UN marks women's day, recognizing women's leadership, urging equality

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks to the press after the Security Council emergency meeting on Ukraine concluded at the UN headquarters in New York, Feb. 23, 2022. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

"We cannot emerge from the pandemic with the clock spinning backwards on gender equality," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said. "We need to turn the clock forward on women's rights. The time is now."

UNITED NATIONS, March 8 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations marked the International Women's Day on Tuesday, celebrating women's leadership across all walks of life and calling for general equality.

The day, observed every year on March 8, was celebrated online by senior UN officials, activists, artists, politicians and others from around the globe.

In recognizing women's leadership, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the clock on women's rights is ticking backwards in too many areas, with COVID-19 a prime example.

As a result of the crisis, girls and women have been kept out of school and at work, contributing to poverty and violence.

"We cannot emerge from the pandemic with the clock spinning backwards on gender equality," Guterres said in a video message played at the event. "We need to turn the clock forward on women's rights. The time is now."

Progress toward a more gender-equal world is being undermined by multiple interlocking and compounding crises, according to Sima Bahous, Executive Director at UN Women.

Women holding flowers walk on the main square in Skopje, North Macedonia, on March 8, 2022, on the occasion of International Women's Day. (Photo by Tomislav Georgiev/Xinhua)

She said that the international community is witnessing the horrifying situation in many countries.

As a result of climate change and environmental degradation, insecurity is increasing for individuals and countries, with women and girls being disproportionately affected.

The international community can put them at the center of planning and action, as well as integrating gender perspectives into global and national legislation and policies, Bahous said.

"We have the opportunity to re-think, re-frame and re-allocate resources. We have the opportunity to benefit from the leadership of women and girl environmental defenders and climate activists to guide our planet's conservation. We need indigenous women's inter-generational knowledge, practices and skills," she added.

President of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Abdulla Shahid noted that a sustainable future is possible because governments have adopted frameworks such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Paris Agreement on climate change, and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.

Earlier, Shahid had pointed out how despite their contributions, women remain "under-represented, under-supported, and unrecognized" in the social, economic and political fields needed for sustainable recovery.

People take part in a gathering celebrating the International Women's Day in Lagos, Nigeria, March 8, 2022. (Photo by Emma Houston/Xinhua)

"We must strengthen mechanisms that provide pathways and support for ingenuity, ambition, and creativity, from all people who have the skill and the drive. And we must remove the barriers that prevent women from engaging," said the UNGA president.

The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) will begin its annual session next week, which will also examine gender equality within climate change, environmental, and disaster risk reduction policies and programs.

"For a sustainable tomorrow, the gendered impacts of climate change must be confronted decisively and urgently," said commission chair Mathu Joyini, the permanent representative of South Africa to the UN.

She underlined commitment toward realizing "a robust set of agreed conclusions which will place women and girls firmly at the center of climate and sustainability solutions."

One of the artists who participated in the UN commemoration was Amanda Gorman, an American poet and activist.

In her poem "Earthrise," played at the UN event, Gorman emphasizes that "climate change is the single greatest challenge of our time," and everyone has a role in protecting the planet.