“Education for democracy as a central element for the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women”

On behalf of the Secretary-General, I would like to thank International IDEA and the Council of Europe for hosting the Sixth High Level Meeting of the Inter-Regional Dialogue on Democracy.

For the United Nations, engagement with regional, intergovernmental and civil society organizations – especially on democracy-related issues – is increasingly important in the current international context. This meeting provides a unique platform for exchanging experiences and ideas to further reinforce the dialogue between the United Nations and your Organizations.

The current international context is shaped by a large number of protracted crises, ever more frequent natural disasters and an overall feeling that governance institutions at all levels are failing to provide adequate responses. Here in Europe, like in other regions, displacement and migration, economic troubles and violent extremism have been exploited to fuel sentiments in societies that have resulted in a worrying level of political polarisation and isolationist tendencies not seen in recent decades.

These challenges are not manageable by any one organization on its own. We need to work across national, regional and international levels. Inclusive dialogue within and among societies is necessary. The work of regional organizations, such as the Council of Europe and its partners – focusing on human rights, democracy and the rule of law – is absolutely essential in generating this dialogue.

Inclusiveness requires that everybody can make themselves heard, that everyone has the same opportunities and rights. And yet, in the 21st century, half of the World’s population – women and girls – still does not have full equality. The World Economic Forum recently released a report saying that “if current trends continue, a baby girl born today will only see the gender gap in health, education, economic opportunity and politics completely close around the world if she lives to 83.”

This cannot be what we want for our children or grand-children. And our leaders have made this very clear, when they adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In Goal number 5 the international community agreed to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls by 2030.

The Sustainable Development Goals set out a vision of the world “in which democracy, good governance and the rule of law…are essential for sustainable development…” Goal 16 has the clearest links to democracy, calling for inclusive societies and accountable institutions. Gender equality clearly is crucial for good governance and democratic institutions as it cuts across the global agenda. The agenda as a whole is a major opportunity to bring about the change that is necessary to tackle the challenges all our societies, including democracies here in Europe, are facing.

In recognition of the close linkages between democracy and the SDGs, this year’s theme for the International Day of Democracy on 15 September was “Democracy and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”. As the Secretary-General noted in his statement on the Day, “The Goals demonstrate an important dynamic: effective democratic governance enhances quality of life for all people; and human development is more likely to take hold if people are given a real say in their own governance, and a chance to share in the fruits of progress.”

This really needs to apply to all people. In too many places, women are not given a say or do not equally share the fruits of progress. To make sure that women and men have equal opportunities and benefit from progress to the same extent, the United Nations has a range of programmes to close the gender gap. This includes assistance and collaboration at the local, national, regional and international levels.

The Millennium Development Goals have shown that progress can be achieved with political commitment and determined leadership. The target to eliminate gender disparity in primary, secondary and tertiary education was achieved. And by 2015, Women made up 41 per cent of paid workers outside the agricultural sector, an increase from 35 per cent in 1990. But these numbers also show that more needs to be done to get to planet 50-50 by 2030.

Barriers to gender equality are still encountered in all aspects of life. This is why engagement at the grassroots level is critical. UN entities continue to contribute to education for democracy to promote gender equality and to empower women. In particular, the UN Democracy Fund (UNDEF) supports and helps design projects with civil society organizations in more than 100 countries. Initiatives supported by UNDEF range from empowering Syrian refugee women in Turkey and Lebanon by educating them about their rights, to training women judges in Malawi. These and many other projects have a direct impact on women, empowering them to play a greater role in political life which ultimately benefits all of us, men and women.

But even the many women who are equally or even better educated, trained and qualified than their male counterparts continue to face glass ceilings when it comes to leadership positions in our societies, be it in the private or public sectors. Our colleagues from the Inter-Parliamentary Union, with whom we collaborate closely to promote democracy worldwide, show that only 22.8% of members of national parliaments globally are women [as of 1 September 2016]. While this is a continued increase as compared with the past few years, progress remains painfully slow and uneven and still falls far short of global aspirations.

United Nations entities continue to engage in providing technical support and advice to Member States’ efforts, including capacity- building and training for women’s groups and women candidates; assistance in sensitization and training on gender issues as well as assistance to stakeholders in increasing women’s participation in electoral management bodies.

And at the international level, the Beijing Platform for Action launched at the Fourth World Conference on Women in September 1995 unleashed remarkable political will and worldwide visibility to promote gender equality. UN Women has been at the forefront of making sure that the spirit of Beijing continues to be shared across the international community and has provided invaluable support to our Member States in translating political will into concrete action. 20 years later, we have to keep accelerating this progress. Ensuring that the different processes and initiatives from local to international levels are aligned in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is an important challenge and regional organizations can and should play an important role in making it happen.

Across the world, we do see great examples of women leaders, of parliaments that have achieved or are close to achieving gender parity and of effective programmes to support gender equality. Exchanging these experiences and best practices at the regional level is an important way to advance the shared goal of reaching gender equality and truly inclusive democracy by 2030.

Ladies and gentlemen,

The full and equal participation of women at all levels of society is a desirable goal in and of itself, based firmly on the key principles of universal human rights. But it also contributes to the promotion of peace and security worldwide. By ensuring women’s full political participation and representation, domestic constituencies are expanded, national ownership is broadened and credibility of mediation efforts is enhanced – all necessary ingredients for reaching long-term sustainable peace and security.

In addition to the SDGs, this year the General Assembly and the Security Council adopted identical resolutions on Sustaining Peace . The resolutions emphasize the importance of a comprehensive approach to sustaining peace including through accountability, good governance, democracy, accountable institutions, and gender equality.

These resolutions reinforce the messages from the report of the High Level Panel on Peace Operations last year, as well as the review of Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security, that conflict prevention should be a central priority of the United Nations and that women must be fully engaged in these efforts. This is why our Department of Political Affairs, often in partnership with regional organizations, supports training for women’s political participation in peace processes. There has been a steady upward trend for women’s representation on delegations in peace negotiations, but we still have a lot of work to do to ensure equal participation. And we cannot do it alone.

Both the Sustainable Development Goals and the Sustaining Peace resolutions emphasise the important role of regional organizations. The United Nations’ commitment to close collaboration with regional organizations is anchored in chapter eight of our charter. And it is clear that on the topic of today’s discussions, just like across the entire 2030 Agenda, regional organizations have a crucial role to play.

While their mandates may differ, regional organizations have all established normative and policy frameworks, legal instruments and specific mechanisms to achieve gender equality. Many have dedicated commissions or committees tasked with gender mainstreaming, combating discrimination and violence against women and promoting women’s political empowerment in their respective regions.

Inclusiveness, especially the inclusion of women and their empowerment, and diversity are not just norms to guide our behaviour. Inclusiveness and diversity are preconditions to enduring peace, sustainable development, resilient communities and institutions, and pluralistic democracy. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is our collective roadmap to achieving these goals. It is very ambitious, and we need to mobilize our comparative advantages by collaborating horizontally across national, regional and international levels. This meeting is a very welcome opportunity to deepen our collaboration in this spirit and I and my colleagues across the United Nations system look forward to continuing our work together with you in the years to come.

Thank you very much.