Udenrigsudvalget 2018-19 (1. samling)
URU Alm.del Bilag 169
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Commission on the Status of Women
Sixty-third session
11
–
22 March 2019
Social protection systems, access to public services and sustainable infrastructure for
gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls
Agreed conclusions
1. The Commission on the Status of Women reaffirms the Beijing Declaration and Platform for
Action, the outcome documents of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly and
the declarations adopted by the Commission on the occasion of the tenth, fifteenth and twentieth
anniversaries of the Fourth World Conference on Women.
2. The Commission reiterates that the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the Optional
Protocols thereto, as well as other relevant conventions and treaties, such as the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, provide an
international legal framework and a comprehensive set of measures for realizing gender equality
and the empowerment of all women and girls and the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights
and fundamental freedoms by all women and girls, throughout their life cycle.
3. The Commission reaffirms that the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcome
documents of its reviews, and the outcomes of relevant major United Nations conferences and
summits and the follow-up to those conferences and summits, have laid a solid foundation for
sustainable development and that the full, effective and accelerated implementation of the Beijing
Declaration and Platform for Action will make a crucial contribution to the implementation of the
2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and to achieving gender equality and the empowerment
of all women and girls.
4. The Commission also reaffirms the commitments to gender equality and the empowerment of
all women and girls made at relevant United Nations summits and conferences, including the
International Conference on Population and Development and its Programme of Action and the
outcome documents of its reviews. It recognizes that the SIDS Accelerated Modalities of Action
(SAMOA) Pathway, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030, the Addis
Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development, and
the New Urban Agenda contribute, inter alia, to the improvement of the situation of all women
and girls in the context of social protection, public services and sustainable infrastructure. The
Commission recalls the Paris Agreement, adopted under the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change.
5. The Commission recalls the Declaration on the Right to Development and the New York
Declaration for Refugees and Migrants.
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6. The Commission recognizes the importance of relevant International Labour Organization
standards related to the realization of women’s right to work and rights at work that are critical for
the economic empowerment of women, and to social protection and public services, including ILO
Recommendation 202 on Social Protection Floors, and recalls the decent work agenda of the
International Labour Organization and the International Labour Organization Declaration on
Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, and notes the importance of their effective
implementation.
7. The Commission acknowledges the important role played by regional conventions, instruments
and initiatives in their respective regions and countries, and their follow-up mechanisms, in the
achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls including through
promotion of their access to social protection, public services and sustainable infrastructure.
8. The Commission reaffirms that the promotion and protection of, and respect for, the human
rights and fundamental freedoms of all women and girls, including the right to development, which
are universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated, are crucial for the full and equal
participation of women and girls in society and for women’s economic empowerment and should
be mainstreamed into all policies and programmes aimed at the eradication of poverty and the
reduction of social exclusion. The Commission also reaffirms the need to take measures to ensure
that every person is entitled to participate in, contribute to and enjoy economic, social, cultural and
political development, and that equal attention and urgent consideration should be given to the
promotion, protection and full realization of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights.
9. The Commission reiterates that the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development needs to be
implemented in a comprehensive manner, reflecting its universal, integrated and indivisible nature,
taking into account different national realities, capacities and levels of development and respecting
each country’s policy space and leadership while remaining consistent with relevant international
rules and commitments, including by developing cohesive sustainable development strategies to
achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. The Commission affirms that
Governments have the primary responsibility for the follow-up to and review of the 2030 Agenda
at the national, regional and global levels with regard to progress made.
10. The Commission emphasizes the mutually reinforcing relationship among achieving gender
equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, and the full, effective and accelerated
implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the gender-responsive
implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It acknowledges that gender
equality and the empowerment of women and girls and women’s full and equal participation and
leadership are essential for achieving sustainable development, promoting peaceful, just and
inclusive societies, enhancing sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth and
productivity, ending poverty in all its forms and dimensions everywhere and ensuring the well-
being of all.
11. The Commission
recognizes the progress made in women’s and girls’ access to social
protection, public services and sustainable infrastructure, particularly in the areas of health and
education. The Commission also recognizes that significant challenges and gender gaps remain,
and that, in some contexts, progress could be undermined by budget cuts and austerity measures.
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The Commission stresses the importance of not reversing the levels of protection previously
achieved and of addressing the remaining gaps that constrain equal access for women and girls to
social protection systems, public services and sustainable infrastructure.
12. The Commission recognizes that progress in achieving gender equality and the empowerment
of all women and girls, and the full enjoyment of their human rights has been held back owing to
the persistence of historical and structural unequal power relations between women and men,
poverty, inequalities and disadvantages in access to, ownership of and control over resources,
growing gaps in equality of opportunity and limited access to social protection systems and public
services, including universal health-care services and education, gender-based violence,
discriminatory laws and policies, negative social norms and gender stereotypes, and the unequal
sharing of unpaid care and domestic work. It stresses the urgency of eliminating those structural
barriers in order to realize gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls.
13. The Commission strongly condemns all forms of violence against all women and girls, which
is rooted in historical and structural inequality and unequal power relations between men and
women. It reiterates that violence against women and girls in all its forms and manifestations, in
public and private spheres, including sexual and gender-based violence, domestic violence, and
harmful practices such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation, are
pervasive, underrecognized and underreported, particularly at the community level. It expresses
deep concern that women and girls may be particularly vulnerable to violence because of
multidimensional poverty, limited or lack of access to justice, effective legal remedies and
services, including protection, rehabilitation, reintegration, and to health-care services. It re-
emphasizes that violence against women and girls is a major impediment to the achievement of
gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls and violates and impairs or nullifies
their full enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms.
14. The Commission stresses that sexual harassment in private and public spaces, including in
educational institutions and the workplace, as well as in digital contexts, leads to a hostile
environment, which has a further negative impact on women and girls in the enjoyment of their
rights, equal opportunities, including full and equal access to public services and sustainable
infrastructure, and has negative and physical and mental health consequences for the victims and
may negatively affect their families.
15. The Commission recognizes the importance of improving public services and infrastructure
such as transportation and sanitation facilities in order to enhance the safety of women and girls.
The Commission expresses its concern that certain aspects of mobility and transportation,
including inaccessible platforms, overcrowded carriages, or poorly lit stops can create barriers for
women and girls and can expose them to violence, including attacks, harassment and other threats
to their safety, limiting their ability to move freely and safely in the public sphere. The Commission
is also concerned that women and girls are particularly at risk while collecting household water
and fuel and when accessing sanitation facilities outside their homes.
16. The Commission recognizes that poverty, unemployment, lack of socio-economic
opportunities, lack of social protection, pervasive gender inequality and violence, discrimination,
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marginalization, and persistent demand are among the underlying causes that make women and
girls vulnerable to human trafficking.
