It is with great pleasure that I accepted your invitation to participate in the 6th Annual Mediterranean Model United Nations. I wish to congratulate you for previous successful sessions and wish you very productive deliberations.
Having attended many Model United Nations in the past during my 30 years in diplomacy, I consider them a very successful vehicle of educating young people on the importance of the United Nations and of helping them to become world citizens by studying and debating problems that affect millions of people around the world in all continents.
I have always been one of the staunchest supporters and advocates of the work and achievements of the United Nations, because, among other things, it has provided a yardstick for the conduct of nations, including in human rights and gender equality, not in any theoretical or abstract way, but in concrete, tangible ways, that have made the lives of millions of people around the world more humane.
I chose to speak on gender issues and the United Nations, because I consider this topic’s discussion of importance for both women and men and especially the young people around the world. It will give us an opportunity to evaluate and celebrate the global progress achieved, but also an occasion to look critically at the persistent and evolving challenges in reaching our goal of enabling half of the world’s population to become effective participants in all walks of life.
On the 8th of March every year, we commemorate the International Women’s Day, which marks the first organized actions by women in 1857, when hundreds of women garment and textile workers went on strike in New York City, protesting against low wages, long working hours and inhumane working conditions. That single event 154 years ago led to the decision to set aside one day of the year to observe women’s rights. Yet it was not until 1975, during the International Women’s Year, that the United Nations began celebrating annually the 8th of March as the International Women’s Day. Since then all member states of the United Nations honor on this day women around the world and their achievements.
We have come a long way in women’s issues since the United Nations was created almost 66 years ago. Before 1945 there was no co-ordinated world effort to advance the status of women. It was with the emergence of the United Nations in 1945 that issues like the achievement of gender equality and the full and equal participation of women in all spheres of life became a global objective.
When we talk about women’s rights we defend the very principles and values of justice and democracy. For what else than defending justice and democracy is the struggle to see that the 50% plus of the world’s population become active and equal participants in all spheres of society’s life?
Yet, over three decades later the goal of gender equality remains to be fully realized. We have already embarked on the third millennium and we are still struggling to achieve equality. I admit that I find it disheartening and frustrating that we still need commemorative days and other events to be reminded of the fact that women continue to be discriminated against in many parts of the world and that women in leadership and decision-making positions, be it in political participation, international affairs, finance or business, remain a minority worldwide.
As a way of presenting persistent challenges, let me put before you some statistics, which will help identify and guide us to the areas where gender equality and the situation of women and girls around the world still remains an issue of grave concern.
In the 36 years since the Mexico City First World Conference on Women in 1975, many significant improvements in gender equality have been achieved. In the Beijing Declaration adopted in 1995 by the Fourth World Conference on Women, Governments committed themselves “to advancing the goals of equality, development and peace for all women everywhere, in the interest of humanity”. In order to evaluate whether these objectives have been achieved, a UN report entitled “The World’s Women” is produced by the United Nations every five years. The World’s Women 2010: Trends and Statistics, shows that progress towards gender equality has been achieved in some areas, such as school enrolment, health and economic participation. At the same time the report shows that much more needs to be done to close the gender gap in critical areas such as power and decision-making and violence against women. The World’s Women 2010 stresses the existing gap in the status of women and men in eight areas – population and families, health, education, work, power and decision-making, violence against women, environment and poverty. I think it would be useful to have a look at some of the most important statistics.
First let us see the findings on education:
• Two thirds of the 774 million adult illiterates worldwide are women – the same proportion for the past 20 years and across most regions.
• The global youth literacy rate has increased to 89 %, while the gender gap has declined to 5 percentage points.
• Gaps between girls’ and boys’ primary enrolment have closed in the majority of countries, but gender parity is still a distant goal for some.
• 72 million children of primary school age are not attending school, out of which over 39 million (or 54 %) are girls.
• While secondary school enrolments show improvement, fewer countries are near gender parity than for primary education.
• In tertiary enrolment, men’s dominance has been reversed globally and gender disparities favour women, except in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern and Western Asia.
