UNGA 73: Advancement of Women

73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly
Third Committee
Agenda item 29. Advancement of Women 

Mr. Chairman, let me start by congratulating you on your unanimous election and that of the Bureau and reassure our full support.

 

Nearly 80 per cent of the world’s extreme poor live in rural areas. Women represent 45% of the rural labor force and yet, compared to men, they often face greater constraints to access resources, services and opportunities. As advocated for by FAO and echoed in the agreed conclusions of the last CSW Session, there is an “urgency to lift rural women and girls out of poverty and to ensure their rights and well-being.”

 

The 2030 Agenda has dedicated targets across SDGs that map concrete measures to make this happen. Actions we should take include enabling equal access by women to land and productive assets, providing them with training, education and opportunities, and enhancing their food security and nutrition.

 

Evidence shows that agriculture policies that contribute to closing the gender gap are among the most effective measures to reduce poverty, increase production, improve social welfare, economic growth and community resilience. In other words, closing the gender gap is an effective pathway to sustainable development.

 

Distinguished Delegates,

 

Two weeks ago, FAO and the African Union Commission co-organized a General Assembly side-event on rural women. On that occasion, we presented the joint Africa Regional Gender Outlook Report. Its recommendations include mainstreaming gender across policies and institutions; implementing gender targeted food security, nutrition and resilience programs; putting in place legal and customary frameworks to implement women’s land rights; supporting women entrepreneurship; and improving data disaggregation by gender.

I would also like to recall the strong partnership between FAO, IFAD, WFP and UN Women on rural women. Through the Joint Programme on Rural Women’s Economic Empowerment, we are contributing to wide ranging improvements in the living conditions, productivity and rights of rural women. More than 40,000 women and 261,000 household members in seven countries have already benefited.

In collaboration with all our partners, FAO is more than ever committed to step up efforts for the advancement of women, especially rural women, who we recognize as critical agents of the transformative change needed to reach the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, leaving no one behind.

 

As a specialized UN Agency, FAO takes gender parity and equality very seriously within our walls. At the end of 2017, women held 41% of all FAO international posts. This is the highest representation in FAO in 10 years. More should be done to reach the parity.

 

Our progress in gender parity was recently recognized by UN Women, that commended FAO for achieving or exceeding 93% of all UN-SWAP performance indicators. We are proud of this result and renew our commitment to gender equality and empowerment.

 

I would like to add that the FAO Director-General has endorsed the “Collective Statement of the Members of the Secretary-General’s Circle of Leadership on the Prevention and Response to Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in United Nations Operations.”

 

Let me end by congratulating Mr. Denis Mukwege and Ms. Nadia Murad who have been awarded the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict.

 

Thank you for your attention.