Page 50 - DIVA_MY WORKS 1918-2022

International

“Like in diverse leaderships are more transparent and career development, in order to reach equal
so many perform better. representation of women in the organization,
including in senior positions. We have already
areas, we You are a pioneering member of the reached gender parity at Director level and
are stronger International Gender Champions Network. above several years ago.
when we Please share your views on what attracted you
join forces to to this initiative, and are you seeing progress As we are an economic commission, for us
break down in the advancement of gender equality in the working for gender equality in our region
workplace?
means also more women in the labour
the barriers Like in so many areas, we are stronger when markets with equal pay for work of equal
to gender we join forces to break down the barriers to value, more women and girls in innovation
equality.” gender equality. This goes both for advocacy, and technology and, of course, women as
where the International Gender Champions well as men equally contributing to and
network offers a collective voice, but also in benefiting from sustainable development.
terms of sharing strategies and learning from As well as the systematic mainstreaming of
one another’s experiences. gender equality considerations in all UNECE
projects and programmes – in their design,
Within a few months of joining UNECE implementation and evaluation – we are also
back in 2017, I was honoured to join the supporting concrete actions across a range of
network, which now includes over 250 active sectors, such as training women entrepreneurs
Champions and 160 Alumni from over 60 in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central
countries, with hubs all around the world. Asia in ICTs use, gender mainstreaming in
environmental policies, through our leading
In the workplace here in Geneva, yes, I do see work on gender statistics, or through policy
important steps towards gender equality being recommendations to help unlock women’s
made, but we still need to increase our efforts. untapped contribution to the still male-
Let me tell you that my office and I have had dominated resource management sector. You
to make partners and conference organisers may also have heard of our Gender-Responsive
aware on multiple occasions of my Panel Parity Standards Declaration, through which some
Pledge, through which Champions commit to 76 standard-setting bodies worldwide have
no longer take part in any single-sex panels. committed to address gender bias and advance
gender equality in their work.
Despite the widely acknowledged importance
of the role of women in political, social and These efforts take on even greater importance
economic spheres, gender inequalities are now given the disproportionate socio-
pervasive and persist in reality. As Executive economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis on
Secretary of UNECE, what concrete steps have women, both at work – where women are
you taken to advance gender equality in your over-represented in the most affected sectors
organization? and a quarter of women in our region are in
The UN-wide commitment to advance gender precarious jobs, compared to about 15 per
equality is not just about “figureheads”, cent of men – and at home. In response to
through women leaders and high-level and lockdowns and other measures, women have
visible appointments; it is also a clear signal had to work even longer hours than they
to achieve gender parity across all professional did before, juggling unpaid care for children
categories. and elderly family members, and domestic
work, and all this while teleworking! Violence
To put this vision into action, UNECE put in against women and girls also rose significantly
place a Gender Parity Strategy aligned with during the pandemic – in some countries by
the UN System-wide strategy. It includes over 30 per cent.
sections on recruitment, human resources
management monitoring; reporting and data Without decisive action now, this crisis could
collection; leadership and accountability; and undo decades of hard-won gains in the struggle

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