Interactive Dialogue with the Working Group on Discrimination Against Women and Girls
Statement by the Delegation of the United States of America
Delivered by Ambassador Michèle Taylor
United Nations Human Rights Council – 53rd Session
Thank you, Madam Vice President.
I wish to extend gratitude to the Working Group on behalf of the United States for its important work calling attention to the global economic plight of women and girls.
Advancing gender equality, including women’s economic security, is both a moral and a strategic imperative. When barriers to women’s and girls’ economic empowerment are removed, economies are more resilient, communities are stronger, and nations are more peaceful and prosperous.
According to the World Economic Forum, at the current rate of progress, it will take 151 years to close the gender gap in economic participation and opportunity. I don’t know about any of you but I won’t be alive that long. The world cannot wait any longer to advance gender equality, because the prosperity of the majority of the world’s population affects the prosperity of everyone.
Advancing women’s economic security is critical to addressing the multiple and reinforcing challenges facing our time, including the long-term effects of COVID-19, the climate crisis, gender-based violence, and racial, social, and economic inequality. It is also a key accelerator for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.
In the spirit of “Progress through Partnership,” now is the time to work together to transform our systems, bring an end to the multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination that plague women and girls in all their diversity, and make sustained progress toward economic equality.
I would welcome the thoughts of the Working Group on how we can accelerate efforts to eliminate barriers to women’s and girls’ economic empowerment.
I thank you.
###