- Precious Igbonwelundu, New York City
More than 340 million women and girls globally will still live in extreme poverty by 2030 if nothing is done to address discrimination and inequalities, the United Nations Women has warned.
It also warned that close to one in four women will experience moderate or severe food insecurity, urging all hands to be on deck in removing the pushbacks against women’s empowerment and fair treatment.
The above were contained in the opening remarks delivered by Executive Director, Sima Bahous, at the Generation Equality Midpoint moments, one of the high-level events at the ongoing United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.
Bahous in her speech, noted that the statistics were from the UN Women’s latest research, highlighting the challenges and urgent imperatives to accelerate progress towards gender equality.
She said: “We meet on the eve of the SDG Summit, seized by the challenges and the urgent imperatives to accelerate progress.
“Our latest research tells us that at the current rate of progress, more than 340 million women and girls will still live in extreme poverty by 2030, and close to one in four will experience moderate or severe food insecurity.
“We need renewed energy, we need renewed commitment, and we need our will to change this trajectory. Generation Equality provides us with this opportunity.
“We are Generation Equality because we are all feminists.
We are Generation Equality because we know that gender equality and SDG 5 are the greatest of enablers and that the dividends of equality are limitless.
“We are Generation Equality because we believe in and model the power of multistakeholder partnerships.
“We are Generation Equality because we know that our coalition must stretch from the global to the local and we aspire to connect the energy here in this room with the energy at grassroots level around the world.
“We are Generation Equality, and we are at the heart of change.”
Apparaising the group’s performance in the last two years, Bahous noted that there had been significant progress as commitment makers already spent $10 billion on gender equality, initiated or were implementing 849 policies, 2,306 programmes and 3,649 advocacy initiatives across the world.
“At this Midpoint Moment we take stock, hold ourselves accountable, grow our movement, and energize ourselves and others, building on the achievements in Mexico City and Paris two years ago. We do so with pride and our pride is based on evidence.
“In just two years, youth, civil society, governments, private sector, and philanthropists have delivered unprecedented action.
“Collectively, Commitment Makers have already spent almost USD 10 billion on gender equality. Across the world they have already initiated or are implementing 849 policies, 2,306 programmes and 3,649 advocacy initiatives.
This is quite impressive.
“In 2022, Compact signatories spent almost USD 1 billion on women, peace and security and humanitarian action, reaching 22.1 million women and girls. “We should congratulate ourselves as we challenge ourselves to do more. Commitment Makers have reported a new total of USD 47 billion in financial commitments, with USD 20 billion already secured and there is much more to come. We thank you all for that.
“This is the moment, the opportunity, to finally call time on gender inequality. This is when we say enough to pushback, enough to regression, enough to ongoing failures to invest and act.
“We are disruptors. Our commitment is unwavering, the cause we work for, collectively, is undeniable,” she said.
The Nation reports that the event which had the President of Malawi, Lazarus Chakwera in one of the panels, also called for an action plan against all forms of violence against women and girls; child marriages and the suppression of women by Taliban’s in Afghanistan.
The forum further urged global leaders to consider designating as international crime, inequalities and injustices against women just as it urged the leaders not to de-list the Taliban as a terrorist organisation.
