The Generation Equality forum, organized by UN Women in partnership with the French and Mexican governments, ended on Friday (2) with a commitment to invest more than 40 billion reais (approximately 200 billion reais) in the fight against gender inequalities for the next five years.
Organizers of the event announced that participating governments pledged to invest US $ 21 billion, the private sector US $ 13 billion and philanthropic organizations an additional US $ 4.5 billion. In addition, the entities that make up the United Nations have also announced investments of US $ 1.3 billion.
The event brought together heads of state and government, international organizations and representatives of the private sector and civil society to sign concrete agreements to achieve SDG 5, the sustainable development goal of equality gender established by the UN in 2015.
The program is part of a list of 17 global goals that make up the international agenda until 2030, adopted by all UN members, including Brazil.
The United States, which was represented at the forum by a virtual speech from Vice President Kamala Harris, announced that it will invest $ 1 billion in actions to fight domestic and sexual violence in the country.
The Government of Canada has announced that it will invest US $ 100 million in the so-called Alliance of Care, created by Mexico in March during the first stage of the international forum, the aim of which is to promote and expand care networks for children.
The idea is to alleviate the problem of female overload with care, especially for children, a problem that has been made worse by the pandemic to the point of being called the “care crisis”.
In addition, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a speech at the opening of the forum on Wednesday (30) that an additional $ 30 million will be spent on internal actions. “Millions of Canadian mothers will be able to return to the workforce,” he said.
39 countries have already joined the alliance, according to UN Women.
The Generation Equality forum should have taken place in 2020, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Conference, an important step in the international agenda to combat gender inequalities. Delayed because of the pandemic, it was carried out in semi-presence in two stages in 2021.
The first took place in March, with Mexico as host, and the second this week, with France as captain. Only the opening took place in person, with the meeting of Heads of State and Government, UN Secretary General António Guterres, UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, and representatives of companies and international organizations.
French President Emmanuel Macron said at the opening of the event that the coronavirus is an “anti-feminist virus”. He also said that there are patriarchal forces at work around the world who want to reverse progress towards gender equality.
The rise of conservatism and authoritarianism around the world was the theme of the speeches of several leaders. “All over the world, democracy is in danger,” said the US vice president. “And who is affected when democracies fall? Women and children are among the most affected.
Folha showed that Brazil ignored invitations to participate in the Mexican and French stages.
But not just from historically progressive countries, like Canada, the forum took place. The governments of six African countries have announced their intention to work together to end harmful practices such as child marriage and female genital mutilation. The alliance was signed by Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Guinea, Togo and Benin.
In addition to government pledges, companies like PayPal, which pledged $ 100 million, announced they would invest money in stocks to tackle gender inequalities.
One of the biggest amounts announced came from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has pledged to spend $ 2.1 billion on stocks over the next five years.
To journalists invited to a conference on June 16 and 17, the Executive Director of UN Women indicated that the monitoring of the effectiveness of actions will be done through annual monitoring and new international meetings.