On 25 September, the UN Secretary-General will present his vision for the Post-2015 development agenda in a report to be considered by the  68th Regular Session of the United Nations General Assembly. Soroptimist International will be joining other members of the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) in reminding world leaders that women’s rights are human rights and must be at the heart of the development agenda that succeeds the Millennium Development Goals.

You can follow the conversation and add your voice on Twitter or Facebook using the hashtags #Post2015 and #AWIDMembers.

• AWID on Facebook
• AWID on twitter
• Soroptimist International on Facebook
• Soroptimist International on Twitter

Soroptimist International will be using the day to highlight our key asks for the Post-2015 agenda:

• Whatever goals and targets are eventually agreed, the data collected on each and every one MUST be disaggregated by sex. 
• While we welcome a standalone target which focusses on eliminating violence against women, we want to ensure that this is measured in a progressive and reliable way. 
• There must be additional attention paid to community-wide transformations or else society will remain status quo.   A woman with vocational skills is no better off if she is barred from using those skills in stable employment.   
• Men and boys must be an integral part of empowerment programmes as we work to address the underlying social and economic determinants of the vulnerabilities of women and girls. 

approach sex or gender based quotas with careful planning and ensure that women, from an early age, are fully equipped with all of the knowledge and skills necessary to take on leadership roles

• alongside encouraging women to enter into traditionally ‘male’ dominated fields, we also must work to encourage men to enter into traditionally ‘female’ dominated fields to truly overcome and change occupational segregation. 
• look at creating work environments which are conducive to both men and women having families.   
• Take extreme caution to avoid implying that gender equality is about women taking on male roles. 
• We must guarantee that discussions around the financing and resourcing for the Post-2015 agenda take a gender-responsive approach and include gender audits.  This is non-negotiable to ensure that goals and targets for gender equality are not just lip service.

At bottom, we must remember that development simply is not possible without including those affected by the decisions in the decisions. 

SI’s Position Statement on the Post-2015 Development Agenda

Introduction to the Post-2015 Development Agenda