Symposium on Financing for a Gender-Equal Future

A recording of these remarks can be found on YouTube

Ms. Tang Ying, Director General, Global Development Promotion Center, China International Development Cooperation Agency,

Dr. Mabel Lu Miao, Co-founder and Secretary-General of the Center for China and Globalization, 

Ms. Smriti Aryal, UN Women's Country Representative in China,

Colleagues from the UN family,

Excellencies,

Yesterday at the Great Hall of the People, there was a beautiful gathering to mark International Women’s Day. It was a festive atmosphere and a wonderful opportunity to witness outstanding women convened from various walks of life. I would like to commend Ms. Shen, the President of the All-China Women’s Federation, for her leadership and commitment to advancing Sustainable Development Goal 5, which, on all counts, will be the anchor for the success of all of the SDGs.

With nearly 64 per cent of women in China in the labour force, they have been the cornerstone of China’s meteoric socioeconomic progress. The global average of women in the labour force is at 39 per cent and many countries can learn from China’s incredible growth trajectory.

The clarion call by Chairman Mao that women hold up half the sky enabled the emancipation of women, and can be an experience many countries can learn from.

The global theme for this year's International Women’s Day, “Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress”, speaks to the core principles of gender equality and women's empowerment (GEWE). 

It emphasizes the urgent need to strengthen financing and institutions to address women and girls’ poverty, invest in female-led organizations, and advocate for gender disaggregated data to eradicate gendered poverty through new development strategies.

Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous, and sustainable world. It is non-negotiable. The equal rights and treatment of all genders are crucial to deliver on the promise of the 17 SDGs.

Globally, 1 in 10 women today live in extreme poverty. Poverty disproportionately affects women and girls due to intersecting discrimination and systemic failures, emphasizing the urgent need for accelerated action to end poverty (SDG 1) and achieve gender equality (SDG 5) by 2030.

To achieve these goals, we must expand the fiscal space through inclusive and redistributive economic policies, well-targeted public and private investments, debt sustainability frameworks that integrate climate vulnerabilities, and increased official development assistance for gender equality and women’s empowerment. 

Furthermore, we must strengthen public institutions’ accountability, while removing barriers to direct gains and adopting intersectional perspectives in decision-making to advance gender equality. 

This entails providing robust, flexible financing for women’s organizations and improved coordination across different departments and tiers of government.

Investment in public services to strengthen gender-responsive social protection systems can serve as a beacon of progress in inclusive economic development. 

Specifically, public care systems could contribute to improving education, health, and nutrition outcomes, while preventing gender-based violence, reducing the burden of unpaid care work, and facilitating women’s access to improved work conditions and sustainable livelihoods.

Enhancing multidimensional poverty data and statistics is also essential to understand the challenges faced by women living in poverty and to monitor progress effectively. 

We must increase the production and use of gender-disaggregated data to hold accountability at all levels for poverty eradication.

Moreover, we must advocate for a shift towards caring and green economies that amplify women’s voices and address poverty, inequality, and environmental degradation, all of which heavily affect women and marginalized communities.

As we approach 2025, a year that will mark the 30th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women and the Adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action, and as we continue to align with China’s 14th Five-Year Plan, the vast potential arises to enhance gender financing in both China and beyond. 

To seize these opportunities, we must take advantage of cross-sectoral efforts involving policymakers, financing institutions, private sectors, social organizations, academia, and development partners to work together to rejuvenate the momentum for GEWE commitments and the SDGs.

Today's symposium provides a timely opportunity to discuss key dimensions in promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment in China. 

As the United Nations family in China kicks off the formulation process of a new Cooperation Framework for 2026 to 2030, mainstreaming gender equality and women’s empowerment remains our highest priority.

To achieve this integral goal, we have established a UN Gender Theme Group, which is co-chaired by UN Women and UNFPA. This theme group provides strategic and technical advice to the UN Country Team across policy advocacy, normative processes and programs to ensure rights and empowerment for women and girls. This also includes the UN’s engagements with stakeholders and other partners in China through joint development projects and South-South Cooperation.

China has long been a partner to developing countries in providing assistance and supporting South-South Cooperation. 

In its 2021 White Paper highlighting international development cooperation efforts, China pointed to the SDGs and the 2030 Agenda as guiding frameworks for its contributions to partner countries, while stressing the role of multilateralism. Notably, gender equality is one of its eight key aspects.

As China continues to expand its development cooperation institutions, we see continued opportunities to draw from international best practices, norms, and standards. 

Together, we can build a gender-responsive infrastructure of development cooperation policies, guidelines, and frameworks to effectively mainstream gender equality and women’s empowerment at the programmatic and institutional levels in order to achieve SDG 5 and all of the other cross-cutting goals.

The UN in China is committed to working with the Government of China, stakeholders, and partners, which includes many of you joining us here today, to support continued progress for the needs, rights, and interests of women and girls. 

By enabling women and girls to tap into their potential, we are not just empowering individuals, we are catalysing progress for everyone. 

In his International Women’s Day message, the UN Secretary-General Mr. António Guterres said, “We must support women’s organizations on the front line. And we must invest in programmes to end violence against women, and to drive women’s inclusion and leadership in economies, digital technologies, peacebuilding and climate action.”

So, let us invest in women to achieve substantive equality in financing mechanisms, resource mobilization, and transformative change.

Thank you very much.