This year marks the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the Beijing Platform for Action, considered the most progressive blueprint ever for advancing women’s rights. A new UN Report looks at the impact of the Platform in light of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It takes an integrated approach to reporting on progress, gaps, and challenges related to the advancement of gender equality and women’s rights, using striking data to examine six themes that link the Platform’s critical areas of concern and the Sustainable Development Goals:
- Inclusive development, shared prosperity, and decent work
- Poverty eradication, social protection, and social services
- Freedom from violence, stigma, and stereotypes
- Participation, accountability, and gender-responsive institutions
- Peaceful and inclusive societies
- Environmental conservation, climate action, and resilience-building
To ensure that progress is accelerated and achieved across all these themes, the report calls for four catalysts for change:
- Support women’s movements and leadership,
- Harness technology for gender equality,
- Ensure no one is left behind, and
- Match commitments with resources.
It highlights that what’s needed now is a concerted drive to scale up, expand, and deepen policies and programs that can accelerate the implementation of the entire Platform for Action for this generation and the next.
You can download the report here.
Our own Sister Ethel Hawley was there when the original Beijing Platform for Action was created 25 years ago.
You can read her reflection on that experience here.