17. The Commission expresses its deep concern about slow or stagnant economic growth and
development, the rising inequalities within and among countries, volatile food and energy prices,
continuing food and energy insecurity, the remaining effects of the world financial and economic
crises, water scarcity, epidemics, demographic changes, unplanned and rapid urbanization of
populations, insufficient investment in development, unsustainable fisheries practices and use of
marine resources, natural hazards, natural disasters and environmental degradation, and the
increasing challenges caused by humanitarian emergencies, displacement, armed conflicts and the
adverse impacts of climate change, all of which are exacerbating disadvantages, vulnerabilities
and inequalities that women and men, girls and boys and their families face in accessing social
protection systems, public services and sustainable infrastructure.
18. The Commission expresses concern that the feminization of poverty persists and emphasizes
that the eradication of poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, is
indispensable for women’s economic empowerment and sustainable development. It recognizes
that parents, including young parents, who live in poverty may not have access to health and
education for their children, perpetuating the cycle of intergenerational poverty. The Commission
acknowledges the need to elaborate and implement, where appropriate, in consultation with all
relevant stakeholders, comprehensive, participatory, gender-sensitive poverty eradication
strategies that address social, structural and macroeconomic issues in order to ensure an adequate
standard of living for women and girls, including through social protection systems, access to
public services and sustainable infrastructure.
19. The Commission expresses its concern about the continuing significant gender gaps in labour
force participation and leadership, wages, income, pensions and social protection, as well as access
to economic and productive resources. It is further concerned about the undervaluation of female-
dominated industries, unequal working conditions, limited opportunities for career advancement,
as well as the growing high incidence of informal and non-standard forms of employment where
women are overrepresented. It also
expresses concern that these factors can restrict women’s
access to social protection when entitlements are tied closely to formal employment, which can
perpetuate women’s economic insecurity and poverty. The Commission recognizes that
investments in and the provision of equitable, inclusive, quality, accessible and affordable early
childhood education and care services are crucial in enabling women to enter and remain in the
labour market.
20. The Commission is deeply concerned that climate change poses challenges for poverty
eradication and the achievement of the 2030 Agenda, social protection, public services and
sustainable infrastructure and sustainable development, and women and girls, especially in
developing countries, including small island developing States, are often disproportionately
affected by the adverse impacts of climate change, extreme weather events and natural disasters
and other environmental issues, including land degradation, desertification, deforestation, sand and
dust storms, persistent drought, sea level rise, coastal erosion and ocean acidification. Furthermore,
the Commission recalls the Paris Agreement and that the Parties thereto acknowledged that they
should, when taking action to address climate change, respect, promote and consider gender
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equality, the empowerment of women and girls and intergenerational equity and, in this context,
also recalls the adoption of a gender action plan by the Conference of the Parties to the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change at its twenty-third session. It acknowledges
the necessity for every person, including women and girls, of present and future generations to
have access to an environment adequate to their health, well-being and the critical importance of
ensuring such access for the empowerment of women and girls and the sustainable development
and resilience of communities. The Commission recognizes the important role of sustainable
development in averting the loss and damage associated with the effects of climate change, and of
reducing the risk of loss and damage, especially for women and girls in vulnerable situations, as
well as the active role of women as agents of change in safeguarding the environment.
21. The Commission emphasizes that social protection systems, public services and sustainable
infrastructure are interlinked and mutually reinforcing. It stresses the need for coordinated
approaches, financing and policy coherence at all levels to ensure that social protection systems,
public services and infrastructure policies complement one another.
22. The Commission stresses the need for integrated approaches to the design, implementation and
evaluation of social protection systems, public services and sustainable infrastructure that respond
to the needs of women and girls and recognize and value unpaid care and domestic work, enable
the mobility of women and girls, strengthen women’s participation in public and political life as
well as their economic opportunities, in particular their full and productive employment and decent
work and equal pay for equal work or work of equal value, and strengthen their resilience to
shocks.
23. The Commission recognizes that social protection systems, access to public services and
sustainable infrastructure have not adequately addressed the needs of caregivers and care
recipients. It further recognizes that women and girls often undertake a disproportionate share of
unpaid care and domestic work, including caring for children, older persons, persons with
disabilities and persons living with HIV and AIDS which continues to be undervalued and
underrecognized. Such uneven distribution of responsibilities between women and men is a
significant constraint for women’s completion of, or progress in, education and training,
on entry
and re-entry and advancement in the paid labour market and on their economic opportunities and
entrepreneurial activities, and can result in gaps in social protection, pay and pensions. It also
recognizes that creating an enabling environment for the social and economic empowerment of all
women and girls, requires addressing attitudes and negative social norms by which women and
girls are regarded as subordinate to men and boys at the household and community levels. The
Commission stresses the need to recognize and adopt measures to reduce and redistribute the
disproportionate share of unpaid care and domestic work by promoting the equal sharing of
responsibilities between women and men within the household and by prioritizing, inter alia,
sustainable infrastructure, nationally appropriate social protection policies and accessible,
affordable and quality social services, including care services, child care, maternity, paternity or
parental leave.
24. The Commission notes that universal access to social protection plays a central role in reducing
inequality, eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, and promoting inclusive growth. It
reiterates that everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being
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of themselves and their families, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary
social services and that motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. The
Commission, however, is concerned that coverage gaps remain, especially for women and girls. It
recognizes that social protection systems can make a critical contribution to the fulfilment of
human rights for all, in particular for those who are trapped in poverty and those who are
marginalized or in vulnerable situations and subject to discrimination.
25. The Commission notes the vital importance of birth registration for the realization of all human
rights, including the right to social security, as well as access to social protection systems and
expresses concern at the low levels of birth registration amongst some indigenous women and
girls, women and girls with disabilities, migrant women and girls, and those women and girls in
rural areas, and expresses further concern that all persons without birth registration may be more
vulnerable to marginalization, exclusion, discrimination, violence, statelessness, exploitation and
abuse.
26. The Commission reaffirms the right of every human being to the enjoyment of the highest
attainable standard of physical and mental health, without distinction of any kind, and recognizes
that its full realization is vital for women’s and girls’ lives and well-being
and for their ability to
participate in public and private life, and that it is crucial for achieving gender equality and
empowering all women and girls. It recognizes that targeting and eliminating the root causes of
gender inequality, discrimination, stigma and violence in health-care services, including the
unequal and limited access to public health services, is important for all women and girls.
27. The Commission emphasizes the need to accelerate progress towards the goal of universal
health coverage that comprises universal and equitable access to gender-responsive, quality health
services and quality, essential, affordable and effective medicines for all, and that it is critical to
promote physical and mental health and well-being, especially through primary health care, health
services and social protection mechanisms, including the promotion thereof through community
outreach and private sector engagement and with the support of the international community. It
stresses the importance of strengthening health systems in terms of availability, accessibility,
acceptability and quality in order to better respond to the needs of all women and girls, including
those living in rural areas, and enabling the active participation of women in the design and
implementation of health systems.
