Actor Atlas

236. We reaffirm women's vital role and full and equal participation and leadership in all areas of sustainable development, and decide to accelerate the implementation of our respective commitments in this regard as contained in the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) as well as Agenda 21, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the Millennium Declaration.

237. We recognize that, although progress on gender equality has been made in some areas, the potential of women to engage in, contribute to and benefit from sustainable development as leaders, participants and agents of change has not been fully realised due, inter alia, to persistent social, economic, and political inequalities. We support prioritizing measures to promote gender equality and women's empowerment in all spheres of our societies, including the removal of barriers to their full and equal participation in decision-making and management at all levels, and we emphasize the impact of setting specific targets and implementing temporary measures, as appropriate, for substantially increasing the number of women in leadership positions, with the aim of achieving gender parity.

238. We resolve to unlock women's potential as drivers of sustainable development, including through the repeal of discriminatory laws and removal of formal barriers, ensuring equal access to justice and legal support, the reform of institutions to ensure competence and capacity for gender mainstreaming and the development and adoption of innovative and special approaches, to address informal, harmful practices that act as barriers to gender equality. In this regard, we commit to creating an enabling environment for improving the situation of women and girls everywhere, particularly in rural areas and local communities and among indigenous peoples and ethnic minorities.

239. We commit to actively promote the collection, analysis and use of gender sensitive indicators and sex disaggregated data in policy, programme design and monitoring frameworks, in accordance with national circumstances and capacities, in order to deliver on the promise of sustainable development for all.

240. We are committed to women's equal rights and opportunities in political and economic decision-making and resource allocation and to remove any barriers that prevent women from being full participants in the economy. We resolve to undertake legislation and administrative reforms to give women equal rights with men to economic resources, including access to ownership and control over land and other forms of property, credit, inheritance, natural resources and appropriate new technology.

241. We are committed to promote the equal access of women and girls to education, basic services, economic opportunities and health care services, including addressing women's sexual and reproductive health, and ensuring universal access to safe, effective, affordable and acceptable modern methods of family planning. In this regard, we reaffirm our commitment to implement the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the key actions for the further implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development.

242. We recognize that gender equality and the effective participation of women are important for effective action on all aspects of sustainable development.

243. We support the work of the UN system, including UN Women, in promoting and achieving gender equality and women's empowerment in all aspects of life, including with respect to the linkages between gender equality and women's empowerment and the promotion of sustainable development. We support UN Women leading, coordinating and promoting the accountability of the UN system in this regard.

244. We invite donors, international organizations including the UN System organizations, as well as international financial institutions, regional banks, major groups including the private sector, to integrate fully commitments and considerations on gender equality and women's empowerment and to ensure the participation of women and effective gender mainstreaming in their decision making and full programming cycle. We invite them to play a supportive role in developing countries' efforts to integrate fully commitments and considerations on gender equality and women's empowerment and ensure the participation of women and the effective gender mainstreaming in their decision making, programme planning, budgeting and implementation, in accordance with national legislation, priorities and capacities.