National Consultation on the Review of Beijing+25

• 01 Feb 2020

Why in News

To mark 25 years of the adoption of the Beijing Platform for Action, Ministry of Women & Child Development, the National Commission for Women (NCW) and UN Women organized a National Consultation on the Review of Beijing+25

• National Consultation brings on board all stakeholders (civil society, women and youth etc.) to implement actions that remove the most visible barriers to gender equality.
• 2020 marks the 25^th anniversary of the 4^th World Conference on Women (WCW) and adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995). Hence, it is referred to as Beijing + 25.

Key Points

• Objective: To assess progress and challenges to the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in India over the past 5 years.
• The issue of gender equality has also been highlighted by the Economic Survey 2019-20 and points out that in achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs), India lags behind in Zero Hunger (SDG 2) and Gender Equality (SDG 5). Similarly, the SDG India Index by NITI Aayog raised the same concerns in achieving gender equality.
  
  • India has been ranked 112^th among 153 countries in the annual Global Gender Gap Index for 2020, published by the World Economic Forum (WEF).
• Recent government schemes to achieve gender equality:
  
  • Beti Bachao Beti Padhao
  • Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana
  • Scheme for Adolescent Girls
  • National Nutrition Mission (NNM)
  • Pradhan Mantri Mahila Shakti Kendra

World Conferences on Women

• The United Nations has organized 4 world conferences on women.
  
  • Mexico City,1975
  • Copenhagen,1980
  • Nairobi,1985
  • Beijing,1995
• The 1995 4^th World Conference on Women (WCW), held in Beijing, was one of the largest ever gatherings of the United Nations, and a critical turning point in the world’s focus on gender equality and the empowerment of women.
  
  • It marked a significant turning point for the global agenda for gender equality. The Beijing Declaration was adopted unanimously the UN at the end of the 4^th WCW.
    • Beijing Declaration is an agenda for women’s empowerment and considered the key global policy document on gender equality.
    • It sets strategic objectives and actions for the advancement of women and the achievement of gender equality in 12 critical areas of concern like women and health, women in power and decision-making, the girl-child, women and the environment.

Source: PIB