Letters from the Executive Board.

Letter from the Head Chair

Greetings delegate, it’s a pleasure to meet you all!

My name is Hafiz Ghifari Berlianto and you can call me Hafiz for short. I will be serving
as the Head Chair in the UN Women Council of Comfort MUN 4.0. I am currently a Sophomore
Student studying history at the University of Indonesia. I have joined the MUN circuit in December
2019, and this will be my first time chairing in my MUN journey. I hope that I can give my best
to all of you since I still need to learn more things as a Chair. For me as a Chair, what I want to
see is the debate that will happen during the conference where all of you, the delegates of the UN
Women Council, can deliver your best ideas and solutions upon the topic that all of you will discuss
together. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at [email protected].

Letter from the Co-Chair

Greetings Delegates! A warm welcome to all of you to Comfort MUN 4.0!

My name is Deepanjana (it's unnecessarily long, so please call me Jana), and I will serve
as your Assistant Chair in the UN Women Council of Comfort MUN 4.0. I feel extremely honoured
to be a part of such an amazing committee and conference. I am currently in 10th grade, and my
MUN journey began in February this year. Though I have not been part of the MUN Community
for a long time, I have learned a lot from my awesome Councils, Chairs and Delegates. I want to
continue learning as much as I can, and I know that Comfort MUN 4.0 will be an extremely
productive and learning process for all of us. The one thing I strongly believe in is that there is no
limit to learning, so let's make this conference a fun, fruitful and memorable event for all our lives!
I am excited to see all of you, and I promise to try my best to do my best as your Co-Chair, till
then if you have any queries or difficulties feel free to contact me at
[email protected]. Looking forward to an incredible conference!
Table of Contents-

I- History of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and Empowerment of

Women (UN Women)

II- History of the Agenda: Adaptation of National Frameworks and Policies for the

Development of Gender-Responsive Services in Economic Empowerment:

III- Key Definitions

IV- Agenda Timeline

V- Current Situation

VI- Past International Actions

VII- Possible Solutions

VIII- Bloc Position

IX- QARMAS (Questions a Resolution must answer)

X- Position Paper Guidelines

XI- Additional Reference

XII- Bibliography
Introduction to the topic:

