#IWD2016 CELEBRATE Search IWD events and activity Publish and promote your own IWD page Publish an article or initiative Promote an organization or group Donate to a female-focused charity #PledgeForParity TAKE ACTION Make a #PledgeForParity Take action to accelerate gender parity Social share your support Download selfie cards Embed pledge widget on a website

IWD 2016 campaign theme #PledgeForParity Worldwide, women continue to contribute to social, economic, cultural and political achievement. And we have much to celebrate today. But progress towards gender parity has slowed in many places. The World Economic Forum predicted in 2014 that it would take until 2095 to achieve global gender parity. Then one year later in 2015, they estimated that a slowdown in the already glacial pace of progress meant the gender gap wouldn't close entirely until 2133.until 2095 to achieve global gender paritygender gap wouldn't close entirely until 2133 So how do we want to celebrate International Women's Day 2016? We say by Pledging For Parity!Pledging For Parity Everyone - men and women - can pledge to take a concrete step to help achieve gender parity more quickly - whether to help women and girls achieve their ambitions, call for gender- balanced leadership, respect and value difference, develop more inclusive and flexible cultures or root out workplace bias. Each of us can be a leader within our own spheres of influence and commit to take pragmatic action to accelerate gender parity. Commit to take action to accelerate gender parity Globally, with individuals pledging to move from talk to purposeful action - and with men and women joining forces - we can collectively help women advance equal to their numbers and realize the limitless potential they offer economies the world over. We have urgent work to do. Are you ready to accelerate gender parity?

The Gender Parity Index (GPI) is a socioeconomic index usually designed to measure the relative access to education of males and females. In its simplest form, it is calculated as the quotient of the number of females by the number of males enrolled in a given stage of education (primary, secondary, etc.). It is used by international organizations, particularly in measuring the progress of developing countries. The Institute for Statistics of UNESCO also uses a more general definition of GPI: for any development indicator one can define the GPI relative to this indicator by dividing its value for females by its value for males. [1] For example, some UNESCO documents consider gender parity in literacy. [2]socioeconomiceducationprimarysecondaryUNESCO [1]literacy [2] UNESCO describes attempts to eliminate gender disparities in primary and secondary education and emphasizes the plight of girls in unequal access in third world countries. [3] However, the GPI ignores the gender disparity that benefits first-world women in tertiary education as in Iceland, for example, where 65% of students enrolling in tertiary education are female. [3]

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Goal 5 - Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation Recognize and value unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public services, infrastructure and social protection policies and the promotion of shared responsibility within the household and the family as nationally appropriate Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights as agreed in accordance with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of their review conferences 5.a - Undertake reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to ownership and control over land and other forms of property, financial services, inheritance and natural resources, in accordance with national laws 5.b - Enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and communications technology, to promote the empowerment of women 5.c - Adopt and strengthen sound policies and enforceable legislation for the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls at all levels