28. The Commission expresses its deep concern that, as a result of the lack of or limited access to
essential health-care services and information and limited agency over their own lives, rural
women experience significant disparities in health, including reproductive health outcomes, such
as higher rates of maternal and infant mortality and morbidity and obstetric fistula, as well as more
limited options for family planning, than women in urban areas. It expresses further concern that
those disparities are exacerbated by multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination.
29. The Commission recognizes that despite gains in providing access to education, girls are still
more likely than boys to remain excluded from education. It also recognizes that among the gender-
specific barriers to girls’ equal enjoyment of their right to education are the feminization of
poverty, child labour undertaken by girls, child, early and forced marriage, female genital
mutilation, early and repeat pregnancies, all forms of gender-based violence, including sexual
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violence and harassment on the way to and from, and at school, in their technology mediated
environment, the lack of safe and adequate sanitation facilities, including menstrual hygiene, the
disproportionate share of unpaid care and domestic work performed by girls, and gender
stereotypes and negative social norms that lead families and communities to place less value on
the education of girls than that of boys and may influence the decision of parents to allow girls to
attend school.
30.
The Commission recognizes that women public service workers are underrepresented in
leadership and decision-making roles, and overrepresented in front-line service delivery roles. The
Commission further recognizes the need to provide workers with decent work and just and
favourable conditions of work, including living wages, especially for women engaged in the
delivery of public services.
31. The Commission recognizes that transport systems, when planned, should take into account
the needs of women and girls, and that certain features, including inaccessible platforms,
overcrowded carriages, or poorly lit stops can create barriers for women’s and girls’ access to
public services. The Commission reaffirms the importance of safe, affordable, accessible, age-,
gender- and disability-sensitive and sustainable land and water transport systems and roadways
that meet the needs of women and girls, and the commitment to enable meaningful participation
of women and girls in social and economic activities, by integrating transport and mobility plans
into overall rural, urban and territorial plans and promoting a wide range of transport and mobility
options.
32. The Commission expresses deep concern that women and girls face particular barriers in
accessing safe and affordable drinking water and adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene,
especially those living in isolated and remote communities, including in post-disaster settings,
evacuation and refugee camps, and in informal urban and rural settlements. It is also concerned
that women and girls are particularly affected by water scarcity, unsafe water, inadequate
sanitation and poor hygiene, and that they shoulder the main burden of collecting household water
and care responsibilities arising from water-borne diseases in many parts of the world, restricting
their time for other activities, such as education and leisure, or for earning a livelihood.
33. The Commission recognizes the potential benefits and challenges of new forms of information
and communication technology, including artificial intelligence, for the use and delivery of public
services, in fields such as social protection, public services and infrastructure while more attention
needs to be paid to the impacts of this technology on women and girls.
34. The Commission acknowledges the benefit of implementing family-oriented policies aimed at,
inter alia, achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, the full
participation of women in society, work-family balance and the self-sufficiency of the family unit
and recognizes the need to ensure that all social and economic development policies including
social protection policies, as well as public services and sustainable infrastructure, are responsive
to the changing needs and expectations of families in fulfilling their numerous functions and that
the rights, capabilities and responsibilities of all family members are respected.
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35. The Commission recognizes that the sharing of family responsibilities creates an enabling
family environment for women’s economic empowerment in the changing world of work, which
contributes to development, that women and men make a significant contribution to the welfare of
their family, and that, in particular, women’s contribution to the home, including unpaid care and
domestic work, which is still not adequately recognized, generates human and social capital that
is essential for social and economic development.
36. The Commission acknowledges the important role of national mechanisms for the promotion
of gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, the relevant contribution of national
human rights institutions, where they exist, and the important role of civil society in achieving
gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls as well as in advancing the
implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the gender-responsive
implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
37. The Commission acknowledges that all women and girls might not be able to fully access and
benefit from social protection systems, public services and sustainable infrastructure when they
face multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, and marginalisation. It respects and values
the diversity of situations and conditions of women and girls and recognizes that some women
face particular barriers to their empowerment. It also stresses that while all women and girls have
the same human rights, women and girls in different contexts have particular needs and priorities,
requiring appropriate responses.
38. The Commission recognizes that the positive contributions of migrant women and girls, in
particular women migrant workers, have the potential to foster inclusive growth and sustainable
development in countries of origin, transit and destination. It underlines the value and dignity of
migrant women’s labour in all sectors, including the labour
of domestic and care workers. It is
concerned that many migrant women, particularly those who are employed in the informal
economy and in less skilled work, are especially vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. The
Commission acknowledges the importance of assisting women migrant workers at all skills levels
to have access to social protection in countries of destination and profit from the portability of
applicable social security entitlements and earned benefits in their countries of origin or when they
decide to take up work in another country. The Commission also recognizes the need to strengthen
efforts to provide, make available and disseminate accurate, timely, accessible, and transparent
information on migration-related aspects for and between states, communities, and migrants at all
stages of migration.
39. The Commission acknowledges the need to address effects of armed conflict and post-conflict
situations on women and girls, including victims and survivors of sexual violence, and their access
to social protection systems.
40. The Commission recognizes the challenges faced by refugee women and girls and the need to
protect and empower them, including in countries affected by armed conflict and post conflict
situations, and the need to strengthen the resilience of communities hosting refugees by providing
humanitarian assistance to people in need.
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41. The Commission stresses the importance of strengthening the voice, agency, participation and
leadership of women and girls as users and beneficiaries of social protection systems, public
services and sustainable infrastructure. It also acknowledges the full, equal, effective and
meaningful participation and leadership of women at all levels of decision-making in the design,
development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies in these sectors so that they
support the empowerment of women and girls and address remaining gaps and biases.
42.
The Commission welcomes the major contributions made by civil society, including women’s
and community-based
organizations, feminist groups, women human rights defenders, girls’ and
youth-led organizations and trade unions in placing the interests, needs and visions of women and
girls, including those living in rural areas, on local, national, regional and international agendas,
including the 2030 Agenda. It also recognizes the importance of having an open, inclusive and
transparent engagement with civil society in the implementation of measures to achieve gender
equality and the empowerment of women and girls.
43. The Commission reaffirms the importance of significantly increasing investments to close
resource gaps for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls through,
inter alia, the mobilization of financial resources from all sources, including domestic and
international resource mobilization and allocation, the full implementation of official development
assistance commitments and combating illicit financial flows, so as to build on progress achieved
and strengthen international cooperation, including North-South, South-South and triangular
cooperation, bearing in mind that South-South cooperation is not a substitute for, but rather a
complement to, North-South cooperation. It also affirms that accelerated investments in social
protection systems, public services and sustainable infrastructure, including in rural areas and outer
islands are important for the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women
and girls.