I. Introduction to the Council

The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and Empowerment or UN Women is an
extremely important and honourable part of the United Nations General Assembly. The
Council included all the United Nations Member States, different women groups, and civil
societies. It was formed on 2nd July 2010 but made its historic impact when it became
operational in January the next year, 2011. This Committee was formed in response to the
United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution 63/311. The Comprehensive
Proposal for the Composite Entity for Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women
reported that instead of relying on the various other parts of the United Nations system for
the promotion of Gender Equality and projection of women empowerment; the new entity
of UN Women would be focusing on the positive and productive output for Gender
Equality and Empowerment of Women of the entire United Nations. It would also enforce
further the impact of other different parts of the United Nations Councils, women help
groups and other organizations on equality of all genders and women empowerment.
The creation of UN Women is also in line with the reform agenda of the UN, bringing the
available resources and mandates under a single banner to achieve better success and
results. UN Women is made up of four different organizations under the UN system, which
focuses its work on achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment: Division for
the Advancement of Women (DAW), United Nations Development Fund for Women
(UNIFEM), International Training and Research Institute for the Advancement of Women
(INSTRAW), Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women
(OSAGI). It has three roles, the first is to support other intergovernmental bodies, such as
the Commission on the Status of Women, in their process of creating policies, international
laws, and norms. The second is to help the Member States in implementing the policies
that have been created, always ready to be helped and provide suitable technical and
financial support to the countries that request upon it and to forge long-lasting partnerships
with the civil societies in those countries. The third is to hold the UN system accountable
for its commitments to achieving international gender equality, including for regular
monitoring on system-wide progress. UN Women also works to make the Sustainable
Development Goals a reality for women and girls, as well as to support women's equal
participation in all aspects of life, with four main priorities: the first is that women should
lead, participate in, and benefit equally from governance systems; the second is that women
have income security, decent work, and economic autonomy; and the third is that women
have access to reproductive health and rights. All of the works that are related to the 2030
agenda that focuses on gender equality are all placed under the responsibility of the UN
Women.
 II. Introduction to the Agenda
Governments have taken steps in recent years to recognize the significant potential of e-
commerce for trade integration and development. Over the years, there has been a growing
interest in adopting policies and strategies to capitalize on its potential. For example, 158
countries, including 68 developing or transition economies and 30 Least Developed
Countries (LDC), have enacted E-transactions legislation. However, when it comes to
leveraging the potential of e-commerce, women frequently face inequalities and unique
challenges. Gender-specific challenges may exist in areas such as access to finance, where
women may lack collateral or bank account ownership; (ii) education, where they may
have less access to ICT or business training; and (iii) cultural biases and stereotypes
preventing women from setting forth on e-entrepreneurship and not being given support;
(iv) discrimination in Legislation which subdues the opportunities for women by subjecting
to husband approval. Because the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) process is iterative,
there are numerous opportunities to incorporate gender considerations. The first and most
important step is for NAP teams to commit to gender responsiveness (for example by
including this as a key issue in stocktaking and the NAP roadmap). Following this
commitment, action can be taken to incorporate gender analysis and responsive actions
across all dimensions to incorporate gender analysis and responsive actions into all aspects
of the NAP process. Where applicable, relevant steps from the Least Developed Countries
Expert Group's (LEG) NAP technical guidelines are to be followed. Gender equality is an
overarching goal because social equity is one of the three dimensions of sustainability,
along with environmental sustainability and economic progress. On the other hand, only
universal engagement can successfully move the Agenda forward, emphasizing the
importance of involving women as change agents.

III. Key Definitions:

1. Gender Responsive- Gender responsiveness refers to results that represent an
awareness of gender roles and differences, as well as efforts to promote equal
participation and equitable profit distribution. Gender analysis and gender
inclusiveness are used to achieve gender responsiveness.
2. Least Developed Country (LDC)- The least developed countries are a group of
developing countries that, according to the United Nations, have the poorest
socioeconomic indicators and the lowest Human Development Index scores of any
nation in the world.
3. E-Commerce- E-commerce refers to the purchase and sale of goods and services over
the internet, as well as the transfer of funds and data to complete the transaction.
Electronic trade, or internet commerce, is another name for it.
 4. National Frameworks- The purpose and policy objectives for programs for people
with disabilities stated in clause 4 and agreed upon by the parties to this Agreement
from time to time and to be progressed over the life of this agreement are referred to
as the national framework.
5. Gender Stereotypes- Preconceived notions that females and males are arbitrarily
given characteristics and positions based on their gender, which are then restricted.
6. Gender Sensitivity: Gender sensitivity is a philosophy that has been built to help
people overcome sexism's obstacles to personal and economic growth. Respect for the
person, regardless of gender, is aided by gender sensitivity.
7. Economic Empowerment- Economic empowerment refers to an individual's ability
to engage in, contribute to, and profit from economic processes in terms that value
their contributions, respect their dignity, and allow for a more equitable distribution
of the benefits of growth. Economic empowerment increase’s women’s access to
economic resources and other opportunities including jobs, financial services,
property and other productive assets, skills development and market information.
8. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
(CEDAW)- The Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women
(CEDAW) defines sex-based discrimination as "any distinction, exclusion, or
restriction on the basis of sex, which nullifies or impairs the recognition, enjoyment,
and exercise of women's social, cultural, political, and economic rights, whether
intentionally or unintentionally."
9. HDI- The Human Development Index (HDI) is an index of statistical composites, used
to classify countries into four levels of human development, of life expectancy,
education and income per head.

