UNITED NATIONS — (AP) — Confronting a rising backlash against women's rights, the U.N.'s 193 member nations made a commitment Monday to accelerate action on more than a dozen fronts to achieve gender equality.
A political declaration adopted at the start of the annual meeting of the U.N.’s preeminent body promoting equality for women and girls recognizes that men and boys must be “strategic partners and allies” to achieve the goal.
The declaration — approved by consensus and a bang of the gavel by the chair of the Commission on the Status of Women — coincides with the 30th anniversary of the Beijing women’s conference where the world’s nations adopted a 150-page roadmap to achieve gender equality.
While it recognizes progress toward implementing the Beijing platform, the declaration also recognizes that after 30 years no country has achieved gender equality and that progress has been “slow and uneven,” with major gaps and obstacles to overcome.
A report released last week by UN Women, the agency focused on empowering women, found that nearly one-quarter of governments worldwide reported a backlash against women’s rights in 2024. Its policy and program director, Sarah Hendriks, told a news conference the number of countries reporting a backlash is likely underreported and reflects “an increasingly hostile environment.”
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told Monday's meeting that three decades after Beijing's conference, women's rights are " under siege." Hard-won gains are being thrown into reverse, he said, pointing to attacks on reproductive rights and the discarding of initiatives promoting gender equality.
“The poison of patriarchy is back — and it is back with a vengeance: slamming the brakes on action, tearing-up progress, and mutating into new and dangerous forms,” he warned.
"Age-old horrors like violence, discrimination and economic inequality are rife," the U.N. chief said. "The gender pay gap still stands at 20%. Globally, almost one in three women have been subject to violence. And horrific sexual violence in conflict is happening from Haiti to Sudan."
He said new technologies including artificial intelligence are creating new platforms for violence and abuse, “normalizing misogyny and online revenge.” One result, he said, is that “up to 95% of all online deepfakes are non-consensual pornographic images. Ninety percent depict women.”
The 189 countries that attended the 1995 Beijing conference called for bold action in 12 areas, including combating poverty and gender-based violence, advancing women’s rights and health, and putting women at top levels in business, government and at peacemaking tables.
The Beijing platform also said for the first time in a U.N. document that women have the right to decide “on matters relating to their sexuality, including their sexual and reproductive health, free of discrimination, coercion and violence.”
Guterres urged governments and people around the world who care about equality for women and girls “to stand up and speak out” — and deliver on Beijing’s promise.
The eight-page declaration adopted Monday calls for “concrete action,” including:
— Promoting women’s access to credit and entrepreneurship.
— Reducing women’s unpaid care work by expanding systems to care for children, the needy and disabled.
— Reducing women’s domestic work by promoting equal sharing of household responsibilities with men.
— Closing the gender digital divide so all women can benefit from technology and innovation.
— Ensuring access to quality education for girls and lifelong learning for women.
— Adopting, implementing and funding national plans to prevent and eliminate violence against women and girls.
At last year’s opening of the annual two-week meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women, there were five male speakers in a row — a lineup that made some of the men uneasy and was somewhat baffling to the hundreds of women in the packed General Assembly chamber.
On Monday, the CSW chair, Saudi Arabia’s U.N. Ambassador Abdulaziz Alwasil, opened the meeting in the same packed chamber but had three young women speak immediately after him.
He called the Beijing conference “a watershed moment” but told the ministers and diplomats that 30 years later, its commitments remain an urgent promise that all countries must turn into action.
“Real progress demands inclusive governance, sustained investments and unwavering political will,” he said.
The political declaration, adopted with sustained applause and a few cheers, recommends one possible action.
It encourages U.N. member nations to nominate women for the next secretary-general. The U.N. has never had a female chief, and Guterres’ successor will be chosen next year for a five-year term starting on Jan. 1, 2027.