Rome (Italy). International Women’s Day is celebrated on 8 March 2025, the year in which the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action on the Rights of Women is commemorated.
In fact, exactly 30 years ago, in 1995 in Beijing during the Fourth United Nations World Conference on Women (4-15 September), leaders from 189 countries and over 30,000 activists put together an agenda to achieve gender equality through a Declaration and Platform for Action, which are still a cornerstone of the women’s rights movement and gender issues, as well as a useful tool for assessing progress and analyzing the challenges and resources needed to implement the Agenda.
On this occasion, the slogan of a speech by the then First Lady of the United States, Hillary Clinton –“Human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights” – became famous.
VIDES International was present in Beijing in 1995, and will also be present from 10 to 21 March 2025 in New York with its Director General, Sister Annecie Audate, FMA, to reflect on these 30 years of struggle for women’s rights and to assess the next challenges to be faced in order to achieve gender equality.
In fact, despite the progress made, there are still many challenges to be faced and too many violations that women suffer every day in the world. If the trend is not reversed UN Women – the United Nations entity for gender equality and women’s empowerment – predicts that, by 2030, 9 million girls will be forced into marriage, while conflicts and economic crises could erode the gains made in gender equality in Countries at war like the Middle East, Ukraine, Haiti, Myanmar or Sudan. According to UN data, more than 614 million women and girls live in conflict-affected areas, with a probability of living in extreme poverty 7.7 times higher than that of men.
In addition, persistent poverty gaps are exacerbated by climate change and women, like children, are the most vulnerable. The UN predicts that this will be the cause of food shortages for some 236 million women and girls by 2030 (twice as many as men).
In addition to this, gender-based violence, one of the most widespread human rights violations in the world with alarming UN figures such as a woman killed by a family member every 10 minutes or one woman out of three who suffers violence in her lifetime. (To deepen)
In this context, VIDES International, besides being an active part during the 69th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW69), which will take place in New York from 10 to 21 March 2025, since its foundation has been working to ensure that the rights of women and girls are respected in contexts where they are most vulnerable.
Among the many projects carried out in this sector, of particular importance is the multi-congregational project, “A multi-congregational observatory to promote girls’ rights in 6 countries in the post-pandemic: a joint effort to bridge the digital divide and ensure girls’ mental health” and “Keeping Families Together” project.
In the first, four women’s congregations are involved in the front line of responding to the needs of the most vulnerable girls in India, Nepal, South Sudan, Kenya, Ecuador, and Peru in the field of mental health and digital divide. The second has contributed to providing guidelines and concrete support for the Missions of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians in India and Kenya, committed to promoting the reintegration of girls living in Children’s Homes into their families of origin or alternative forms of shelter, which guarantee a safe, loving, and stimulating environment.
At the same time, the Foundation FVGS Ets works every day to ensure that children and girls supported by the Salesian Missions in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Europe have the opportunity to study and grow up in a protected environment, developing their potential. Study is a fundamental means to enable women to emancipate themselves, to know their rights, and to become aware of their role in society.
VIDES International and the FVGS Ets Foundation, in synergy with the Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco, are working to ensure that women themselves become promoters of cultural change.
International Women’s Day is a call to not close our eyes to any kind of human rights violation and to assume the duty to act in the place where we live, so that Governments will take action to implement gender equality programs.
