At the United Nations in New York, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Vatican Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations, reminded world leaders that the dignity of women is not negotiable and must be defended in every setting. Speaking on the 30th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, he reflected on both the progress and the failures that remain.
“Thirty years ago, the international community gathered in Beijing to focus on important and urgent questions regarding the dignity of women and the full enjoyment of her fundamental human rights,” Archbishop Gallagher recalled. Yet, he warned that “although significant progress has been made, there are persistent issues in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action that remain unaddressed” (according to Vatican News).
Poverty, Education, and Economic Inequality
Among the continuing challenges, Gallagher highlighted the widespread poverty faced by women, the barriers to education, and persistent workplace inequality. “An extreme degree poverty of women, obstacles to accessing or even exclusion of women from quality education, and their lower wages in the work place impede the full achievement of women’s equal dignity and ability to fulfil their potential in all scopes of life,” he stated (according to Vatican News).
Violence in All Forms
The Archbishop condemned violence against women and girls in the strongest terms. “Wherever it occurs, at home, during trafficking, or in conflict and humanitarian settings, it constitutes an affront to their dignity and is a grave injustice,” he said. He also noted that technology has worsened abuse in many ways, and violence goes beyond trafficking or exploitation to include “prenatal sex selection and female infanticide” which continue to create “millions of ‘missing girls’ each year” (according to Vatican News).
Protecting Health and Life
While acknowledging improvements in maternal care, Archbishop Gallagher called attention to the stalled progress in recent years. He insisted on greater access to prenatal care, skilled birth attendants, and health systems that genuinely serve women—while rejecting what he called “false solutions such as abortion.” Protecting life, he emphasized, “is essential, as it underpins all other fundamental rights” (according to Vatican News).
A Call to Respect Equal Dignity
Finally, Gallagher reminded nations of their duty to remain faithful to the commitments made in Beijing. Equality for women, he said, cannot be realized “unless the dignity of every person, especially the most frail and vulnerable, from the unborn to the elderly, is respected” (according to Vatican News).
For the Holy See, the path forward is clear: a rejection of violence in all its forms, a renewed effort to eradicate poverty and discrimination, and a defense of the God-given dignity of every woman and girl.
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