After more than two decades and in the midst of a pandemic that undone-ed the progress made in the arena of gender parity, the world leaders assembled in Paris with a sense of necessity to host new driving objectives on gender equality. And this time, with substantial economic responsibilities on the map.
At the Gender Equality Forum held by UN Women, political leaders, corporate executives, and activists decided to invest a total of $40 billion to boost gender equality. It is most likely the biggest amount of dollars committed to the issue.Â
Uplifting The Women!
The meeting intended to tackle and fund all issues that inhibit women’s rights, compelled marriage, gender-based unrest, vacating school, job inequality, losing out on invention and technology, and assuring their sexual and reproductive freedoms and fitness.
The budget will go toward organizing hundreds of new gender-focused strategy programs on campaigns including gender-based violence, which was flooded globally during the Covid-19 pandemic, financial empowerment, and access to reproductive health assistance.
Also Read: Towards A Gender-sensitive Post-pandemic World, The Global Urge
What The World Leaders Said?
âWomen are just one-fourth of those who are managers, they are one-fourth of parliamentarians worldwide, they are one-fourth of climate change negotiators, one-fourth of peace agreements less than,â. This was asserted by Mlambo-Ngkuka at the opening ceremony. She is the executive director of Phumzile United Nations Women, âA quarter is not equality. Equality is one and a half”, she added.
Hillary Clinton exhorted the world leaders and socio-economic activists to âcontinue the progress that began 26 years ago and has spread across the worldâ.
âLooking back, I believe we have made progress â not enough â and we have to re-commit ourselves to go even further,â she added.
Also Read: Amidst Lockdown Due To Covid-19, Cases Of Domestic Violence Soar Globally
French President Emmanuel Macron remarked that the COVID-19 pandemic came out to be âan anti-feminist virusâ that shoved more women into deprivation around the world, compelled more girls out of school, and shut women up with their abusers.
Major Announcements
Significant non-government approvals were also announced at the summit. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said it would donate $2.1 billion to the gender equality struggle over five years, one of the groupâs biggest sole responsibilities to date. The statement strengthened Ms. Gatesâ long-standing emphasis on gender equality, which she pointed out is an underrated territory in philanthropy.
The Ford Foundation pledged $420 million over the following five years, with $159 million committed to dealing with gender-based violence.
Also Read: Why We Must Use Gender-Neutral Languages?
The organizers of this yearâs conference planned a new strategy. Here, all partakers, whether UN member states or grassroots activist unions, would be instructed to introduce detailed, measurable plans that fall under any of the six main policy areas. The policy areas are, decreasing gender-based violence, boosting womenâs economic empowerment, improving access to sexual and reproductive health care, gaining gender equality in the private and political sectors, investing in gender-focused environment change solutions, and linking the gender digital divide.
Also Read: UNDP Launches âSahi Dishaâ Campaign To Celebrate Womenâs Livelihoods In Rural India
Antonio Guterres, U.N Secretary-General said, “We must push back against the pushback.” We must succeed in that idealistic war against conservative forces!
Image courtesy: UNOPS
Udisha Srivastav is a Freelance Content Writer with Femsay.com