本文作者：联合国驻华协调员常启德，联合国妇女署中国办公室国别主任安思齐代表联合国驻华国别小组为2021年国际妇女节著
2021年3月8日
联合国妇女署中国办公室青海项目受益妇女 图片来源：联合国妇女署
本文作者：联合国驻华协调员常启德（左），联合国妇女署中国办公室国别主任安思齐（右）
今天是国际妇女节。今年国际妇女节的主题是“女性领导力：在2019冠状病毒病疫情（COVID-19）背景下实现平等未来”。我们深知，世界各地的妇女和女童在推动疫情后复苏、实现更加可持续未来等方面做出了巨大的贡献，并展现了其杰出的领导力。
2020年，联合国妇女署就25年前于北京召开的第四次世界妇女大会上作出的各项承诺实施情况展开全球评估。评估指出，目前还没有国家完全履行了《北京宣言》和《行动纲领》，甚至距离实现目标仍前路漫漫。全球范围内，目前女性在世界各地的议会中仅占四分之一的席位，也无法参与一些关键决策领域，包括和平及气候谈判。
这是不争的事实。即便我们在世界各地看到了诸多进步：如今接受教育的女童数量已达到前所未有的水平，死于分娩的妇女数量下降，在过去十年间，131个国家已通过法律支持女性平等。
但是，进步仍然过于缓慢，也不尽平衡。
2019冠状病毒病疫情的影响正在进一步加剧已有的不平等现象，并很可能导致过去数十年来的共同努力停滞或倒退——有数据显示，这场疫情将使全球范围内4700万妇女和女童重返贫困。
我们也见证了由疫情引发的各种新的全球挑战，比如封城期间，世界各地针对女性的暴力事件增加，如同“藏在暗处的‘流行病’” （Shadow Pandemic）。残障妇女在获得必要服务方面面临更多障碍。女性失去生计的速度加快，并且由于女性是非正式行业的从业主体，她们会更直接地面对经济行业遭受重创的影响。与数字技术接轨已成为当今必需，但是数字性别鸿沟仍然存在，特别是在最不发达国家。
但是在应对2019冠状病毒病疫情的战斗中，女性身居前线，担任着医护人员和护工的角色，构成了这一领域全球70%的劳动力。女性也在政府和民间团体内担任领导角色，提供至关重要的援助，带来独一无二的视角和技能。
要解决这些复杂的全球挑战，并消除女性参与和领导的障碍，就需要更大胆的政治承诺，以充足的资源和精准的方法作为支持，通过立法、财政措施、方案改革和公私伙伴关系推动实现平等。
中国已在保障妇女权益、促进性别平等方面取得了进步。值得注意的是，中国的减贫成就对赋权妇女带来的乘数效应已不仅限于帮助妇女脱贫方面。在女童教育、获得性保健和生殖保健服务、社会保护和援助方面取得的进步值得赞扬——也非常重要，不仅对于促进妇女权利来说是如此，对于中国建设“小康”社会和“共同的光明未来”亦然。但是，女性面临的诸多挑战仍然存在。
和其他国家一样，中国在实现同工同酬和增加体面工作的机会方面仍然面临着系统性问题。许多行业女性出任高级领导层占比不足，在中国，上市公司的董事会成员只有不到10%是女性。女性承担的无偿照料工作平均是男性的2.5倍，这些都影响了女性的劳动参与率。像在其他国家一样，在中国，针对妇女和儿童的暴力阴影值得关注，这一点也在媒体报道和讨论中可见。
新颁布的《中华人民共和国民法典》提供了增强立法的机会，包括司法机制，法律执行和服务提供，以解决性骚扰、性侵和针对妇女及女童的暴力问题。贯彻实施《民法典》将是中国朝着展现针对妇女和女童的各种形式暴力现象“零容忍”态度迈出的坚实一步。
“十四五”规划（2021-2025年）和《中国妇女儿童发展纲要》（2021-2030年）也为中国带来了机遇，确保性别平等和妇女赋权位于发展议程的核心，并探讨了中国仍然存在的性别差距和挑战。目前，世界正期待中国继续领导实现可持续发展目标和《北京宣言》和《行动纲领》。
我们对中国政府最近做出的在其未来发展合作和全球参与方面优先赋权妇女的承诺表示欢迎。眼下，我们正需要更加强有力的全球行动和多边主义，以减轻2019冠状病毒病疫情带来的长期持续的影响，并加速实现可持续发展目标。目前许多国家正在努力解决的妇女权利问题——贫穷、孕产妇健康、生计、食品安全、继续教育机会等等——也是中国国内取得最多进步的领域。南南合作让中国能够分享经验，并继续向他国学习，以真正赋权全世界的妇女和女童。
我们认识到，性别平等和妇女赋权是推动改变的动力和实现所有可持续发展目标的前提条件。联合国驻华系统与中国政府签订的《联合国可持续发展合作框架（2021-2025年）》正是基于这一原则，将推进妇女权利作为自身工作关键项目领域之一，给予其优先及重视。作为联合国国别小组，我们已做好准备，继续支持与中国政府和所有国家级单位的合作，共同推进实现性别平等和赋权妇女。
2021年是我们推进可持续发展目标“行动十年”计划的开始。我们有着前所未有的机遇，能够为现在和未来数代的妇女和女童带来改变。在国际妇女节这一天，我们呼吁我们的伙伴及支持者向中国妇女展现的领导力和所做贡献致敬，并且不仅在今天，而是每一天都呼吁、捍卫和帮助促进性别平等和妇女赋权。
英文全文：《Women’s leadership in the global recovery from COVID-19 pandemic 》
by Siddharth Chatterjee, UN Resident Coordinator in China Smriti Aryal, Head of Office, UN Women in China
On behalf of the UN Country Team in China for International Women’s Day 2021
8 March, 2021
Today is International Women’s Day (IWD), and the theme for this year’s celebration is "Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world." We recognize the tremendous contribution and leadership demonstrated by women and girls around the world in shaping our recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and a more sustainable future.
