Dr. Michelle Bachelet, Executive Director delivers opening speech at International Women’s Summit

Emphasising the need for alliances and cooperation, Ms. Bachelet also made the point that without direct involvement of young women and girls, all the efforts would be much less impressive. Seeing youth as a matter of attitude, a matter of passion and a matter of commitment, it is indeed this very connectedness that contributes to the power of women and girls to change the circumstances in which we live in.

“Evidence is mounting that women and girls are the key to the solution of so many of the world’s problems… where we fail to capitalise on the potential and talents of one half of the population, we also squander the potential to reduce poverty, hunger, disease, environmental degradation and violence.” Ms Bachelet continued by painting a clear picture and stating the facts. Indeed, the statement that women and girls are essential to development is nowadays backed by reliable data, facts and numbers. The mortality rate for children of mothers with no education is twice as high; the women who experience intimate violence are 11.9 times more likely to acquire HIV; 150 million girls experience sexual abuse every year; half of sexual assaults worldwide are against girls under age 16... Meanwhile, closing the productivity gap from women’s unequal access to resources could reduce undernourishment by 12-17% and business profitability has proven to increase when including women on board and top management. The message was clear that the world can no longer continue to ignore the voices of women and girls.

Ms Bachelet asked why investment in equal opportunities were not taking place if it has the potential to yield such high returns. More and more countries have legal frameworks to outlaw practices of gender inequality but there still remains a huge gap with regards implementation. She emphasised that the key word to change this reality, ensure gender equality and support women’s leadership is the world was ‘empowerment’. We have to empower young women  economically, politically, and socially. We also need to focus on education and working with boys and young men. Childhood is the time when gender identities are shaped and attitudes and practices are learned; we therefore need to start as young as possible.

This year, on the 8th of March the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day was celebrated. We have advanced, but still have a lot of work to do. “It is a good year to renew an agenda that focuses on empowering women and girls, including not only their right to sexual and reproductive health, not only their right to live free from violence and HIV, but also their ability to claim these rights, and to make them a reality for women and girls.” Public participation and leadership are part of women’s empowerment and essential for genuine democracy. Women’s participation in high-level positions and government exceed 30% in only 28 countries of the world . However, it’s not a natural thing that women are not in power. Women are eager to take on leadership positions and may then become powerful role models. Women’s leadership extends also to other areas of decision-making, including peace negotiations, peacemaking and policy expertise on HIV and AIDS.

Ms Bachelet pointed out that women are not only victims but also positive agents of change and development. That young women have a reservoir of energy and creativity and one could not fail to be energized by them, as she was. She ended by saying that it was necessary to continue the work and struggle to create a safe world, a world we deserve to live in - “In this struggle, count on me and count on UN Women.”

Ms. Bachelet received an enthusiastic ovation. The World YWCA and all the participants to the Summit were very proud to have such an important role model 's support at the opening session of teh IWS. She has and will continue to inspire people worldwide both as a political leader and today as the head of UN Women.