In the occasion of the imminent start of theGEF in Paris, GWL Voices would like toreiterate its appreciation to UN Women andthe Governments of Mexico and France fortheir efforts in the organization of theGeneration Equality Forum amidst thecurrent global health crisis. The inaugural session of the Forum in MexicoCity, in March 2021 was a successful start inthe process of accelerating theimplementation of the Declaration andPlatform for Action of the Beijing Conferenceon Women of 1995. It gathered members ofwomen movements, civil society,governments and the philanthropic andprivate sectors from all over the world in amulti-stakeholder and intergenerationaldiscussion. It served to build new politicalmomentum around the gender equalityagenda and resulted in the declaration of anew set of actions and commitments, inparticular the Blueprint for GlobalAcceleration Plan for the 6 Action Coalitions;the issue of the Youth Task Force Vision 2026;the conformation of the Group of Friends forGender Equality; the launch of the Alliance forCare Work; the issue of the Pathway for a CivilSociety Feminist Agenda; and the WomenMoving Millions initiative, among others.

/ GWL VOICESGENERATIONEQUALITYFORUM PARISSTATEMENT /

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In light of the celebrationof the closing session ofthe Generation EqualityForum in Paris starting on30 June, we at GWLVoices call for theengagement andcommitment of allstakeholders to reaffirmthe goals that have beenset in Mexico and furtherthe ambitions of decisiveand bold action foradvancing a trueGeneration of Equality. We want to pay specialattention to the goalsthat have been outlinedwithin the “FeministMovement andLeadership”ActionCoalition. The situation of women’sparticipation in nationaland multilateral politicsraises great concern. Tothis day, women serve asheads of government inonly twenty-two countriesand there are 119remaining states thathave never had a womanplaced as the nation’sleader. In the case withlegislation, only twenty-five percent of all nationalparliaments arecomprised of women.Currently, there are 27nations where womenmake up less than tenpercent of parliamentaryrepresentation (UNWomen).

The underrepresentation ofwomen in internationalgovernments is heavilyalarming, especially inconsideration of both theBeijing Declaration andSecurity Council Resolution1325. Under Security CouncilResolution 1325, there was anurge for member states to“ensure increasedrepresentation of women atall decision-making levels innational, regional, andinternational institutions.” Furthermore, the BeijingDeclaration emphasizedthat: “women’sempowerment and their fullparticipation on the basis ofequality in all spheres ofsociety, includingparticipation in the decision-making process and accessto power, are fundamentalfor the achievement ofequality, development andpeace.” In recognition ofthese statements, we ask thevital question of why theinternational communitycontinues to fall short increating equal participationfor women in all spheres ofsociety.

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Women have proven to beagents for peace and change.The “Broadening ParticipationProject” (which evaluated 40datasets of multilateralnegotiations) had shown thatwhen women’s groups wereinvolved and provided withinfluence in negotiations, thiscorrelated strongly withpositive outcomes. (InclusivePeace) Another study on 156peace agreements concludedthat the increasedrepresentation of women inpeace processes often resultedin a more durable peace.Furthermore, they were 35%more likely to last fifteen yearswith women’s participation. Inaddition, there is evidence thatpeace processes are 64% lesslikely to fail when women areinvolved. (IPINST) Theinvolvement of women inpeace processes haspersistently proved efficient.This representation must notonly be symbolic, but ratherwomen involved innegotiations must be grantedwith leverage, which has beenpositively correlated withbetter outcomes.

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On this basis, at GWL Voices,we are calling for a strongCompact on Women, Peace,and Security. We believe thatmore robust actions must bemade to uphold the principlesof Security Council Resolution1325 and the BeijingDeclaration. We want tostrengthen advocacy for thefunding of feministorganizations and globalmovements that work on thepeace and security field.Achieving this goal will requirepublic support from globalinstitutions and advocacygroups to execute multilateralefforts for expanding funds.This means a collaborativeeffort from internationalfinancial institutions, local andnational governments and civilsociety groups. The ambitionto achieve increased funds ispromising, but it will requiretireless efforts to push thesemeasures forward and withconsistent follow-ups.

In addition to follow-ups, weneed strongeraccountability. This is a timefor “deeds not words.” Weneed to ensure that thegoals and commitments ofthe Action Coalitions areduly implemented.Therefore, we must workcollectively to verify that ourendeavors do not resortsolely to rhetoric andascertain accountabilitymeasures whenorganizations andgovernments fail to achievetheir pledged target inpromoting women’srepresentation.Strengtheningaccountability requiresconsistency in evaluation. We also want to highlightthe need of fostering anintergenerational dialogueand strengthening youthgroups and specifically“young feminist leaders”.We believe that promotingyouth involvement inmultilateralism and havingfeminist led movements atan early age will increasethe likelihood of significant

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progress in equalgovernment and leadershiprepresentation in the future.

With these initiatives putforward, we must also cometogether to address theissues of inequality andclimate change. This willinvolve a collective effort touphold the United NationsTenth SustainableDevelopment Goal to reduceinequality, as well as theThirteenth SustainableDevelopment Goal forclimate action. The GEF Parisprovides us with a strongplatform to strive for thesegoals and conductmultilateral efforts forimplementation.

Finally, we want toemphasize that theengagement and activeparticipation deployed at theclosing session of the GEFshould not end there. This isnot the time for us tobecome complacent and wecertainly need to makemultilateral and collaborativeefforts to execute theaspirations that have beenoutlined in the ActionCoalition’s Blueprint. Wecommend the 55 memberstates who have partaken inthe Forum in Mexico andstrongly urge the remainingUN member states to join usand participate in theseefforts to accelerate theimplementation of SecurityCouncil Resolution 1325 andthe Beijing Declaration andPlatform of Action.

It is time for deeds, notwords.

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GWL Voices for Change and Inclusion broughttogether women who, as part of their individualprofiles and professional trajectories, have forgedsignificant contributions from the unifyingperspective of multilateral agendas for promotinghumanitarian relief, advocating for human rightsprinciples and normative policies, advancingsustainable development, and seeking to lendsolution to some of the world’s most complexconflicts and challenges.

ABOUT GWL VOICES

Call attention to andcreate awareness of theneed to achieve fullgender equality andempowerment of womenacross all ambits ofsociety and the criticalimportance ofmultilateralism as avehicle in support of thiscore objective towardsbuilding more inclusiveand equitable societies.

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