Note: A complete summary of today’s meetings of the Commission on the Status of Women will be made available after their conclusion.
Opening Remarks
MATHU JOYINI (South Africa), Chair of Commission on the Status of Women, said that the current session will be held mostly in person, with some virtual meetings. She had hoped for a return to the normal modality, but the COVID-19 pandemic has continued to cause restrictions. Nonetheless, the hybrid format will allow a maximum number of participants. This year’s Commission will tackle the theme, “gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls in the context of climate change, environmental and disaster risk reduction policies and programmes.” It will also review progress on agreed conclusions of the sixty‑first session regarding women’s economic empowerment in the changing world of work. In addition, the Commission will consider emerging issues, including recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and sustainable future.
It could not be timelier to discuss gender inequality as the world faces the greatest sustainable development challenges, including climate change and environmental and disaster risks, she said. These challenges disproportionately affect women and girls in rural and indigenous communities and in conflict settings. However, women are also agents of change in addressing these challenges. This year’s session can be used to advance women’s empowerment. Stressing the importance of making all policies gender-responsive, she said South Africa had done so, recognizing the special role played by women. The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action commits States to ensuring that women can fully exercise their human rights. Their rights, including reproductive rights, must not be limited by conditions created by disasters and environmental challenges, she said, stressing that COVID-19 has obstructed, or in some cases reversed, progress on gender equality. This year’s Commission should advance a global normative framework on gender equality, key for the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Gender equality can be made a reality by harnessing partnerships among all stakeholders, she said.
ANTÓNIO GUTERRES, Secretary-General of the United Nations, said that this year’s Commission confronts the unprecedented emergencies of the climate crisis, pollution, desertification and biodiversity loss, coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic, and the impact of new and ongoing conflicts. Everywhere, women and girls face the greatest threats and the deepest harm and they are taking action to confront the climate and environmental crises, yet they continue to be largely excluded from the rooms where decisions are taken. Women and girls living in small island nations, least developed countries and places affected by conflict are impacted most of all. Women suffer most when local natural resources including food and water come under threat and have fewer ways to adapt.
Women occupy just one third of decision-making positions under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement on climate change, and only 15 per cent of environment ministers are women, he pointed out. Around the world, only one third of 192 national energy frameworks include gender considerations, and gender is rarely considered in climate financing. “We are still living with the results of millennia of patriarchy that excludes women and prevents their voices from being heard,” he said, stressing that everyone — including men and boys — should be working for women’s rights and gender equality. He said that his first-ever report on the links between the climate emergency and gender equality outlines concrete steps to put women and girls at the centre of climate and environmental policy.
Noting the negative impacts on women of the pandemic, he said gender equality and women’s rights must be at the heart of a renewed social contract that is fit for today’s societies and economies. At the global level, he said his report Our Common Agenda proposes a re-balancing of power and resources through a New Global Deal, with gender equality a pre-requisite. The report proposes a New Agenda for Peace with the goal of reducing all forms of violence — including gender-based violence — and putting women and girls at the heart of security policy. “The climate and environmental crises, coupled with the ongoing economic and social fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, are the defining issues of our time,” he said, stressing that collective response will chart the course for decades to come. To forge the sustainable future, women and girls must be front and centre, leading the way.
COLLEN VIXEN KELAPILE (Botswana), President of the Economic and Social Council, said the Commission’s work is central for Council as it guides a pandemic recovery that is centred on people and gender-sensitive. The Commission’s priority theme this year, “Achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls in the context of climate change, environmental and disaster risk reduction policies and programmes”, is closely aligned with the Council’s own priorities to address the triple planetary crisis: climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. These escalating challenges, which affect women and girls much more severely and disproportionately, must be addressed urgently. Gender must be mainstreamed into all plans, policies and programmes. Gender-responsive approaches are urgently required to address the climate crisis, biodiversity loss, environmental degradation and disaster risk reduction.
“The work of [the Commission on the Status of Women] is important now, more than ever before, given all the challenges that women and girls are facing,” he said. “We must, therefore, ensure that this Commission functions in an efficient, effective, transparent and inclusive manner.” The Commission should leverage the expert analysis to produce evidence-based and action-oriented assessments, and develop sound policy recommendations that use integrated approaches to advance the 2030 Agenda and the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. As the Commission’s parent body, the Council remains committed to support its work and looks forward to benefiting from its expert analysis and recommendations for making tangible progress towards achieving gender equality and empowerment of women, everywhere. “The people we serve — particularly women and girls — will be counting on the outcomes of this Session to help them navigate these challenges,” he said.
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* The 1st Meeting was covered in Press Release WOM/2212 of 26 March 2021.
