Kuwait attends 61st session of UNGA Commission on the Status of Women
NEW YORK, March 13, (KUNA): The 61st session of the UN General Assembly Commission on the Status of Women (UN Women or CSW) kicked off its activities on Monday, focusing on women’s economic empowerment in the changing world of work. Amid rising mobilization by women’s movements globally, a Kuwaiti delegation attended the opening ceremony of the UN’s largest gathering on gender equality and women’s rights and scheduled to engage in its upcoming 10-day activities.
The Commission is the largest single forum for UN Member States and other international actors with a focus on women’s rights and empowerment, which builds consensus and commitment to actionable policy recommendations.
In his opening
remarks, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stressed that in a male dominated world, the empowerment of women must be a key priority.
“Women already have what it takes to succeed, empowerment is about breaking structural barriers,” he said.
As governments work hard to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment by 2030, the UN Chief affirmed that if countries address the “gender gap” at work, women can generate enough funds to underpin success across the 2030 Agenda which was approved by all leaders at the United Nations in 2015.
In his speech, he highlighted how women globally are suffering new assaults on their safety and dignity especially with extremists building their ideologies around the subjugation of women and girls and the denial of their rights.
“Sexual violence, forced marriage, human trafficking and virtual enslavement — these are weapons of physical and psychological warfare in today’s world,” he added.
However, Guterres said discrimination against women sounds a loud alarm that common values are under threat.
“We need a cultural shift — in the world and our United Nations,” he said, calling for recognizing women as equal and promoted on that basis.
On her part, the UN UndersecretaryGeneral and Executive Director of UN Women Phumzile MlamboNgcuka confirmed that more than half of all women workers around the world — and up to 90 percent in some countries — are informally employed.