Ministers and senior officials responsible for gender equality and women’s empowerment will meet in New York from 12 -15 March 2015.
Ministers and senior officials responsible for gender equality and women’s empowerment will meet in New York from 12 -15 March 2015.
The meetings will take place under the theme ‘Women’s Political Leadership within Beijing+20 and the post-2015 Development Agenda’, as the world celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.
Participants will assess the progress made by Commonwealth countries to increase the number of women in political decision-making roles, particularly with regards to reaching the global target of 30% representation of women by 2015.
Deputy Secretary-General Josephine Ojiambo, who will be in attendance, said: “The Commonwealth has made great strides towards gender equality over the last 20 years, but women continue to be under-represented in political leadership. Greater efforts are now required to redress this imbalance for the benefit of society as a whole.”
She added: “As the world is close to achieving consensus on the new development agenda, we need to ensure that opportunities to increase women’s political participation are not overlooked. The time is right to create enabling environments where women can access equal opportunities, and realise their full political, social and economic rights.”
The Commonwealth Secretariat has committed to assisting member countries to achieve gender equality through a number of international instruments, such as the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, and the Millennium Development Goals.
Drawing on international commitments enshrined in the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women, the Commonwealth Plan of Action on Gender Equality 2005-2015 calls on member governments to introduce measures to achieve 30% representation of women in parliament, government and business by 2015.
The Commonwealth has made significant progress towards gender mainstreaming - out of 43 countries globally that have reached or exceeded the 30% target, 16 are Commonwealth countries. This has been achieved through measures such as quotas and reserved parliamentary seats for women in some Commonwealth countries.
Discussions in New York will consider women’s political leadership in the post-2015 development agenda, to address gaps and review what action is required to fulfil international commitments.
In addition to the conference, the Commonwealth Secretariat will also convene two side events that will seek to address women’s political leadership in Africa. Co-hosted by the African Union and the Government of Rwanda, discussions will identify gender priorities, as well as new emerging trends and strategies.
The events aim to set out ‘next steps’ by sharing best practice, and creating successful frameworks that can be replicated across the Commonwealth - Rwanda, with the world’s highest record of women parliamentarians, will provide the case study for application of good practices.
Outcomes will feed into the newly-established CHOGM 2015 Women’s Forum, which will take place in Malta in 2015 at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. The Forum is aimed at empowering girls and women through education, enterprise and leadership at all levels of decision making.
Note to editors:
Media can apply for accreditation to attend the meetings on 13 March 2015. High-level spokespeople from across the Commonwealth will be available for interviews from 12-15 March 2015.
Details of the meetings are as follows:
12 March 2015 – Commonwealth Businesswomen’s Network event on corporate leadership
13 March 2015, 09:00-13:00 – Women’s political leadership in delivering democracy and development in Africa
13 March 2015, 15:00-17:00 – Universal Application of Good Practices in Rwanda
14 March 2015 - 13th Meeting of the Commonwealth Gender Plan of Action Monitoring Group
15 March 2015 – Annual consultation of National Women’s Machineries
