Making the United Nations Relevant to all People
- This event has passed.
Women in Power
12/03/2019
The President of the General Assembly hosted a High-Level Event on ‘Women in Power’ on 12 March 2019. The High-Level event brought together senior leaders and other participants from governments, observers to the General Assembly, the UN system, private sector and civil society to identify barriers that hinder women’s participation and leadership, and to share best practices that can accelerate women’s empowerment in this area.
CALL TO ACTION
In the immediate aftermath of the High-Level Event of the President of the United Nations General Assembly: ‘Women in Power’, women leaders from diverse backgrounds and from a broad cross section of Member States have come together in a ground-breaking ‘Call for Action’ to achieve full equality for women.
Background
Women’s equal participation and leadership in all spheres of life is essential to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century. In the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, Member States acknowledged that women are a fundamental force for leadership, conflict resolution and the promotion of lasting peace. In the same vein, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development calls for women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life.
Women and girls represent half of the global population, yet, women continue to be underrepresented in leadership positions in every region of the world. As of November 2018, only 10 per cent of UN Member States have a female Head of State or Government. Globally, only 24 per cent of parliamentarians are women. In 31 States, women account for less than
10 per cent of parliamentarians in single or lower houses, including 4 chambers with no women at all. Similarly, among the 2018 Fortune 500 companies, only 24 have women CEOs and 12 companies have no women at all on their board.
In 2011, the General Assembly expressed its concern that women in every part of the world continue to be largely marginalized from the political sphere often as a result of discriminatory laws, practices, attitudes and gender stereotypes, low levels of education, lack of access to health care and the disproportionate effect of poverty on women. The General
Assembly also invited States to exchange experience and best practices on women’s political participation and encouraged States to support programmes that facilitate women’s participation in political and other leadership activities (A/RES/66/130).
Objectives
In this context, the high-level event will be an opportunity for participants to identify barriers that hinder women’s full participation and leadership, and to share best practices that can accelerate women’s empowerment in this area. The high-level event will also engage young women leaders to foster an environment of mentoring and dialogue between present and
future leaders.
Participation, Format and Outcome
The high-level event will bring together senior leaders and other participants from governments, the UN system, private sector and civil society, including youth organizations, to share experiences and learn from success stories on advancing women’s leadership.
The program will feature an opening segment and three high-level roundtables. The President of the General Assembly will also host a working luncheon with young women leaders. A President’s summary of the discussions at the high-level event will be circulated to all Member States and other stakeholders.
Accreditation and Participation
Member States
The high-level event will be open to Member States of the General Assembly registered for the sixty-third session of the Commission on the Status of Women. The deadline for registration to the sixty-third session of the Commission on the Status of Women is 27 February 2019.
Seating for Member States of the General Assembly will follow the General Assembly seating protocol for the 73rd session.
Stakeholders
- Observers of the General Assembly and the United Nations system, including funds, programmes and specialized agencies
Observers of the General Assembly and the United Nations system, including funds and programmes, and specialized agencies of the United Nations, will have designated seating on a first come, first served basis.
2. Access for NGOs
A limited number of seats in the 4th floor balcony of the General Assembly will be available to representatives of non-governmental organizations in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) that are registered to participate in the sixty-third session of the Commission on the Status of Women. The registration for non-governmental organizations in consultative status with ECOSOC to participate in CSW has been concluded. The use of the seats will require secondary tickets, to be distributed on a first-come first-served basis in the Visitor Lobby of the General Assembly Building on 11 March 2019 at 3.00 pm.
Media
Media are welcome to cover the high-level event and to conduct press encounters, in accordance with the United Nations media accreditation procedure. The accreditation for the sixty-third session of the Commission on the Status of Women closes on 7 March 2019.
Regarding accreditation, media accompanying Heads of State or Government or Heads of Delegation, including official photo and video, must request media passes in advance through the eAccreditation system on the e-Delegate portal: https://delegate.un.int/. Media members who wish to apply independently should follow the instructions at: http://www.un.org/en/media/accreditation/accreditation.shtml.
For any media inquiry other than accreditation and liaison, please contact the Office of the President of the General Assembly (Mr. Mark Seddon at seddon@un.org)
High-Level Roundtables
Each high-level roundtable will include speakers invited by the President of the General Assembly. The introductory statements by all speakers is expected to last around 30 minutes, after which the floor will be open for informal interventions.
Discussions in the high-level roundtable are intended to be interactive in nature, and there will be no pre-established list of speakers. Time limits for interventions will be two minutes.
PaperSmart Services will be available for the high-level event. Delegations are kindly requested to submit electronic versions of their interventions for posting on the PaperSmart portal to papersmart@un.org. The title and the date of the meeting should be indicated in the subject line of the e-mail. Member States and observers who cannot intervene within the timeframe of the high-level roundtables may also submit it to PaperSmart.
Webcast
The United Nations Webcast services will provide live streaming coverage of the high-level event in 6 languages as well as on-demand coverage (recorded video) in English and original language, through the UN Web TV website at: http://webtv.un.org. The coverage will include the opening segment and the high-level roundtables.
