Welcome to the United Nations
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which remains the most revolutionary plan on gender equality to date. Despite this, progress over the past 30 years has been too slow and is fragile. If we do not accelerate action, a girl born today will be 39 years old before women hold as many seats in parliament as men; 68 years old before child marriage ends; and the eradication of extreme poverty for women and girls will take another 137 years, meaning that she will not see it in her lifetime. The climate crisis threatens to reverse hard-won gains on gender equality, while armed conflict continues to take a devastating toll on the lives of women and girls.
On 12 March 2025, UN Women convened leaders and experts at “For ALL Women and Girls: The Beijing+30 Action Agenda” to discuss the six key actions to make faster strides towards fulfilling the commitments made in the Beijing Platform for Action and for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The flagship side event was held at UN headquarters during the 69th session of the Commission on the Status of Women.
UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous opened with a call to unite around a common purpose: “Together, we choose action over apathy. Together, we choose hope over despair. Together, we choose to ignite the spirit of the Beijing Declaration once again.”
Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, Amina Mohammed reminded us that gender equality “holds the key to unlocking progress on the SDGs and lasting peace.” She highlighted the Gender Equality Acceleration Plan, launched the previous week by the Secretary-General, which would “transform the way we work, putting gender equality at the center of all our efforts.”
Thilmeeza Hussain, Director of the Regional Commissions New York Office reflected on growing up in the Maldives, where there were few leadership opportunities for women at the time, but inspired by strong women role models , she was able to step into the role of the first female Permanent Representative of her country to the United Nations, more than 50 years after the Maldives joined the United Nations. “It shouldn’t have been that long,” she said.
For ALL Women And Girls, the world must deliver
Action 1: A digital revolution
Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union highlighted the need to close the gender digital divide, with widening gaps in least developed countries, where less than 29 per cent of women are online, compared to 41 per cent of men. “Closing it could save low- and middle-income countries some US$500 billion over the next five years,” she said. She also emphasized the need for women to be decisionmakers in the design and governance of technologies, including artificial intelligence.
Huang Xiaowei, Minister and Deputy Head of the National Working Committee on Children and Women in the State Council, People’s Republic of China, talked about national efforts to bring more women into the technology sector, such as projects to improve women’s digital literacy in rural areas and boost female employees’ digital skills.
Action 2: Freedom from poverty
Laís Wendel Abramo, National Secretary of Care and Family of Brazil spoke about the central role of care systems in lifting people out of poverty. She shared that 83 per cent of women in Brazil with young children cannot enter the labour market because of their unpaid care burden. She called for integrated inclusive social protection systems and pointed to the national care policy as part of the solution.
Action 3: Zero violence
Hadja Lahbib, EU Commissioner for Preparedness, Crisis Management and Equality spoke about the EU’s commitment to ending violence against women. Highlighting the success of EU-funded Spotlight initiative to end gender-based violence, she stressed, “In today’s politically turbulent times, gender equality is under threat.” The European Commission has just launched a “Roadmap for Women’s Rights”, setting out a long-term vision, with freedom from gender-based violence at the forefront.
Kemi DaSilva-Ibru, Founder of Women at Risk International Foundation in Nigeria and Civil Society Steering Committee member of the UN Women initiative ACT to End Violence against Women, representing West and Central Africa, was troubled by the increasing rates of violence in the region: “I stand witness to the disturbing and increasingly complex challenges we face in advancing gender equality over the past few years, with a dangerous rise in anti-rights movements that actively push back against hard-won gains and erode the crucial support systems that survivors rely on.” She emphasized the need for funding to women’s rights organizations to lead in this work. In Nigeria, women’s rights organizations have been instrumental in supporting the government to develop an action plan to implement the Violence against Persons (Prohibition) Act.
Action 4: Full and Equal Decision-Making Power
In 2024 nearly a quarter of governments worldwide reported a backlash on women’s rights. Ana Peláez Narváez, former Chair and Member of CEDAW, and Vice-President of the European Disability Forum emphasized the need to ensure that women have a place at the decision-making table as the key to countering this backlash. In particular, she pointed to the recent CEDAW general recommendation on the equal and inclusive participation of women across all decision-making systems. The principle of 50-50 gender parity is the driving force within this recommendation to guarantee equality in decision making.
Action 5: peace and security
Nobel Peace Laureate Leymah Gbowee spoke about the significance of centering women’s voices in peace-building. “I sit here as a testament of a group of women with no experience in peace and security work, who stepped out when their nation was at the point of destruction and did everything that they could to bring Liberia back,” she said. “And 22 years later, Liberia has not regressed into militarism. That is what happens when women are involved in peace and security processes.”
Haifa Abu Ghazaleh, Assistant Secretary-General and Head of Social Affairs at the League of Arab States highlighted efforts to advance the peace and security agenda in the region, citing initiatives such as the Arab Women Mediator Network, in collaboration with UN Women, to bring together ambassadors from the ministries of foreign affairs, to enhance women’s role in peace processes in the region and to provide tools to implement UN SCR 1325.
Action 6: Climate justice
Katie Tobin of WEDO recalled how the global feminist climate justice movement “fought for gender to be understood as foundational to environmental justice and also for the unique experiences and contributions of women, girls, and gender-diverse people... to be recognized and directly funded.”
Movement-building and alliances were the only way forward, she added.
All panellists called for uplifting and supporting the role of the women’s movement as a critical step forward for gender equality, and for working together to drive lasting change.
As encapsulated in the words of Stephanie Pacheco, US Youth Poet Laureate: “Sisterhood is understanding no conversation is complete unless it includes all of us.”
Source: unwomen.org