UNITED NATIONS — Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is challenging all governments to reach the goal of equality for women by 2030, saying the key is getting men to change their “mindsets.”
Twenty years after 189 nations adopted a platform to achieve equality for women at a groundbreaking U.N. conference, the secretary-general said progress is too slow “and our gains are not irreversible.”
“Our goal must be: 50:50 by 2030,” Ban said Monday at the opening session of the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women, which is reviewing progress toward gender equality since the conference in Beijing in 1995.
Ban challenged all governments to work for women’s equality, warning that “without changing the mindset of men we may not be able to change this current situation.”
Hillary Clinton, a likely U.S. presidential candidate, called the challenge “the great unfinished business of the 21st century.”
She went to the Beijing conference as the first lady and brought delegates to their feet in a keynote speech that inspired women around the world when she declared: “Human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights.” In the introduction to a new report on the status of women in 2015, she recalled those words and said the latest data provide evidence that advancing the full participation of women and girls expands global prosperity and stability.
The report entitled “No Ceilings,” released Monday, assesses the gains and gaps for women and girls since the 1995 conference and concludes that “there has never been a better time to be born female.” But it says change has been far too slow when it comes to women’s security, economic opportunity and leadership.
“I hope it serves as a wake-up call, and also as a call to action for us all,” Clinton wrote. “Unlocking the potential of women and girls around the world is both the right thing to do and it is also the smart thing to do.”
