Record Attendance at Reykjavík Global Forum – Women Leaders

PM Katrín Jakobsdóttir.

PM Katrín Jakobsdóttir. Photo/The office of the prime minister.

Vala Hafstað

Icelandic PM Katrín Jakobsdóttir formally opened the Reykjavík Global Forum – Women Leaders 2020 at Harpa Concert Hall yesterday, mbl.is reports. This annual forum, which due to the COVID-19 pandemic takes place online this year,  is co-hosted by Women Political Leaders (WPL) and the government and the parliament of Iceland. There is a record attendance this year: almost 700 women leaders from about 120 countries.

This platform allows women leaders to discuss and share ideas and solutions on how to further advance society, increase gender equality and promote and positively develop the number of women in leadership positions.

After addressing the participants, Katrín participated in discussion about gender-based violence, about women’s influence during the COVID-19 pandemic and how it affects gender equality issues in a global context.

Helen Clark, former prime minister of New Zealand, led the discussion, in which Phumzile Mlam­bo-Ngcuka, executive director of UN Women, and Am­anda Nguyen, founder and CEO of the civil rights organization Rise, participated.

The leaders agreed that the increase in the number of reported cases of violence against women and children during the pandemic underscored the need for governments to live up to the 1995 Beijing declaration on women’s rights, not least with regard to prevention and the eradication of gender-based violence. 

The forum concludes tomorrow.

For more information, see the forum’s website

Weather

Clear sky

Today

-1 °C

Partly cloudy

Later today

4 °C

Partly cloudy

Tomorrow

1 °C