UN chief urges equality for women by 2030

Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon challenged all governments Monday to reach the goal of equality for women by the year 2030, saying the key is getting men to change their “mindsets.”

Twenty years after 189 nations adopted a platform to achieve equality for women, the United Nations chief warned that progress is too slow, “and our gains are not irreversible.”

“Our goal must be: 50:50 by 2030,” Ban said at the opening session of the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women, which is reviewing progress toward gender equality since the groundbreaking 1995 U.N. women’s conference in Beijing.

Though more girls are being educated and maternal mortality has been almost halved, Ban said women and girls still suffer disproportionately from sexual violence, displacement during conflicts, persecution, attacks by extremist groups and economic turmoil.

Delegates in Beijing expected to achieve gender equality by 2005, said Phumzile Mlambo- Ngucka, executive director of UN Women.