IV. Agenda Timeline-

1. 1951- The ILO's gender equality mandate is to promote equality in the workplace for all
women and men. This requirement is based on international labor conventions, particularly
the four key equality conventions, that are particularly relevant to gender equality. These
include the Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951. (No. 100)
2. 1958- The 1958 Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention is among these
(No. 111)
3. 18th December 1979- The United Nations General Assembly enacted the Convention on
the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1979. It was
established on September 3, 1981, as a worldwide bill of rights for women, and has been
approved by 189 countries. All States Parties to CEDAW are legally obligated to fulfill,
protect, and respect women's human rights, which means that States are accountable not
only for their own actions but also for eradicating discrimination perpetrated by private
individuals and organizations.
 4. 15th September 1995- On September 15, 1995, the United Nations adopted the Beijing
Declaration at the conclusion of the Fourth World Conference on Women. The resolution
was passed to establish a set of principles concerning gender equality and women's
economic empowerment.
5. 2000- The Maternity Protection Convention was signed in the year 2000. (No. 183).

V. Current Situation -

Figure 1.0 Percentage of Women to Men in the Global Labour Force

1. Achieving equal rights for both men and women in all aspects is necessarily important,
especially in the economic sector, where one of the main issues in gender equality that
needs to be solved and achieved which is equal access for both men and women in
achieving economic empowerment and there is no doubt that women’s access and roles in
the economic sector is still a concerning factor and indirectly hampers the global effort in
achieving basic gender equality. Economic empowerment for women means that not only
that they can achieve and get the same access like men in terms of equal work hours and
basic payments and other services that they achieved as a gesture for their services at their
workplaces, but also on a bigger scale, where it is also achieving a just and equitable
society. The problems surrounding women when they want to achieve these rights are often
because of simple factors, such as discrimination and expulsion based on ethnicity or caste.

2. Economic empowerment especially for women has become a global target that has yet to
be achieved, and it has been set in the global sustainable plans, especially in the Millennium
 Development goal, as gender equality and women that is empowered in all aspects
including the economic sector is one of the main catalyst points of for multiplying
development efforts. It is believed that women who work and earn money on their own
will tend to allocate more of their earnings for their own family needs than men. In times
of crisis and problems that arise around the economic sector, one of the solutions that can
be done is to improve more involvement of women in the economy, but it must be done
with deep consideration as women can also suffer from the extra cost they if possible they
should pay because they have to work to help the economy recover from the crisis it
endures. Economic empowerment is also one of the aspects of the Sustainable
Development Goals, where achieving this target is in line with Goal 5 to achieve basic
gender equality for all, Goal 1 to achieve the end of poverty, Goal number 8 to promote
decent work and full employment for all of humanity without any exceptions, Goal 3 on
ensuring decent health and the last is to achieve decreased inequalities which are based on
Goal 10. Combining all of these targets, the main goal is yet still the same, ensuring women
empowerment and also closing the gaps in the economic sector from a gender perspective.
As the number of women who work increases, so does the economy. This applies not only
to a certain or a group of countries but to all countries in the world. It can help boost the
productivity rate, increase economic diversification, increase income equality and many
more positive results that cannot be mentioned one by one. For a small example, if OECD
member states follow the same path like Sweden in increasing the number of women in the
workforce it can also help boost the GDP by USD 6 trillion.

3. Yet the big targets that need to be achieved are still surrounded by certain barriers that need
to be addressed and discussed together, as the problem of gender equality is a matter that
cannot be solved by a few but must be solved together by the international community.
One of the main core issues surrounding this problem is the laws that hamper or neglect
women from entering the workforce in certain countries, causing a major global difference.
By 2018, a report shows that from around 189 countries in the world, around 104 of them
still have laws that prevent women from accessing certain jobs, around 59 countries have
not formulated laws that can prevent sexual harassment on women in the workplaces and
in 18 countries they have laws that can allow husbands in preventing their wives to go to
works. This data shows that there is still a lack of awareness of the importance of achieving
women’s empowerment, especially at the national level in many countries around the
world. From this data too we can start to address slowly the problems that affect women
from fully participating in the economic sector starting from national legal laws that
prevent or even banning them to go to work like men do, the lack of concern for the
protection of women from abusive and other kind of negative sexual treatments when they
are working, and also not least is the lack of understanding from the local or even national
populace of the important of having women work in the same degree and rights like men.
This means, women are still more unemployed than men, and what makes matters worse,
 most of the women that work are usually working in informal and vulnerable sectors, which
make the pay gap between men and women broaden.

