[bilingual, as delivered, follows; click here for all-English and all-French].
The session of the Commission on the Status of Women is one of the most important annual events at the United Nations.
It takes on even greater significance at a time when women’s rights are being abused, threatened, and violated around the world.
Progress won over decades is vanishing before our eyes.
In Afghanistan, women and girls have been erased from public life.
In many places, women’s sexual and reproductive rights are being rolled back.
In some countries, girls going to school risk kidnapping and assault.
In others, police prey on vulnerable women they have sworn to protect.
Gender equality is growing more distant. On the current track, UN Women puts it 300 years away.
Maternal mortality is increasing. One woman dies every two minutes during pregnancy or childbirth; most of those deaths are preventable.
The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic continues for millions of girls forced out of school, mothers and caregivers forced out of paid employment, and children forced into early marriage.
From Ukraine to the Sahel, crisis and conflict affect women and girls first and worst.
And at the international level, some countries now even oppose the inclusion of a gender perspective in multilateral negotiations.
Chers amis,
La patriarchie contre-attaque. Mais nous ripostons.
Je le clame haut et fort : l’ONU se tient aux côtés des femmes et des filles du monde entier.
La Vice-Secrétaire générale et la Directrice exécutive de l’ONU Femmes se sont récemment rendues en Afghanistan, avec un message clair à l’attention des autorités du pays : les femmes et les filles ont des droits humains fondamentaux, et nous ne renoncerons jamais à lutter pour ces droits.
Les équipes pays des Nations Unies et les organismes humanitaires à travers le monde contribuent à fournir une aide pratique et des soins aux femmes en situation de crise. L’égalité des genres et l’investissement dans les filles et les femmes sont au cœur de notre action humanitaire et de développement.
Nos missions politiques et de maintien de la paix continuent de promouvoir la participation des femmes à tous les processus de paix avec énormément d’obstacles, et de veiller à ce que les priorités des femmes fassent pleinement partie de notre action politique. C’est la seule voie vers une paix durable et pérenne.
Mesdames les représentantes, Messieurs les représentants, chers amis,
Soyons clairs : les cadres internationaux ne sont pas adaptés aux besoins et aspirations des femmes et des filles du monde. Il est grand temps de les changer.
Mes initiatives en faveur d’un plan de relance des Objectifs de développement durable et d’une réforme du système financier mondial visent à accroître les moyens d’investir dans les femmes et les filles au niveau national.
Notre rapport sur Notre Programme commun met l’accent sur l’égalité des genres, dans tout ce que nous faisons.
J’ai demandé au système des Nations Unies de faire en sorte que tout notre soutien aux États Membres en prévision du Sommet de l’avenir reflète notre engagement pour l’égalité des genres et les droits des femmes.
Dans le cadre de Notre Programme commun, j’ai commandé un examen indépendant de nos capacités en matière d’égalité des genres sur l’ensemble de nos activités.
Les conclusions et recommandations porteront sur les structures, le financement et le leadership, afin que nous puissions mieux servir les femmes du monde entier.
La parité femmes-hommes parmi notre personnel est une étape essentielle vers l’égalité des genres dans nos travaux.
Cinq ans après le lancement de la Stratégie sur la parité des genres applicable à l’ensemble du système des Nations Unies, nous avons déjà parcouru un long chemin.
Distinguished delegates, dear friends,
Your focus this year on closing gender gaps in technology and innovation could not be more timely.
Because as technology races ahead, women and girls are being left behind.
The math is simple: without the insights and creativity of half the world, science and technology will fulfil just half their potential.
Three billion people are still unconnected to the internet, the majority of them women and girls in developing countries.
In Least Developed Countries, just 19 percent of women are online.
Globally, girls and women make up just one-third of students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
In the tech industry, men outnumber women two to one. But in Artificial Intelligence, only about 1 out of five workers is a woman. And artificial intelligence is shaping our future world. Let’s hope it will not be shaped in a totally gender-biased way.
The Covid-19 pandemic magnified inequalities in access to the internet and intensified the dangers women and girls face online.
Misogynistic disinformation and misinformation flourish on social media platforms.
So-called “gender-trolling” is specifically aimed at silencing women and forcing them out of public life.
The stories may be fake, but the damage done is very real.
Distinguished delegates, dear friends,
Centuries of patriarchy, discrimination and harmful stereotypes have created a huge gender gap in science and technology.
Women account for just three percent of Nobel Prize winners in science categories.
Three years ago, Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna made history as the first all-women team to win a Nobel prize in science. Ever.
Teams of men have shared the prize 172 times.
Big data is the “new gold”, and the foundation of today’s political and business decisions.
But it often ignores gender differences – or turns a blind eye to women altogether – resulting in products and services that bake in gender inequality from the start. We see gender bias algorithms proliferate everywhere.
We cannot let the Silicon Valleys of our world become Death Valleys for women’s rights.
We need the full contributions of all, for a future in which humanity controls technology rather than the other way around.
Gender inequality is a question of power. Today, I call for urgent action to equalize power in three ways.
First, increasing education, income and employment for women and girls, particularly in the Global South.
Connecting women in the Global South to the online world requires us to address rising levels of poverty and inequality.
Second, leaders must promote women’s and girls’ full participation and leadership in science and technology, from governments to board rooms and classrooms.
The United Nations’ first-ever report on technology, innovation, education and gender equality provides many recommendations. They must be followed.
It calls for gender-responsive education and skills training; algorithms that align with human rights and gender equality; and investment in bridging the digital gender divide.
More than ever, we need collective action by governments, civil society, the private sector, and the technology community.
Third, we must create a safe digital environment for women and girls.
The United Nations is working with other stakeholders to advance a Code of Conduct for information integrity on digital platforms. The goal is to reduce harm and increase accountability while defending the right to freedom of expression.
Excellencies,
Promoting women’s full contributions to science, technology and innovation is not an act of charity or a favour to women. It is a must and it benefits everyone.
When women get medical services online, their families and communities are healthier.
When women access online banking and resources, without bias, they start businesses that benefit their societies and economies.
When women have access to safe digital platforms, they build communities that can change the world. Look at the #MeToo movement.
And when women scientists and technologists tackle global problems, they multiply the chance of finding solutions.
Many technology leaders, especially women, know that inequality and exclusion are a moral and commercial dead end.
Women and girls are leading efforts to make science and technology accessible, inclusive, and safe.
And in many countries, girls are studying science, technology and math in record numbers. This must be followed everywhere.
Women and girls will not be silenced.
Their demands for their rights and freedoms echo around the globe.
The Commission on the Status of Women is a dynamo and catalyst for the transformation we need.
Together, let’s push back against the push back on misogyny and forward for women, girls, and our world.
Thank you.
