Gender Equality

"It would be a thousand pities if women wrote like men, or lived like men, or looked like men, for if two sexes are quite inadequate, considering the vastness and variety of the world, how should wemanage with one only?"
Virginia Woolf.
In keeping with the theme "Women's Development in Medellin," the Women's secretariat and the first woman’s office have assumed the challenge of promotinggreater gender equality and working to achieve the goals that 192 U.N. members states pledged to try to meet by 2015. Two of these eight U.N Millennium Development Goals focus on women, one which seeks topromote gender equality and empower women and the other to reduce by three - fourths the maternal mortality radio, a problem that- because of its increased prevalence in the world - has beencharacterized by the United Nations as an "embarrassing setback for development."
"The societies where women have greater equality a much better chance of achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.Each individual objective is directly related to the rights of women, and societies where women do not have the same rights as men will never be able to achieve sustainable development."
With this inmind and with the goal of further improving the condition and position of women in Medellin, the Office of the First Woman and the Women's Secretariat share the full conviction that the formulationand proper implementation of public policy are key to eradicating persistent problems suffered by women in our country and throughout the world, which stem from lack of economic and socialopportunities, domestic violence and systematic human rights violations.-
For this reason, efforts are being made to effectively promote women's empowerment and influence in all areas of life. likewise, theMunicipal Government is spearheading actions aimed at transforming the social and cultural images and stereotypes that still persist and serve to encourage practices in all spheres of society that...