Gender inequality the focus of Migiro’s visit to Denmark and Spain

Women’s empowerment in the workplace and the wider economy is at the top of the agenda as the Deputy Secretary-General heads to Denmark for the first leg of a two-nation European visit.

Asha-Rose Migiro will be in Copenhagen tomorrow to address an international conference examining progress towards the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) focused on gender equality, which calls for the elimination of educational disparities between girls and boys.

The conference is charged with devising recommendations for September’s high-level event at United Nations Headquarters in New York in which world leaders will gather to assess what needs to be done to try to attain the MDGs by their target date of 2015.

Earlier this month the Deputy Secretary-General noted at a UN meeting that women and girls “still face discrimination and disadvantage socially, economically and politically,” and she called for stepped-up action to help women realize their rights.

While in Copenhagen this week Ms. Migiro will also hold meetings with senior Government officials and visit a key warehouse for the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) that is based in the Danish capital, according to information released by a UN spokesperson today.

The Deputy Secretary-General then travels to Valencia, Spain, to deliver the opening address this weekend at a two-day European Union event about women’s empowerment. That meeting will consider economic development, education, and sexual and reproductive health.

Ms. Migiro will also hold bilateral discussions with Spanish Government officials and other dignitaries attending the Valencia gathering.