The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has said that it remains committed to collaborate with relevant stakeholders to create the right environment for the promotion of gender equality and to also expand the possibilities for women and girls to lead healthy and productive lives.
The UN agency stated this in commemoration of International Women’s day in Abuja, Thursday.
“We are committed to the empowerment of women and girls, the creation of a level playing field for women and girls, ensuring they fulfil their potentials and fully represent themselves at the decision-making table,” UNFPA stressed.
It further reiterated that: “For us at UNFPA, 2020 is an exciting year, having just build strategic momentum around the unfinished business at the 2019 ICPD+25 summit in Nairobi, having just taken stock of Nigeria’s achievements ahead of Beijing+25, the launch of the decade of action for the SDGs, and the 20th anniversary of UN Security Council resolution 1325 on women, peace and security.
“It is indeed time for us all to operationalise our commitments to advancing gender equality worldwide, with the “I am Generation Equality” campaign.
“An equal world is an enabled world, 25 years ago, the Beijing Platform for Action set out how to remove the systemic barriers that hold women back from equal participation in all areas of life.
“The 12 critical areas of concern include poverty, education and training, health, violence, armed conflict, economy, power and decision-making, institutional mechanisms, human rights, media, environment and the girl child.”
The UNFPA further reiterated that, “the “Generation Equality: Realizing women’s rights for an equal future” campaign demands: equal pay, equal sharing of unpaid care and domestic work, an end to sexual harassment and violence against women and girls, health care services that respond to their needs, and their equal participation in political life and in decision-making in all areas of life.
“The real change we are looking for is still slow for the majority of women and girls in the world.
“Not a single country can claim to have achieved gender equality; multiple obstacles remain unchanged, in law and in culture.
“Many women are still unable to make informed decisions about basic human rights such as her right to access sexual and reproductive health services, the girl child is denied of her right to education and staggering numbers of women and girls nationally and globally survive gender based violence and harmful practices – their only crime being that they were born a female.”
It would be recalled that earlier on Thursday, United Nations and partners joined millions of other countries in marking the International Women’s Day celebration. The first event in Abuja was the National Symposium under the theme “I am Generation Equality”.
The event was hosted by the Minister of Women Affairs & Social Development, Paulene Talen, at the International Women Development Centre, Abuja.
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