A global review of the progress achieved towards commitments made at the Fourth World Conference on Women 25 years ago in Beijing, conducted by UN Women in 2020, reveals that no country has fully delivered on the Beijing Platform for Action, nor is close to it. Globally, women currently hold just one-quarter of the seats at the tables of power across the board and are absent from some key decision-making spaces, including in peace and climate negotiations.
This reality is despite the advances that we can see globally: there are now more girls in school than ever before, fewer women are dying in childbirth, and over the past decade, 131 countries have passed laws to support women’s equality.
However, progress has been too slow and uneven.
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is further exacerbating pre-existing inequalities and threatening to halt or reverse the gains from decades of collective effort – with data revealing that the pandemic will push 47 million more women and girls below the poverty line globally.
We also witness new global challenges emerging from the pandemic, such as the increased reports of violence against women trapped in lockdown throughout the world, forming a Shadow Pandemic. Women with disabilities facing further obstacles in accessing essential services. Women have lost their livelihoods faster, being more exposed to hard-hit economic sectors as they make up the majority of informal sector workers. Access to technologies have become a necessity, but the gender digital divide lingers, particularly in the least developed countries.
But in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, women have stood tall at the frontlines, serving as health workers and caregivers, where they make up 70% of the global workforce. Women also lead in their capacities throughout government and civil society to give vital assistance, bringing their irreplaceable perspectives and skills to the table.
Answering these complex global challenges while tearing down the barriers to women’s participation and leadership now requires bolder political commitment backed up by adequate resources and targeted approaches to accelerate progress towards parity through legislation, fiscal measures, programmatic change, and public-private partnerships.
China has made progress in safeguarding women’s rights and promoting gender equality. Notably, China’s poverty alleviation achievements have had a multiplier effect on advancing women’s empowerment beyond alleviating poverty among women. Advances in girl’s education, access to sexual and reproductive healthcare, social protection and assistance are admirable - and important not just for the advancement of women’s rights - but in creating a “moderately prosperous” Chinese society with a “bright shared future” for all. Yet, as in many countries, there are still challenges that persist across the course of women’s lives.
Like elsewhere, systemic issues remain in equal pay for equal work and promotion opportunities for decent work in China. Under-representation of women in senior leadership roles impacts many sectors, with less than 10% of board members of listed companies in China being women. Disproportionate sharing of unpaid care work leaves women in China carrying 2.5 times the burden of men, all of which impacting the female labour force participation rate. The shadow pandemic of gender-based violence, like anywhere else, continues to be a concern for women and girls in China as widely reported and discussed in media already.
The newly enacted Civil Code offers opportunities to strengthen legislation, including judicial mechanisms, law enforcement and service delivery for addressing sexual harassment, sexual abuse and violence against women and girls. Robust implementation of the provisions for ending sexual harassment and abuse will be a step towards China’s demonstration of “Zero Tolerance” towards ending all forms of violence against women and girls.
The 14th Five-Year National Development Plan, 2021-2025 and the new 10-Year Plan on Development of Women and Children, 2021-2030, also present opportunities for China to ensure gender equality and women’s empowerment are at the centre of the development agenda and address the remaining gender gaps and challenges in the country. The world now looks to China for continued leadership on the SDGs and the Beijing Platform for Action.
We welcome the Government of China’s recent commitment to prioritizing women’s empowerment in its future development cooperation and global engagement. This comes at a time, when we need stronger global action and multilateralism to alleviate the long-lasting impacts of COVID-19 and accelerate actions towards the achievement of the SDGs. As we look at women’s rights issues that many countries are grappling with - poverty, maternal health, livelihood and food security, access to continued education, to name a few – are also the areas where China has seen the most progress domestically. South-South cooperation enables China to share its lessons and continue learning from others, to achieve genuine empowerment for women and girls around the world.
We recognize that gender equality and women’s empowerment are drivers for transformative change and a prerequisite for the achievement of all SDGs. The UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework, 2021-2025, signed between the United Nations System in China and the Government of China, is underpinned by this principle and prioritizes the advancement of women’s rights as a key programming area of its own. As the UN Country Team (UNCT), we stand ready to support and continue to work with the Government of China and all national actors for our concerted efforts towards advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment.
2021 is only the beginning of our journey on the Decade of Action for the SDGs. We have an unprecedented opportunity to do things differently for current and future generations of women and girls. On International Women’s Day, we call upon our partners and supporters to celebrate the leadership and contribution of China’s women, and become advocates, champions, and influencers that promote gender equality and women’s empowerment today, and every day.