44. The Commission underscores that, for all countries, public policies and the mobilization and
effective use of domestic resources, underscored by the principle of national ownership, are central
to the common pursuit of sustainable development, including social protection, public services and
sustainable infrastructure, and recognizing that domestic resources are first and foremost generated
by economic growth, supported by an enabling environment at all levels, including well-
functioning, efficient and transparent tax systems.
45. The Commission recognizes the importance of a conducive external environment in support of
national efforts towards the economic empowerment of women, through promoting the control,
ownership, management and participation of women in all sectors and levels of the economy,
which includes the mobilization of adequate financial resources, capacity-building and the transfer
of technology on mutually agreed terms, which in turn would enhance the use of enabling
technologies to promote
women’s entrepreneurship and economic empowerment.
46. The Commission recognizes the importance of the full engagement of men and boys as agents
and beneficiaries of change, and as strategic partners and allies in the promotion of women’s and
girls’ access
to social protection systems, public services and sustainable infrastructure and in the
achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls.
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47. The Commission urges governments at all levels and as appropriate, with the relevant entities
of the United Nations system and international and regional organizations, within their respective
mandates and bearing in mind national priorities, and invites civil society, inter alia, women’s
organizations, producer, agricultural and fisheries organizations, youth-led organizations, feminist
groups, faith-based organizations, the private sector, national human rights institutions, where they
exist, and other relevant stakeholders, as applicable, to take the following actions:
Strengthen normative, legal and policy frameworks
a. Take action to fully implement existing commitments and obligations with respect to the
achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls and the full and
equal enjoyment of their human rights and fundamental freedoms so as to improve their lives,
livelihoods, and well-being;
b. Consider ratifying or acceding to, as a matter of particular priority, the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of
the Child, and the Optional Protocols thereto, limit the extent of any reservations, formulate any
such reservations as precisely and as narrowly as possible to ensure that no reservations are
incompatible with the object and purpose of the Conventions, review their reservations regularly
with a view to withdrawing them, withdraw reservations that are contrary to the object and purpose
of the relevant Convention and implement the Conventions fully by, inter alia, putting in place
effective national legislation and policies;
c.
Ensure women’s full and equal participation
including in institutions of governance and the
judicial system, and secure their empowerment and full and equal access to justice;
d. Consider ratification of and, for those that have done so, implementation of the fundamental
conventions of the International Labour Organization, and note the importance of other relevant
international labour standards, namely the Social Security Convention, 1952 (No. 102) the Social
Protection Floors Recommendation, 2012 (No. 202), as well as the Transition from the Informal
to the Formal Economy Recommendation, 2015 (No. 204) of the International Labour
Organization; and ILO Convention 189 on Decent work for Domestic Workers, in order to
contribute to women’s access to social protection;
e. Refrain from promulgating and applying any unilateral economic, financial or trade measures
not in accordance with international law and the Charter of the United Nations that impede the full
achievement of economic and social development, particularly in developing countries;
f. Ensure the right to social security in national legal frameworks, as well as ensure universal access
to social protection, supported by national strategies, policies, action plans, and adequate
resources, to enhance gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls;
g. Adopt a comprehensive and integrated approach to the design, budgeting, implementation,
monitoring and evaluation of social protection systems, public services and sustainable
infrastructure to ensure gender-responsive policymaking processes, including public financial
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management and public procurement processes are designed to realize gender equality and the
empowerment of women and girls;
h. Ensure that social protection, public services and sustainable infrastructure contribute to efforts
to eliminate, prevent and respond to all forms of violence against women and girls in public and
private spaces, through multisectoral and coordinated approaches to investigate, prosecute and
punish the perpetrators of violence against women and girls and end impunity, and to provide
protection and equal access to appropriate remedies and redress to comprehensive social, health
and legal services for all victims and survivors to support their full recovery and reintegration into
society including by providing access to psychosocial support and rehabilitation, access to
affordable housing and employment, and bearing in mind the importance of all women and girls
living free from violence, such as sexual and gender-based violence, including sexual harassment,
domestic violence, gender-related killings, including femicide, as well as elder abuse; address the
structural and underlying causes of violence against women and girls through enhanced prevention
measures, research and strengthened coordination, monitoring and evaluation, by, inter alia,
encouraging awareness-raising activities, including through publicizing the societal and economic
costs of violence, and work with local communities;
i. Eliminate harmful practices, such as female genital mutilation and child, early and forced
marriage, which may have long-term
effects on girls’ and women’s lives, health and bodies,
including increased vulnerability to violence and sexually transmitted diseases and which continue
to persist in all regions of the world despite the increase in national, regional and international
efforts, including by empowering all women and girls, working with local communities to combat
negative social norms that condone such practices and empowering parents and communities to
abandon such practices, by confronting family poverty and social exclusion, and ensuring that girls
and women at risk or affected by these practices have access to social protection and public
services, including education and health care;
j. Devise, strengthen and implement comprehensive anti-trafficking strategies that integrate a
human rights and sustainable development perspective, and enforce, as appropriate, legal
frameworks, in a gender- and age-sensitive manner to combat and eliminate all forms of trafficking
in persons, raise public awareness of the issue of trafficking in persons, in particular women and
girls; take measures to reduce the vulnerability of women and girls to modern slavery and sexual
exploitation, provide access, as applicable to protection and reintegration assistance to victims of
trafficking in persons; strengthen cooperation among all relevant actors to identify and disrupt
illicit financial flows stemming from trafficking in women and girls, while also recognizing the
need to protect the confidentiality of personal data of victims; and enhance international
cooperation, information sharing, legislative and other measures, to counter the demand that
fosters all forms of exploitation of persons, especially women and girls;
k. Take all appropriate measures to recognize, reduce and redistribute women’s and girls’
disproportionate share of unpaid care and domestic work by promoting the reconciliation of work
and family life, equal sharing of responsibilities between women and men,
and men’s equitable
sharing of responsibilities with respect to care and household work, including as fathers and
caregivers, through flexibility in working arrangements without reductions in labour and social
protections, support for breastfeeding mothers, the provision of infrastructure, technology and
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public services, such as water and sanitation, renewable energy, transport and information and
communications technology, and the implementation and promotion of legislation and policies
such as maternity, paternity, parental and other leave schemes, as well as accessible, affordable
and quality social services, including child care and care facilities for children and other
dependents and take steps to measure the value of this work in order to determine its contribution
to the national economy, and challenge gender stereotypes and negative social norms in order to
create an enabling environment for women’s empowerment;
l. Ensure access to social protection for unpaid caregivers of all ages, including coverage for health
care and pensions, and in this regard strengthen social protection schemes that promote, as
appropriate, the economic, social and legal recognition of unpaid care and domestic work, and
allow such work to be valued within contributory schemes;
m. Invest in and strengthen family-oriented policies and programmes that are responsive to the
diverse, specific and changing needs of women and girls and their family, as well as address the
imbalances, risks and barriers that they face in enjoying their rights and protect all family members
against any form of violence, ensure that adequate measures are in place to protect and support
women, including in cases of widowhood, such as access to the full range of social services and
access to justice, as those policies and programmes are important tools for, inter alia, fighting
poverty, social exclusion and inequality, promoting work-family balance and gender equality and
the empowerment of all women and girls and advancing social integration and intergenerational
