“Women's empowerment unlocks a rush of economic growth, and this is true whether we are in Switzerland or my homeland, South Africa”, said the UN Human Rights Chief, Navi Pillay, in her opening statement at a special side event focusing on gender equality and women´s empowerment.
[UN Human Rights Chief with Dalia Mogahed, at an event on women’s empowerment © OHCHR Photo/ Christine Wambaa] Pillay deplored that women continue to suffer disproportionally from violence, poverty, lack of education, health problems, and unequal access to financial credit and economic resources. “This is not only unjust, it is a terrible waste of human talent”, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights added.
“When we are free to claim our rights — we are extremely powerful drivers of progress; and this is just as true of a woman in a fishing village as it is of the Director of a multinational agency”, Pillay declared, while underlining that too often, the struggle for women's rights was framed as essentially protecting victims.
The event, organized on 26 February during the 22nd session of the Human Rights Council, brought together fourteen women from around the world who have excelled in the political, economic, social and cultural arenas. They shared their personal experiences, including the enabling factors that allowed them to assume positions of leadership, and their views on the transformative impact of women in societies around the world and the way forward to address the persistent challenges to true equality.
See full Press release: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/Womendriversofprogresswhenfreetoclaimtheirrights.aspx
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