Gender Equality and Women’s Human Rights: Unfinished Business
A speech by UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka at the “Women’s Human Rights Forum: 20 years of the Beijing Platform for Action for Women” side event to the Nordiskt Forum on 15 June, 2014, in Malmö, Sweden.Date:
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Distinguished members of the Panel,colleagues, friends,
I am pleased to be here today at this event, and tosee so many of you here to commemorate 20 years since the adoption of theBeijing Declaration and Platform for Action.
This meeting marks the firstin a series focused on the 12 critical areas of concern of the Beijing Platformfor Action.
These events will take place across the globe in partnershipwith Member States, the UN System, civil society organizations and the privatesector, at global, regional and country levels.
Our goal is seize thishistoric opportunity and re-energize the spirit of Beijing to advance women’srights, women’s empowerment and gender equality. We must not take baby steps. Weneed big leaps forward!
In the past 20 years, we have seen progress atthe international and national level to promote and protect women’s human rightsand full and equal participation.
Twenty years ago, just 12 per cent ofparliamentarians were women. Today 22 per cent of MPs are women.
Twentyyears ago, 40 per cent of women were engaged in wage and salaried employment.Today 48 per cent of women worldwide are being paid wages and salaries.
Twenty years ago, 15 per cent of young women were enrolled in college leveleducation compared to 25 per cent today. There are now more women than menenrolled in universities, and this trend started in the 1990s.
Globally,139 constitutions include guarantees on gender equality; 125 countries outlawdomestic violence; at least 117 countries have equal pay laws, and 117 outlawsexual harassment in the workplace.
Women have equal rights to ownproperty in 115 countries. In 93 countries, women have equal inheritance rights.And yet discrimination against women continues in law and in practice.
Even though nearly every country has ratified the Convention on the Eliminationof All Forms of Discrimination against Women, discriminatory laws and gapsremain in constitutional and legislative provisions.
Inequality in thelaw exists in all regions of the world and in all legal traditions.
Fifteen years ago at the Beijing+5 review, the year 2005 was set as the targetdate for the revocation of laws that discriminate against women.
Thisdeadline has come and gone and we must make it a priority now to remove andamend all laws that discriminate on against women and girls.
A WorldBank study last year of 143 economies found that 128 countries still have atleast one legal difference in how men and women are treated, which constrainswomen’s economic opportunities. These barriers include laws that make itimpossible for a woman to independently obtain an ID card, own or use property,access credit or get a job.
And women themselves continue to lackawareness of their rights, and particular groups of women, such as migrant orindigenous women, remain especially marginalized.
Even when newlegislation has been passed for women’s rights, a wide gap often exists betweenthe law and its enforcement.
And stereotypical attitudes continue toconstrain women’s opportunities and choices. Crimes of violence against womencontinue at alarming rates – and far too often with impunity.
As we meettoday, violence against women and girls is one of the most pervasive humanrights violations.
Recent global figures indicate that one in threewomen worldwide have experienced either intimate partner violence or non-partnersexual violence in her lifetime.
In some countries, this figure is ashigh as 7 in 10 women.
And still, in at least 10 States, customary lawson marriage, family and property rights are not subject to constitutionalprovisions on equality and non-discrimination.
In 50 countries, theminimum legal age of marriage is lower for females, exposing girls to the risksof early marriage.
The restrictions faced by women, the objectification,the silencing, the exploitation and oppression prevent women from exercisingtheir fundamental human rights.
Gender equality and women’s human rightsremain unfinished business. So how can we as an international community overcomethe challenges to the realization of women’s human rights?
How can we asindividuals do our part to advance women’s rights and gender equality? As I saidbefore, Instead of baby steps, we need to take big leaps forward.
We neednew approaches that make transforming gender relations an integral part of allthat we do.
My message to you today is that we have never had a betteropportunity.
This year, the United Nations will assess progress onimplementation of the Platform for Action, based on national reports currentlybeing prepared by Member States.
At the same time, the nations of theworld are coming together to accelerate the achievement of the MillenniumDevelopment Goals and to define a new post-2015 global development framework.
As we meet, the Open Working Group on the Sustainable Development Goalsis currently in the final stage of its work.
The Co-chairs are leading aprocess of defining goals and targets for the 16 focus areas.
Accordingto the most recent text of the Co-Chairs of the Open Working Group, the proposedgoal 5 is to attain gender equality, empower women and girls everywhere by theyear 2030.
The 11 targets are to:
1. End all forms of discriminationagainst women and girls
2. Eliminate all forms of violence against all womenand girls in public and private spaces
3. Eliminate all harmful practices,including child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilations
4.Ensure equal access to quality education and eliminate gender disparities at alllevels of education and training
5. Ensure women’s equal access to full andproductive employment and decent work, and equal pay for work of equal value
6. Reduce and redistribute unpaid care and domestic work through sharedresponsibility
7. Ensure women’s equal access to, control and ownership ofassets and natural and other productive resources, as well as non-discriminatoryaccess to essential services and infrastructure, including financial servicesand ICT
8. Ensure full, equal and effective participation and leadership ofwomen at all levels of decision-making in the public and private spheres
9.Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductiverights in accordance with the Programme of Action of the InternationalConference on Population and Development (ICPD)
10. Promote the availabilityof gender-disaggregated data to improve gender equality policies, includinggender-responsive budgeting
11. Fully engage men and boys in efforts topromote and achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls
My friends, this goal and these targets have yet to be finalized. We must keeppushing and we must do more. As we meet, debate continues about theinclusion of language on the realization of the human rights of women and girls.
We must stand strong on human rights for women and girls as this was an omissionin the MDGs, which we must now rectify.
The post-2015 developmentframework must be human rights based. And it must be universal and inclusive. Wemust place the human rights of women and girls at the centre of our work, and atthe centre of the global agenda.
Every woman and girl should be able toclaim her rights, including sexual and reproductive rights.
It iscritical that legislation and policies be backed by adequate resources, and befully enforced and implemented. This includes the establishment ofaccountability mechanisms.
We must rethink the approach to education inorder to transform educational curricula to eliminate stereotypicalpresentations and discrimination against women and promote women’s human rights.
We must engage the media as partners in promoting gender equality. Wemust stand up for the SHE Imperative:
S is safety and security fromviolence.
He is human rights, and
E is for equality!
I also callon every man and boy to join the HeForShe movement.
Lastly, I would alsolike to emphasize that the international community must also ensure that thosewho promote and protect human rights are safe.
I have recently traveledto Nigeria, to Rwanda, and to the Central African Republic, and I want toacknowledge the commitment and courage of women human rights defenders in thosecountries and around the world.
These women, like my fellow panelistshere today, overcome great challenges to establish and defend women’s humanrights: the right to vote, to hold property, to get an education, and to livefree of violence.
During their work, some face violence themselves,discrimination, and even death.
They are attacked by those who considerthem to be challenging traditional notions of family and gender roles insociety.
It is crucial that the work of women human rights defenders isrecognized as not only legitimate but as essential – at the highest levels ofnational and international governance.
Their example – on the front linesof our struggle – must be instructive as we work to lock down and implement apeople-centred, transformative development framework, with human rights at itscore.
Only then can we ensure real progress for all women and men andgirls and boys.
I am looking forward to hearing and sharing ideas on howwe can work together towards an equal society where women enjoy full humanrights.
I thank you.
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