UN commemoration of IWD 2014: Speech by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
Posted on March 7, 2014
Speech by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for UN commemoration of International Women’s Day 2014

Excerpt – Closing Language
…Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen,
In just two days, the 58th Commission on the Status of Women will begin.

It will focus on the challenges and achievements in meeting the Millennium Development Goals for women and girls.

There have been important advances – more in girls in schools, more women in parliaments.

Yet progress has been far too slow and uneven.

A baby girl born today will still face inequality and discrimination, no matter where her mother lives.

We must commit to her right to live free from the violence that affects one in three women globally; to equal pay for equal work; to an equal say in the decisions that affect her life; and to her fundamental right to decide if and when she will have children, and how many she will have.

To every girl born today, and to every woman and girl on the planet, our message is that human rights are not a dream.

They are they are a duty for which we must all work until they are universally realized.

Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen,

Next year will mark 20 years since the Beijing Women’s Conference – a Conference on which Secretary Clinton played such an instrumental role.

Next year is also the deadline for our work to craft the post-2015 agenda and sustainable development goals.

Women’s rights, women’s empowerment and gender equality are essential components of this conversation – including fundamental sexual and reproductive rights and ending violence against women.

This is a conversation for all.

That is why today I make a special appeal to the men and boys of the world:  Join us.

Take the message forward in your homes, your workplaces, your schools, and your communities:

Where men and women have equal rights, societies prosper.

As we celebrate International Women’s Day, let us recommit to equality and empowerment in all that we do.

Equality for women is progress for all.
Thank you.