solidarity;
n. Fully engage men and boys as agents and beneficiaries of change, and as strategic partners and
allies in promoting women’s and girls’ access to social protection systems, public services and
sustainable infrastructure; eliminating all forms of violence and discrimination against them, in
both public and private spheres, by understanding and addressing the root causes of gender
inequality, such as unequal power relations, gender stereotypes and practices that perpetuate
discrimination against women and girls; designing and implementing national policies and
programmes that address the roles and responsibilities of men and boys, including the equal
sharing of responsibilities between women and men in care and domestic work; ensuring the
enforcement of child support laws; and transforming, with the aim of eliminating, negative social
norms that condone violence against women and girls and attitudes by which women and girls are
regarded as subordinate to men and boys;
o. Integrate a gender perspective into the design, implementation and evaluation of and follow-up
to development policies, plans and programmes, including budget policies, where lacking, on
social protection, public services and sustainable infrastructure, ensuring coordination between
line ministries, gender policymakers, gender equality mechanisms and other relevant government
organizations and institutions with gender expertise, and appropriate collaboration with the private
sector, non-governmental and civil society organizations and national human rights institutions,
where they exist, paying increased attention to the needs of women and girls to ensure that they
benefit from policies and programmes adopted in all spheres;
p. Guarantee the universal registration of births and ensure the timely registration of all marriages,
including by removing physical, administrative, procedural and other barriers that impede access
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to registration and by providing, where lacking, mechanisms for the registration of births and
marriages, including customary and religious marriages, bearing in mind the vital importance of
birth registration for the realization of the rights of individuals including the right to social security
as well as access to public services;
q. Strengthen the capacity of national mechanisms for the promotion of gender equality and the
empowerment of women and girls, at all levels, with sustainable and adequate funding, including
through official development assistance, to support the mainstreaming of a gender perspective into
the design, delivery and evaluation of social protection, public services and sustainable
infrastructure, enhancing their linkages and implementing these three focus areas;
r. Eliminate all forms of discrimination against all women and girls and implement targeted
measures to address, inter alia, multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination and ensure that
all women and girls enjoy equal access, both in law and in practice, to social protection, public
services and sustainable infrastructure, which can, among others, contribute to the eradication of
poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty and, in particular, the
feminization of poverty, and to the reduction of inequalities through the adoption, where needed,
of laws and comprehensive policy measures and their effective and accelerated implementation
and monitoring, ensuring women’s and girls’ access to justice and accountability for violations of
their human rights; ensure that the provisions of multiple legal systems, where they exist, comply
with international human rights obligations;
s. Promote and protect the rights of indigenous women and girls living in rural and remote areas
by addressing the multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination and barriers they face,
including violence, ensuring access to quality and inclusive education, health care, public
services, economic resources, including land and natural resources, and women’s access to decent
work, and promoting their meaningful participation in the economy and in decision-making
processes at all levels and in all areas, while respecting and protecting their traditional and
ancestral knowledge, recognizing that indigenous women and girls living in rural and remote
areas, regardless of age, often face violence and higher rates of poverty, limited access to health
care services, information and communication technologies (ICT), infrastructure, financial
services, education and employment, while also recognizing their cultural, social,
economic, political and environmental contributions, including to climate change mitigation
and adaptation;
t. Promote and protect the rights of women and girls with disabilities, who face multiple and
intersecting forms of discrimination, including by ensuring access, on an equal basis with others,
to economic and financial resources and disability-inclusive and accessible social infrastructure,
transportation, justice mechanisms and services, in particular in relation to health and education
and productive employment and decent work for women with disabilities, as well as by ensuring
that the priorities and rights of women and girls with disabilities are fully incorporated into policies
and programmes, and that they are closely consulted and actively involved in decision-making
processes;
u. Adopt national gender-responsive migration policies and legislation, in line with relevant
obligations under international law, to protect the human rights of all migrant women and girls,
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regardless of migration status; to recognize the skills and education of women migrant workers to
promote their economic empowerment in all sectors and, as appropriate, facilitate their productive
employment, decent work and integration into the labour force, including in the fields of education
and science and technology; recognize the importance of protecting labour rights and a safe
environment for women migrant workers and those in precarious employment including
preventing and addressing abuse and exploitation, protecting women migrant workers in all sectors
and promoting labour mobility; provide newly arrived migrant women with targeted, gender-
responsive, child-sensitive, accessible and comprehensive information and legal guidance on their
rights and obligations, including on compliance with national and local laws, obtaining of work
and resident permits, status adjustments, registration with authorities, access to justice to file
complaints about rights violations, as well as access to basic services; encourage cooperation
among various stakeholders including countries of origin, transit and destination in ensuring that
migrant women and girls have adequate identification and the provision of relevant documents to
facilitate access to social protection mechanisms; and facilitate the sustainable reintegration of
returning migrant women and girls by providing them with equal access to social protection and
services;
v. Take measures to adopt or develop legislations and policies that provide rural women’s access
to land and support women’s cooperatives and agricultural programmes, including for subsistence
agriculture and fisheries, in order to contribute to school feeding programmes as a pull factor to
keep children, in particular girl children, in school, noting that school meals and take-home rations
attract and retain children in schools and recognizing that school feeding is an incentive to enhance
enrolment and reduce absenteeism, especially for girls;
w. Strengthen efforts to achieve universal access to HIV and AIDS prevention, treatment, care and
support, and provide HIV-sensitive social protection measures, including cash transfers and other
multisectoral programmes, as appropriate, to ensure access to health-care, education, housing and
employment for all women and girls, living with, at risk of, or affected by HIV and AIDS,
including co-infections and other sexually transmitted infections; address their specific needs and
concerns without stigma or discrimination, and promote the active and meaningful participation,
contribution and leadership of women and girls living with HIV and AIDS in HIV and AIDS
responses;
x. Promote the effective and meaningful participation of older women, where relevant, in the
design and implementation of normative and political frameworks related to social security and
social protection systems, public services and infrastructure that benefit them;
y. Promote access to social protection, public services and sustainable infrastructure and
mainstream a gender perspective when designing and monitoring public policies, and, taking into
account the specific needs and realities of women and girls of African descent and bearing in mind
the Programme of activities for the implementation of the International Decade for People of
African Descent;
z. Ensure that women and girls belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities
have equal and non-discriminatory access to social protection systems, public services and
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sustainable infrastructure, including quality education, and take steps to provide affordable child
care and affordable transportation to and from work;
aa. Eliminate occupational segregation by addressing structural barriers, gender stereotypes and
negative social norms, promoting women’s equal access to and participation in labour markets and
in education and training, supporting women so as to diversify their educational and occupational
choices in emerging fields and growing economic sectors, such as science, technology, engineering
and mathematics and information and communications technology, recognizing the value of
sectors that have large numbers of women workers;
bb. Enact or strengthen and enforce laws and regulations that uphold the principle of equal pay for
equal work or work of equal value in the public and private sectors as a critical measure to
eliminate the gender pay gap, provide in this regard effective means of redress and access to justice
in cases of non-compliance and promote the implementation of equal pay policies through, for
