Anne Hathaway's call to action on #IWD2024

Mr. Secretary-General,  Excellencies, distinguished guests. To you, and especially to all the women and  girls of the world – but also to all men and boys – I say: Happy International Women’s Day! I am honoured to have been invited to speak. I’d like to reflect on today’s theme:  “Invest in women, accelerate progress.” The creativity, insight, knowledge, and expertise  of women in every sector of our societies, right across our world - from footballers to  tech entrepreneurs to climate smart far

mers to home-based mothers caring for their families,  often on top of earning a living - these skills have never been more advanced and undeniable. We should all be so inspired by the determination and strong voices of young women leading climate  action; by the courage of women human rights defenders. I must say, I am personally so moved by  the extraordinary resilience of the more than 614 million women and girls living in conflict areas  across the world, who are keeping their families alive

in the face of destruction and deprivation. Today more than ever, we see women holding positions of power in all aspects  of society. Thank goodness. After all, we are still, as we  always have been, half the world. Which begs the question: if we share this world  in equal numbers, why aren’t we valued equally? Because the ongoing, disgraceful reality is  that women are not valued equally. Our current global economic system is failing women. Official Development Assistance (ODA) is more than 20

0 billion dollars. But just  4 per cent of ODA had gender equality and women’s empowerment as a principal objective  and just 0.3 per cent of ODA is directed toward ending violence against women and girls. There is an outrageous discrepancy between what is so clearly needed and what gets prioritized. So let’s stop this absurd double standard and finally invest in women as we deserve. For example, these days, the world is spending more on fighting than ever, even  though the vital stability broug

ht by peace is the only true enabler of progress.  World military expenditure jumped 9% to a record 2.2 trillion dollars last year. How do we accept that that money was made readily available, when a fraction of it – an additional  360 billion dollars each year - is the cost of achieving gender equality across key global goals,  including the goals of ending poverty and hunger? Yet we are repeatedly told “there just isn’t  enough right now”, “it isn’t the right time”, “change happens slowly - be

patient”. I think I speak for a great many of us when I say the limits of patience  have been thoroughly explored. If we value lives lived in prosperity and  peace; lives lived without fear of violence; space in family life for leisure, learning and  fair earning; the opportunities to look ahead and be part of a new world of work, then  surely, surely we have reached the point where we can successfully argue women’s  rights to share in such a world equally. Perhaps we can even agree that this 

matter is past the point of arguing. So today, I ask you, each with your own  power to decide, to vote, to influence, to spend - what do you truly value? What will  you lead investment in? Will you accelerate the change we so desperately need, and make this the  moment where we boldly and fairly invest in women? I hope so. Thank you.