Success depends on women in leadership (First of two parts)

For 70 years, the Commission on the Status of Women has been a meeting ground of frontline defenders. A wellspring of conviction, passion, and energy. And a global platform for truth-telling.

So let me begin with an often unspoken, but age-old, truth: We still live in a male-dominated world and a male-dominated culture. Gender equality is — and always has been — a question of power. Not a single step forward for women’s rights has ever been given.

It has been won. Won by generations of women and girls, advocates and activists, community leaders and justice seekers. Won by you.

So before anything else, I want to say: thank you. Thank you for being the conscience and catalyst for a better world — for women, for girls, and for all of humanity.

This year’s theme cuts to the heart of the struggle for equality: access to justice. Here we are, well into the 21st century, yet justice remains a distant dream for millions upon millions of women and girls. Discriminatory laws persist. Patriarchal norms endure. Around the globe, women hold only 64 percent of the legal rights enjoyed by men. This gap is structural, not accidental, and it limits opportunity across societies.

We are a world strained by conflict, climate chaos, widening inequalities and technological upheaval. And in this turbulent world, the pushback on women’s rights is in overdrive.

Let’s be clear: backlash is what entrenched power does when it feels its grip loosening. And the evidence is all around us. Hard-won legal protections are being eroded. Women human rights defenders are under attack. Sexual and reproductive health and rights are being undermined.

At the same time, at a moment when the Middle East and other parts of the world are engulfed in conflict, we know that women and children are bearing the brunt of violence and displacement. The number of women and girls living within 50 kilometers of a deadly conflict is at its highest in decades. Conflict-related sexual violence has surged by 87 percent in just two years. And yet — despite the troubling trends and pressures — women’s movements are persisting. Driving reforms. Defending communities. Shaping societies.

More than 40 countries have amended constitutions to advance women’s rights. Ninety percent have strengthened laws against violence. The world is changing because women are changing it. But we have barriers to overcome and gaps to fill — opportunity gaps, implementation gaps and justice gaps. And that brings me to my core message:

Justice for women and girls must be a cornerstone of the world we seek to build. Equality is the bedrock of progress — as affirmed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights … the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women … and the Beijing+30 Plan of Action.

Let me highlight four frontlines for justice. First, justice is the engine for sustainable development. When women and girls can claim their rights — to inherit property, to fair work, to legal identity, to land — entire societies move forward. But when justice systems fail women, inequality hardens into poverty — and development stalls before it can begin. This is a global challenge. Yet the situation in Afghanistan stands out. Women are being systematically erased from public life — and now even prevented from entering UN compounds.

This is injustice in practice — undermining development today and closing off the future for all Afghans. Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals means achieving equal access to justice for everyone, everywhere.

Second, justice is the foundation of peace and security. When women participate meaningfully in peace processes and transitional justice, agreements last longer and societies heal more deeply. But the world continues to fall short. Inclusion is proclaimed, yet women are absent from negotiating tables. Protection is pledged, yet sexual violence persists with impunity. Leadership is invoked, yet women peacebuilders are underfunded, under threat, and under-recognized. In conflict zones, the absence of justice becomes another form of violence. Impunity fuels brutality. Survivors remain unheard. Communities fracture. And cycles of abuse deepen. Ensuring access to justice — even in the midst of crisis — is essential to breaking those cycles.

(Excerpts of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the opening of the 70th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women on 9 March 2026 in New York.)