Rethinking gender equality post 2015
Date:
The year 2015 is the start of a ‘rethinking’ period for gender equality and women’s empowerment.
Countries, organizations and individuals have to complete the work of the last 15 years, and ensure the commitment to the Millennium Declaration and the Millennium Development Goals, particularly on gender equality and women’s empowerment (goal 3), are taken forward in the post-2015 development agenda.
A 2-day workshop on “Moving from Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS): Policies and options for Pakistan” was organized by the Department of Development Studies, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (Pide) in collaboration with the Higher Education Commission, on 9 June 2015 in Islamabad.
Speaking on the first day of the workshop, Mr. Jamshed Kazi, Country Representative, UN Women Pakistan, highlighted the (potentially) transformative SDGs agenda to tackle inequalities and empower women and girls.
He stressed that while the MDGs talked of ‘promoting’ gender equality, the SDGs talk of ‘achieving’ gender equality, “Freedom from violence, gender equality in capabilities and resources and gender equality in decision-making in public and private institutions are three main components of the SDGs’ gender goals”, he said.
In prioritizing areas for sustainable development and enhanced partnerships in Pakistan, Mr. Kazi emphasized that with investment in research, a meaningful education system, engaging with private sector, youth and religious leaders, nurturing grassroots women organisations and recognizing and re-distributing unpaid care work, could optimize SDGs for women and girls. He also underlined that root causes to gender inequalities and discrimination have to be addressed and not symptoms alone – only then can Pakistan move forward to meet the SDG targets on achieving gender equality and empowerment of women and girls (50:50 parity) by 2030.
For more information contact:
Ms. Faria Salman,
Strategic Management and Partnership Officer,
UN Women Pakistan
Email: faria.salman@unwomen.org