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Month in Review: When #YouthLead on Gender Equality Reflections and highlights from the Office of the UN Secretary-General's Envoy on Youth

Celebrating the Diversity of Ways Young People are Leading the Fight for Global Gender Equality

When it comes to gender equality, the month of March — marking International Women’s Day, the 65th Commission on the Status of Women, and the inaugural Generation Equality Forum in Mexico — has been a milestone opportunity to reflect on progress made, call for change and celebrate acts of courage and determination by everyday young trailblazers who have played an extraordinary role in driving progress within their countries and communities.

While the world has made unprecedented advances, no country has achieved gender equality. In a year marked by complex and intersecting crises underpinned by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the centrality of young women’s contributions and the disproportionate burdens they carry has never been more clear. It is more important than ever that we make 2021 count for women and girls everywhere.

I always say that the best part of my job is to meet young activists from all over the world who are leading community action — making their voices heard where decisions are being made and leading movements that push for transformative change. Even though structural barriers often prevent young people’s participation, they still find creative and radical ways to take the lead and resolve challenges.

Through the following overview I invite you to join me in celebrating the tremendous efforts by young people — including and especially girls, young women, and LGBTIQ+ youth around the world — in shaping a more equal future as we look to recover better together. Change isn’t just about big headline moments: the way we talk, think and act every day can create a ripple effect that benefits everyone.

— Jayathma Wickramanayake (UN Secretary-General's Envoy on Youth)

Intergenerational Co-Leadership and Mutual Accountability

18 March 2021

“For those of us who have the space, let’s try not to be the voice of the voiceless. Let’s try and bring everyone to the table so that they can speak for themselves.” - Jayathma Wickramanayake, UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth

At a side event during the 65th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW65), we joined the Generation Equality Youth Task Force and UN Women to convene a high-level dialogue to critically examine the meaning of shared intergenerational co-leadership and mutual accountability.

Through an inspiring intergenerational dialogue, I had the opportunity to join young leaders in discussing the challenges and opportunities for youth to move from participation to influence when it comes to driving transformative change. The dialogue served as a safe space for young people to meaningfully engage and call for leadership sharing, while helping to frame youth priorities prior to the kickoff of the Generation Equality Forum in Mexico City.

It's Time to Listen to Girls

7 March 2021

It was a pleasure to join the World Association of Girl Guides & Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) for the launch of "Listen to Girls" — a first-of-its-kind game that aims to disseminate U-Report results (based on youth consultations) in an interactive and youth-friendly way. During the launch, young women from around the world engaged one-on-one with key decision-makers using a similar approach to the one advocated for in the game.

Promotional graphic for the launch event

Kicking off the Generation Equality Forum

Mexico, 29-31 March 2021

Did you know that the inaugural Generation Equality Forum is a civil-society centered, global gathering for gender equality convened by UN Women and co-hosted by the governments of Mexico and France? This past month, the Forum kicked off in Mexico City (29-31 March), and will build momentum over the coming months, culminating in another virtual convening in Paris from 30 June to 2 July.

When it comes to the global fight for gender equality, the Generation Equality Forum is playing a central role in launching a series of concrete, ambitious and transformative actions to achieve immediate and irreversible progress towards gender equality — with youth playing a central role in the process.

Generation Equality: Girls and adolescents’ participation in building a more equal world

29 March 2021

During the Generation Equality Forum, I had the privilege to participate in a thematic session on girls and adolescents’ participation in building a more equal world, co-created with: Xochitépetl Human Rights Group, CONAMI, CIPE, These Scissors Cut, MEXFAM, The Hunger Project Mexico, Save the Children, Girls Not Brides and AGIP.

As was evident from the event, we need not only comprehensive intergenerational and intersectional dialogue to establish clear goals and commitments to reach equality in every aspect of life for women, girls, and adolescents around the world, but we also need to start building young feminist leadership and movements to prepare this generation for the change in the world we want to see and create.

By strengthening feminist leadership and movements we can help ensure real impact on gender equality and girls’ and women’s human rights, respecting and addressing their needs.

