UN: 68th Annual Meeting to Promote Gender Equality Opens


March 11, 2024 Hour: 7:39 pm

The 68th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women will begin today amid what experts are calling a crossroads for gender equality.

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The agency’s largest annual women’s empowerment meeting will run through March 22 with discussions focused on accelerating the achievement of equality, addressing poverty, and strengthening gender-responsive institutions and financing.

The event brings together representatives of governments, civil society organizations, specialists and activists from around the world to agree on actions and investments that can put an end to women’s poverty and advance the agenda set in this regard.

According to UN figures, 10.3 percent of this population group today live in extreme poverty and are poorer than men.

In response, the UN considers that progress towards the eradication of this scourge 26 times faster is essential to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, but warns that this will not be possible without investment.

Available data on 48 developing economies shows that an additional $360 billion a year is needed to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment across all key global goals, including ending poverty and hunger.

In 2023, two and a half billion people will go to the polls to cast their votes, so they have the power to demand greater investment in gender equality.

Money spent on programs that address disparities and boost women’s agency and leadership pays huge dividends, including more action to end poverty.

More than 100 million women and girls could be lifted out of poverty if governments prioritized education and family planning, fair and equal wages, and increased social benefits.    At the same time, nearly 300 million jobs could be created by 2035 through investments in care services.

Closing gender gaps in employment could increase gross domestic product per capita by 20 percent in all regions, according to the UN.

Autor: teleSUR/ OSG

Fuente:  DW

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