Beijing+30: Will it take another 30 years for gender equality?

At the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, 189 countries adopted the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPfA), outlining 12 critical areas of concern for gender equality and women’s empowerment, including violence against women, armed conflicts, women's participation in decision-making, and the protection of their human rights. At that time, member states were convinced that the achievement of equality, development, and peace was connected to women’s empowerment and their full participation in society, including in political decision-making. Countries also believed that equal rights, opportunities, and access to power and resources for women were crucial to the consolidation of democracy more broadly.

During the 30 years since the adoption of the Declaration, UN member states put forth several other agendas and resolutions that highlight the role that women play in society and the importance of gender equality for a better and more inclusive world, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Unfortunately, despite continued recognition of the importance of fully including women and girls in society and decision-making, the world is still falling short on its promise to this vulnerable group.

The 2030 Agenda and its Goal on Gender Equality (SDG 5), for instance, highlight several of the key areas of concern previously identified in the Beijing Declaration, which was adopted 20 years prior. However, even with the recommitment of member states to these values, only 15.4 per cent of the nine targets of SDG 5 are on track to meet its expectations, including SDG 5.5 which advocates for women’s full and effective participation at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life. According to the commitments made in 1995, ensuring women's equal participation in decision-making was seen as essential for achieving societal balance, strengthening democracy, and ensuring its effective functioning. Three decades later, only 26.9 per cent of Members of Parliament globally are women and less than 28 per cent of leadership positions in the workplace belong to this group.

Moreover, according to International IDEA’s Global State of Democracy Indices, despite slow progress across all regions, the world has not seen a striking improvement in women’s political equality since 1995 (Figure 1). Our indices show that women’s gender equality remains in the mid-range globally (0.57*), with only Europe (0.74*) achieving high levels of gender equality in the past 30 years. The largest impediment to this measure is seen in Western Asia/Middle East (0.34*), with many countries restricting women’s participation and representation in several aspects of society. 

Figure 1. The Global State of Democracy Indices on Gender Equality 

* Reference: According to International IDEA’s GSoD methodology, if a country’s score exceeds 0.7, its performance is labeled ‘high’. Scores below 0.4 correspond to ‘low’ performance. Scores between 0.4 and 0.7 classify a country’s performance as ‘mid-range’.

While the Beijing Declaration marked a turning point for political action for gender equality, much more is needed to make the aspirations of 1995 a reality. Ahead of the 69^th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, member states are working together on a political declaration to build on the promises made 30 years ago at the Fourth World Conference on Women. However, unlike the resolution of 1995, no mention of democracy nor explicit references to the importance of including women in politics have been made this time. 

At this rate, it will likely take another 30 years for significant improvement in gender equality to take place globally. Member states must take concerted action to advance progress and ensure that the 12 areas of concern outlined in the Beijing Declaration remain a priority, not an afterthought. More political will is needed for policies to be created for effective change. More importantly, democracy needs to be at the core of the discussions at the UN, as it was 30 years ago, otherwise, the Declaration and the hope for gender equality will become an unfulfilled dream for many more years to come.