Gathering on the Occasion of the 110th Anniversary of International Women’s Day 2020

(As delivered)

Excellency Mr. Pham Binh Minh, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam

My Co-Chair of the Informal Ambassadors and Heads of Agencies Gender Policy Coordination Group, H.E. María Jesús Figa   López-Palop, Ambassador of Spain

Excellencies Ambassadors,

Ladies and gentlemen,

It is a pleasure for me to be here to celebrate the 110th Anniversary of International Women’s Day with you and to see so many people in the audience. Thank you for coming.

This year, on its 110th Anniversary, the theme for International Women’s Day is: “I Am Generation Equality: Realizing Women’s Rights”. The theme invites us to focus on accelerating efforts to advance gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls all over the world.

2020 is a pivotal year for advancing gender equality worldwide. It marks 25 years since the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action– the most progressive blueprint for advancing women’s rights; it is also 20 years since UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security; it is 5 years since the Sustainable Development Goals were agreed; 10 years since the creation of UN Women; and 75 years since the founding of the United Nations.

In Viet Nam, we have seen remarkable progress on women’s rights and leadership in some areas, notably on access to education and maternal health and in strengthening the legal and institutional framework for gender equality.

But in many areas, we are running just to stay on track: we face pushback and slow progress. Let me provide a few examples:

• The National Assembly has its first chairwoman but 72.7% of delegates at the National Assembly are still men.
• A gender pay gap of 13% persists in wages, with a continuing concentration of women in low-paid jobs in the informal sector who are outside the scope of the Labour Code, without access to social protection.
• There is a high prevalence of violence against women and girls and imbalance in the sex-ratio at birth.
• On average women do three times as much unpaid care and domestic work as men.

Nevertheless, Viet Nam has accomplished a lot and, overall, is doing quite well.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 is a prerequisite for and the great enabler of sustainable development and the SDGs as a whole. Unless progress on gender equality is accelerated, the global community will not only fail to achieve SDG 5, it will also forgo the catalytic effect that gender equality can have for the achievement of all the 17 SDGs and the 2030 Agenda more broadly.

A lot of work therefore remains to be done to tackle the unfulfilled promise of the Beijing Platform.

UN Women, together with feminists across the world, and the Governments of Mexico and France, will convene the Generation Equality Forum in Mexico City from 7 to 8 May, and in Paris from 7 to 10 July 2020.

The Generation Equality Forum in Paris which will mark the 25th Anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action will launch a set of six catalytic Action Coalitions to drive investment and produce tangible, irreversible results on gender equality. The six catalytic Action Coalitions include:

1. Gender-Based Violence
2. Economic Justice and Rights
3. Bodily autonomy and sexual and reproductive health and rights
4. Feminist action for climate justice
5. Technology and innovation for gender equality
6. Feminist movements and leadership

Action Coalitions are global, innovative, multi-stakeholder partnerships that will mobilize governments, civil society, international organizations, and the private sector to catalyze collective action for game-changing results across generations for girls and women.

We hope that Viet Nam will be an active part of all these Generation Equality Coalitions both this year and in the years ahead.

Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen,

As the ASEAN Chair for 2020 and a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for 2020-2021, Viet Nam has unique and synergistic opportunities to showcase its leading role in promoting gender equality in the region and the world this year.

The United Nations stands ready to continue to support the people and the government of Viet Nam in this important endeavour.

Xin Cam on! Thank you!