Speech: Hanny Cueva-Beteta, UN Women Regional Advisor for Governance and Security at the Press Conference Un Women And Valencia Club De Fútbol

讲话稿

UN Women Valencia CF Press Conference in Beijing. Photo: Lázaro Dela Peña

Ms. Chan Lay Hoon, Chairwoman Of The Valencia Club De Fútbol
Danni Parejo, Skodran Mustafi And Álvaro Negredo, Players Of The Team
Mr. James Chau, Broadcaster And United Nations Goodwill Ambassador
Members Of The Media
Ladies And Gentlemen,

On behalf of UN Women I am very pleased to be here in Beijing on the occasion of the visit of the Valencia Club de Fútbol.

Earlier this year, UN Women and Valencia CF started a partnership to promote gender equality and the empowerment of girls and women around the world and we are very excited about this collaboration.

We are working towards a world in which men and women are truly equals – and we will work on that goal side by side. To achieve that, we to have to do things differently. This has to be a partnership in which men also shoulder responsibility for change.

UN Women is working to engage boys and men to become agents of change for gender equality. We know millions of fans follow the Valencia CF and we are confident that this partnership will help us mobilize numerous supporters for gender equality not only in china but also around the world.

I would also like to acknowledge that China has made significant achievements on improving the situation of girls and women in the last decades:

UN Women recognises as a main advance the decline in recent years of the sex ratio at birth. In average the rates of female and male births are catching up, thanks to the government’s Care for Girls programme designed to offset son-preference through subsidies to families with daughters.

On education, primary and secondary school attendance rates for girls and boys became almost equal in the 2000s. China has basically achieved a key target of the third millennium development goal: gender parity at primary school level.

To ensure women’s economic participation and employment equity, the All China’s Women’s Federation with the ministries of Finance, Human Resources and Social Security, and together with the People’s Bank of China, is rolling out a huge microfinance loan programme for rural women to improve their employment and entrepreneurship.

Up to date, 29 out of 31 provinces have issued regulations on Domestic Violence response and prevention, a result of strong advocacy efforts by the All China Women’s Federation and the UN system.

The country’s total contribution to the international peacekeeping operations has substantially increased during the last decade. UN Women has worked to support the Government to increase the capacity of Chinese peacekeepers to protect civilians and especially to respond and prevent gender-based violence in peacekeeping settings abroad.

In fact, last month I had the opportunity to participate in the workshop at the Peacekeeping Center of the Ministry of National Defense that involved 50 male and female officers. UN Women is keen to continue working with the Government of China on bringing gender-responsive elements into future peacekeeping trainings.

Ladies and gentlemen, the situation has improved but much more remains to be done. And the change can only start when individuals, including men and boys, decide to change.

There are many ways in which men can decide to make a difference.

Men can reject son preference, which has led to a skewed sex ratio in China; Men can reject gender stereotypes that assigns to women the main responsibility of caring for the children, the sick and the elderly.

In China, like everywhere else, gender stereotypes also burden men in particular ways. For example by sending the message that men must be the main economic provider. Wouldn’t the pressure on men be much less if society valued women and men equally and promoted equal opportunities and equal responsibilities?

But we need to go further. In public decision-making: Men must join women in promoting female leadership and participation. At the moment, only about 1 in each 4 congress delegates are women.

And within the family: Men can reject the use of violence at home, which is still too prevalent as domestic violence is estimated to be as high as almost 25 per cent in China.

Men and boys everywhere: you can stand up against sexual harassment of women – on campus, in the workplace, on public transportation, and even online. You can take responsibility for calling out such abuses to stop violence against women. You can refuse to be a by-stander, and take action by denouncing violence and rejecting impunity.

Friends from Valencia CF: You can use your influence to make visible this marginalisation and seek solutions to ensure that women have access to the spaces where decisions are made that affect the lives of everyone in society, including girls and women.

The message for today is clear. If men are part of the problem, then they have to be part of the solution. Men and women should be partners in promoting gender equality. Because without gender equality, there will be no solution to most of the world’s problems.

On behalf of UN Women, I would also like to express our appreciation to the leadership of Chairperson of Valencia CF, Ms. Chan Lay Hoon and her support to the advancement of Gender Equality. She has placed this global agenda closer to the heart of the Valencia CF. And we thank all Valencia players for stepping up your commitment. You are truly our champions for gender equality.

Thank you!

