UN Women advocates for gender equality at 4th International Conference on Small Island Developing States

They also face unique vulnerabilities. SIDS are enduring the impacts of climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, disasters and natural hazards, and social and economic crises. And despite notable progress towards gender equality, SIDS have distinctive challenges that hinder women and girls’ empowerment and their rights.

Achieving gender equality in SIDS demands a response that overcomes the nations’ obstacles and transforms their vulnerabilities into tools of resilience, innovation, and equality.

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That is why UN Women co-hosted a Gender Equality Forum from 25 to 26 May in Antigua and Barbuda, ahead of the fourth International Conference on SIDS (SIDS4). The forum featured more than 200 stakeholders from more than 40 countries, who represented a wide range of constituencies and sectors committed to keeping gender equality at the centre of the SIDS agenda.

The forum called on attendees to SIDS4 to ensure that gender equality, women’s human rights, and the empowerment of women and girls were prioritised, by mainstreaming gender equality in respective national plans and policies.

When SIDS4 commenced on 27 May, under the theme of “Charting the course toward resilient prosperity,” UN Women continued to press for women’s rights by hosting side events on climate resilience and investing in women as first responders to climate crisis; just financing; linkages between climate, gender, and racial justice; the role of digital art in SIDS; and women human rights defenders.

UN Women representatives also engaged in high-level meetings with representatives from SIDS including Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Barbados, Samoa, Haiti, Palau, and the Marshall Islands, as well as from international organizations including the Caribbean Bank and CARICOM Secretariat. At a civil society forum, a coalition of civil society groups and international agencies launched the SIDS Civil Society Action Plan and Roadmap to better support civil society organizations.

A summary of the Gender Equality Forum was reported at the conclusion of the conference on 30 May, when parties formally agreed to the Antigua and Barbuda Accord for SIDS (ABAS) - Renewed Declaration for Resilient Prosperity for SIDS.

The ABAS covers a wide array of topics, from economics and trade to tourism and aquaculture. Across these areas, the agreement reaffirms the importance of gender equality and women’s empowerment, and recognizes their multiplier effects on sustainable development. The agreement also calls for the promotion and protection of women and girls’ human rights, and for the elimination of all forms of violence against all women and girls.

SIDS’ vulnerability to environmental degradation, climate change, and economic crisis has hindered women and girls’ empowerment and their rights. The agreement calls to build more robust governance to handle hazards and risks, including through actions that are gender-responsive and disability-inclusive.

UN Women welcomed the adoption of the ABAS, and vowed to support its implementation across the 39 SIDS. Particularly noteworthy is the agreement’s high elevation of gender equality, a result of deliberate proposals to advance the lives of women and girls in SIDS.

“This SIDS conference showed the that small countries are hugely significant. This agreement places people and planet before profit, and its implementation must give a much-needed boost to these countries’ women and girls,” said UN Women Deputy Executive Director Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, who attended the conference.

“Countries must build on this agreement to ensure that women lead the development and implementation of policies on all topics, from climate change to economic development,” she said. “Only by upholding gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls can SIDS rise to the serious challenges they face.”