Only by coming together as a Commonwealth family, can we achieve gender equality — report
AT the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Women’s Forum on June 21, Deputy Secretary General Arjoon Suddhoo thanked delegates for their continued commitment to gender equity and women’s empowerment.
Delegates from the Commonwealth discussed issues such as women’s leadership, economic empowerment, preventing violence against women and girls, and how to hold governments accountable on their gender commitments.
“We’ve heard many examples of inspiring and transformative solutions and actions on advancing gender equality. This gathering of inspiring women and men, tirelessly working towards achieving gender equality, has shown us that when we join together to improve the lives of millions of women and girls in our member countries, communities can be transformed for the better,” said Suddhoo.
He outlined the main outcomes of the women’s forums which were formalised and provided to foreign affairs ministers.
• A repeated theme was the need for increased resources to strengthen gender equality and women’s empowerment.
• The importance of collecting accurate and regular disaggregated data, as without sufficient data, we do not know where gaps are.
• The need to link economic empowerment with access to quality education for all. This includes financial education, literacy, and education for older women.
• Trade and women’s economic empowerment are deeply interlinked, and the barriers women face are high, including stigma, violence and harassment. The transactional costs are also high, and there is a need for clear and accessible information on taxes and customs, for example.
• The economic empowerment of women is not possible without addressing violence against women and girls first.
• Dignity and respect for older people should be ensured through provision of quality healthcare and palliative care for older people and support carers of the aged; and tackling poverty in old age.
• Work with governments, businesses and traditional leaders should focus on addressing discrimination against older women, and provision of platforms for intergenerational dialogue not only to recognise the role older people play in our societies, but also to enable transfer of skills between younger and older women.
• Accountability mechanisms need to take into account the intersectionality of women: disability, sexual orientation, gender identity and age.
• While the Commonwealth represents over 30 per cent of the world’s population, it accounts for 40 per cent of the global cervical cancer incidence and 43 per cent of global mortality due to cervical cancer. Cervical cancer is one of the only cancers with proven elimination strategies, namely the HPV vaccine and yet only 13 per cent of girls aged nine-14 years globally were vaccinated as of 2020. Cervical cancer elimination is a health equity and social justice concern that transcends gender. Clearing the path to cervical cancer elimination requires combined joint efforts by many actors, including addressing inequity of access to HPV vaccines and screening.
