As the world marks International Women’s Day tomorrow, March 8, it is essential to reflect on how far we have come in the defense and promotion of women’s rights, and to propose long-term reforms that address the gaps and challenges that remain.
The Philippines is an exceptional case. The country has a strong, vibrant women’s movement and committed allies in government that have been instrumental in passing important reforms, particularly those promoting sexual and reproductive health and ensuring the protection of women against gender-based harassment.
France and Mexico contribute to this global advocacy by pursuing a “genuine feminist foreign policy” that supports women empowerment by combating gender-based violence, fighting for occupational equality, and advocating education for girls.
France is committed to ensuring that 50 percent of its official development assistance is attributed—through the French Development Agency (AFD)—to projects that support gender equality. In the Philippines, the AFD supported a €500,000 three-year project led by the Cameleon Association in which sexually abused girls from Negros Occidental were provided education, health services, and psychological support.
In Mexico, the current administration has launched a feminist foreign policy, the first of its kind in Latin America, that prioritizes gender equality, nondiscrimination, and women’s human rights based on five principles: foreign policy with a gender perspective and a feminist agenda abroad; parity within the Foreign Ministry; a Foreign Ministry free of violence that is safe for all; visible equality; and feminism in all areas of the Foreign Ministry.
As the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, UN Women works globally to accelerate progress on meeting their needs worldwide. UN Women Philippines collaborates with the government and supports the strong voices of women’s civil society to advance women’s meaningful participation in leadership and in building sustainable peace, promote economic empowerment and decent work opportunities, and ensure that all women and girls live a life free from all forms of violence.
While UN Women, France, Mexico, the Philippines, and many others are equally committed to the global campaign for women’s rights and gender equality, more concrete action is certainly needed. Despite the gains achieved over the last decades, women all over the world continue to suffer from gender-based violence, economic inequality, the lack of access to education, and outdated misogynistic practices, among others.
2020 is a pivotal year for the international community to come together and propose more solutions. This year, France and Mexico cochair the Generation Equality Forum—a civil society-centered, multistakeholder, global gathering for gender equality, convened by UN Women with the leadership of civil society.
The Generation Equality Forum will gather stakeholders from various sectors to chart a fresh and bold feminist agenda and convene a group of Champion Countries that are committed to the creation of a multilateral gender-progressive partnership. This event will serve as a global space to celebrate the power of women’s rights activism and feminist solidarity to achieve transformative change.
At the heart of this initiative is the participation of young women (together with young men), who will be given the opportunity to be heard and contribute to the crafting of this agenda to ensure the protection of their rights, and that structural reforms will be inter-generational.
The Generation Equality Forum, which will kick off in Mexico City on May 7 and culminate in Paris on July 7, comes at the most opportune time. While game-changing conversations on women’s rights and gender equality have been taking place all over the world, much more work needs to be done to achieve long-term institutional and behavioral changes and eliminate the gender gap.
We look forward to the engagement of the Philippine government, civil society, private sector, and the youth in this global campaign.
Nicolas Galey is the French ambassador to the Philippines, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, and Palau. Gerardo Lozano Arredondo is the ambassador of Mexico to the Philippines, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, and Palau. Carla Silbert is officer in charge of UN Women Philippines.