08th March 2016
CEPS Message for International Women Day 2016: “Planet 50-50 by 2030: Step It Up ..”
It has been twenty years since world leaders gathered in Beijing and agreed on what many believe is one of the most progressive blue print for advancing women’s rights. The 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action envisioned gender equality in all dimensions of life and provided inspiration and guidance to leaders all over the world. At that time women were a rarity on business leadership team, corporate boardrooms or owners of business.
Progress has been made globally in advancing the rights and opportunities for women over the last twenty years. In Seychelles we are not left behind, we are witnessing woman in very senior posts like the Governor of the Central Bank and the Chief Justice. Can we say that we are satisfied that gender parity has been reached? No, far from it. However we have to take heed of the newly adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which reaffirms that there is still much to be done for women to achieve their full potential, without which the world will struggle to achieve any of the SDGs. The UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon in September 2015, argued, “We cannot achieve 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development without full and equal rights for half of the world’s population in law and in practice”.
The fifth SDG aims to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. It states, “Empowering women and promoting gender equality is crucial to accelerating sustainable development. Ending all forms of discrimination against women and girls is not only a basic human right, but it also has a multiplier effect across all other development areas”.
CEPS remains committed as one of the key stakeholders in achieving SDG 5.
The Gender Commission of Citizen Engagement Platform Seychelles (CEPS) takes the occasion to wish all girls and women a very happy Women’s Day. We also take the occasion to call on the other half of the population to join hands with the women to turn the talk of gender parity to purposeful action, so that come 2030 Seychelles can say YES WE HAVE CLOSED THE GENDER GAP.
A message from Mrs Monica Servina, CEPS Commissioner for Gender Rights & Governance
