UN Women Launches Gender Equality Accelerators to Speed Up Progress on SDG 5 at High-Level Political Forum 2024

Former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, also a former Executive Director of UN Women, delivered a keynote address, stressing the critical importance of achieving gender equality.

On July 15, 2024, during the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF), UN Women convened a significant gathering of feminists, experts, UN officials, and development leaders to present the Gender Equality Accelerators (GEAs) for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with a particular focus on SDG 5, which aims to achieve gender equality. These GEAs are innovative solutions designed to drive collective action and accelerate progress for women and girls globally.

In a video address, Sima Bahous, Executive Director of UN Women, emphasized the continued relevance of the Beijing Platform for Action and highlighted alarming findings from the 2023 SDG Gender Snapshot report. She noted that despite ongoing global efforts, progress toward gender equality has been slow, with significant concerns regarding women’s underrepresentation in decision-making roles, economic insecurity, and persistent violence against women.

Bahous pointed out that "Despite the global unemployment rate hitting a historic low of 5 percent in 2023, women continue to face higher unemployment rates than men. Women also disproportionately bear the burden of unpaid domestic and care work, spending 2.5 times more hours per day on these tasks."

Former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, also a former Executive Director of UN Women, delivered a keynote address, stressing the critical importance of achieving gender equality. She warned that without fully harnessing women’s contributions, the world would fall short of its potential.

Event participants acknowledged that neglecting SDG 5 jeopardizes the entire 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Ambassador Paula Narváez, President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), emphasized the importance of the Ten Gender Equality Accelerators as essential tools for ensuring progress and accountability in the global effort to achieve gender equality.

The Ten Gender Equality Accelerators are evidence-based frameworks aimed at addressing the most pressing challenges to realizing gender equality and securing the human rights of women and girls across all SDGs. These accelerators build on successful joint programs with UN partners and are offered to UN Country Teams to facilitate coordinated action.

UN Women Deputy Executive Director Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda highlighted the importance of leveraging partnerships across various sectors, including national governments, civil society, local women’s rights organizations, and the private sector, to achieve systemic change.

During a focused discussion on the "Transforming Care Systems" Accelerator, Cynthia Samuel-Olonjuwon, ILO Special Representative to the UN, stressed that care systems are fundamental to building resilience in crises and achieving gender equality. She underscored the need to support workers with family responsibilities and ensure quality care, noting that care work, both paid and unpaid, is foundational to all other forms of work.

Hugo Allan García, Subsecretary of Planning of Guatemala, shared that his country has integrated a gender equality approach into its national planning system. He emphasized that this approach is essential for understanding power dynamics and addressing gender gaps, ensuring equal opportunities and rights for all citizens.

The event concluded with a clear Call to Action: achieving gender equality and advancing women’s rights require strategic, coordinated efforts. The Gender Equality Accelerators serve as critical tools to drive collective progress across the entire 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.