VI. Past International Actions-

Why do we need to know the past actions? So we can find the flaws in them as they are enacted
currently, learn the beneficial points of them to create better suggestions, resolutions and policies
in the future. The United Nations have taken numerous steps in trying to prevent gender inequality
and catalyze the empowerment of women, as shown in the agenda timeline. But the most major
international actions which have impacted the lives of women the most are the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) of 1979, the Beijing
Declaration of 1995 and the Maternity Protection Convention of 2000.

1. CEDAW is one of the United Nations' main international human rights treaties, and it is
commonly referred to as the women's bill of rights. The UN General Assembly ratified
CEDAW on December 19, 1979, and it entered into force as a treaty on December 3, 1981.
It is one of the most widely accepted human rights treaties, having been ratified or acceded
to by 188 countries as of April 2014, with the Optional Protocol having been approved or
acceded by 104 countries. Governments in Southeast Asia have promised to uphold legal
commitments to respect, protect, and fulfill women's human rights by signing the
Convention. Existing laws against domestic abuse, sexual harassment and rape, and anti-
trafficking have been updated or new laws have been established across the region. Many
Southeast Asian governments are likewise committed to mainstreaming gender equality
concepts in national, economic, and social planning, as well as investing resources to
construct anti-discrimination and women's empowerment national action plans. Any
differentiation, exclusion, or restriction created on the basis of sex, which has the effect or
intent of impairing or nullifying the enjoyment and exercise of rights by women,
irrespective of their marital status, on a foundation of equality of men,” says Article 1 of
the CEDAW Convention. Human rights and fundamental freedoms for men and women in
the political, economic, social, and cultural spheres. Whether in the artistic, civil, or any
other field.” The CEDAW Convention establishes high standards for all in terms of
equality and non-discrimination. Women in all disciplines, in addition to those listed in
Article 1. It also supplies crucial information. Normative standards that are inextricably
related to the Sustainable Development Goals (Agenda 2030).

2. The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, established during the United Nations'
Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, China, 1995), is a women's empowerment
agenda. Its goal is to eliminate all barriers to women's active involvement in all aspects of
public and private life by guaranteeing that women have a full and equal say in economic,
 social, cultural, and political decision-making. This means that at home, in the business,
and in larger national and international societies, the notion of shared power and
responsibility should be developed between men and women. Equality between men and
women is a matter of human rights and a condition for social justice, according to the
Declaration and Platform for Action. Equally important, it is a precondition for equality,
growth, and peace. Governments, the international community, and civil society, including
non-governmental organizations and the commercial sector, are urged to take strategic
action in the twelve major areas of concern for women around the world, which are-
● Poverty and women
● Women's education and training
● Women and their well-being
● Violence against women has been on the upswing.
● Armed conflict and women
● The economy and women
● Women in positions of leadership and decision-making
● Women's advancement mechanisms in institutions
● Women's human rights
● The media and women
● The environment and women
● The girl- child

3. The International Labour Organization's Maternity Protection Convention (No. 183)

establishes basic standards, while the associated ILO Maternity Protection
Recommendation (No. 191) supports extra measures. The following are important aspects
of maternity protection:
● Maternity leave duration: A mother's access to a period of rest following childbirth
is critical to the mother's and her child's health and nutrition. Maternity leave should
not be less than 14 weeks, according to Convention No. 183, and should be at least
18 weeks according to Recommendation No. 191.

