International Women’s Day at the Vatican, and at the UN

Vatican, 8 March 2014: International Women’s Day is celebrated all over the world on Saturday, March 8. In the Vatican, in a unique event called, “Voices of Faith”, the selfless and courageous work of the Church’s “hidden” or voiceless women is celebrated on the Day. The Pontifical Council for Social Communications and the Fidel Gotz Foundation have co-sponsored the event.

Meanwhile, on eve of International Women’s Day, the United Nations has launched the “He for She” campaign urging men to stand up for the rights of their mothers, sisters and daughters, while top UN officials stressed that human rights for girls and women are not a dream but a duty of all.

“Throughout the world, discrimination against women and girls is rampant, and in some cases getting worse. But we also know equality for women is progress for all,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said, quoting the theme of this year’s observation. He also appealed to men and boys of the world: join us, “Where men and women have equal rights, societies prosper.”

With this in mind, the UN at a special Headquarters event on Friday launched the “He for She” campaign urging men and boys to take a stand. Friday’s launch featured video clips of prominent men urging support for gender equality, including UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, Nobel Laureate Desmond Tutu and actor Antonio Banderas.

“I commend those of you [men and boys] who have spoken out and stand with women and girls, as you know women hold half of the sky. We call on all men also, stand up and hold up half of their part of the sky,” said Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women told participants after jokingly telling them, “This is a celebration, so don’t look so serious.”

Next year will mark 20^th anniversary of the landmark World Conference on Women. The Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action, adopted unanimously by 189 countries, is considered the key global policy document on gender equality, addressing critical areas such as women and poverty, violence against women and the human rights of women.

Former United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who also participated in Friday’s event, played an instrumental role in Beijing, where she uttered the famous quote, “human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights, once and for all.”

In a play, she said: “Just as women’s rights are human rights, women’s progress is human progress.” She added that despite the achievements, no country in the world has achieved full participation of women in society, and this remains the “great unfinished business of the 21th century.”

The next year will also be crucial as it marks the target date for the achievement of the global anti-poverty targets known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which contain specific benchmarks for gender equality.
Source: UN/Sedoc