GENEVA, JULY 7 – The Permanent Representative of Italy to the United Nations in Geneva, Amb. Gian Lorenzo Cornado, addressed today an interactive dialogue with the United Nations Working Group on Discrimination against Women and Girls. In the framework of the 44th Session of the Human Rights Council, Cornado stated that Italy concurs with the Working Group on the centrality of a redistribution of power and resources for the realization of women’s human rights in the changing world of work and also acknowledges that women are playing a key role in the COVID-19 fight, with many on the frontlines, providing essential medical and other services, and keeping communities running.
In this regard, Ambassador Cornado underlined that the Italian Minister for Equal Opportunities and the Family set up last April a women-made Task Force “Women for a new Renaissance” aimed at mitigating the impact of the pandemic, while taking into account the gender dimension for a social, cultural and economic restart. He said that such Task Force recently published a set of proposals to increase the percentage of women in all areas of work, to overcome barriers to career advancement, to fight gender stereotypes that prevent women from achieving leadership responsibilities, to generate new energies and opportunities for all.
Moreover, Ambassador Cornado recalled that gender equality is enshrined in the Italian Constitution and likewise the Italian Code on Equal Opportunities between Women and Men applies to all spheres of life. Lastly, he asked the Working Group’s views on how to ensure that laws and practices can be effectively aligned to international standards and on the priority measures to be put in place, in the current crisis, paying due attention to women’s voices and leadership.
To read the full speech of the Italian Representative, click here. (@OnuItalia)