Statement by H.E. Mrs. Mar\u00eda Fernanda Espinosa Garc\u00e9s, President of the 73rd<\/sup> Session of the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ General Assembly<\/h3>\n8 March 2019<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/pga\/73\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2019\/03\/1-300x200.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Mr. Secretary-General, Ant\u00f3nio Guterres, thank you for being a champion of women\u2019s rights,<\/p>\n
Madam Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed,<\/p>\n
Madam Executive Director, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Women,<\/p>\n
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka,<\/p>\n
Ambassador Geraldine Byrne Nason, Permanent Representative of Ireland to the United Nations and Chair of the 63rd<\/sup>\u00a0session of the Commission on the Status of Women,<\/p>\nMs. Maria Luiza Viotti, Chef de Cabinet of the Secretary-Generalm<\/p>\n
Ms. Venus Ilagan, Secretary-General, Rehabilitation International,<\/p>\n
Excellencies,<\/p>\n
Ladies and gentlemen,<\/p>\n
Queridas Hermanas,<\/p>\n
I am so grateful to Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Women for convening this event, and for the crucial work you all do every day for women and girls around the world.<\/p>\n
International Women\u2019s Day is an opportunity to reflect on the progress we have made on gender equality and women\u2019s empowerment. It is a day to express solidarity with the feministas \u2013 women and<\/em> men \u2013 who continue to fight discrimination. And it is a day, I confess, I approach with mixed feelings.<\/p>\nOn the one hand, it is important that we celebrate the gains we have made. Last year, Barbados, Ethiopia, Georgia, Romania and Trinidad and Tobago welcomed their first female leaders. Uruguay saw its first conviction for femicide. Bangladesh banned the degrading \u201ctwo-finger\u201d test in rape trials.<\/p>\n
At the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ, thanks to the Secretary-General\u2019s leadership, gender parity was achieved within the senior management team, among the heads of Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ country teams, and the heads of regional economic commissions. And from Kansas to Kabul, women around the world continued to raise their voices under banners like #MeToo, #NiUnaMenos and #WhereIsMyName? \u00a0<\/p>\n
On the other hand, nearly four decades after the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women was adopted, nearly 25 years after the landmark Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, we are still not even close to equal.<\/p>\n
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Excellencies,<\/p>\n
Each year, International Women\u2019s Day brings with it a list of depressing statistics.<\/p>\n
Some 16 million girls will never set foot in a classroom. One in three women has experienced physical or sexual violence. Over 70 percent of people trafficked are female.<\/p>\n
On pretty much any measure of development, women are behind. Add in factors like ethnicity, poverty or disability and the figures are even worse. For example, women with disabilities are twice as likely to suffer physical violence. More than half of all poor rural women lack basic literacy skills.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Mr. Secretary-General, Ant\u00f3nio Guterres, thank you for being a champion of women\u2019s rights,<\/p>\n
Madam Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed,<\/p>\n
Madam Executive Director, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Women,<\/p>\n
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka,<\/p>\n
Ambassador Geraldine Byrne Nason, Permanent Representative of Ireland to the United Nations and Chair of the 63rd<\/sup>\u00a0session of the Commission on the Status of Women,<\/p>\n Ms. Maria Luiza Viotti, Chef de Cabinet of the Secretary-Generalm<\/p>\n Ms. Venus Ilagan, Secretary-General, Rehabilitation International,<\/p>\n Excellencies,<\/p>\n Ladies and gentlemen,<\/p>\n Queridas Hermanas,<\/p>\n I am so grateful to Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Women for convening this event, and for the crucial work you all do every day for women and girls around the world.<\/p>\n International Women\u2019s Day is an opportunity to reflect on the progress we have made on gender equality and women\u2019s empowerment. It is a day to express solidarity with the feministas \u2013 women and<\/em> men \u2013 who continue to fight discrimination. And it is a day, I confess, I approach with mixed feelings.<\/p>\n On the one hand, it is important that we celebrate the gains we have made. Last year, Barbados, Ethiopia, Georgia, Romania and Trinidad and Tobago welcomed their first female leaders. Uruguay saw its first conviction for femicide. Bangladesh banned the degrading \u201ctwo-finger\u201d test in rape trials.<\/p>\n At the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ, thanks to the Secretary-General\u2019s leadership, gender parity was achieved within the senior management team, among the heads of Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ country teams, and the heads of regional economic commissions. And from Kansas to Kabul, women around the world continued to raise their voices under banners like #MeToo, #NiUnaMenos and #WhereIsMyName? \u00a0<\/p>\n On the other hand, nearly four decades after the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women was adopted, nearly 25 years after the landmark Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, we are still not even close to equal.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.17.4″]<\/p>\n Excellencies,<\/p>\n Each year, International Women\u2019s Day brings with it a list of depressing statistics.<\/p>\n Some 16 million girls will never set foot in a classroom. One in three women has experienced physical or sexual violence. Over 70 percent of people trafficked are female.<\/p>\n On pretty much any measure of development, women are behind. Add in factors like ethnicity, poverty or disability and the figures are even worse. For example, women with disabilities are twice as likely to suffer physical violence. More than half of all poor rural women lack basic literacy skills.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_code _builder_version=”3.17.4″]\n\n