● Amount of maternity leave cash benefits: The right to cash benefits while on
maternity leave is designed to ensure that the woman and her child are kept in good
health and have a reasonable level of living. Maternity leave cash benefits are
intended to restore a portion of the income lost as a result of the woman's economic
activity being interrupted, putting the leave provision into practice. Cash benefits
should not be less than two-thirds of the woman's earnings prior to taking leave,
according to Convention No. 183, whereas Recommendation No. 191 recommends
increasing payments to the full amount of previous earnings.
 ● The source of maternity leave cash compensation is crucial since it might lead to
discrimination in the labour market if employers have to cover all expenditures.
Individual employers are not liable for maternity leave benefits unless they
expressly agree to it, according to Convention No. 183. Cash benefits are provided
through compulsory social insurance or public funds, and individual employers are
not liable for maternity leave benefits unless they expressly agree to it.

● Breastfeeding breaks and facilities: Because leave entitlements are typically shorter
than the WHO-recommended duration of exclusive and sustained breastfeeding,
the right to continue breastfeeding a child after returning to work is critical.
According to Convention No. 183, women have the right to one or more daily
breaks or a daily decrease in working hours for nursing, which must be considered
as working time and compensated appropriately. Recommendation No. 191
recommends that, whenever possible, provisions should be provided for the
creation of nursing facilities in or near the workplace, with acceptable hygienic
conditions.

VII. Possible Solutions-

1. The governments should work towards guaranteeing women have equal access to
economic resources to help women become economically independent and stable,
through the following but not limited to:
● Increment of the number and amount of loans and grants to help women to pursue their
goals and ambitions to help them become socially and economically independent.
● Establishment of cooperative societies in clusters to give economic empowerment to
women, particularly in rural communities and developing nations of the world.
● Supporting small scale businesses and cottage industries owned by women by providing
them with the opportunity to compete.
● Ensuring there is transparency and accountability in employment using merit-based
selection criteria.
● Compliance with equal opportunity laws and principles requiring employers to not exclude
women either intentionally or in effect on the base of gender, age, national origin or belief.
● Promoting local hiring and community engagement of women who live in the community
when an investment is being made.

2. Finding the core reason of the lack of economic women empowerment:

Social stereotypes and cultural beliefs are some of the main reasons women are not
empowered economically. Another reason hindering the economic empowerment of
women is the lack of quality education. Cultural traditions and societal beliefs can be
 respected while empowering a woman in every aspect, even economically. What is of
utmost importance is education of women to make them aware of their full potential.

3. Making the society understand the importance of women economic empowerment,

to get further aid for the cause:
Women's rights are increasingly recognised as being critical to achieving broader
development goals such as economic growth, poverty reduction, health, education, and
welfare. Working with women is a smart business decision. Investing in women's economic
empowerment leads to gender equality, poverty alleviation, and inclusive economic
growth. Women contribute enormously to economies, whether they work in enterprises, on
farms, as entrepreneurs or workers, or at home doing unpaid care work.