example, social dialogue, collective bargaining, job evaluations, awareness-raising campaigns, pay
transparency and gender pay audits, as well as certification and review of pay practices and
increased availability of data and analysis on the gender pay gap;
cc. Provide social protection systems, public services and sustainable infrastructure that support
the
productivity and economic viability of women’s work and protect women, especially those
working in the informal economy, in rural and urban areas, while supporting their transition from
the informal to the formal economy to ensure an adequate standard of living and take measures to
address unsafe and unhealthy working conditions in the informal economy by promoting
occupational safety and health protection for workers in the informal economy;
dd. Take measures to facilitate the financial inclusion and financial literacy of women and their
equal access to formal financial services, including timely and affordable credit, loans, savings,
insurance, and remittance transfer schemes; integrate a gender perspective into finance sector
policy and regulations, in accordance with national priorities and legislation, encourage financial
institutions, such as commercial banks, development banks, agricultural banks, microfinance
institutions, mobile network operators, agent networks, cooperatives, postal banks and savings
banks, to provide access to financial products, services and information to women, and encourage
the use of innovative tools and platforms, including online and mobile banking;
Strengthen women’s and girls’ access to social protection
ee. Encourage and recognize the efforts at all levels to establish and strengthen social protection
systems and measures, including national safety nets and programmes for all women and girls,
such as food and cash-for-work, cash transfer and voucher programmes, school feeding
programmes and mother-and-child nutrition programmes, and increase investment, capacity-
building and systems development;
ff. Improve the design, implementation and evaluation of social protection systems and nationally
appropriate measures based on context-specific assessment of risks and vulnerabilities for all
women and girls;
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gg. Work towards establishing or strengthening inclusive and gender-responsive social protection
systems, including floors, to ensure full access to social protection for all without discrimination
of any kind, and take measures to progressively achieve higher levels of protection, including
facilitating the transition from informal to formal work;
hh. Ensure that social protection measures are effectively incorporated into humanitarian response
in the context of natural disasters, armed conflict and post-conflict situations, and other
emergencies, while strengthening gender-responsive programming and planning; and recognize
the important role social protection systems can play in disaster risk management strategies in
building the resilience of communities and individuals and helping them cope with shocks,
including those related to climate change, including through the transition of short-term emergency
response programmes into long-term social protection systems;
ii. Implement nutrition policies and provide integrated food and nutritional support and services,
with special attention to women, girls, infants and young children; ensure their access at all times
to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food requirements for an
active and healthy life; and support adequate care and optimal feeding practices, especially during
pregnancy, lactation and infancy when the nutritional requirements are increased, including
promoting exclusive breastfeeding up to six months with adequate complementary feeding
thereafter, therefore contributing to women’s full and equal access to social protection and
resources;
jj. Promote legal, administrative and policy measures that strengthen unemployment protection
schemes and ensure women's full and equal access to pensions, including access to income security
for older women, through contributory and/or non-contributory schemes that are independent of
their employment trajectories, and reduce gender gaps in coverage and benefit levels;
kk. Assist migrant workers at all skills levels to have access to social protection in countries of
destination and profit from the portability of applicable social security entitlements and earned
benefits in their countries of origin or when they decide to take up work in another country;
ll. Guarantee access to maternity protection, and promote, inter alia, paid maternity, paternity and
parental leave and adequate social security benefits for both women and men, taking appropriate
steps to ensure they are not discriminated against when availing themselves of such benefits and
promoting men’s awareness and incentivizing their use of such opportunities, as a means of
enabling women to increase their participation in the labour market; recognize the social
significance of maternity, paternity, motherhood, fatherhood and the shared responsibility of
parents in the upbringing of children; and provide appropriate assistance to parents and legal
guardians in the performance of their child-rearing responsibilities through the development of
universal and affordable services and facilities for the care of children, including breastfeeding
facilities in the workplace;
mm. Assess the need for and promote the revision of conditionalities, where they exist, related to
cash transfer programmes inter alia to avoid reinforcing gender stereotypes and exacerbating
women’s unpaid work; ensure that they are adequate, proportional and non-discriminatory
and that
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non-compliance does not lead to punitive measures that exclude women and girls who are
marginalized or in vulnerable situations;
Strengthen access to public services for women and girls
nn. Ensure that quality public services are available, affordable, accessible and acceptable to all
women and girls, including in situations of natural disasters and other humanitarian emergencies,
displacement and armed conflict and post-conflict situations;
oo. Prioritize investments that contribute to the equal sharing of responsibilities between women
and men, including through accessible and affordable child care and other support services; extend
the coverage and ensure equitable, inclusive, quality, accessible and affordable early childhood
education and care services and facilities; and increase the availability of after school services for
children and adolescents;
pp. Identify and remove barriers that constrain women’s and girls’ access to public services,
such
as geographic, legal and institutional barriers, including in rural and remote areas, in order to
guarantee their access to these services on a regular basis and during emergencies;
qq. Take concrete measures to realize the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standards
of physical and mental health for all women and girls; as well as ensuring availability, accessibility,
acceptability and quality health-care services to address all communicable and non-communicable
diseases including through universally accessible primary health care and support services and
social protection mechanisms;
rr. Accelerate progress towards the goal of universal health coverage for all women and girls that
comprises universal and equitable access to affordable quality essential, effective health-care
services and medicines for all, while ensuring that the use of such services and medicines does not
expose the users to financial hardship;
ss. Ensure and increase financial investments in affordable and accessible quality public health-
care systems and facilities for all women and girls with safe, effective, quality, essential and
affordable medicines and vaccines for all and health technologies, the systematic utilization of new
technologies, and integrated health information systems, including through community outreach,
private sector engagement, the support of the international community;
tt. Increase investments in a more effective, socially accountable, motivated, appropriately
equipped and well trained health workforce with ongoing education and training; and address the
shortage and inequitable distribution of health-care workers by promoting decent work with
adequate remuneration and incentives to secure the presence of qualified health-care professionals
in rural and remote areas, including by utilising digital technologies for health care providers and
patients, enabling safe working environments and conditions, and expanding community-based
health education and training;
uu. Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights in
accordance with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and
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Development and the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of their review
conferences, including universal access to sexual and reproductive health-care services, including
for family planning, information and education, and the integration of reproductive health into
national strategies and programmes, and recognizing that the human rights of women include their
right to have control over and decide freely and responsibly on all matters related to their sexuality,
including sexual and reproductive health, free of coercion, discrimination and violence, as a
contribution to the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of women and the
realization of their human rights;
vv. Take measures to reduce maternal, neonatal, infant and child mortality and morbidity, and
increase access to quality health care before, during and after pregnancy and childbirth to all
women through interventions such as improving transportation and healthcare infrastructure to
ensure that women can access emergency obstetric services and training and equipping community
health workers, nurses and midwives, to provide basic prenatal and postnatal care and emergency
obstetric care, inter alia, by providing voluntary, informed family planning and empowering
women to identify risk factors and complications of pregnancy and childbirth and facilitate their
access to health facilities;
ww.
