2030 deadline for Asian countries to eliminate gender inequalities-Government official

Director General of International Affairs Office of Presidential Department for Women and Family Affairs, Dr. Leila Falahati said on Wednesday 9 March 2016 that all Asian countries including Iran have an opportunity to eliminate some inequalities in the gender areas by the year 2030, AVA Diplomatic reports.

“A lot of challenges exits in this regard of which lack of data for appropriate decision making is the most important one,” she added.

The government official while referring to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which were approved in 2015 by all the United Nations Member States, said goal five of SDGs encourages all countries to achieve gender equality and empowerment of women and girls by 2030.

Dr. Falahati had a presentation on the question of women in Asia during a seminar and roundtable discussion on the occasion of International Women’s Day, organized jointly by Iranian International Studies Association (IISA), Strategic Council for Intellectual Women of the Islamic Azad University and United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) at the UN Building.

Referring to the fact that access to education plays an important role in empowering women and girls, Deputy to Vice President said experience has shown that establishing schools in villages and educating rural girls and women will enormously narrow the gender gap.

The seminar began by the United Nations Secretary-General’s message on International Women’s Day 2016, delivered by UNIC National Information Officer Mr. Mohammad Moghadam.

The Secretary of the Strategic Council for Intellectual Women of Islamic Azad University Dr. Mattineh Pakideh also briefed the participants on the Council’s efforts on empowering Iranian women.