In the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres’ message to mark International Women’s Day (IWD), he pointed out the struggles women and girls face.
“We celebrate women and girls around the world, and we applaud all they have achieved in the fight for equality,” he said.
He asserted that women and girls have made great gains; “demolishing barriers, dismantling stereotypes and driving progress towards a more just and equal world.”
However, Guterres added that they face immense obstacles.
“Billions of women and girls face marginalization, injustice and discrimination, while the persistent epidemic of violence against women disgraces humanity,” he noted.
“Our world still reflects millennia of male-dominated power relations. And progress is under attack, with a fierce backlash against women’s rights.
“At our current rate, legal equality is some three hundred years away. We must move much faster.”
Antonio Guterres
“On International Women’s Day, we stand with women and girls fighting for their rights, and we commit to accelerating progress,” he noted.
“This year’s theme – invest in women – reminds us that ending the patriarchy requires money on the table,” he added.
He urged for support women’s organisations on the front line, investment in programmes to end violence against women, as well as promotion of women’s inclusion and leadership in economies, finance, digital technologies, peacebuilding and climate action.
Today, March 8, 2024, marks International Women’s Day, a day of global celebration and call to action, often marked by demonstrations.
Women across the world are slated to demand equal pay, reproductive rights, education, justice, decision-making jobs and other essential needs during these demonstrations.
Smriti Irani, Minister of Women and Child Development of India took to Instagram to share a special post to celebrate the day.
“From the darkness to the light came many amongst us. With ambitions soaring, with dreams building on layers of aspirations abound, with a promise that every day is our day,” she posted.
“Everyday an opportunity to unleash our potential, everyday a moment to give thanks to those who lit the path to prosperity & equity before we tread on it, everyday becomes Women’s Day for we will no longer be curtailed to the clock, no longer constrained by an opinionated flock! To all women who emerged from the darkness of inequality… be the light.”
Smriti Irani
Investment In Women Touted To Accelerate Growth
UN Women, a UN entity dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women, called the IWD theme, “Invest in Women, Accelerate Progress,” the best way to accelerate economic growth and build more prosperous, equitable societies.
“This is particularly urgent when war and crisis are eroding the achievements of decades of investments in gender equality,” the organization noted in a statement.
“From the Middle East to Haiti, Sudan, Myanmar, Ukraine, Afghanistan, and elsewhere, women pay the biggest price for conflicts that are not of their making. The need for peace has never been more urgent,” it added.
It disclosed that one in every 10 women in the world lives in extreme poverty and in conflict areas, women are 7.7 times more likely to live in extreme poverty.
Also, it stated that climate change is set to leave 236 million more women and girls hungry by 2030, twice as many as men (131 million), adding that at prime working age, “only 61 per cent of women are in the labour force versus 90 per cent of men.”
“We cannot continue to miss out on the gender-equality dividend. More than 100 million women and girls could be lifted out of poverty if governments prioritised education and family planning, fair and equal wages, and expanded social benefits.”
UN Women
“First and foremost, there must be an investment in peace,” the UN agency suggested.
“Beyond this, the investments needed include laws and policies that advance the rights of women and girls; transformation of social norms that pose barriers to gender equality; guaranteeing women’s access to land, property, healthcare, education, and decent work; and financing women’s groups networks at all levels,” it iterated.
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