Gender Equality Growing

　　The globally raging COVID-19 is bringing tremendous challenges to people across the world, especially women who are often the most vulnerable members of society. Owing to the pandemic, they are facing increasing gender discrimination in various fields such as employment, healthcare, education and poverty alleviation.

　　But gender equality is the trend of the contemporary world. The UN has played a leading role in building a world devoid of gender discrimination. Gender equality and women’s empowerment are now important goals of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. As a Chinese saying goes, women hold up half of the sky. It is not just a slogan； indeed, women’s roles of “holding up half of the sky” have already been seen in many areas. For instance, of the more than 40,000 medical workers who rushed to Hubei, a province worst hit by the COVID-19 in China, to contain the virus, twothirds were women.

　　While addressing the High-Level Meeting on the 25th Anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women at the 75th Session of the UN General Assembly on October 1, Chinese President Xi Jinping pointed out that women are “creators of human civilization and drivers of social progress, and they have made extraordinary achievements across all fields of endeavor.”

　　The Fourth World Conference on Women held in 1995 in Beijing is a milestone in promoting gender equality worldwide. The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action adopted at the conference are still encouraging and guiding women worldwide to pursue empowerment and their lawful interests and rights. More and more women are increasingly becoming successful and influential in political, business and other fields.

　　In the past 25 years, the UN has made great achievements in promoting gender equality.

　　However, it also faces severe challenges such as insufficient funds. Meanwhile, the spread of COVID-19 this year has brought new obstructions to protecting the rights and interests of women. According to the COVID-19 Global Gender Response Tracker, jointly launched by the UN Women and UN Development Program on September 28, the social protection and jobs response to the pandemic in most countries has largely overlooked women’s needs. Only 25 countries, or 12 percent of the world, have introduced measures that tackle violence against women and girls, support unpaid caregivers, and strengthen women’s economic security.

　　It is in this context that President Xi highlighted that protection of women’s rights and interests must be a national commitment.

　　To further support the UN’s leadership in promoting gender equality worldwide, China has vowed to donate another $10 million to UN Women in the coming five years, and will continue to fund the UNESCO Prize for Girls’ and Women’s Education to support this global initiative.

　　China has also suggested the convening, in 2025, of another Global Leaders’ Meeting on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment. It is highly expected that more milestones in the march toward gender equality will be reached by then.

关注读览天下微信， 100万篇深度好文， 等你来看……