在联合国妇女署和西班牙瓦伦西亚足球俱乐部新闻发布会上的讲话

尊敬的瓦伦西亚足球俱乐部主席曾丽芬女士、瓦伦西亚队球员达尼·帕雷霍、施科德兰·穆斯塔菲、阿尔瓦罗-内格雷多, 著名播音员、联合国亲善大使周柳建成先生、媒体朋友们，女士们和先生们：

我非常荣幸代表联合国妇女署与西班牙瓦伦西亚足球俱乐部在北京参加此次活动。

瓦西亚足球俱乐部于今年年初成为联合国妇女署的战略合作伙伴，积极投身于世界范围内的促进性别平等、赋权予妇女和女童的多项活动中。

我们正努力使全世界的男性和女性都能够实现真正意义上的平等，我们会携手朝着这个目标迈进。为此，我们需要改变行为方式。男性朋友们也有责任来激发这些改变。

联合国妇女署正努力使男孩和成年男性成为激发改变、促进性别平等的力量。我们知道瓦伦西亚足球队拥有数以百万计的球迷，同瓦伦西亚足球俱乐部的合作必将有助我们动员更多的支持者，共同促进中国乃至世界范围内的性别平等。

过去的几十年中，中国已经在改善女童和妇女权益方面取得了显著的成就：

联合国妇女署发现近年来中国在出生性别比取得了重要进步，即女婴与男婴的出生率基本持平，这得益于政府发起的大规模的关爱女童计划，该计划旨在通过向有女儿的家庭提供补贴来消除重男轻女的行为。

在接受教育方面，进入21世纪后，中国的女孩和男孩在小学和中学的入学比基本持平。中国基本实现了“千年发展目标”的第三个目标：在小学教育阶段实现性别平等。

为确保女性获得平等的经济参与权和就业机会，中华全国妇女联合会同财政部、人力资源与社会保障部以及中国银行合作，正在开展一个庞大的小额信贷项目，为农村女性的就业和创业提供资金支持。

截至目前，31个省中已有29个省出台了预防和应对家庭暴力的相关法律法规，这是中华全国妇女联合会和联合国系统强有力倡议的结果。

在过去的十年中，中国已经成为国际维和行动的重要力量。联合国妇女署支持中国维和部队的能力建设，希望维和队员们在保护平民时，特别关注女童和妇女的需求，同时也预防因性别产生的暴力行为。

上个月，我参加了中国维和行动中心举办的一期研讨会，共有50名维和队员参加了那次研讨会。联合国妇女署积极与中国政府合作，将性别平等的理念融入维和士兵的培训当中。

女士们、先生们，虽然性别平等的工作已经有了进步，但是我们还需要付出更多的努力。只有大家都来参与，尤其是男童和成年男性的参与，才会真正实现性别平等。

男性可以在很多方面做出改变：

男性需要站出来反对重男轻女的观念，来减少中国的出生性别不平衡现象；男性可以站出来反对性别刻板印象，来更对地关爱儿童、老人和残障人士。

在中国以及世界的任何地区，对于性别的刻板印象也以特别的方式不断向男性灌输他们必须是家庭经济的主要创造力量，这也使男性背负了沉重的负担。如果社会能够一视同仁、为男性和女性提供平等的机会，男女之间能够平等地合作和相互尊重，男性的压力难道不会有所减轻么？

在参与公共决策方面，男性必须促进女性的领导力和参与度的提升。在世界范围内，女性议员的比例仅为23.4%

在家庭中，男性应该拒绝家庭暴力，而在中国仍有24.7%的女性在遭受家庭暴力。

在世界每一处地方，男性都可以站出来反对在校园、办公室、公共交通工具以及网络上发生的针对女性的性骚扰。男性还可以站出来抵制那些使男性和男童有机会实施对女性虚拟暴力的电子游戏及娱乐活动。

瓦伦西亚足球俱乐部的朋友们：你们可以用你们强大的影响力来使女性被边缘化的现象公之于众，并努力确保女性得以参与制定影响每名社会成员生活的决策。

如今我们很清楚地看到，男性是问题的一部分，所以解铃还须系铃人。如果性别平等不能实现，那么世界上的任何问题都无从解决。

联合国妇女署钦佩巴伦西亚足球俱乐部主席曾丽芬女士所展现的出色领导力，感谢她对促进性别平等所作出的努力。她已将这一全球议程纳入瓦伦西亚足球俱乐部的核心任务之中。我们还要感谢瓦伦西亚俱乐部的全体球员为促进性别平等所做出的实际行动，你们是真正的性别平等先锋！

谢谢大家！