The International Conference “Empowering Women in Development: Challenges Beyond 2015” organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania in cooperation with the Eastern Europe Studies Centre began was held on 8-10 October in Vilnius. This event, under the auspice of President of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė, once again showed Lithuania’s consistent focus on women’s rights and equality opportunities for women and men.
The conference discussed important issues related to discrimination against women, such as women’s insufficient exercise of their political and economic rights, limited participation in the democratic process and violence against women. The participants of the conference also discussed the relevance of social media beyond 2015.
The leading experts from the Baltic and Nordic States, the Eastern Partnership, the Mediterranean and the Middle Eastern participated in the conference. The event was attended by Advisor to the President of Ukraine Olga Bogomolets, General Secretary of the Community of Democracies Maria Leissner, Zonta International President Maria Jose Landeira Oestergaard, Director of UN Women for Europe and Central Asia Ingibjörg Gísladóttir. Representatives of the governments of Israel and Moldova and those of international organisations, leaders and scientists from non-governmental organizations of Bulgaria, France, Georgia, Hungary, Lithuania Pakistan, Russia, Tunisia and Ukraine shared their experience.
The participants of the event stressed that gender equality was best guaranteed by women rights‘-friendly environment in a democratic society, where this environment is created by men and women.
In this process, teh cooperation between the participants, targeted public education and self-education, breaking stereotypes and sharing experiences and expertise are crucial.
When speaking at the closing session of the conference, Lithuanian Foreign Vice-Minister Andrius Krivas expressed hope that through combining unique experiences, discussing the most successful examples of problem solving and creating guidelines for future initiatives we would, at least partially, contribute to solving this global issue - ensuring women’s rights.
Women’s rights and gender equality is a long-term priority of Lithuania’s foreign policy, which was duly reflected in 2009-2013, when Lithuania chaired the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), held the Presidency of the Community of Democracies and the Council of the European Union, as well as coordinated the activities of the Nordic-Baltic (NB8).
The conference was co-organised in collaboration with foreign and Lithuanian non-governmental organisations, including the Working Group on Women and Democracy of the Community of Democracies, the Women’s Democracy Network of the International Republican Institute, the Nordic Council of Ministers Office in Lithuania, the Centre for Equality Advancement, the Vilnius University Gender Studies Centre and the Swedish International Liberal Centre.
