HRH The Crown Princess‘ keynote address at the Women’s Economics Empowerment High-Level Panel debate, University of Washington on 4 May, 2018
Offentliggjort den 8. maj 2018
Minister, Provost, Excellences, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen:
Thank you for inviting me to attend this important High-level Panel debate addressing Women’s Economic Empowerment. And thank you, Provost Jerry Baldasty, for your warm welcome.
It’s an honour to be here at the University of Washington and have the opportunity to hear the thoughts and reflections of a very knowledgeable and experienced panel on a very pressing issue.
It is also a pleasure to see a larger group of students have also joined us today, because the involvement and leadership of young people is essential to a prosperous, modern economy that provides sustainable inclusive growth.
The topic of today’s debate is central to all our efforts to achieve a more prosperous, peaceful and sustainable world. Equal opportunities for all and gender equality is, according to my conviction, one of the single most important thing we can strive for to improve our world. It is essential for ensuring that men and women can contribute fully at home, at work, and in the public life to the benefit of our societies and economies at large.
Greater gender equality will create some of the greatest opportunities of our time. It is so far, from being just about women and for women, it is an issue that affects each and every one of us. It is a common agenda, because we share a common dream of a more just and equal world. And the world’s adoption of the SDG’s – including of course the gender-dedicated goal 5 - clearly demonstrates our common global commitment and direction.
Paving the way for greater gender equality depends on political dedication, public commitment and legislation. But, it also takes knowledge and experience, best practices and inspiration if we are to fulfil the potential of every girl and boy, woman and man.
But, there is no easy solution; inequality is characterized by many different and complex factors. In order to affect the real change we desire, I believe we have to have a greater focus on the role of social norms and unconscious biases and the barriers they present. For example, our social norms in many ways influence women’s economic opportunities; they frame a woman’s choice of education and career, and they reflect and strengthen discriminating stereotypes, which can affect equal pay and promotion.
We need to become conscious of our unconscious biases and knowledgeable about the effect they have on our decision-making.
We know that gendered expectations are produced and reproduced from kindergarten to university, in families, on the streets, as well as in the work place. In too many countries both boys and girls continue to make gender stereotypical choices of education. Especially in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math - the so-called STEM-subjects, where there exists a significant gender-bias, too few girls are pursuing an education or career in STEM.
A 2015 survey by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) showed that parents to a lesser degree expect their daughters to choose a technical or scientific education. It is time to challenge traditional attitudes and gendered expectations of boys and girls - as parents, educators, teachers, brothers, sisters and mentors. It’s about creating greater opportunities. It’s about breaking down traditional expectations and opening up all opportunities to boys and girls, so they can choose freely.
In the past five years, countries have made very little progress in reaching gender equality goals. Gender gaps continue to exist in all areas of social and economic life and also across countries.
Data tells us that lack of equality on a global scale means, amongst other things, that;
- Harmful practices such as Female Genital Mutilation are fostered and every day 39,000 girls are forced into marriage.
- That 49 countries still lack laws that protect women from domestic violence.
- That only 23.7% of world parliamentarians are women, and only 8% are business leaders.
- That 95% of the world’s heads of state are men.
- And that although women work 2/3 of the world's workable hours they earn only 1/10 of the world's income.
Clearly much remains to be done to narrow and eventually close gender gaps worldwide. And clearly we cannot continue, just doing more of the same.
Over the past year, I’ve had the opportunity to visit the OECD. An organisation that in collaboration with other international organisations has a strong focus on gender equality, and provides important data, information and evidence based analysis.
In a recent survey, member countries identified the 3 most important gender inequality issues in their country as violence against women, gender wage gap and the unequal sharing of unpaid work.
I would like to briefly focus on the first of these three.
Violence against women represents the worst manifestation of gender inequality and remains a global pandemic. WHO estimates that 35 % of all women worldwide have experienced physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence and/or non-partner sexual violence in their life-time.
Disturbingly, public attitudes also amongst women continue to reflect an acceptance of domestic violence.
Violence against women is not only a serious human rights violation, it also affects multiple areas of a woman’s life, including their education, employment, income, social protection, justice, security and health.
We have to speed up progress on addressing this ‘black spot’ in our development. Some good news: The OECD found addressing Violence against Women is a top priority issue for most OECD countries and government and stakeholders are increasingly strengthening legislation and conducting awareness- raising campaigns aimed at preventing and ending violence against women. This strong action is what we need to be seeing on a global scale.
Another important issue I would like to briefly address is the number of women in political and private sector leadership. Underrepresentation in leadership limits the presence of female voices and influence in important decisions and deprives young women and girls of strong role models who can give life to their dreams.
We need to promote the visibility of female politicians and decision-makers, and create a safe and enabling environment in which they can participate in public life at all levels. And we need to eliminate structural and legal obstacles that hinder women’s full participation.
The adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly the gender-dedicated Goal 5, promises that by 2030 women and girls - even in the poorest areas of the globe – should have the ability to enjoy their rights, fulfil their potential and make their own choices in life.
As we all know, human progress doesn’t just occur. We must ensure that the momentum and the will to act that led to the adoption of the global goals does not fade but, grows in strength and purpose.
Data holds power; it tells us where we are and helps guide us to where we want to go. Through reliable data, women and girls' lives can become visible and counted and that data can be used when engaging decision-makers to accelerate efforts and in the development of policies, programs and strategies. And of course, for measuring change.
Now, I’m excited to hear the panel’s views on the change that is required, how we remove persistent barriers and their thoughts on the solutions that need to be implemented to close the gender gap.
I’m also looking forward to our minister of Foreign Affairs sharing the Danish perspective on this issue. I’m very proud to come from a country with a successful gender equality track record and a country that has been a long-time champion for gender equality globally.
Thank you to ICRW, World Vision, the University of Washington and the Gates Foundation for presenting such an eminent panel on such a pressing global challenge and to Sarah, CEO and President of ICRW, who will lead the conversation.
For far too long, we have struggled and continue to struggle to remove the barriers preventing the transformation of the power held by women and girls into social and economic gains.
Real change comes not only from strong leadership, legislation and enforcement but, also from challenging our mindsets, questioning our social norms, and becoming aware of our unconscious biases. It requires the involvement everyone as it is an issue of that is importance for everyone.
We must ensure that no recommendation, no policy guidance and no solution is developed without taking into full account the outcomes for women and girls and the gains that can be derived from their empowerment.
Focused and together we can achieve great progress.
Thank you.