Salomé Beyer 2019-2020 Teen Advisors (very close headshot) with her smiley face facing to the camera, and her left hand touching her hair

Voices

Girl Up Teen Advisor Salome’s Statement at Generation Equality Forum in Mexico City

2020-2021 Girl Up Teen Advisor Salome from Colombia shares her thoughts on how governments and the private sector must do more to address gender equality from a systemic, intersectional lens.

  1. Story

The Generation Equality Forum Mexico was held in late March and included three days of discussions, culminating in the unveiling of the youth participants’ Feminist Manifesto, draft blueprints of the Action Coalitions: A Global Acceleration Plan for Gender Equality, a 2026 vision and a common feminist pathway created by youth and civil society leaders. 2020-2021 Girl Up Teen Advisor Salome from Colombia shares her thoughts on how governments and the private sector must do more to address gender equality from a systemic, intersectional lens.

English Statement

Today I am not bringing you a speech but a conversation, which leads me to highlight the importance of discussing gender equality. Governments must first commit to gender equity, but that is not enough. They must be economically and financially consistent with their proclamations. This is why the governments of countries in post-conflict periods, such as Colombia for example, must invest capital to carry out in-depth demographic studies of their populations in order to identify the unfair margins that lead to division in their societies. This is how you combat racism, discrimination, sexual abuse, the gender pay gap and employment gap, and the stereotypes that constantly poison our society, to which all of you have been unfortunately exposed.

On the other hand, companies and the private sector must not solely establish their alliance with gender equality with statements or with press releases, but also establish preventative bodies and teams. In other words, the actions of the private sector cannot only be reactive, they must not only react to the crisis of gender inequality. They must also be preventative and based on the information that is available in demographic studies. We need systems that fight injustice from the roots, including problems within the labor force such as the wage gap, such as toxicity in the workplace for women, or the lack of access to resources for women who are mothers and are in the labor force.

And finally, gender equity must be pursued not only non-divisively, but also intersectionally and inclusively. This means that the historical and social spectrum behind all injustices in all parts of the world must be taken into account to improve the understanding of these problems. And, also, on the other hand, as I said, it must be inclusive. By this I mean that it must include men, members of the LGBT community, Latin Americans, Americans, Europeans, Africans, as this meeting today sums up well. Support mechanisms cannot be established if needs are not identified. For today we must build a collaborative space, as the panelists are doing, so that we can really progress with the gender equality agenda that we are discussing about today. Thank you.

Statement in Spanish

Hoy no les traigo un discurso sino una conversación, que me lleva a resaltar la importancia de la conversación sobre la equidad de género. En primer lugar, los gobiernos deben comprometerse a la equidad de género, pero eso no es suficiente. Deben ser consecuentes desde un punto de vista económico y financiero con sus proclamaciones. Así es como, por ejemplo, los gobiernos de países que están atravesando de postconflicto, como lo es Colombia por ejemplo, deben invertir capital para hacer un estudio demográfico profundo de sus poblaciones para así identificar los márgenes injustos que llevan a la división en nuestra sociedad. Así es como se combate el racismo, la discriminación, el abuso sexual, la brecha laboral y salarial de género, y los estereotipos que envenenan constantemente nuestra sociedad y a los que todos que ustedes han estado expuestos lamentablemente.

Por el otro lado, las empresas y el sector privado no solo deben establecer su alianza con la equidad de género con declaraciones vacías o con comunicados de prensa que se quedan en comunicados de prensa únicamente, sino también establecer organismos y equipos de prevención. Es decir, las acciones del sector privado no pueden ser solo reactivas, no solamente deben reaccionar a la crisis de la inequidad de género, sino que deben ser preventivas y basadas en la información que sea dispuesta en los estudios demográficos. Necesitamos sistemas que combatan la injusticia desde la raíz, los problemas dentro el mundo laboral como la brecha salarial, como es la toxicidad en un espacio laboral para la mujer o como lo es la falta de acceso de las mujeres a los recursos cuando se convierten en madres, y están en el mundo laboral.

Y finalmente, se debe tomar la equidad de género desde un enfoque no divisivo sino interseccional e inclusivo. Esto quiere decir que se debe tomar en cuenta el espectro histórico y social detrás de todas las injusticias en todas partes del mundo para mejorar el entendimiento sobre dichas problemáticas. Y, además, por el otro lado y como dije, debe ser inclusivo. Con esto quiero decir que debe incluir hombres, miembros de la comunidad LGBT, de incluir latinoamericanos, americanos, europeos, africanos, como bien lo resume esta reunión de hoy. No se pueden establecer mecanismos de ayuda si no se identifican las necesidades. Por hoy debe haber un espacio colaborativo como lo hacen las panelistas para que se puede realmente progresar con esa agenda de equidad de género que estamos hablando hoy. Muchísimas gracias.

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