International Women's Day (8 March)
Statement by UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem
Investments in the health and rights of women and girls have changed the world, bringing us closer to equal voices and expanded choices than ever before. Women have taken giant strides forward – and are not going back.
The march forward for equal rights is unstoppable. It will continue until gender equality reaches all women and girls, everywhere.
Commitments made to advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment at the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development and the 1995 Beijing Fourth World Conference on Women ignited 30 years of progress – particularly on sexual and reproductive health. Activists and allies in every part of the world have mobilized to make motherhood safer and empower women with more choices about their fertility. Their advocacy has led an overwhelming majority of countries to pass laws against domestic violence.
These and other gains are historic achievements that have transformed women’s lives. Every aspect of women’s empowerment, from education to workforce participation to political leadership, depends on the foundation of well-being and autonomy provided by sexual and reproductive health. And when women and girls thrive, so do their families, communities and our world.
By unleashing the potential of half of humanity, gender equality leads to safer and more prosperous societies for everyone. This is affirmed in longstanding and binding international law agreements that most countries have signed, and is proven by rigorous evidence. Yet millions of women and girls are still left behind – every three seconds an adolescent girl is married somewhere in the world. There is not a single country in the world that has yet reached full gender equality. Investment in gender equality is a fraction of what it needs to be – even though we know it would yield trillions of dollars in economic gains and immeasurable social benefits.
Unjust laws and regulations still constrain rights, and healthcare services fail to match needs. Every 10 minutes a woman or girl dies at the hands of an intimate partner or family member. That single statistic tells us everything about how little progress has been made in stopping violence driven by misogyny and discrimination, and what society chooses to prioritize.
Increasing armed conflict and climate disasters amplify risks and inequalities, as women and girls face higher rates of unintended pregnancy and maternal mortality, and violence and child marriage soar.
This International Women’s Day is a call to march forward, with urgency and in solidarity, for all women and girls in all their diversity. Despite the many challenges, we have seen in our own lifetimes how much change is possible, and we have international law and fundamental human rights on our side. We have examples of change, and evidence of the benefits. These are powerful tools to achieve equality. Let’s use them.
UNFPA will continue to work with partners and allies, with governments and civil society, to uphold women’s rights. We will not rest until everyone can make their own choices about whether and when to have children. Until no woman dies while pregnant or giving birth. Gender equality will transform our world, for people today and tomorrow, for the benefit of all.
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Media Inquiries:
Dr. Warren Bright,
UNFPA Communications Analyst,
United Republic of Tanzania
Mobile: +255 764 43 44 45
Email: bwarren@unfpa.org
