Virtual Townhall Meeting of Civil Society and United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres

As in all crises, women’s civil society organizations have been at the front line of response to the COVID-19 pandemic, promoting life-saving information and public health messaging, building institutional trust and community resilience, and helping inform and engage marginalised communities

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Save the Date! March 1 Webinar - The Goal and its interlinkages: Realizing the Gender Equality Promises of the 2030 Agenda

We have received the following fron UN Women:

With only 13 ½ years to go until the realization of the 2030 Agenda it’s a necessity that we understand the most important catalysers which can deliver the agenda for women and girls. A focus on gender equality is an enabler which will support the delivery of the entire agenda...

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Strong UNTST Brief on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment for OWG8

The UN Technical Support Team (UNTST) Issues Brief on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment has been posted on the UN Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform. 

The Issues Brief includes several references to sexual and reproductive health and rights, including highlighting it as a priority issue and recognizing its importance for a stand-alone goal on gender equality, women’s rights and women’s empowerment. Finally the document includes sexual and reproductive health and rights under human development policies that ensure universally accessible and affordable health care among “strategies, and approaches [with which any future goal or set of targets should be couple] that will promote, protect and fulfil the full spectrum of women’s and girls’ rights, many of which are found in international human rights frameworks and in policy commitments…”

Sexual and reproductive health and rights and UN Women consultation on stand alone goal on gender equality and gender mainstreaming

UN Women has posted a position paper outlining its recommendations for the post-2015 development agenda on the World We Want 2015 website ). In the paper UN Women calls for addressing the structural causes of gender inequality through a stand-alone goal and gender mainstreaming throughout the post-2015 agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It provides the evidence for and expands on the arguments presented in a shorter version issued in May 2013.

It should be noted that the paper refers throughout to “sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights”. While this is agreed language as included in the ICPD Programme of Action, in the development of the Post-2015 Development Agenda the language has moved on to “sexual and reproductive health and rights”.  It will be important going forward to encourage UN Women to refer to “sexual and reproductive health and rights.”