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Women, girls should have same access to better life: UN chief

Xinhua, March 16, 2016 Adjust font size:

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon emphasized Tuesday that women and girls should have the same access to education, employment in order to improve their lives and safeguard their rights.

The secretary-general made the remarks at the inaugural meeting of the High-Level Panel on Women's Economic Empowerment at UN Headquarters in New York, where the 60th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), a two-week event, is taking place.

"Women and girls deserve the same access to quality education, economic resources and political participation as men and boys," Ban said, noting this is both the global agenda and his own personal philosophy.

The meeting took place on the second day of the 60th session of CSW, the principal global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women. The priority theme for the session is "women's empowerment and its link to sustainable development."

Women and girls "must also enjoy the same employment, legal rights, leadership and decision-making opportunities," Ban said.

Launched at the World Economic Forum in Davos this January, the Panel is expected to provide recommendations linked to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development on how to improve economic outcomes for women and promote their leadership in driving sustainable and inclusive, environmentally sensitive economic growth, according to UN Women.

The Panel, which is co-chaired by Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solis and Simona Scarpaleggia, CEO of IKEA Switzerland, will produce the first report this September, followed by a final report in March 2017.

The Panel is strategically positioned to demonstrate high-level leadership and commitment to realizing women's economic empowerment, to set priorities for accelerating women's economic empowerment, and to demonstrate how they are already being successfully carried out, and to serve as examples of how government, business, civil society and development partners can join forces for women's economic empowerment, Ban said.

The Panel is backed by the UN Women, the UN International Labour Organization (ILO), the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, with support for its work provided by the United Kingdom's Department of International Development. Enditem