The Hon. Dr. Jacqui Quinn-Leandro Minister of Labour, Public Administration and Empowerment addressed the 52nd session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) at United Nations headquarters in New York today, 25 February 2008.

The Hon. Minister was speaking on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, which is the 132-member negotiating group for developing countries that are members of the United Nations. Antigua and Barbuda is the Chair of the G77 and China for 2008.

Speaking on the priority theme of the session, 'Financing for gender equality and the empowerment of women', the Hon. Minister told the meeting that while Governments and the international community have emphasized the importance of the empowerment of women, more needs to be done to achieve the goals of the Platform for Action adopted by the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995.

Since the Beijing Conference, many developing countries report that resources have remained insufficient for programmes dedicated to the empowerment of women and that achieving gender equality objectives will require a renewed commitment, a reallocation of resources and additional and predictable sources of financing. The Minister identified gender responsive budgeting as one means to ensure that Governments include gender dimensions in their budget planning processes.

The outcome of this session of the Commission is expected to contribute concrete action-oriented gender-sensitive recommendations to provide coherence between macroeconomic policies and the goals of gender equality and the empowerment of women.

The Hon. Minister spoke after the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, launched a multi-year global campaign bringing together various stakeholders at the national and international levels to end violence against women. This campaign, according to UN officials, calls for commitment at the highest levels and is designed to break the silence and ensure that women's voices are heard on the issue. Dr. Quinn-Leandro will launch the campaign, nationally as an activity to mark International Women's Day on 8th March.

Also included in Minister Quinn-Leandro's delegation are President of the Senate, Hon. Hazlyn Mason-Francis and Director of Gender Affairs, Sheila Roseau.