We must encourage men "to take a stand" — Executive Director

[As delivered]

Your Excellencies,

Miguel Barbosa Huerta, Speaker of the Senate of Mexico,

Diva Hadamira Gastélum Bajo, Chair of the Commission for Gender Equality,

Laura Angelica Rojas Hernandez, Chair of the Commission of Foreign Affairs and International Organizations,

Emilio Gamboa Patrón, Coordinator of the Parliamentary Group of the Institutional Revolutionary Party,

Jorge Luis Preciado Rodríguez, Coordinator of the Parliamentary Group of the National Action Party,

Distinguished Senators,

Colleagues from the United Nations system,

Ladies and gentlemen,

Buenas tardes!

I would like to thank Your Excellency Miguel Barbosa Huerta, Speaker of the Mexican Senate, and all members of the Directive Board, as well as Senator Laura Angelica Rojas, Chair of the Commission of Foreign Affairs and International Organizations; Senator Diva Hadamira Gastelum Bajo, Chair of the Commission for Gender Equality; and all of you, distinguished Members of the Mexican Senate.

Today I am here to promote something that I think is dear to your heart, because Mexico is a country that is committed to gender equality.

Earlier this year, Mexico raised parity in nominations to federal and local legislators to the constitutional status.

This is a formidable example for the whole world because there are not many countries who have made that level of commitment.

Today I reiterate our congratulations, and welcome the outstanding women and men who jointly lead political decision-making in Mexico.

We are engaged in building together a shared vision of human progress for all.

We need men and women, we need girls and boys, to be active partners in the global movement of humanity that support the rights of women.

Today we specifically want to talk to men as advocates and stakeholders in gender equality. I represent UN Women, but I want to work with men as well.  I realized that women have worked so hard, have given so much, but if men are not partners we are not going to achieve our critical objective.

This is why UN Women has launched HeForShe, a solidarity movement for gender equality, which seeks to engage men and boys as agents of change for the achievement of gender equality.

We think that the time for the battle of the sexes is over. It has to be the collaboration of men and women instead.

Gender inequality is one of the most persistent human rights violations. It is also the most tolerated violation of our times.

Much has been achieved by women’s rights activists in promoting gender equality; however, this is not a struggle we can win on our own.

Evidence shows that many of the gains that we have made are not irreversible. They are not irreversible because we have not been able to stop patriarchy. It is only when commitment is made by men and boys that the gains made can become irreversible.

For instance, it is important that women talk about forced and early marriages. But it must be the men who say ‘I will not marry a child’. It should not be women fighting to stop girls from being married off.

In that way we will be moving toward irreversible change. It should be men, fathers, uncles, brothers who say ‘I will not raise a hand to a woman’. Not us building shelters, trying to stop women from becoming victims of violence. The important thing is to prevent the action from happening in the first place.

We aim to mobilize by September 2015 one billion men, on and off line, who are in some way involved in fighting violence against women and for gender equality.

Two out of three women are not being beaten up, but one in three women lives with violence. We are looking for those men who don’t beat up women to stand up and to help us change the ones that are still involved in violence against women. As Nelson Mandela says, “If good men do not take a stand and act, they conspire against women.” We are stopping the conspiracy that silence leads to. 

Recently, we witnessed —enthusiastically— Mexican men becoming active in the events during the ‘Orange your neighbourhood’ week, where they took part in athletic and other activities showing their solidarity. I would like that solidarity to be translated into sustained activity until victory is achieved.

This morning I was involved in a discussion about gender-responsive budgeting.

We have to put money into the things in which we believe. That requires legislators to support the budgets that adequately fund the issues benefiting women. This is critical.

We also need lawmakers to actively support the inclusion of gender equality in the post-2015 agenda, and to support their government to take this stand. We need to make sure that the agreements that we are going to reach will be funded. In particular, we must not emerge on the other side of 2015 with no money to support and fund gender equality.

The review of what has happened in the 20 years after countries adopted the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action shows that countries have adopted beneficial legislation, and have done a lot to increase access to education. However, at this stage they have not sufficiently funded their commitments and therefore the implementation has been poor.

I am mobilizing men and women who are part of the electorate to take a stand and to actively support the change that we seek.

Right now, 197,412 is the number of men in the world who have signed up for HeForShe. They are saying ‘we want to be active in supporting gender equality’. Of these, there are 5,317 who are from Mexico. Come on Mexico, there are more than 50 million men in in this country. I need more!

What I am asking you today is to increase the numbers, to take a stand, to become a friend of UN Women and to encourage men in your community, in your church. Every time someone signs, the number increases.

Senator Miguel Barbosa Huerta, I would like to thank you in particular for your public support of this campaign.

Lastly, let me again thank you all, distinguished Senators, for joining us today and for your support to UN Women and HeForShe.