Achieving gender equality needs concerted effort: UN

Achieving gender equality by 2030 is an ambitious endeavor which needs concerted effort, said a senior UN official here on Thursday.

"Corporations are increasingly recognizing that wide gaps still exist in women's political and economic participation," said Lakshmi Puri, deputy executive director of the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), at a conference on gender equality and corporate social responsibility (CSR) held in east China's Hangzhou city.

The two-day forum provides a platform for corporations from China and other countries to share best practices and learn how to better integrate gender equality issues into their CSR programs.

Companies need to deliberately include gender equality and women's empowerment in their strategic plans, budgets, and CSR programs, said Puri.

To achieve gender equality is one of the 17 new goals on the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted at the Sustainable Development Summit in New York in September.

China has a constitutional principle of equality between men and women, which is a basic state policy.

The number of female entrepreneurs accounts for one quarter of the total in China, and about 55 percent of new Internet businesses are founded by women. Endi