UN Commission Calls for Increased Efforts to Promote Gender Equality and a Stand-Alone Goal on Gender Equality in the Post-2015 Development Agenda

After two weeks of intense negotiations, the 58th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women ended with a strong call in its outcome document, the Agreed Conclusions, to prioritize gender equality and the human rights of women in order to achieve sustainable development.

The Commission addressed the challenges and achievements of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in improving the lives of women and girls in developing countries. While the MDGs resulted in a reduction of poverty in some respects, the goals furthest from being achieved are those focused on women and girls—particularly on achieving gender equality and improving maternal health.

The Commission specifically called for a stand-alone goal on gender equality, a move that was applauded by women’s rights activists. Furthermore, the post-2015 development agenda must include gender-specific targets across other development goals, strategies, and objectives—especially those related to education, health, economic justice, and the environment. Governments should address the discriminatory social norms and practices that foster gender inequality, including early and forced marriage and other forms of violence against women and girls, and to strengthen accountability mechanisms for women’s human rights.

The Agreed Conclusions reaffirmed the ICPD Programme of Action as well as the Beijing Platform for Action, which called for investments in "quality comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care" including emergency contraception, information and education, safe abortion where allowed by law, and prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted infections and HIV.  Furthermore, the Beijing Platform for Action called for the recognition of the human rights of women to "decide freely and responsibly on matters related to their sexuality... free from coercion, discrimination, and violence."

Member States noted that progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals, has been held back due to persistent “unequal power relations between women and men,” particularly discriminatory laws, social norms, and gender stereotypes.

Governments expressed concern that several critical issues related to gender equality were not adequately addressed by the MDGs, including violence against women and girls; harmful practices such as early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation; women’s and adolescents’ sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights; women’s and girls’ disproportionate share of unpaid work, particularly unpaid care work; the gender wage gap; women’s equal access to and control of resources including land; women’s inheritance rights; and women’s full participation in decision-making at all levels.

The Commission called for measures to ensure universal access to primary education, especially for girls and vulnerable youth, as well as measures to strengthen the ability of women to participate in formal and informal labor sectors.  The governments also called for efforts to ensure that women’s rights and health obtain the prominence they deserve in the next global development framework.

The advanced, unedited Agreed Conclusions are available here.