WORLD
UN chief announces first-ever High-Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment
Baku, January 22, AZERTAC
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today announced the first-ever High-Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment to provide leadership and mobilize concrete actions aimed at closing economic gender gaps that persist around the world, according to UN Radio.
“The empowerment of the world’s women is a global imperative,” said Mr. Ban in a press release, issued while he attends dozens of events at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
“Yet despite important progress in promoting gender equality, there remains an urgent need to address structural barriers to women’s economic empowerment and full inclusion in economic activity,” he added. “If the world is to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs), we need a quantum leap in women’s economic empowerment.”
According to UN Women, the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, the panel will provide recommendations for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to improve economic outcomes for women and promote women’s leadership in driving sustainable and inclusive, environmentally sensitive economic growth.
It is backed by the United Kingdom, the World Bank Group and UN Women, with the President of Costa Rica, Luis Guillermo Solis, and the CEO of IKEA Switzerland, Simona Scarpaleggia, as the panel co-chairs. They will be joined by a diverse range of eminent gender and equality actors, economics experts, academics, trade union leaders, business and government representatives from all regions.