Gender equality: speech of the French Ambassador at the webinar of CCI France Philippines on the socio-economic empowerment of women promoted by UN Women

Dear friends from the CCI France Philippines and UN Women, dear gender equality advocates, fellow members of the Diplomatic corps, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good afternoon, Magandang hapon, Bonjour,

Gender equality was elevated to a great national cause in France and has become a priority of France’s international action. In this context, the “Biarritz Partnership” was launched during the French G7 Presidency in 2019w ith the aim of promoting the most ambitious legislation for women’s rights and encouraging the States that have joined the partnership to draw from it.

Next year, a quarter of a century after the UN’s Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing in 1995, the Generation Equality Forum will be a historic opportunity to bring States on board together with civil society for women’s rights,. This international conference jointly organized by UN-Women, Mexico and France will address the lessons to be learned from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has highlighted the fragility of what has been achieved since Beijing, and the persistence of certain inequalities between genders.

The French government also fully supports the fight for women’s rights and empowerment through its public development assistance for other countries. France ensures that 50% of its official development assistance is attributed – through the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) – to projects with gender equality as a significant or main objective.

Women, as well as men – if not more than them! –, are actors for sustainable development and functioning societies. And yet, everywhere, women’s rights are under attack, as are human rights, from which they are inseparable. That is why France dedicates a €120 million fund to feminist organizations active in developing countries.France will also contribute €6.2 million between 2020 and 2022to the new International Fund for Survivors of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence, in close collaboration and consultation with private-sector and civil society stakeholders.

There is no doubt that the private sector is key in ensuring the socio-economic empowerment of women.With this in mind, I am very grateful to UN Women for the Women’s Empowerment Principles initiative as well as to CCI France Philippines for sponsoring the related call for nominations of exceptional business leaders and businesses. I warmly thank both the Philippines Program Office of UN Women and the CCIFP for inviting me to attend this webinar, and wish you all a productive and meaningful discussion.