The United Nations Commission on the Status of Women meeting, Beijing +10, to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women officially started in Beijing on Monday with two plenary sessions.
Gu Xiulian, vice chairwoman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) and president of the All China Women's Federation (ACWF), delivered a speech at the first plenary session, which was convened just after the opening ceremony at the Great Hall of the People.
The meeting will review the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action passed at the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995, and the 2000 Millennium Development Goals. About 800 delegates, including women state leaders, representatives of UN agencies, inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations around the world, are attending the meeting from August 29 to September 1. Items on the meeting agenda include a discussion of new issues in women's development, and proposing solutions to promote women's development and gender equality
The Fourth World Conference on Women held 10 years ago in 1995 in Beijing was the largest international conference in UN history and is regarded as an important milestone in the history of the international women's movement.
Gu briefly introduced China's achievements in women's causes in the last decade, and at the same time pointed out that “as a developing country, China still faces a rather arduous task in promoting gender equality and achieving common development.”
"China will keep up with vigorous efforts to promote gender mainstreaming," Gu said.
As a global strategic slogan put forward at the Fourth World Conference on Women, gender mainstreaming has been incorporated into the UN gender development indicator system and exerts profound impact on the development of national gender equality policies.