International Women’s Day

Aligned with 2020 theme, “I am Generation Equality: Realizing Women’s Rights”, the Report issues call to action to achieve gender equality and justice for this generation, 25 years after the Beijing Platform for Action.

Date: Thursday, March 5, 2020

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Media contact: media.team[at]unwomen.org

Anya Victoria Delgado, Senior Programme Coordinator of the Feminist Alliance for Rights; Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director of UN Women; And Silke Staab, Research Specialist at UN Women discuss UN Women’s report “Women’s Rights in Review 25 years after Beijing”. Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown

Ahead of International Women’s Day on 8 March, UN Women today launched its report, “Women´s Rights in Review 25 years after Beijing^[1]”, a comprehensive stock-take on the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, which remains the most comprehensive agenda for gender equality ever agreed.

The report finds that progress towards gender equality is faltering and hard-won advances are being reversed. Rampant inequality, the climate emergency, conflict and the alarming rise of exclusionary politics all threaten future progress towards gender equality. The report flags the lack of effective action to boost women’s representation at the tables of power and warns that the vision of the Beijing Platform for Action will never be realized if the most excluded women and girls are not acknowledged and prioritized.

UN Women’s Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said: “The review of women’s rights shows that, despite some progress, no country has achieved gender equality. Equality isn’t just one quarter of the seats at the tables of power. But that’s the current reality of women’s representation, across the board. Men are 75 per cent of parliamentarians, hold 73 per cent of managerial positions, are 70 per cent of climate negotiators and almost all of the peacemakers. This is not an inclusive and equal world and we need to take action now to create one that does not discriminate against women. Only half is an equal share and only equal is enough”.