CSW68 concludes with commitments to ending women’s poverty
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. He announced at the CSW68 event that the organisation has launched a system-wide gender equality acceleration plan.
What you need to know:
- UN Member States promise to enhance financial resources dedicated to eradicating poverty among women and girls.
- UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres announced that they have launched a system-wide gender equality acceleration plan.
The 68th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68) concluded last Friday, with UN Member States making robust commitments to enhancing financial resources dedicated to eradicating poverty among women and girls.
The agreed conclusions were arrived at after a two-week-gathering held on March 11–22 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, USA.
The commission arrived at addressing poverty amongst women after considering that progress towards ending poverty needs to be 26 times faster to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
In a UN Women’s Generation Equality side event, UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous reiterated that despite some progress, the world is still far from achieving gender equality.
Also read: Empower women to fight rising poverty
“Globally, one in 10 women and girls lives in poverty. If current trends continue, more than 340 million women and girls will still live in extreme poverty by 2030,” she said.
“These inequalities are entrenched in systems and institutions that perpetuate unequal access to decent jobs and sectors like science and technology.
“They restrict women’s land ownership and capital and perpetuate norms that create barriers for women.”
Taking note that according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the share of aid allocated to gender equality decreased for the first time in a decade from 45 per cent in 2019 to 43 per cent in 2020, the outcome document advises that official development assistance be increased to address women’s and girls’ poverty.
In the same vein, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres announced that they have launched a system-wide gender equality acceleration plan.
According to a press statement, the plan includes a commitment to opening financing opportunities for grassroots women’s organisations, and a target to raise $300 million (Sh39.6 billion) for women’s organisations in conflict and crisis settings over the next three years.
CSW68 also called for reforms that will enable countries to mobilise and invest resources in gender equality. These measures encompass debt relief, progressive taxation, and the assurance that public funds are directed towards fulfilling the needs and rights of women and girls.
The agreed conclusions also emphasise the need to enhance national capabilities in gathering and using disaggregated data on multidimensional poverty, along with adopting new development strategies geared towards sustainable economies.
These strategies involve increasing investment in the care economy to alleviate women's time and income poverty while broadening their employment prospects.
Also read: Empower women for brighter future
The commission also argues that over 100 million women and girls could be lifted out of poverty if governments prioritise education and family planning, fair and equal wages, and expanded social benefits.
Almost 300 million jobs could be created by 2035 through investments in care services. Closing gender gaps in employment could boost the gross domestic product per capita by 20 per cent across all regions.
The CSW is the principal global intergovernmental body geared towards the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women.
During the two-week session, representatives of UN Member States, civil society organisations and UN entities gather to discuss progress and gaps in the implementation of the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and key global policy documents on gender equality.