VIII. Bloc Position-

When it comes to gender empowerment in the economic sector, countries in the world tend
to have different policies and approaches to these certain issues. Even though women have
more and more access to jobs in the recent years, it doesn’t mean that the overall situation
has improved, where one of the main issue in addressing better gender-responsive services
is the lack of access for women to work in more formal jobs, where women in many
countries can only work in informal jobs like such as domestic house work, agriculture,
health, and tourism, where they are often denied the access the jobs that men traditionally
do such as mining, constructions, and oil and gas industries. This indifference occurs
because of the national policies and frameworks that still view women are not allowed to
work fully like women. One of the sectors that still absorbs a lot of women in its workforce
is the agricultural sector, where a lot of women still work in this particular sector, especially
in the Sub-Saharan and South Asian countries, but the situation is different to the countries
in Latin America. In China, the number of women working in the agricultural sector has
declined sharply in recent years, from 78 percent in 1982 to 40 percent in 2015, but this
number remains high in the current situation. Around the world, the situation for women
that works in the agricultural sector that does not bring substantial benefits for them, as for
example in Sub-Saharan countries, the productivity of this particular sector is very low due
to the small-scale subsistence system and also in the Sub-Saharan and South Asian
countries women are blocked or denied from also becoming the owner of the lands they
work on (land ownership), gaining access to credits and other financial support, access to
markets and also a lack in protection hampers women from fully working with their
potensial in the agricultural sector. Another problem that blocks face is the effort required
to achieve ideal women empowerment in the economic sector is the segregation that also
happens in certain countries where men and women that work in the same job tend to have
different positions, where in this case men usually get the higher ranks, where women are
denied from accessing it. For example, in China, in 1990 out of nine managers from ten
were men and in 2020 it still counts for three of every four managerial positions. This kind
of example shows that women still face certain issues when they want to climb to higher
positions. Certain countries in the world has developed policies and frameworks that have
brought considerable success and progress in enhancing women empowerment in the
economic, and it is also based on each countries national capacity and priorities, below is
the example of the countries that have implemented policies and frameworks to achieve
economic empowerment for women and its based on their economic development as well,
which is the HDC and LDC countries. We will start with the LDC countries first.

LDC and Countries with counterproductive economic empowerment

Figure 1.2 Bar Graphical representation of HDI in LDC Countries

Libya
Libya, as one of the LDCs in the world, has yet to improve the condition for women to get
better access to work in recent years. A lot of policies and frameworks have been
implemented and conditions have improved from time to time. One of the main programs
in this field is the Libyan Economic Empowerment (LEE) program, where together with
the Mennonite Economic Development Agency (MEDA), has several priorities where
some of them is to expand the current Libya’s women entrepreneurship program to include
a larger portion of the Libyan society, where the program aims to increase the participation
rate of Libyans especially women to contribute to Libya’s economic growth. The program
provides networking opportunities to more effective market connections. The main
activities of the LEE programs include essential business skill training under the LEE’s
Virtual Business Support platform that provides a step-by-step measure guideline in
building business in Libya, providing access to financial loans for SMEs in the forms of
grants especially to women entrepreneurs, increasing participation rate especially for
women in the form of the conduct of the Springboard training for women to increase
personal development skills, and the last is providing ICT training skills that targets
women, especially in teaching women on how to use the internet for their advantage in
their economic activities.

India
Women in India, the second most populated country in the world, also has a big impact on
the country's economy. Women in India represent almost about 29 percent of the total
workforce, a decent number for a developing country. More than half of this number works
in an unpaid condition and also does not support the protection for their work in a form of
regulations from the Indian government, but this condition is yet to be improved from time
to time. One of the main frameworks that has been implemented by the Indian government
is the MUDRA scheme, where under this scheme the government provides support for
SMEs and also direct benefit transfers under the Jan Dhan Yojana seek to empower women.
About 78 percent of the entrepreneurs in the country that seek benefit from this program
are women.

HDC and Countries with impactful economic empowerment

 Figure 1.3 Bar Graphical representation of HDI in HDC Countries

Norway
Women made up a small percentage of company boards. Only 3% of the board members
of Public Limited Companies (PLCs) were women in 1993. In 2003, ten years later, the
figure had risen to 7%. That is why, 13 years ago (in 2003), Parliament passed a new rule
requiring 40 percent representation of either gender on business boards. Mr. Ansgar
Gabrielsen, the conservative Minister of Trade, introduced this measure. The law became
effective on January 1, 2006. Both sexes must be represented in the board of directors by
40%, according to the act. Organizations that were registered before this day were given
an extra two years, until January 1, 2008, to comply with the statute. The increase in
women's numbers from 7% in 2003 to 40% in 2008 and 40% presently demonstrates that
this has been a mechanism for quick transformation. To meet the expectations, the
corporate sector adopted self-regulatory measures in tandem with the rules. To find capable
women, a lot of databases were created. In today's competitive market, the best minds and
hands are required, regardless of gender. This is sound economics! The largest asset in any
nation is educated and competent human capital. The increase in women's numbers from
7% in 2003 to 40% in 2008 and 40% presently demonstrates that this has been a mechanism
for quick transformation. To meet the expectations, the corporate sector adopted self-
regulatory measures in tandem with the rules. To find capable women, a lot of databases
were created. Companies may enrol and send their staff to the now famous Female Future
training programme, which was founded by the Norwegian employers' association. In
today's competitive market, the best minds and hands are required, regardless of gender.
This is good business sense! Human capital, which is educated and competent, is a
country's most valuable asset.

