Thirty years of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action: Achieving gender equality, the rights and empowerment of women and girls

“We can and must make the choice to collectively leverage this moment,” said UN Women Executive Director, Sima Bahous.

“We can and must galvanize the political will, commitment and resources needed to get back on track.  We can and must fulfill the promise of the Beijing Platform for Action and the SDGs.  A gender equal world is within our reach if we choose it.  We owe it to women and girls and to everyone, to our children and theirs, to delay no further and to build a future where women and girls everywhere thrive.

Ayshka Najib, a young climate activist based in the UAE, urged the international community to not, “risk giving up, because to be hopeless is to be privileged.”  “There is a crackdown on spaces that we as civil society and young people depend upon. The anti-rights movements are so well organized and infiltrating spaces, including spaces of power, they are far more resourced. It is extremely terrifying to be a young feminist today.”

The event was moderated by Karen Davila, an award-winning broadcast journalist, television news anchor, radio presenter, and UN Women National Goodwill Ambassador for the Philippines.

Speakers highlighted that despite significant strides, progress on gender equality, the rights and empowerment of all women and girls remains slow. As UN Women’s latest report, the “Gender Snapshot 2024” shows, the world is missing out on enormous dividends by not investing in gender equality. 

• Closing the gender gaps in education and skills could add $10 trillion to the global economy.
• Ending the digital gender divide could save over $500 billion.
• Investing in the care economy could create nearly 300 million jobs.

Huang Xiaowei, Minister and Deputy Head of the National Working Committee on Children and Women of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China: “The global landscape is fast evolving, and the development gap is widening, and women’s development is at risk of regression. Today 1 in 10 women live in extreme poverty and nearly 600 million live in conflict-affected areas. There is still a long way to go to fully implement the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in an equal, inclusive, and sustainable manner.”

Nadine Gasman, President of the National Institute for Women of Mexico: “We need a Pact of the Future with a gender and intersectional perspective, as there is no viable way to guarantee a healthy, peaceful, and secure world for future generations without it.”

Isabelle Rome, Ambassador for Human Rights, France: “There will be no equality as long as there is violence against women. We must end the impunity of perpetrators: criminalize and punish offenders, but also, better protect victims, compensate for their harm and suffering, and prevent violence through education.”

Anne Wang’ombe, Principal Secretary for Gender and Affirmative Action, Kenya: “Kenya has always accorded high priority to matters of gender equality and empowerment of women and girls. Since the landmark 1985 World Conference on the Nairobi Forward Looking Strategies that reviewed and appraised the achievements of the UN Decade of Women and the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the country has made significant progress in and around the 12 critical areas of concern.”

Birgitte Nygaard Markussen, Director for Humanitarian Action and Civil society Department, Denmark: “It is our hope that the outcomes of Beijing+30 and the outcome of the International Conference on Financing for Development will lead to strong international commitments that place financing for gender equality at the core.”

Stressing on the importance of placing gender equality at the heart of the Pact for the Future, an inter-governmentally negotiated outcome agreement expected at the end of the Summit of the Future (22 – 23 September), Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, Amina Mohammed said: “The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action remains a visionary, forward looking roadmap for realizing the rights of women and girls – and Beijing+30 is a unique opportunity to get back on track for SDG 5.”  

“We need intersectional, decolonial, feminist agenda of the future,” said Sascha Gabizon, representing the Women’s Major Group, highlighting the critical role of feminist and women’s organizations and urging governments to fund feminist mobilization and feminist, transformative agendas.

Six actions to deliver the promise of gender equality

Thirty years ago, in 1995, people from every part of the world committed to achieve gender equality when the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action was adopted by 189 governments and endorsed by thousands of activists. The Platform for Action provides a roadmap toward equality. While new challenges and opportunities have risen since then, the solutions are clear.

At the event, UN Women highlighted six priority areas of action and investment that put women and girls and youth at the centre of these efforts to unlock the biggest impact and finally deliver the promises made to women and girls.

1. Accelerate gender parity in national and local government by applying temporary special measures to rapidly increase women’s shares of decision-making positions.
2. Adopt and fund national action plans to end violence against women, and support and coordinate with community-led mechanisms to extend the reach of services.
3. Centre women and girls in a global just transition to green economies by prioritizing them in developing new skills and gaining green jobs.
4. Bridge the digital gender gap by providing women with equal access to technology and its benefits, including mobile phones and the Internet.
5. Transform the care economy to support women’s economic empowerment by increasing national budgets for equitable, quality public care services.
6. Drive accountability for the women, peace and security agenda and gender responsive humanitarian action by adopting fully financed national action plans and funding local women’s organizations leading responses to crises and conflicts.