Achieving gender equality: Looking for real commitment

'Human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights.' Remember these much celebrated words? Hilary Clinton’s inspirational speech almost 20 years ago at what would become the cornerstone of women’s rights – the Beijing Declaration – was sure to make headlines and has helped the women’s rights movement make strides since.

However, women and girls continue to suffer gender-based violence, femicide, female genital mutilation and cutting, inequality, child marriage, and so much more – even in 2014. Plan EU’s latest Because I Am a Girl report  states: “Worldwide, more than a quarter of girls experience sexual abuse and violence; 66 million are still not in school; and in the developing world, one in every three is married before her eighteenth birthday.” Rights violations for women affect the children in their lives. Women are the real change agents, determined to improve their children’s future and expanding their opportunities – for both boys and girls.

Achieving gender equality is a core objective of Plan’s work. Girls and boys have the same rights and should be able to realise them to the same degree. Promoting equality between girls and boys during pre-school education is key in “planting equality”. As we celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD) in 2014, we particularly celebrate women and men inspiring change. People like Hilary Clinton or the brave Malala paving new paths forward.

Also celebrating this special day, the European Parliament’s FEMM Committee hosted several events while particularly focusing on Violence against Women in Europe. The Committee launched a report with shocking results such as “one in three women having experienced physical and/or sexual violence since the age of fifteen”.

Commissioner Piebalgs issued a statement that “the EU will not rest until all forms of violence and discrimination suffered by women and girls are eradicated – wherever we work.”

However, almost 20 years of such commitment hasn’t proven to be enough to eliminate inequality. It is time to finally, fully and equally acknowledge half of the world’s population, to advance gender justice and speed up the progress. Creating greater gender equality in the design and implementation of EU policies and programmes is needed to move forward. Let’s put words into practice. After all, equality for women is progress for all.

Plan EU office

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