We must encourage future generations to realize women’s rights 

Dean of European University of Lefke (EUL) Faculty of Health Sciences Prof. Dr. Şengül Hablemitoğlu made some statements on the occasion of “8th March International Women’s Day”.

Hablemitoğlu said that “Women started to struggle for basic human rights and political equality in the early twentieth century. Women’s pursuit of rights has gradually strengthened over the years, gaining a global dimension and growing. The United Nations (UN) declared 1975 as the “International Women’s Year” and started to be celebrated as the International Women’s Day on 8 March. As every year, this year is celebrated with various events all over the world” and added that they are anxious this year and that the international community warned countries because of the increasing threats on the rights in different parts of the world. She further stated this year’s theme as “I am Generation Equality: Realizing Women’s Rights”.

Hablemitoğlu went on to say that “The multi-generational campaign launched to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action, which is globally recognized as a road map for gender equality, is also in line with the Equality Generation campaign. The international community has devoted 2020 to the progress made for women’s rights since the adoption of the Beijing Action Platform. It is therefore an important year to improve gender equality worldwide. In addition, other supportive and empowering goals such as “sustainable development” are also highlighted in the gender equality movement. Among the sustainable development goals set by 2030, there are three main transformative targets for women’s empowerment”. She stated these targets as follows;

• Reducing preventable maternal deaths to zero,

• No unmet need for family planning

• Eliminating gender-based violence

Hablemitoğlu further stated that “The global consensus that emerges in these goals is that, despite some progress, the real change for the majority of women and girls around the world is still dramatically and painfully slow. Today, not a single country can claim to achieve gender equality. Many obstacles continue unchanged in law and culture” and added that  the value of women and girls; The fact that they earn less with more options in employment, with fewer options, being exposed to a wide variety of violence at home and in public areas, and the murders of women in many countries of the world constitute a significant threat to the vested rights.

The numbers indicate that there’s a lot to do about gender inequalities

“For this reason, 2020 is a milestone for sustainable development goals, and opportunities not to be missed in realizing global movements to achieve gender equality and human rights for all women and girls. Considering humanitarian development reports of Turkey and the TRNC and global gender inequality reports, this observation and action year should be well evaluated. The numbers indicate that there’s a lot to do about gender inequalities”, she said. Hablemitoğlu also stressed that their aim in 2020 is to bring together leading women and girls and gender equality activists of the next generation to achieve women’s equality goals and encourage future generations to realize women’s rights.