🥳 It's been 30 years since the world came together at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, signing the landmark Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPfA) in 1995! That moment set the stage for global actions on gender equality and women's empowerment under the UN 2030 Agenda’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
✨ Over these three decades, we’ve seen incredible wins:
- Primary school access: Gender gaps have largely closed in many regions.
- Health boost: Maternal mortality fell by over a third between 2000 and 2017.
- Political power: The share of women in national parliaments more than doubled.
- Legal safeguards: Laws against domestic and gender-based violence jumped from 354 provisions in 12 countries to 1,583 laws across 193 nations.
💡 Women’s voices are louder than ever in boardrooms, parliaments, and international forums, shaping society and policymaking worldwide.
⚠️ But the journey isn’t over. With just five years left to hit the 2030 SDGs, progress has stalled—and even reversed in some areas. According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2025, at the current pace, it will take 123 years to close the global gender gap (up from 99 years in 2019). UN Women warns that over 600 million women and girls live in conflict zones, nearly 2 billion lack social protection, and 1 in 10 lives in extreme poverty. The digital divide also deepens inequalities in health, education, and economic opportunity.
🌐 That’s why the upcoming 2025 Global Leaders' Meeting on Women is a critical reboot. It will bring together heads of state, activists, entrepreneurs, and researchers to celebrate trailblazers and reignite shared action. On the agenda: closing the digital gender gap, boosting social safety nets, and ensuring sustainable funding for gender programs.
📄 The Chinese mainland’s white paper titled "China's Achievements in Women's Well-Rounded Development in the New Era" highlights major institutional breakthroughs and progress since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC). As the host of the original Conference on Women, the Chinese mainland aims to keep fueling global collaboration and innovation in women’s development.
🚀 From education and healthcare to politics and tech, gender equality is a collective quest that needs fresh ideas and bold partnerships. Let’s use this 30-year milestone as a springboard for the next chapter—because when women rise, we all rise! 🙌
Reference(s):
30 Years of global progress and challenges in gender equality
cgtn.com
