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Mr Ban Ki-moon

UNITED NATIONS.-UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon yesterday called on world leaders to take action as well as make commitment to secure gender equality throughout the world. At a summit on gender equality and women’s empowerment at the UN headquarters, Ban said the world cannot achieve sustainable development without full and equal rights for half of the world’s population, in law and in practice.

Noting that this year marks the 20th anniversary of the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, Ban said, “while we have progressed in many areas, we still have a long way to go”. “Far too many women and girls continue to be discriminated against, subjected to violence, denied equal opportunities in education and employment, and excluded from positions of leadership and decision-making,” he noted.

According to the data by UN Women, developing countries have almost achieved gender parity in primary education; at least 50 percent of the world’s women are in paid wage and salary employment, an increase from 40 percent in 1990; and the percentage of women in parliament has nearly doubled in the last 20 years.

However, statistics also show that gender disparity widens at the secondary and tertiary school level in many countries; women earn 10-30 percent less than men for the same work; and only 22 percent of all national parliamentarians were female as of August 2015. – Xinhua.