battlegrounds,\u201d he said. \u201cWomen have been attacked for trying to exercise their right to education and basic services they have been raped and turned into sex slaves they have been given as prizes to fighters, or traded among extremist groups in trafficking networks.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said outrage needed to be translated into meaningful action and, as women and girls are often the first targets of attack, their rights had to be at the centre of the global strategy to address the staggering and growing challenge.<\/p>\n

Noting also that women living in societies at peace remained targets of domestic abuse, female genital mutilation and other forms of violence that traumatise individuals and damage whole societies.<\/p>\n

\u201cDiscrimination remains a thick barrier that must be shattered,\u201d Mr. Ban said. \u201cWe need to expand opportunities in politics, business and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n