UN celebrates Women's Day, envisages Generation Equality

UNITED NATIONS－In an observance that called for more headway in women's rights toward Generation Equality, the United Nations held events for the International Women's Day, which is celebrated on March 8 every year.

The observance, themed "I am Generation Equality: Realizing women's rights," saw the participation of Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin, and Nobel Peace Laureate Leymah Gbowee.

"Gender inequality is the overwhelming injustice of this age and the biggest human rights challenge the world faces," said Guterres at the observance.

Recalling his own words "gender equality is a question of power," the UN chief said that men have used and abused power to control women and prevent them from achieving their potential for thousands of years. He said in recent months, high-profile peace agreements have been signed without any women at the table, and emergency health-care meetings on the novel coronavirus were convened with few or no women, despite that women make up the majority of the health-care workforce.

On a positive note, the secretary-general pointed to changes in recent years. He cited women's movements that are protesting femicide, demanding equal pay, and calling out powerful men for violence and abuse.

Marin, for her part, said that the world cannot achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, set out in the 2030 Agenda without achieving gender equality.

As the world's youngest serving prime minister, 34-year-old Marin said: "We, as world leaders, have all the tools needed to make changes that secure the future we want," demonstrating her commitment to Generation Equality.

Taking pride in her country's lead in gender equality, she recalled that Finland was the first country in the world to grant women full political rights, both the right to vote and the right to run for office. Currently, women lead all the five parties in the Finland coalition government and four of those leaders are under the age of 35.

However, Marin underscored that no country in the world has achieved gender equality, and "Finland is no exception," noting that the Nordic country faces inequalities in the labor market and violence against women and girls, for which she proposed policy solutions.

UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, who made closing remarks at the event, said: "Women only occupy 25 percent of the space in power and in places of influence," citing a newly-released report by her office.

And Mlambo-Ngcuka added: "Seventy-five percent of the parliamentary seats are held by men, 73 percent of managerial positions are held by man, and 70 percent of climate negotiators are men. So there's the 25 percent that we're being squeezed into today. We want 50 percent, and we want to work together to achieve that 50 percent."

"If you were not pushing against the pushback, things would be much worse. So we cannot and should not be discouraged. It has to be forward ever, and backward never."

Xinhua