A 100-Day Plan to Make Some Progress on Gender Equality

Former President of Chile and now Executive Director of UN Women, Michelle Bachelet has announced today the action plan for the UN organization dedicated to empowering women.

UN News Centre reports that Bachelet's 100-day action plan embraces a full spectrum of issues, from supporting national partners to promoting coherence within the UN system.

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Stressing the need to “balance ambition with common sense,” Ms. Bachelet said UN Women would focus on five core principles: enhancing implementation of international accords by national partners; backing intergovernmental processes to strengthen the global framework on gender equality; advocating gender equality and women’s empowerment; promoting coherence with the UN on the issue; and, acting as a global broker of knowledge and experience.

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But Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who spoke to reporters before the UN's first meeting of the Accountability Commission for Women’s and Children’s Health UN meeting in Geneva, said:

The world’s women and children need more than pledges. Commitments are wonderful, generous, but by themselves they cannot build health clinics or immunize children. That is why we have made accountability a hallmark of the Global Strategy. We are determined to hold ourselves and everyone else involved accountable. Our aim is simple: to turn our Global Strategy into global action for women and children’s health.

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It does seem that the UN is ready to take action this month on behalf of women and children after being criticized in the past for their absent-minded approach to gender equality. With Bachelet at the helm and her record of strong leadership, the likelihood of some actual results for women's equality looks promising.