Spotlighting ‘Mainstreaming of Misogyny’, Secretary-General Urges Action to Empower Women on International Day

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message for International Women’s Day, observed on 8 March:

When the doors of equal opportunity are open for women and girls, everyone wins.  Equal societies are more prosperous and peaceful — and the foundation of sustainable development.

On this International Women’s Day, we recognize 30 years of progress and achievement since the landmark United Nations conference in Beijing.  This transformed the rights of women — and reaffirmed those rights as human rights.

Since then, women and girls have shattered barriers, defied stereotypes and demanded their rightful place.  But, we must be clear-eyed about the challenge.

From pushback to roll-back, women’s human rights are under attack.  Age-old horrors — violence, discrimination and economic inequality — still plague societies.  And newer threats, such as biased algorithms, are programming inequalities into online spaces, opening up new arenas of harassment and abuse.

Instead of mainstreaming equal rights, we’re seeing the mainstreaming of misogyny.  We must fight these outrages and keep working to level the playing field for women and girls.

We need action to unlock finance so countries can invest in equality — and to prioritize those investments.  Action to open up equal opportunities for decent work, close the gender pay gap and tackle challenges around care work.

Action to strengthen and implement laws to end all forms of violence against women and girls.  Action to secure women’s full participation in decision-making, including in peacebuilding.

And action to remove the obstacles to women and girls in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.  The United Nations Pact for the Future and the Global Digital Compact offer blueprints to guide these actions.

When women and girls can rise, we all thrive.  Together, let’s stand firm in making rights, equality and empowerment a reality for all women and girls, for everyone, everywhere.