Without the inclusion of women, there will be no sustainable economies (head of the UN)

Women must be “front and center” in policies to address the environmental crisis and the social and economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, UN chief Antonio Guterres said Monday.

“Women's needs and interests are often ignored and set aside in policies and decisions on land use, pollution, conservation and climate action,” Guterres said at the opening of a meeting of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, which since 1946 has been dedicated to promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women.

The proof is that only one-third of decision-making positions in mechanisms such as the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change), the Kyoto Protocol, the Paris Agreement are held by women and only 15% of ministers are women, she recalled.

Women continue to be “largely excluded from decision-making rooms,” she denounced.

Globally, only one third of 192 national energy programmes are gender-sensitive. And these are almost never taken into account, which “shows” that the patriarchal system “excludes women and prevents their voices from being heard.”

Women's needs and interests are often ignored or ignored in policies and decisions on land use, pollution and conservation and actions to alleviate the climate crisis, she said.

And yet, “everywhere, women and girls face the worst threats and the deepest damage.”

They are the main victims of environmental disasters - women and children are 14 times more likely to die than men - of threats from natural resources, including food and water, of malnutrition, of child marriage.

“I am deeply alarmed by the increase in violence and threats against women human rights defenders and environmental activists,” Guterres said.

“We cannot achieve any of our goals without everyone's contribution,” she said, adding that in each area women's voices, rights and contributions are “vital to building sustainable economies and resilient societies.”

This year, the theme of the Commission meeting is to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls in the context of climate change, natural disasters and policies and programmes to reduce the risks of natural disasters.

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