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Investing in Gender Equality Vital to Economic Growth, Sustainable
Development:
UN S-G at Financing for Development (FfD) Conference at Addis Ababa
In India, members of a network of single women, Ekal Nari
Shakti Sangathan, that helps secure the right of widows to live with dignity
and justice. UN Women/Gaganjit Singh (File)
14 July 2015 – Increased investments in gender equality
are vital if the world is to achieve sustained economic growth and development,
United Nations Secretary-General said today during the Third International Conference on
Financing for Development, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
“It is clear that we have not invested sufficiently in
gender equality,” Mr. Ban said
at a side event hosted by UN Women and the World Bank on Financing for Gender
Equality. “We know that persisting gaps in gender equality and women's
empowerment in the world have been a barrier to the full achievement of each of
the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).”
He noted that currently, less than 10 per cent of
official development assistance (ODA) targets women, and many gender equality
policies and programmes remain unfunded by domestic resources. “This has to
change now if we are to achieve sustained, inclusive and equitable economic
growth and development.”
Mr. Ban said that gender-responsive budgeting and
planning processes, such as those in Tanzania that provide free primary
schooling or farm input subsidies, can help ensure that public revenue is
raised, prioritized and spent in ways that benefit women and girls.
In addition, accounts from Cambodia, Costa Rica and Sri
Lanka show how reducing spending on security and the military can
effectively redirect financing into social programmes.
Enforcing existing tax obligations can also yield
significant revenue from the private sector for this purpose, the
Secretary-General added, while the business community has a key role to play in
creating decent employment, equal pay and supporting women's leadership.
He noted that the expected outcome of the development
financing conference – the Addis Ababa Action Agenda – is clear about the need
to invest in policy making and legislation to ensure women's equal rights and
their participation and leadership in the economy.
“It will take the concerted efforts of all of us to
implement the right financing policies and allocations to ensure that women and
men, girls and boys will benefit equally from the new global sustainable
development framework. This is their right and it must be our legacy.”
Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank Group, told the
gathering that evidence showed that gender equality is not only a condition for
social justice but a powerful driver of economic growth that can help deliver
social justice.
He noted that despite progress in recent years in areas
such as education and maternal mortality, the world has fallen short in
bringing women's assets, earnings and employment in line with those of men.
“This should galvanize all of us to arm ourselves with
the best possible evidence about what works to close these gaps, leverage new
partnerships and funding streams and sharply scale up the smartest, most
promising programmes to meet these challenges,” he stated.
Stressing the need for a “new financing mindset,” Mr. Kim
said that while aid is critical, it is now also time to catalyze and leverage
new streams of financing from public, private, domestic and international
sources. “Collecting taxes fairly, efficiently and transparently is critically
important in ways that don't penalize women when they bring home a second
income, for example, or spend money on food and other goods that sustain their
families.
“When women earn more, public finances will improve and
commercial profits increase because of increased demand and productivity,” he
continued. “When we promote true equality, including equal pay for equal work,
we all stand to benefit because better educated mothers produce healthier
children and women who earn more invest in the next generation.
“Creating a level playing field is always good for
business, and it's especially good for women,” he stated, adding that this kind
of inclusive growth is vital to ending extreme poverty over the next 15 years.
“Only by empowering women and giving them an equal opportunity
for jobs and equal pay for equal work can we be the first generation in human
history to end extreme poverty in our lifetime. Reaching that goal will be one
of humankind's greatest achievements and I have no doubt that women will lead
the way.”
Ahead of this week's conference, UN Women called for
transformative financing to end gender inequality by 2030. High ambition,
backed by stepped-up action to make the right investments, puts that goal
within reach for all women and girls, it pointed out.
UN Women added that beyond increasing the amount of
financing, including through official development assistance and domestic
resources such as taxation, countries need to adopt public policies that
address the root causes and consequences of gender inequality and
discrimination in all areas of life. In this regard, women must participate
fully in decision-making at all levels, and action should be taken to
mainstream gender in national planning and budgeting processes.