By Carlisle Jno Baptiste
Dominica’s President Sylvanie Burton is among world leaders in China attending the Global Leaders’ Meeting on Women at the National Convention Center in Beijing.
At the opening ceremony of that meeting, China’s President Xi Jinping delivered the keynote address titled “Carrying Forward the Spirit of the Beijing World Conference on Women and Promoting the new and accelerated process for Women’s all-round development.”
In his address, President Xi stated that “women play an important role in creating, promoting, and carrying forward human civilization.”
“The international community has a shared responsibility to advance the cause of women. Thirty years ago, the Fourth World Conference on Women set the lofty goal of “Action for Equality, Development and Peace,” and adopted the landmark Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action,” he said.
According to the Chinese leader, gender equality has been etched in the agenda of the times, galvanizing the whole world in its unwavering pursuit of this goal. He explained that over the past 30 years, guided by the spirit of the Beijing World Conference on Women, the cause of women has been thriving around the world, adding brilliant splendor to the progress of human civilization.
“Equality between men and women is now a universal consensus of the international community. Prominent progress has been achieved in women’s empowerment. Their educational attainment has been steadily improving, and women are playing an ever more important role in economic, political, cultural, and social affairs. A great many outstanding women have stepped up to take the international stage, living their lives to the full and making contributions with their wisdom and strength.”
President Xi noted that complex challenges still hamper women’s all-around development, and equality between men and women remains a lofty yet arduous task. Looking ahead, we should rededicate ourselves to the purpose of the Beijing World Conference on Women, build greater consensus, broaden the paths forward, and take more concrete actions to accelerate the new process of women’s all-round development.
President Xi made four proposals.
First, we should jointly create an enabling environment that fosters women’s growth and development. We need to uphold the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable security, and must safeguard world peace. We need to enhance the protection of women and girls in regions struck by war, conflict, poverty, or natural disaster, improve mechanisms against violence, and resolutely crack down on all forms of violence against women.
Second, we should jointly cultivate powerful momentum for the high-quality development of women’s cause. We should proactively address the imbalance and inadequacy of women’s development around the world, and enable all women to share the benefits of economic globalization. We need to empower women’s high-quality development through innovation, and strive to help them shine in life and realize their dreams in this era of global modernization.
Third, we should jointly develop governance frameworks to protect women’s rights and interests. We need to improve institutions and laws, channel more quality health and educational resources to all women, and strive to afford all women full and equal enjoyment of various rights. We must promote an inclusive and harmonious social environment, broaden the channels for women to participate in and deliberate on political affairs, support their extensive engagement in state and social governance, and morph gender equality into a common value and a code of conduct embraced by everyone in our society.
Fourth, we should jointly write a new chapter on promoting global cooperation on women. We must support women in assuming their historic responsibilities, enabling them to play a substantive role in global governance and share in its benefits. We should support the central role of the U.N., urging it to pay more attention to the needs of women in developing countries and create broad cooperation platforms for women from all countries, so that women across the world can thrive and shine together.
He also pointed out that in China, the cause of women has always been an integral part of the epic Chinese modernization endeavors. “We have secured historic achievements and seen historic changes in the cause of women in China. Today, women in China truly hold up half the sky in economic and social development. China, through its development, actively provides opportunities and support for the global women’s cause, and promotes international exchanges and cooperation on women,” he stated.
“In the next five years, China will donate another US$10 million to U.N. Women; earmark a quota of US$100 million in China’s Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund for implementing development cooperation projects for women and girls in collaboration with international organizations; launch 1,000 “small and beautiful” livelihood programs with Chinese assistance; invite 50,000 women to China for exchange and training programs; and establish a Global Center for Women’s Capacity Building, aiming at training more female talent in partnership with relevant countries and international organizations.”
China, he stated, “is ready to work with all sides to carry forward the spirit of the Beijing World Conference on Women, bear in mind the goal of a community with a shared future for humanity, accelerate the new process of women’s all-round development, and jointly create a better future for the human race.”