Chinese UN ambassador shares ideas on poverty reduction for women

UNITED NATIONS, March 19 (Xinhua) -- China's UN ambassador, Zhang Jun, on Friday shared his ideas on poverty reduction for women.

"Looking ahead, there is still a long way to go to eliminate absolute poverty and achieve gender equality worldwide. It is important that countries take into account their national conditions and explore ways that suit their own needs to lay the foundation and open up space for women's development," Zhang told a webinar themed "Women and poverty eradication: the promise of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action."

He said, in general, priorities should be given to the following areas.

First, develop appropriate policies to make women's poverty alleviation a national commitment. Due to the inequalities, women are more likely to fall into poverty than men. Therefore, women's poverty alleviation should become a focus and be incorporated into top-level design and the whole process of policy formulation and implementation.

Second, focus on key issues and address the practical difficulties faced by the most vulnerable groups. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, 80 percent of the extreme poor live in rural areas. Poor rural women are in a more vulnerable situation. There is a need to adopt a targeted strategy, with women living in rural areas, remote and ethnic minority areas as the focus, and strive to resolve livelihood issues and provide guarantee for basic requirements.

Third, strengthen capacity-building and improve the institutional guarantee for women's development. The fundamental way to lift women out of poverty is to empower them with skills. Special investment for women and girls in health care, education and training should be increased to improve their capacity and promote equal opportunities for employment. Financial security is crucial, and women's entrepreneurship should be encouraged through special funds and small loans, so as to motivate women to become the driving force in eradicating poverty.

Fourth, build partnerships to form strong synergies in the whole society to support women's fight against poverty. Partnerships can be established between developed and less developed areas of a country to promote flow of talents, capital and technology to poor areas. Digital technology should be applied to promote development of the poor areas and facilitate markets connection through e-commerce.

Fifth, integrate women's poverty eradication into the overall framework of international development cooperation. The United Nations should play a key coordinating role, not only in addressing persistent issues such as violence, discrimination and poverty, but also in tackling new challenges such as the gender digital divide. The World Bank, the International Labor Organization and other international organizations should be given sufficient resources to carry out more projects in helping women fight poverty.

"Achieving gender equality is our common goal. China is ready to work with all partners to build a world free from discrimination against women, a society of inclusive development, and a community with a shared future for all," said Zhang.

The webinar was co-hosted by the Chinese mission to the United Nations and the delegation of the European Union to the United Nations on the sidelines of the 65th session of the Commission on the Status of Women.