‘Respect has No Gender’ campaign to eliminate gender inequalities

The government and National Committee on Gender Equality launched “Respect has No Gender” national campaign on Thursday in response to the government’s action plan to bring greater attention to gender stereotypes that reinforce gender inequalities.

The four-month campaign is part of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Technical Assistance Project “Moving Gender Equality Forward through Civil Society Engagement”. It is the first mass campaign seeking to sensitize and educate the public on gender stereotypes and strengthen civil society’s ability and visibility in moving gender equality agenda forward through public education and advocacy activities aimed at changing stereotypes on men’s and women’s roles and participation in the family and society.

During the launch ceremony, ADB Country Director to Mongolia Pavit Ramachandran expressed appreciation for the high level efforts from the National Committee on Gender Equality to promote gender equality in Mongolia and said that he was pleased with the agency’s deepened partnership with ADB.

Since establishing a comprehensive regulatory framework under the Law on Promotion of Gender Equality in 2011, Mongolia has successfully implemented its first national program and action plan on gender equality between 2002 and 2015. It was later followed by the second national program, effective from 2017 to 2021, which further expanded the government-wide training for gender-responsive policy planning and budgeting.

Campaign initiators noted that the lack of continued public education and advocacy support aimed at changing gender stereotypes and expanding awareness and knowledge of gender equality have become the main reason to carry out the new campaign and to call for more mainstream adoption of the Law on Promotion of Gender Equality.

“Some considerable time has passed since Mongolia shifted to ‘Gender and Development’ agenda over the previously adopted ‘Women and Growth’ approach to gender issues. As a result, we treat gender issues faced by women and men as equally important,” noted Chief of the National Committee on Gender Equality’s Secretariat T.Enkhbayar. “Gender stereotypes are by far the biggest challenge facing us today in advancing equal participation in the development process and equal gains, regardless of their gender. Through the national campaign, we will ensure the enforcement of laws and comprehensive measures directed at changing the stereotypes on gender quality, and promoting gender equality in commitment to achieving the sustainable development goals.”