Keynote Address by Xi Jinping at the Opening Ceremony of the Global Women’s Summit

Distinguished colleagues, honored guests, ladies and gentlemen, and friends:
Five years ago, I proposed reconvening the Global Summit of Women. Today, I am delighted to meet with all of you in Beijing as scheduled, to jointly commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing and to discuss ways to advance the cause of women worldwide. On behalf of the Chinese government and the Chinese people, I wish the Summit a warm welcome and express our heartfelt congratulations on its convening!
Women are the vital creators, promoters, and inheritors of human civilization, and advancing the cause of women’s development is a shared responsibility of the international community. Thirty years ago, the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing set the noble goal of “achieving equality, development, and peace through action” and adopted the landmark Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, thereby placing gender equality firmly on the global agenda and inspiring people around the world to continue striving toward this end.
Over the past three decades, guided by the spirit of the Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing, the global women’s movement has flourished, adding a vibrant dimension to the progress of human civilization. The pursuit of gender equality has become a broad international consensus and has been integrated into the United Nations’ development agendas and key sustainable development goals; to date, 189 countries have ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. The environment for women’s survival and development has continued to improve, with nearly 1,600 laws safeguarding women’s rights adopted by more than 190 countries, and an increasing number of nations formulating national action plans to enhance women’s well-being. Significant progress has been made in empowering women: their educational attainment has steadily risen, and they are playing an increasingly important role in economic, political, cultural, and social life. A growing number of outstanding women have taken center stage on the international arena, leading inspiring lives and contributing their wisdom and strength.
Ladies and gentlemen, friends!
Women around the world share a common destiny. Yet today, achieving their all-round development continues to face complex challenges. According to statistics, more than 600 million women and girls worldwide are still caught in armed conflict, and about 10 percent live in extreme poverty. At the same time, entrenched violence and discrimination persist, the gender digital divide is widening, and the road to gender equality remains long and arduous. Looking ahead, we must revisit the original vision of the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, forge broader consensus, open up wider avenues, and take more pragmatic actions to accelerate a new phase of women’s all-round development. To that end, I would like to offer four recommendations.
First, we must jointly foster a favorable environment that promotes the growth and development of women. Peace and security are the prerequisite for the all-round development of women. We should uphold a vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable security, safeguard world peace, ensure that women everywhere enjoy the sunshine of happiness and tranquility, and keep them safe from the gloom of war and turmoil. We need to strengthen protection for women and girls in regions affected by armed conflict, poverty, and natural disasters, and support their vital role in conflict prevention and post-conflict reconstruction. We must also improve and refine mechanisms to combat violence and resolutely crack down on all forms of violence against women.
Second, we must jointly cultivate robust momentum for the high-quality development of women’s causes. Global modernization should be participatory and inclusive, with broad participation and shared benefits for women worldwide. We need to address the imbalances and inadequacies in global women’s development, ensure that all women share in the fruits of economic globalization, and effectively promote their all-round development. By seizing the opportunities presented by the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, we will leverage scientific and technological innovation to empower the high-quality development of women’s causes, support women in playing a greater role in green development, and strive to enable women everywhere to shine and realize their dreams in the tide of global modernization.
Third, we must jointly build a governance framework that safeguards women’s rights. We need to improve institutions and laws, introduce more tangible and accessible policy measures, ensure that high-quality health and education resources benefit all women, and strive to enable women to enjoy all their rights in a more comprehensive and equitable manner. We should foster an inclusive and harmonious social environment that protects women from discrimination and prejudice, broaden channels for women’s participation in policymaking and public deliberation, and support their broad involvement in national and social governance. Together, we must cultivate a positive societal climate of respect for women, so that gender equality is truly internalized as a shared civilizational consensus and code of conduct across society.
Fourth, let us jointly write a new chapter in advancing global cooperation for women. Not long ago, I put forward the Global Governance Initiative, which places people at its core and seeks to build a more just and equitable global governance system. Women are a vital force in reforming and improving the global governance system. We must support women in shouldering their responsibilities in this era, engaging more deeply in global governance, and sharing in its outcomes. We should also support the United Nations in playing its central role, paying greater attention to the needs of women in developing countries, establishing broad platforms for international cooperation among women, continuously deepening exchanges and mutual learning, and fostering a vibrant situation of shared beauty and common prosperity.
Ladies and gentlemen, friends!
China is committed to integrating the cause of women into the grand practice of Chinese modernization. Over many years of concerted effort, China’s work on women has achieved historic accomplishments and undergone historic transformation. We have triumphed in the largest poverty-alleviation campaign in human history, lifting 690 million women into moderate prosperity and achieving ahead of schedule the poverty-reduction target set under the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. China’s maternal mortality rate has fallen by nearly 80% compared with 1995, and key indicators of maternal and child health now rank among the highest among middle- and high-income countries worldwide. Today, Chinese women truly play the role of “half the sky” in economic and social development. Women account for more than 40% of the employed population across society, over half of entrepreneurs in the internet sector are women, and women have won more than 60% of the medals at the past four Summer Olympic Games. In the new era, Chinese women are participating with unprecedented confidence and vitality in every stage of national and social governance, fighting on the front lines of rural revitalization and common prosperity, striving at the cutting edge of scientific and technological innovation and digital transformation, and writing a vibrant chapter of female excellence. On the new journey of Chinese modernization, every woman is a leading protagonist!
China actively leverages its own development to create opportunities and provide safeguards for the global cause of women. It has initiated the establishment of the International Day for Dialogue among Civilizations, partnered with UNESCO to set up the Prize for Girls’ and Women’s Education, and implemented a number of “small but beautiful” public-interest projects such as the Maternal and Child Health Initiative and the Happy Campus Initiative. Moreover, China has vigorously promoted international exchanges and cooperation on women’s issues within frameworks such as the Belt and Road Initiative and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
To further support the cause of women worldwide, I hereby announce that over the next five years China will donate an additional US$10 million to UN Women; provide a US$100 million grant for global development and South–South cooperation, which will be used in partnership with international organizations to implement collaborative projects promoting the development of women and girls; prioritize women and girls in delivering 1,000 “small but impactful” livelihood-development projects; invite 50,000 women from around the world to China for exchanges and training; and establish a Global Center for Women’s Capacity Building to collaborate with relevant countries and international organizations on capacity-building and other development initiatives in the field of women’s empowerment, with the aim of cultivating more outstanding female leaders and professionals.
Ladies and gentlemen, friends!
“With consistent effort, lasting success will naturally follow.” Standing at a new historical starting point, let us carry forward and promote the spirit of the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, advance the new process of the all-round development of women in pursuit of the goal of building a community with a shared future for mankind, and jointly create a brighter future for humanity.
Wishing this summit every success! Thank you all!