Joint Message from UN Women Representative, Maria
Karadenizli and UNESCO Head of Office and Representative for the United
Republic of Tanzania, Ms Zulmira Rodrigues on International Women’s Day
-Everybody has a stake in promoting equality between men and women, at all
levels of society
“The story of women's struggle for equality belongs
to no single feminist nor to any one organization but to the collective efforts
of all who care about human rights.” These words by activist Gloria Steinem
testify to the universal nature of the fight for women’s rights and once a
year, on 8 March, we restate our commitment to gender equality as a force
driving dignity for all.
Inequality between men and women penalizes
societies at all levels of development. The violence, injustice and stereotypes
suffered by too many women in their personal or professional lives undermine
society as a whole, and deprive of it considerable potential for creativity,
strength and confidence in the future.
As the United Nations has adopted the ambitious
2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the full empowerment of girls and
women is one of humanity’s most powerful levers for development. Rural women
are directly responsible for the production of half the world’s food – and it
is primarily women who manage and gather natural resources. Ninety per cent of
rapes in the world take place precisely when women are on their way to collect
water or firewood.
Two thirds of illiterate adults in the world are
women. One in three women is subject to physical violence in the private
sphere, and the wage gap between men and women, for equal work and with equal
skills, is a fact across the world. For UNESCO, the main engine for change
rests on education, training, and the possibility given to all girls and women
of pursuing careers in research, politics and culture. Equality also lies in
ridding the media and collective imagination of prejudice by highlighting the
women scientists, artists and politicians who are moving humanity forward in
all fields.
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