UN official says gender equality benefits all, not just women

The benefits of gender equality are not just for women and girls, but "for everyone whose lives will be changed by a fairer world", UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said in her message for International Women's Day, which falls on Sunday.

In 2020, a massive year for gender equality, "we're mobilizing to realize women's rights, and to mark 25 years of implementing the Beijing Platform for Action" -- the historic and landmark gender equality plan drawn up in the Chinese capital, Xinhua news agency quoted the UN Women chief as saying on Saturday.

"We don't have an equal world at the moment and women are angry and concerned about the future," she said. "They are radically impatient for change.

It's an impatience that runs deep, and it has been brewing for years."

Mlambo-Ngcuka underscored that girls are disappointed with "the stewardship of our planet, the unabated violence directed against them and the slow pace of change in fulcrum issues like education".

"My greatest impatience is with unmoving economic inequality," she said, calling it "a driver of repeating poverty."

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She said that policies were needed, which promote equality in childcare responsibilities and provide state support to families and those who work in the informal economy.

Though "radically impatient," Mlambo-Ngcuka said "we are not giving up."

She cited the hopes: growing support in tackling gender-bias barriers, a driving will for change across generations and countries, and the last 25 years showing what is needed to accelerate action for equality.