Photo of the virtual event

Deputy Secretary-General’s Monthly Dialogues with Youth: Young Feminist Leaders

19 March 2021

As part of their commitment to bringing the UN closer to young people, my office is working closely with UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed to hold closed-door candid monthly discussions with young people. These monthly dialogues provide a platform for young advocates to share their experiences and provide constructive feedback on how the UN can adapt and improve its efforts in various thematic areas, especially as it relates to engaging young people in achieving the SDGs and recovering better together from the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the inaugural session this March, the Deputy Secretary-General heard from young people on the ideas, needs and other priorities that young people see when it comes to bridging the gap between participation and influence in intergovernmental spaces. The conversations also touched on the need for greater support of efforts to strengthen feminist youth leadership in the Commission on the Status of Women and the Generation Equality Forum.

Photo by ActionAid Denmark/Malou Marie Freja Bengston

To commemorate International Women's Day, CNN World asked women across the globe what lessons they have learned during the COVID-19 pandemic that could help other women in the coming year — check out my thoughts alongside other influential female leaders below.

Groundviews sat down for a conversation on why many young women's potential is hindered by societally ingrained biases against women. As I expressed in the interview, there is a lot to celebrate when it comes to young women's resilience which continues to challenge the status quo — now we need more spaces for this type of feminist leadership across the board.

Photo by: Stuart Samson

Social Media Challenge: “Who’s a woman who inspires you?”

Preview of a TikTok by @UNYouthEnvoy

Following a virtual event last year, this March, together with the Inter-Parliamentary Union, we published a call to action on young women’s participation in politics. The call to action identifies three priority areas for increasing young women’s representation in politics:

Priority 1: Nurturing Young Women’s Political Aspirations

Priority 2: Supporting Young Women Candidates For Political Office

Priority 3: Empowering Young Women In Office, Investing In Their Leadership

Young women are the least represented amongst political leadership. IPU data on youth participation in parliaments show that only 2.2 per cent of parliamentarians are under 30, and less than 1 per cent are young women.

The exclusion of young women from the adoption of laws, negotiation of budgets and mechanisms to hold governments to account undermines the valuable contributions they make for the good of future generations.

Their participation in formal politics is especially important, as young women are leading change on issues like climate change, racial justice and gender equality. They are powerful advocates for intergenerational collaboration and accountability towards a more just, sustainable and equal world. It will benefit us all to have more young women, in all their diversity, representing us when political decisions for the future are made.

Quotes from the event

How Young People are Engaging in the Generation Equality Forum

Generation Equality Youth Task Force

The Generation Equality Youth ​Task Force guides efforts to place young people at the centre of the Beijing+25 process. The Task Force makes sure that young people are in the driving seat of these galvanizing moments and contribute to all stages of the global review process, the Generation Equality Forum and the Generation Equality campaign.

Youth Journey to Generation Equality

In July, August and September 2020, UN Women came together in multiple design sprints with diverse young people that are part of the Generation Equality governance structures, youth-led & youth-serving organizations, UN agencies and UN Women country and regional offices and national gender youth activists to conceptualize a youth journey for Generation Equality that spotlights activation moments and opportunities for young people and adolescents to influence and lead the process.

Generation Equality Rising

Young Feminist Manifesto

The GEF process has an ambitious vision and objective to accelerate progress towards gender equality and intersectional justice. It aims to fuel powerful and lasting Action Coalitions (ACs) to achieve transformative change for generations to come. And it promises to be a civil society-driven process that centers young feminists, placing them in the “driving seat”.

This manifesto was developed by young activists in the context of the Generation Equality Forum (GEF). It was co-created through a participative process involving youth-led organizations participating as Action Coalition co-leaders, the Generation Equality Youth Task Force (YTF), young feminists from the global Civil Society Advisory Group (CSAG) and Mexican CSAG as well as the National Gender Youth Activists (NGYAs). It seeks to offer a young, intersectional feminist vision for the GEF and the ACs, as well as some concrete recommendations to positively impact the GEF/ACs and make it a truly feminist, transformative and intersectional space and process.

Each year, the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is remarkably important when it comes to driving progress on gender equality. Check out our overview below for some of the highlights of the diverse and dynamic ways young people were engaging during side events during CSW65 this year.

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