UN URGES ENHANCEMENT FOR LAW ON PROMOTION OF GENDER EQUALITY

Ulaanbaatar,/MONTSAME/ On the occasion of the International Women's Day, the United Nations agencies have come together to congratulate all women in Mongolia! The United Nations invites women to celebrate who they are, the value they bring to family, workplaces and their communities as well as to see this day as a call to action to ensure that the strong achievements made by women are consolidated and reflected in passing and implementation of the Law on Promotion of Gender Equality in Mongolia.
While strong advancements over the last decade in the areas of gender equality in relation to education, income and life expectancy are among all that can be celebrated today, we also recognise that we must continue to work together, men and women to ensure that Mongolia's respect for women is grounded in and reinforced through laws and practice.
The first step to ensuring such equality through the law and addressing equality gaps was made when the Government of Mongolia committed to the world that it would be held accountable in its implementation of the internationally legally binding Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1981.
The next step - eagerly awaited by the international community - is that the all laws and practices are brought into accordance with the standards in the Convention. Many laws in Mongolia have provisions in relation to women, the challenge however remains to ensure that as the Universal Declaration on Human rights demands - that all are treated equally. This means that laws must not just mention women and apply to women, but must ensure that men and women enjoy the same fundamental human rights and that where gaps in the enjoyment of rights exist - that these are addressed.
With the drafting of the Law on Promotion of Gender Equality, completed in 2009, Mongolia has a further area on which to be congratulated. The law to be considered during the Spring session of Parliament has a simple and clear goal: to ensure equal opportunities for men and women in political, legal, economic, social, cultural and family relations, and to regulate their implementation. The Gender Equality law spells out responsibilities of specific public agencies to ensure gender equality in various spheres such as employment, education and health, and in public sector in particular. The law will ensure that development challenges are viewed and new laws and policies proposed having thought through whether men and women, boys and girls experience a situation differently and whether this is an unfair difference. Where there is an inequality - such as in equal pay for the same job, or limited social security for workers in the informal sector - the law ensures that at least men and women are treated equally and gaps are addressed. The law will challenge us all to consider whether equal pay should be received by women and men doing the same job; whether steps should be taken to stop boys dropping out of school and working in child labour; whether our daughters who perform well at school have the same right to a well paid position as boys; why our men our dying on average 7.3 years younger than our women; and so forth. Once adopted, the law will help the government agencies and development programs to clearly define the existing gender disparities and to take specific and targeted actions to correct these disparities and ensure the democracy and equality that is so cherished by Mongolians is protected from social disruptions.
The UN fully supports the gender equality law. It is the essence of the UN Secretary General's message for International Women's Day which focuses on equal rights, equal opportunities and progress for all. Today on International Women's Day, and every day, let us go forward with the vision that progress for women and men is progress for all.