Event

성평등 재원조달 포럼: 제68차 여성지위위원회를 배경으로

The 68th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68) is United Nation’s largest annual gathering on gender equality and women empowerment. This year, the priority theme was initialized to stress on ‘accelerating the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls by addressing poverty and strengthening institutions and financing with a gender perspective’. Action oriented recommendations were mentioned to close down the gap of the remaining challenges.  CSW marked as a global landscape that intersects crises, and it exacerbates the level of poverty and inequality that is taken place worldwide.  

On 26th April, as Dr Jungshim Lee the director of UNWOMEN Korea began her talk, all ears were on her to hear on how Korea focuses on innovating, networking, and developing for partnership as an East Asian Hub for tacking gender issues. Dr Lee boasts an extraordinary career of three decades to develop innovative gender equality policies that can enhance women and girls empowerment.  The center shares a global trend for innovative approaches to combat gender inequality which is especially severe in Korea. She also conveyed her personal perspective, hoping that today’s forum can generate a specific momentum for developing strategies to fight against the issue of gender inequality. 

Along with Dr Lee’s speech, there were other remarks to discuss diverse issues which covered from women and girls disabilities and their committee on rights of persons with disabilities, and the overview of the agreed conclusion of CSW, the way to strengthen institutions and financing for gender equality and other specific topics to talk about acceleration of gender equality for sustainable future, lifting women from economic crisis by exemplifying the case of Burma and also it put special remarks about the 30th anniversary of Beijing Declaration of Platform for Action (Beijing +30).

South Korea’s lowest fertility rate and wide the gender inequality gap is nothing new.  Rather, it is internationally known for its infamous ultimate low Total Fertility Rate, which marks 0.72% as for 2023. But Korea can no longer linger around this status. To achieve gender equality, to dream for a better future, Korea should prioritize policies that can possibly eradicate gender inequality and encounter any barriers that hinders the gap. For the women around the world, we should shout out to expand their opportunities, answer to the concerned actions that are raised in the society, and finally address societal approach to bridge down the gender inequality gap even further.