$40 Billion invested to accelerate gender equality

Photo credit: UN Women/Fabrice Gentile.

In 1995, the United Nations (UN) held the Fourth World Conference on Women,where the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Actionwere unanimously adopted by all member states. Commitments were made to advance gender equality, progress, and implementation. Yet today, according to UN Women, not a single country can claim to have achieved gender equality.

Last month—a full 26 years later—the Generation Equality Forum convened in Paris with the goal of reviewing the progress made since the groundbreaking 1995 conference. The Forum brought together international government, business, and activist leaders to discuss and secure concrete measures to catalyse collective action in support of the rights of women and girls.

To ensure tangible progress is made from the conference, Global Acceleration Plan for Gender Equality was launched by participants. The Acceleration Plan is driven by six Action Coalitions—“multi-stakeholder partnerships that have identified the most critical actions required to achieve gender equality”—which center around themes including gender-based violence and economic justice. The Acceleration Plan aims to “deliver concrete progress on gender equality across generations to come for girls and women in all of their diversity.”

During the Generation Equality Forum Opening Ceremony in Paris, the Executive Director of UN Women, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, announced that governments and organisations from around the world have committed more than USD$40 billion in new investments to accelerate gender equality and address the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic for women and girls. This number is thought to be the highest amount of money committed at one time to advancing gender equality.

In her address to the GEF Closing Ceremony, Ms. Mlambo-Ngcuka remarked that a monumental moment for women and girls was taking place:

“The Generation Equality Forum marks a positive, historic shift in power and perspective. Together we have mobilised across different sectors of society, from south to north, to become a formidable force, ready to open a new chapter in gender equality.”

Support for gender equality is crucial to building the next generation of women leaders. Atalanta supports the work done at the Generation Equality Forum and commits to continuing our work to empower women in leadership at all levels.

You can learn more about the Generation Equality Forum here.