Deputy UN chief pays tribute to Beijing’s key role in advancing women’s rights

This article is published in association with United Nations.

UN Deputy-Secretary General Amina Mohammed has acknowledged the Chinese capital’s enduring association with the fight for women’s rights and gender equality, 30 years on from the adoption of the landmark Beijing Declaration, a foundational international treaty.

Ms. Mohammed was speaking at the Global Leaders’ Meeting on Women, co-hosted by China and UN Women, which aims to reignite the spirit of the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women – at which the Beijing Declaration was agreed – and advance global gender equality and women’s development.

“Women’s rights are human rights,” said the deputy UN chief, recalling the positive atmosphere of the 1995 conference and the impact of the Declaration which “lit the path to progress,” and thanking China for hosting the event, and the Member States who “kept this flame alive.”

Despite the advances made over the last 30 years, the pace of change has been slow: a report released by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) in September warned that none of the gender equality targets are on track, with around 708 million women excluded from the labour market by unpaid care work. And 351 million women and girls at risk of being trapped in extreme poverty in 2030.

“We stand just five years from the deadline for our 2030 Sustainable Development Goals,” declared Ms. Mohammed. “The hour is late. We are running out of time to make good on the promise we made three decades ago.”

The Beijing roadmap to equality

The deputy UN chief recalled that the Declaration is a roadmap that has resonated through every major UN framework since it was adopted, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Pact for the Future.

The agreement, she continued, showed that women’s empowerment – including safety and rights to education, healthcare and full political participation – must be central to the design of national visions and plans: “In every negotiating room, in every budget we draft, and every policy we design, gender equality must be our organizing principle.”

There is a financial imperative to advancing gender equality, as Ms. Mohammed pointed out in her speech: UN studies show that, by ensuring that women and girls acquire quality education and digital skills, 30 million people could be lifted from extreme poverty, and some $1.5 trillion injected into the global economy in just five years.

The deputy UN chief concluded by focusing on the need to increase the number of women in leadership roles. “We have the evidence,” she said, “that where women lead, we see more durable peace, more profitable businesses, and more inclusive policies.”