Promote and respect women’s and girls’ right to education throughout the life cycle and at
all levels, especially for those who have been left furthest behind and address gender disparities,
including by investing in public education systems and infrastructure, eliminating discriminatory
laws and practices, providing universal access to inclusive, equal and non-discriminatory quality
education, including free and compulsory primary and secondary education, promoting lifelong
learning opportunities for all, eliminating female illiteracy and promoting financial and digital
literacy, ensuring that women and girls have equal access to career development, training,
scholarships and fellowships, adopting positive action
to build women’s and girls’ leadership skills
and influence, and supporting women and girls to diversify their educational and occupational
choices in emerging fields, such as science, technology, engineering and mathematics and
information and communications technology; strive to ensure the completion of early childhood,
primary and secondary education and expand vocational and technical education for all women
and girls, and foster, as appropriate, intercultural and multilingual education for all; and address
negative social norms and gender stereotypes in education systems, including in curricula and
teaching methodologies, that devalue girls’ education and prevent women and girls from having
access to, completing and continuing their education;
xx. Ensure that pregnant adolescents and young mothers, as well as single mothers, can continue
and complete their education, and in this regard, design, implement and, where applicable, revise
educational policies to allow them to remain in and return to school, providing them with access
to health care and social services and support, including childcare and breastfeeding facilities and
crèches, and to education programmes with accessible locations, flexible schedules and distance
education, including e-learning, and bearing in mind the important role and responsibilities of, and
challenges faced by, fathers, including young fathers, in this regard;
yy. Continue to develop and strengthen appropriate policies, strategies and programmes to enhance
the employability of women, including young women, and their access to better remunerated
employment options through formal and non-formal education, educational curriculum and skills
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development and vocational training, lifelong learning and retraining and long-distance education;
facilitate women’s access to and opportunities in emerging fields such as science, technology,
engineering and mathematics, information and communications technology by expanding the
scope of education and training, particularly in developing countries; and technical development,
and enhance women’s and, as appropriate, girls’ participation as users, content creators,
employees, entrepreneurs, innovators and leaders;
zz. Develop policies and programmes with the support, where appropriate, of international
organizations, civil society and non-governmental organizations, giving priority to formal,
informal and non-formal education programmes, including scientifically accurate and age-
appropriate comprehensive education that is relevant to cultural contexts, that provides adolescent
girls and boys and young women and men in and out of school, consistent with their evolving
capacities, and with appropriate direction and guidance from parents and legal guardians, with the
best interests of the child as their basic concern, information on sexual and reproductive health and
HIV prevention, gender equality and women’s empowerment, human rights, physical,
psychological and pubertal development and power in relationships between women and men, to
enable them to build self-esteem and foster informed decision-making, communication and risk-
reduction skills and to develop respectful relationships, in full partnership with young persons,
parents, legal guardians, caregivers, educators and health-care providers, in order to, inter alia,
enable them to protect themselves from HIV infection and other risks;
aaa. Create opportunities, improve employment standards and promote conditions of decent work,
security, social protection and decent remuneration for front-line women workers in the delivery
of public services, such as health care and education which are traditionally undervalued sectors
with a majority of female workers, and ensure their access to positions of decision-making and
leadership;
Make infrastructure work for women and girls
bbb. Develop and adopt gender-responsive strategies on mitigation and adaptation to climate
change to support the resilience and adaptive capacities of women and girls to respond to and
recover from adverse impacts of climate change, including natural disasters and extreme weather
events through the provision of essential infrastructure, social protection and public services that
are sustainable as well as appropriate financing technology, humanitarian assistance, forecast and
early warning systems and through, inter alia, the promotion of their health and well-being, as well
as access to sustainable livelihoods, and the provision of adequate resources while ensuring
women’s meaningful participation in decision-making,
at all levels, on environmental issues, in
particular on strategies and policies related to the impacts of climate change, and by ensuring the
integration of the specific needs of women and girls into humanitarian responses to natural
disasters, into the planning, delivery, implementation and monitoring of disaster risk reduction
policies, in particular, urban and rural infrastructure and land-use planning and resettlement and
relocation planning during the aftermath of natural disasters, and into sustainable natural resources
management; ensure that social protection systems, public services and infrastructure are
sustainable through the integration of climate-smart dimensions and tools, including accurate and
downscaled climate services developed in participation with the sectors involved, connecting
science, policy and practice;
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ccc. Increase access of women to digital technologies to enhance their productivity and mobility
in the labour market; enhance efficiency, accountability and transparency of social protection
systems, public services and sustainable infrastructure through enhanced use of information and
communications technologies for the benefit of women and girls, including for those hardest to
reach; work towards closing digital gender divides and promote equal access to information and
communication technologies and internet for women and girls, and explore appropriate ways to
address any potential negative impact of new technologies on gender equality; and ensure that
programmes, services and infrastructure are adaptable and suited to meet different positive cultural
values and technological barriers, including literacy;
ddd. Conduct systematic and transparent assessments of the gender and environmental impacts of
infrastructure projects with the full, equal and effective participation of women and girls through
social dialogues, thereby promoting the enjoyment of their human rights;
eee. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water as well as access to safe and
affordable drinking water and adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all women and
girls, as well as for menstrual hygiene management, including for hygiene facilities and services,
in homes, schools, temporary shelters for refugees, migrants or people affected by natural disasters,
humanitarian emergencies and armed conflicts and post-conflict situations and all other public and
private spaces; take measures to reduce the time spent by women and girls on collecting household
water; address the negative impact of inadequate, inequitable access to drinking water and
sanitation, and energy services on the access of girls to education; and promote women’s
full,
effective and equal participation in decision-making on water and sanitation;
fff. Ensure that every household has access to adequate levels of affordable and reliable electricity
through appropriate grid and decentralized off-grid solutions, including from renewable energy
sources, that are adequately maintained and support women’s and girls’ specific livelihood needs;
ggg. Provide targeted support and incentives for women’s participation and leadership as users
and producers of energy; and strengthen the provision of clean fuel for cooking to curb indoor air
pollution which disproportionately affects women and children;
hhh. Integrate a gender perspective into planning and use of public spaces, design and development
of smart cities, communities and rural areas and into intelligent mobility planning processes; and
promote the mobility and empowerment of women and girls, including those with disabilities and
those who are homeless, and promote inclusive societies including through adequate housing and
in doing so ensure that public urban, rural and peripheral transport, including land and water
