Reflections on UNGA79 and the Summit of the Future

A little under a week since the end of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) – this year with the Summit of the Future taking place as well – it’s a good time to reflect on what we accomplished, what we learned, and what the next steps are. We cannot wait for 3 centuries to achieve gender equality. Women’s voices must be represented at leadership levels (including the next Secretary General of the United Nations) to bring our perspective to global agreements, critical frameworks and legal standards.

UNGA presents an important opportunity to speak with governments and other key stakeholders directly, and to connect and strategize with partners and allies. This year, there was a lot of anticipation in the air for the Pact for the Future and the Global Digital Compact (GDC), as well as the fact that it is almost the 30 year anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. So where was  Equality Now, and what came of all the anticipation?

A powerful mix: strategy collaboration, stakeholder advocacy, and network building

In the lead-up to our participation in the Summit of the Future, which took place during the middle days of UNGA, we took part in several key events and strategy sessions with civil society partners and government stakeholders. These included a panel on “The power of storytelling in the fight against technology-facilitated gender-based violence” and a civil society strategic discussion space hosted by the Alliance for Universal Digital Rights (AUDRi, of which Equality Now is a founding member) and other partners. In the discussion space, through facilitated group discussions,  participants highlighted opportunities for collaboration and input into the ongoing monitoring of the Global Digital Compact (GDC) in action, as well as formulating a set of benchmarks against which the implementation of the GDC can be measured.  This is a continuation of two years of work,  collaborating with civil society partners to influence the language of the GDC around gender equality.

We were also proud to attend UN Women’s event “Towards and equal, just and secure world – Countdown to Beijing +30” where UN member states as diverse as Albania, Canada, China, Kenya, and Mexico spoke about their progress toward and commitment to achieving gender equality, and we also heard from youth leaders and UN officials. It was an important moment to build momentum for gender equality and achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the commitments of the Beijing Platform for Action ahead of the 30th anniversary of Beijing – and 5 years to go until the SDG deadline of 2030 – next year.

During the first week of UNGA, Equality Now co-hosted, together with Girls Not Brides and others, an impactful session on “A Near Future Without Child Marriage” with compelling interventions from civil society leaders, government representatives, and child marriage survivors. Strong speaker after strong speaker highlighted the negative impacts of child marriage not only on girls and women, but on society as a whole, and Equality Now’s Sally Ncube asked panelists about strengthening accountability mechanisms. The event wrapped up with Dr. Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, UN Women Deputy Executive Director and former AU Goodwill Ambassador on Ending Child Marriage (2014-2022), stating plainly that “child marriage is rape,” speaking powerfully to her own family’s history with child marriage, and presenting her AU Goodwill Ambassador Exit Report, which Equality Now helped to produce.

The second week of UNGA was also Climate Week, and Equality Now co-hosted an event on women’s leadership in addressing climate change and biodiversity loss. As part of a powerful array of women leaders speaking to a range of issues from the role of Indigenous women to sustainability in fashion, our partners Dorothy Andersen, Esq. from the George Washington University Law School and Katia Avilés-Vazquez from Instituto para la Investigación y Acción en Agroecología in Puerto Rico spoke on a panel entitled “Climate Change Sparks Violence: Women’s Resilience and Resistance”. Moderated by Equality Now’s Global Executive Director S. Mona Sinha, the panel explored the unique environmental and socio-economic challenges faced by the Caribbean region, how climate change intensifies violence against women and girls, and what governments’ specific responsibilities and due diligence obligations are under international law to prevent and address violence against women during climate emergency disasters.

Building and strengthening our network of partners and allies was also a key aspect of UNGA. From informal chats over coffee to follow-up questions for particularly engaging speakers, from supporting existing and new allies by co-hosting events to speaking in entirely new spaces, we prioritized connection and collaboration throughout the two weeks. In particular, we were pleased that our Global Executive Director S. Mona Sinha was able to speak at the closing session of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting. Mona also spoke about women’s and girls’ safety in online spaces at a roundtable discussion on “Gender, Digital Technologies and the Role of Business” organized by the UN Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights  at the UN Global Compact Leaders Summit. And Equality Now Advisory Board member and founder of the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, Cherie Blair,  joined other women leaders from around the world in an evidence-based discussion on the importance and impact of women’s political representation at an event co-hosted by the World Bank, Women Political Leaders (WPL), and Oliver Wyman Forum.

What are the key takeaways from UNGA79 and the Summit of the Future?

In addition to reaffirming that we are connected to and surrounded by an incredible number of amazing, smart, driven, and powerful women, some of our key takeaways from the two weeks are:

• Many governments do care about gender equality. It can feel disheartening when one sees statistics such as the UN’s estimate that it will take the world 286 years to achieve gender equality, but we met so many dedicated government officials and representatives who were strategizing and advocating side by side with civil society organizations.
• While some expressed disappointment in what they felt were weakened final adopted versions of the Pact for the Future and the GDC, they also highlighted the hope, energy, and strength shown by the global feminist movement – a hope we definitely share. Even if the GDC is not perfect it is an important global framework that maps out key priorities for the digital space to be inclusive, just and equitable.
• Formal spaces and agreements are important, but it is the opportunity for connections that these occasions provide that will make the real difference: collaboration with the full range of stakeholders and continued advocacy are needed for buy-in and real action and accountability on the promise of the Beijing Platform for Action, the SDGs, and other gender equality targets.

We’ll keep working to change the rules

We cannot lower our standards for gender equality and for a gender perspective and women’s and girls’ voices and needs to be included in global agreements, frameworks, and legal standards. In particular:

• As part of AUDRi, we will leverage the GDC as the supportive instrument it is, while leveraging other human rights laws and standards which are binding and have strong accountability mechanisms around them. We will continue to collaborate and strategize with partners in future AUDRi convenings, and bring our expertise to bear in global spaces. We will now look to make sure that our responses to the GDC as it moves from drafting to implementation includes input from partners across multiple areas, from labor rights to climate change.
• We will be taking part in all the global and regional preparations for Beijing +30 next year.

Ahead of CSW69 in March, we will launch the 2025 edition of our Words & Deeds report, coupled with a strong legal equality advocacy campaign and offering guidance to governments to help them overcome barriers to changing and repealing gender discriminatory laws.