On April 23rd, 2019, Our Secure Future Fellow and Executive Director of Mobilizing Men as Partners for Women, Peace and Security (MMPWPS), Ambassador Donald Steinberg, spoke at a panel hosted by the United Nations General Assembly. On-theme with the panel’s topic of making the United Nations “relevant to all people,” Ambassador Steinberg’s remarks focused on the utility of the Sustainable Development Goals as a “powerful symbol and entry point for the U.N. to impact the everyday lives of all people - whether they live in skyscrapers, urban slums, rural villages, or refugee camps.”
Women’s empowerment and gender equality are intrinsically and inextricably linked to poverty reduction. In fact, studies have shown that if women farmers had the same access to resources as men, agricultural output in 34 developing countries would rise by an estimated average of up to 4%, decreasing the number of undernourished people by as much as 17% and leading to up to 150 million fewer hungry people.
Given this staggering opportunity for advancement, Ambassador Steinberg’s closing question from the New York launch of MMPWPS is particularly relevant: “how can we afford not to put women’s leadership at the top of our global security ‘to-do’ list?”
Download Ambassador Steinberg’s full remarks here.
