The Global President of International Youth Network – United Nations Security Council 2250 Resolution (IYNUNSCR), H. E Sally Lilian Addo has called for staunch women inclusion in national affairs to foster gender equality.
She was speaking at the 68th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW 68), which was recently organised by the United Nations Women in the United States of America which attracted women from all over the globe to address issues affecting women in other parts of the country.
Explaining the summit, H.E Addo said the 68th annual CSW68,is the UN’s largest annual gathering on gender equality and women’s empowerment, was under the priority theme, “Accelerating the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls by addressing poverty and strengthening institutions and financing with a gender perspective”.
She observed that, the world is at a crucial crossroad for gender equality, where globally 10.3 per cent of women live in extreme poverty today, and they are poorer than men.
“Progress towards ending poverty needs to be 26 times faster to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030” she said was one of the most concern deliberated during the summit.
Per the findings of Women, it indicates that, accelerated progress requires investment. Data from 48 developing economies shows that an additional $360 billion is needed per year to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment across key global goals, including to end poverty and hunger.
Solutions to end women’s poverty are widely recognised, hence, investing in policies and programmes that address gender inequalities and boosting women’s agency and leadership would make it fast to achieve.
“Such investments yield enormous dividends: Over 100 million women and girls could be lifted out of poverty if governments prioritized education and family planning, fair and equal wages, and expanded social benefits”, she attributed.
Closing gender gaps in employment could boost Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita by 20 per cent across all regions.
According to her, CSW 68, was seasoned with governments, civil society organizations, experts and activists from across the world who converged to agree on actions and investments that could end women’s poverty and spearhead gender equality.