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Secretary General and Deputy Secretary General: "Violence against women won’t stop until we eliminate gender inequality"

Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland and Deputy Secretary General Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni today made the following statement to mark International Women's Day, which is celebrated every year on 8 March:

“Across the world, International Women's Day gives us an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of women while calling for greater gender equality. We are encouraged to see some positive developments such as more laws criminalising domestic violence and other forms of violence against women.  Or the fact that more countries are ratifying the Council of Europe’s award-winning and standard setting treaty the Istanbul Convention – 16 to date – to counter such violence.

And yet gender stereotypes and overtly sexualised images of women continue to feed into violence against women. A widespread sexualisation of women’s bodies contributes to treating women as subordinate members of society, and such stereotyping negatively affects how women are treated and perceived by institutions and society alike.

As we celebrate the 8th of March, the Council of Europe and the Belgian authorities are co-organising a panel on “Gender stereotypes and sexism – Root causes of discrimination and violence against women” at the 59th Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in New York on 9 March.  This event highlights our work in combating gender stereotypes and sexism, and presents important Council of Europe standards in that regard, including the Istanbul Convention, Committee of Ministers’ Recommendations on gender equality and media and gender mainstreaming in education, and good practices from member states.

Abolishing negative gender stereotypes and sexism is essential to achieving gender equality. Gender inequality is also the root cause of violence against women. We call on men to speak out on 8th March, to play their part in promoting gender equality and ending violence against women. Let’s abolish gender hierarchies, violence and discrimination against women - and let’s ratify and implement the Istanbul Convention without delay”.

Press release

See also:
8 March - International Women's Day

Secretary General and Deputy Secretary General Strasbourg 7 March 2015
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