THE World Blind Union joins the rest of the world on Sunday, March 8th, 2020 in observance of International Women’s Day 2020 under the theme, I am Generation Equality: Realizing women’s rights. The theme is aligned with UN Women’s new multigenerational campaign, Generational Equality which marks the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and platform for action, the most progressive roadmap for the empowerment of women and girls internationally.
In the quest to mobilize global action to achieve gender equality and to strongly advocate for the human rights of women and girls who are blind and partially sighted, and through our work with organizations such as the International Disability Alliance (IDA), we ensure that issues affecting women and girls with disabilities (the marginalized group of an already marginalized segment of society) are clearly highlighted. For example, in conducting research and preparing country SDGs reports in compliance with CRPD. This provides governments and NGO’s with a foundation on which they can change, develop and properly implement policies and legislation that will better the lives of all women and girls.
On this International Women’s Day, WBU takes the opportunity to continue to encourage countries to develop national policies and frameworks that include women and girls who are blind and partially sighted; reform legislation and policies that restrict women from fully participating at all levels of society including taking up leadership roles and having a strong voice in decision making; ratify and implement the UN Convention on the Rights of persons with disabilities and to strive to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment (SDG 5), highlight key issues for ending poverty (SDG 1), and ensuring healthy lives (SDG) for women and girls who are blind and partially sighted.