Germany
Germany's commitment to boosting women's participation in boards and entrepreneurial
empowerment is shown in the Act on Equal Participation of Women and Men in
Leadership Positions in the Private and Public Sector, which requires 3,500 businesses to
set goals for raising the proportion of women on their boards and at all management levels.
Since January 1, 2016, a 30% female quota has been in force for supervisory boards of
publicly traded companies that are subject to parity-based co-determination.
Although pay discrimination is already illegal, the federal government intends to enact
new transparency standards.

Denmark
Denmark supports the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development because it establishes
new and ambitious goals. It will continue to support gender equality as it has done in the
past. It remains dedicated to stepping up efforts to guarantee that all women and girls have
equal access to education and professional possibilities, as well as free and equitable
employment possibilities. It is also committed to ending domestic abuse and is thrilled to
host the next Women Deliver conference in Copenhagen in 2016. “We are dedicated to
intensifying our efforts to guarantee that all women and girls have equal opportunity to
pursue the education and career they desire, as well as free and equal access to the labour
market,” Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said at the Global Leaders' Meeting on
September 27, 2015. One year after making commitments at the Global Leaders' Meeting
on education, work, and domestic abuse, Denmark is making significant progress: women
in Denmark have one of the highest labour market participation rates in the world. Strong
anti discrimination rules that ban discriminatory treatment based on gender, as well as the
provision of child care by all towns for children as young as six months, have all
contributed to this beneficial outcome. Several anti stalking measures were initiated in
2016, aswere efforts to prevent rape, including stiffer prison sentences for perpetrators
and more help and protection for victims. In addition, a set of coping skills for both girls
and boys who have been victims of dating violence has been developed. New approaches
to combating sexism in the workplace have been created. Early in 2017, a nationwide
campaign will be launched to raise awareness and break the still-existing taboo of partner
violence.
 Netherlands
If women have the same rights and opportunities as males, they can play a bigger role in
politics, the economy, and peace processes. As a result, the Netherlands is attempting to
strengthen the conditions that make this possible. We supported a total of 882 civil society
organisations in 2019, all of which play an important role in putting women's rights and
gender equality on the agenda and tracking progress. Women's rights and gender equality
are also promoted by these organisations, which call on government officials,
corporations, and other social actors to do so.They also provide knowledge to both men
and women and assist women in realising their full potential. As a result, almost 68,000
women and girls gained a better understanding of their rights and developed skills to
strengthen their impact. Policymakers, public officials, police officers, and teachers,
among others have received training in promoting equal rights and opportunities. We
contributed to bettering women's rights and gender equality in 478 situations by
influencing law and changing behaviour.

IX. QARMAS (Questions a Resolution must answer)

1. What can Member States and the United Nations do to further enforce the laws, policies
and national frameworks previously made?
2. How can Governmental Organizations, Non- Governmental Organizations and
International Organizations collaborate to contribute in the economic empowerment of
women?
3. What are some practical daily aspects of life individuals can perform to help in economic
empowerment of women?
4. How can the progress in the economic empowerment of women be monitored?
5. What are pragmatic ways to integrate Gender Responsive Services into local and
international institutions?
6. What National Policies can be suggested which will catalyze economic Empowerment of
women?

X. Position Paper Guidelines

XI. Additional References and reading material-

1. https://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/platform/declar.htm
2. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/01/womens-economic-empowerment-is-the-
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