H.E. Lakshmi Puri

H.E LAKASHMI PURI, Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director of UN Women, emphasized in her speech UN Women’s full support of the agreement made by member States on “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development.” H.E. Puri said that UN Women has been constantly engaged in the process of ensuring a stand-alone goal on gender equality and women’s empowerment. According to H.E. Puri, succeeding in delivering all 17 SDGs to women and girls will allow them to “live their lives free of discrimination and violence, and with equal rights and access to economic and other resources.”

H.E LAKASHMI PURI, Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director of UN Women, emphasized in her speech UN Women’s full support of the agreement made by member States on “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development.” H.E. Puri said that UN Women has been constantly engaged in the process of ensuring a stand-alone goal on gender equality and women’s empowerment. According to H.E. Puri, succeeding in delivering all 17 SDGs to women and girls will allow them to “live their lives free of discrimination and violence, and with equal rights and access to economic and other resources.”

Furthermore, H.E. Puri asserted that civil society organizations play an important and central role in monitoring progress and holding governments and other actors to their commitments regarding the implementation of gender equality. She also stated that the private sector can significantly increase investments to diminish the gender gap in the workforce and generate positive impact on the lives of women and girls, especially those who are marginalized and economically disadvantaged.

In another remark, H.E. Puri stressed the significance of a partnership between the public and private sectors, which contributes to innovation, expertise and increased vital resources.

H.E. Puri added that companies, investor, foundations and governments can collaborate and align their practices with the SDGs by implementing Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs), which call for a multi-stakeholder approach to gender equality. She said that the UN Women principles highlight the important role of business in “creating formal and decent work opportunities for women, ensuring equal pay for work of equal value, promoting knowledge, education and skill-building for women and girls, supporting and investing in women entrepreneurs and women-owned businesses, and lastly, combating violence against women.”

In concluding her speech, H.E. Puri highlighted the benefits of the implementation of gender equality for businesses, economies, and sustainable development. She said the full incorporation of women’s capacities into the economy and labor market increases national growth rates and makes the private sector a credible partner post 2015.