On the occasion of International Women's Day 2022, the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) releases the IORA Gender Pledge. The pledge recognizes that international practice for gender equality is to seek 40:40:20 women to men ratio, comprising at least 40 per cent women, 40 per cent men with 20 per cent being either women or men.
View the IORA Gender Pledge here.
Key elements include:
- IORA’s 23 Member States pledge to make best efforts to:
- achieve and maintain an average of 40:40:20 women to men attendance ratio across all IORA meetings, activities and events by 2030;
- achieve and maintain an annual average of 40:40:20 women to men ratio of speakers or Head of Delegation in IORA meetings, activities and events by 2030;
- achieve and maintain a 40:40:20 women to men ratio across the management positions at the IORA Secretariat by 2030;
- restates IORA’s shared commitment to Goal 5 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls; and
- IORA recognizes that women’s full, equal and meaningful participation in decision-making is crucial to achieve the first objective in the IORA Charter: to promote the sustained growth and balanced development of the region and of the Member States, and to create common ground for regional economic co-operation.
Ms. Khadijeh Karimi, Director General of International Affairs of Iran’s Vice Presidency for Women and Family Affairs said: “Iran is honored to be the Chair of the Working Group on Women’s Economic Empowerment (WGWEE). We thank Australia for all its enthusiasm and effort during the course of coordinating the WGWEE, especially for leading the development of the gender pledge, and look forward to working with IORA Member States on its implementation. We know that active participation of women and men in IORA’s decision-making and activities will improve IORA’s impact in promoting peace, prosperity and stability in the Indian Ocean.”
Australia’s Ambassador for Women and Girls Ms Christine Clarke welcomed the endorsement of the pledge. “Australia thanks IORA Member States for the constructive engagement in development of the pledge. It is a significant achievement for an international organisation to pledge to achieve equal participation of women and men. We urge other organisations across the world to pursue better outcomes by promoting the full, equal and meaningful participation of women in all their activities.”
H.E. Ambassador Salman Al Farisi, Secretary-General of IORA, noted: “IORA is committed to gender equality and women’s economic empowerment. IORA established Women’s Economic Empowerment as a special area of focus at the 13th Council of Ministers Meeting in Perth, Australia on 1 November 2013. The pledge is a concrete example of IORA’s cooperation on this important issue. I commit the Secretariat to supporting Member States in implementing the pledge.”
The pledge is a part of IORA’s Women’s Economic Empowerment agenda.
For more information on IORA’s Women’s Economic Empowerment agenda, visit https://www.iora.int/en/priorities-focus-areas/womens-economic-empowerment.
For media enquiries, contact iora.media@iora.int.
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