Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow

The International Women’s Day (IWD), celebrated on 8th March, and was established to recognize women’s social, economic, and political achievements. It also highlights the important of creating conditions favorable to women for their full and equal participation in social development. Today, despite women's significant contribution to economic and social development, they are disproportionately impacted by poverty; while their efforts are undermined due to cultural norms and systemic barriers, it limits their full participation in leadership and key decision-making processes, including decisions that affect them primarily. Unfortunately, the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated the poor socio-economic status of women and threatened the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goal (5) “achieving gender equality and women empowerment”. This emphasizes why women need to take active roles in tackling the Climate crisis; everyone at all levels must #BreaktheBias of all forms of gender inequalities and stereotypes to give women the space they deserve in economic and social development. IWD2022, with a theme: “Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow”, is aimed at recognizing and celebrating the contribution of women and girls around the world, who are leading the charge on climate change adaptation, mitigation, and response, to build a more sustainable future for all. Our focus this year is on highlighting the importance of challenging biases and misconceptions to create a more inclusive and gender-equal world. The United Nations observance of International Women’s Day will be held virtually on 8 March, 10–11.30am UTC–5. The theme for this year’s observance is “Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow”. The year 2022 is pivotal for achieving gender equality in the context of climate change, and environmental and disaster risk reduction, which are some of the greatest global challenges of the twenty-first century. Without gender equality today, a sustainable future, and an equal future, remains beyond our reach. This year’s IWD observance is in recognition and celebration of the women and girls who are leading the charge on climate change adaptation and response, and to honour their leadership and contribution towards a sustainable future.