transport systems and infrastructure are sustainable, accessible, safe, affordable and gender-
responsive, that take into account the different needs of women and men, girls and boys and are
adapted to be used by persons with disabilities and older persons;
iii. Promote safe public spaces and improve the security and safety of women and girls through
gender-responsive rural and urban planning and infrastructure, including sustainable, safe,
accessible and affordable public transportation systems, and prevent and eliminate violence and
harassment against women on the journey to and from work, and protect women and girls from
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being physically threatened or assaulted, including from sexual violence, while collecting
household water and fuel, and when accessing sanitation facilities outside their homes or practicing
open defecation;
Mobilize resources, strengthen women’s participation and improve evidence
jjj. Take steps to significantly increase investment to close resource gaps, for example through the
mobilization of financial resources from all sources, including public, private, domestic and
international resource mobilization and allocation, including by enhancing revenue administration
through modernized, progressive tax systems, improved tax policy, more efficient tax collection
and increased priority on gender equality and the empowerment of women in official development
assistance (ODA) to build on progress achieved, and to ensure that ODA is used effectively to
accelerate the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls;
kkk. Take steps in the design, implementation and pursuit of fiscal policies and gender responsive-
budgeting to promote gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, by, inter alia,
optimizing fiscal expenditures to extend social protection coverage, facilitating greater access to
social protection and financial and business services, including credit for women, and promoting
costing and cost-benefit calculation of the investments needed to ensure access to social protection
systems, public services, and sustainable infrastructure, bearing in mind that these policies and
budget play a critical role in reducing poverty and inequality and supporting inclusive growth;
lll. Encourage the international community and promote partnerships to support developing
countries in their efforts to eradicate poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme
poverty, and achieve gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, the poor and
people in vulnerable situations, with a view to achieving the internationally agreed development
goals, improving tax systems, promote access to financial services, enhance productive capacity,
entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation, encourage the formalization and growth of micro-,
small and medium-sized enterprises, and promote full and productive employment and decent
work for all;
mmm. Urge developed countries to fully implement their respective official development
assistance commitments, including the commitment made by many developed countries to achieve
the target of 0.7 per cent of their gross national income for official development assistance to
developing countries and the target of 0.15 to 0.20 per cent of their gross national income for
official development assistance to the least developed countries, and encourage developing
countries to build on the progress achieved in ensuring that ODA is used effectively to help meet
development goals and targets, to help them, inter alia, to promote social protection, public
services and sustainable infrastructure for gender equality and the empowerment of all women and
girls;
nnn. Strengthen international and regional cooperation, including North-South, South-South and
triangular cooperation, bearing in mind that South-South cooperation is not a substitute for, but
rather a complement to, North-South cooperation, and invite all States to enhance South-South and
triangular cooperation focusing on shared development priorities, with the involvement of all
relevant stakeholders in government, civil society and the private sector, while noting that national
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ownership and leadership in this regard are indispensable for the achievement of gender equality
and the empowerment of women and girls and to improve their lives and well-being;
ooo. Support the important role of civil society actors in promoting and protecting the human rights
and fundamental freedoms of all women; take steps to protect such actors, including women human
rights defenders, and to integrate a gender perspective into creating a safe and enabling
environment for the defence of human rights and to prevent violations and abuses against them in
rural areas, inter alia, threats, harassment and violence, in particular on issues relating to labour
rights, the environment, land and natural resources; and combat impunity by taking steps to ensure
that violations or abuses are promptly and impartially investigated and that those responsible are
held accountable;
ppp. Ensure equal opportunities for women and girls in cultural, recreational and sport activities
in all areas, including administration, management and participation in physical activities and
sports at the national, regional and international levels, such as access, coaching, training,
competition, remuneration and prizes;
qqq. Consider evaluating the costs and benefits of private sector participation in social protection
systems, public service delivery and infrastructure development;
rrr. Create and strengthen gender-responsive accountability mechanisms, such as audits, and
include beneficiaries and users in the evaluation of social protection, public services and
infrastructure projects;
sss. Strengthen the capacity of national statistical offices and other relevant government
institutions to collect, analyse and disseminate data, disaggregated by sex, income, age, disability
and other characteristics relevant in national contexts, to support policies and actions to improve
the situation of women and girls through access to social protection, public services and sustainable
infrastructure, and to monitor and track the implementation of such policies and actions, and
enhance partnerships and the mobilization, from all sources, of financial and technical assistance
to enable developing countries to systematically design, collect and ensure access to high-quality,
reliable and timely disaggregated data and gender statistics;
48. The Commission recognizes its primary role for the follow-up to the Beijing Declaration and
Platform for Action, in which its work is grounded, and stresses that it is critical to address and
integrate gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls throughout national,
regional and global reviews of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and to ensure synergies
between the follow-up to the Beijing Platform for Action and the gender-responsive follow-up to
the 2030 Agenda.
49. The Commission calls upon the United Nations system entities, within their respective
mandates, and other relevant international financial institutions and multi-stakeholder platforms to
support Member States, upon their request, in their efforts to enhance social protection systems,
public services and sustainable infrastructure to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of
all women and girls.
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 URU, Alm.del - 2018-19 (1. samling) - Bilag 169: Rejserapport fra deltagelse i FN's Kvindekommissions 63. session i New York den 10. - 15. marts 2019
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50. The Commission recalls General Assembly resolution
72/181
of 19 December 2017 and
encourages the secretariat to continue its consideration of how to enhance the participation,
including at the sixty-fourth session of the Commission, of national human rights institutions that
are fully compliant with the principles relating to the status of national institutions for the
promotion and protection of human rights (Paris Principles), where they exist, in compliance with
the rules of procedure of the Economic and Social Council.
51. The Commission calls upon the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the
Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) to continue to play a central role in promoting gender
equality and the empowerment of women and girls and in supporting Governments and national
women’s machineries, upon their request, in coordinating the United Nations system and in
mobilizing civil society, the private sector, employers’ organizations and trade unions, and other
relevant stakeholders, at all levels, in support of the full, effective and accelerated implementation
of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the gender-responsive implementation of
the 2030 Agenda, including towards social protection systems, access to public services and
sustainable infrastructure for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls.
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