• Women in tertiary education are significantly underrepresented in the fields of science and engineering; however, they remain predominant in education, health and welfare, social sciences, as well as humanities and arts.
On Violence against women the statistics continue to be depressing:
• Violence against women is a universal phenomenon.
• Women are subjected to different forms of violence – physical, sexual, psychological and economic – both within and outside their homes.
• The ILO has estimated that more than 43% of people trafficked across borders are used for forced commercial sexual exploitation, of whom 98 % are women and girls.
• Rates of women experiencing physical violence at least once in their lifetime vary from several percentages to over 59% depending on where they live.
• Female genital mutilation – the most harmful mass perpetuation of violence against women – shows a slight decline. Yet in several countries the percentage of women aged 15–49 that were subjected to female genital mutilation is extremely high, and it even approaches 100%
• In many regions of the world longstanding customs put considerable pressure on women to accept abuse.
Statistics on Work also show a considerable gap:
• Globally, women’s participation in the labour market remained steady in the two decades from 1990 to 2010; the gender gap in labour force participation remains considerable at all ages except the early adult years.
• Vulnerable employment is prevalent in many countries in Africa and Asia, especially among women.
• Occupational segregation and gender wage gaps continue to persist in all regions.
Nevertheless, the most striking gender gap can be seen in the power and decision making positions:
• Becoming the Head of State or Head of Government remains elusive for women, with only 20 women in the world currently holding either position. More precisely, only 10 of 150 elected Heads of State in the world are women, and only 10 of 192 Heads of Government.
• In just 23 countries do women comprise a critical mass – over 30% – in the lower or single house of their national parliament.
• Worldwide on average only one in six cabinet ministers is a woman.
• Women are highly underrepresented in decision-making positions at local Government levels.
• In the private sector, women continue to be severely underrepresented in the top decision-making positions.
• Only 13 of the 500 largest corporations in the world have a female Chief Executive Officer.
I could go on and on with similar statistics, but I think you do not need to be convinced that unless women share power on an equal basis with men, be it in the family or in the wider society and unless women have equal opportunities with men to participate actively in the political, social and economic life of their countries and internationally, democracy and democratic values will continue to be ill - served. Let us not forget that the true meaning of democracy is the empowerment of people, men and women alike.
It has been said and rightly so, that “All too often women set the table and clean the table, but have neither a seat nor a say at the table when key decisions are reached”. This is also true concerning the major decisions on peace and security, from where women are almost totally absent in most parts of the world. In just a handful of countries the glass ceiling has already been broken with the appointment of women to top Government positions.
Regrettably, though, women rarely, if ever, participate in peace talks or post conflict reconstruction efforts. Women can play a most important role in peace efforts and security building, as well as in the direction of economic, social and political reconstruction in post conflict situations.
Cypriot women and men, living in a divided country, are fully determined to play such a role in building bridges of peace and reconciliation. They are determined to work hard for the reunification of their homeland, and for creating an environment where their children and the future generations of Cypriots will live in peace, security and prosperity for all, in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic society where co-operation, tolerance will work towards meeting the common interests.
Cypriot youth look to the 21st century with hope and expectations. I have no doubt that achieving full gender equality in your generation will continue to remain an objective high on your agenda, together with progress, prosperity and development, but above all peace. It is my conviction that you shall spare no effort to see this unfinished goal become a reality.
What remains to be done by all of us is to redouble our efforts in the family, in the social, economic and in the public spheres, until the global goal for women’s empowerment is fully realized. Until our goal as citizens of the world for a more humane society, for a more peaceful world and for a safer environment to raise our children is fulfilled. Fulfilling these goals remains a precondition for achieving the Millennium Development Goals, by meeting the challenges of reducing poverty, promoting sustainable development and building a durable peace, democracy and good governance around the world.
Let me conclude by a quote from Dante, which I always find very pertinent: "The hottest place in hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of moral crisis". Indeed, there can be no neutrality in the struggle for gender equality and women's empowerment, as there can be no neutrality in the struggle for freedom and human rights.