"Women’s Rights Are Human Rights" — 30 Years On

In 1995, there was a landmark meeting on gender equality in Beijing: the Fourth World Conference on Women. The conference produced the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, a highly influential blueprint for advancing women’s rights. It was at this conference that then–First Lady Hillary Clinton famously declared, “Human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights, once and for all.”

Last week, at the United Nations General Assembly, there was a 30-year commemoration of this landmark conference, which has become a touchstone for advocates around the world — particularly from civil society. Today, I’m joined by two of those advocates: Bani Dugal and Liliane Nkunzimana, representatives of the Baha’i International Community to the United Nations. They explain why the conference 30 years ago was so significant, how it continues to influence debates on gender equality today, and how to keep advancing gender equality in a profoundly different geopolitical context three decades on.

This episode is produced in partnership with the Baha’i International Community, an NGO that represents the worldwide Baha’i community at the UN and other international forums, where it emphasizes that recognizing humanity’s interconnectedness is key to a shared global future. The Baha’i International Community recently released the book "In Full Partnership: Thirty Years of Women’s Advancement at the United Nations and Beyond, " which honors 30 years since the landmark Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing and the creation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. You can find the book at BIC.org.