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Commission on the Status of Women, fifty-ninth session

Statement by Mr. Mukhisa Kituyi, Secretary General

Commission on the Status of Women, fifty-ninth session

New York
18 March 2015

[AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY]

Chair,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure and honour for me to address you today.

The discussions and deliberations that are taking place during this session of the Commission on the Status of Women are critically important since they address the challenges of achieving gender equality and women's empowerment through the Beijing Platform for Action as well as the new post-2015 development agenda.

Discriminations against women are deeply rooted and widely-spread in our societies and cultures: gender inequality remains a pervasive problem. Because it is UNCTAD's mandate, history and ambition to support its member countries shape prosperous, peaceful and fair societies, we have put gender equality and women's economic empowerment at the forefront of our reflection and action.

The United Nations has played a crucial role in the 20th and 21st centuries of establishing norms and creating a global legal framework for gender equality by first advancing the principle of non-discrimination, and second by recognizing women's rights as human rights and setting up treaties such as CEDAW that oblige governments to legislate on and implement different aspects of gender equality.

The MDGs have forefronted the issue of gender inequality and have served to mobilize support and action on gender equality and development in different areas. Never the less, Goal 3 - on gender equality - did not pay enough attention to inequality of opportunities which women experience as economic agents, while Goal 8 - the global partnership for development - seems to be particularly "gender blind", despite the mutual relationship between gender equality, women's economic empowerment and economic growth and development.

The post-2015 development agenda highlights the various aspects of gender inequality that need to be urgently addressed. It is our hope that present and future deliberations will lead to the formulation of Sustainable Development Goals that overcome the weaknesses of the MDGs while building upon their many achievements.

The ongoing debate on the post-2015 development agenda should recognize the linkages among the Goals and among the policies that will be necessary to achieve the new paradigm of development. Only if women are economically empowered can they benefit from the opportunities arising from increased cross-border flows of goods, services, capital, technology and information. In turn, economic policies, especially trade policy, can play their role of enabler of development if coherent economic and social policies are in place.

Raul Prebisch - UNCTAD's founding father and first Secretary-General - wanted the organization to be "an instrument of change". We very much wish to be this change in the field of gender equality and women's empowerment.

We in UNCTAD believe that trade is not an end in itself but rather an enabler of development. Trade policy is an instrument that could and should be used to enhance opportunities for women and empower them. We have studied and published reports on the impact of trade policy on gender equality and on women's wellbeing in seven countries: Angola, Bhutan, Cape Verde, the Gambia, Lesotho, Rwanda and Uruguay. We have also developed a first-of-its-kind teaching package on trade and gender addressed to academic institutions and policy-makers in developing countries. An on-line course based on it stared last January and I am glad to report that it attracted almost 200 applications.

We have conducted research on the role of foreign investment in supporting women's economic empowerment and gender equality, and on women's entrepreneurship in developing countries. We have published two reports on those issues, one presents a preliminary analysis of Investment by TNCs and Gender Equality and the other focuses on Women Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

Our entrepreneurship programme - Empretec - has so far reached more than 300,000 entrepreneurs, 30 percent of which are women. The "Women in Business Award", a festive event, rewards every two years a select group of women entrepreneurs who have benefited from Empretec and who have proved particularly successful and innovative in their businesses.

UNCTAD also conducts research and makes policy recommendations on the role of information and communication technologies in empowering women entrepreneurs in developing countries. We are proud that the guide titled "Empowering Women Entrepreneurs through Information and Communication Technologies ", was recently included in a list of the Top 100 Gender Reports.

As you can see, we confer great importance to gender equality, and we look forward to continuing working with you to foster women's empowerment and raise the profile of gender-related issues, both as means and as end of development.

Thank you.