Human Rights Council 60th Session
Item 3 - General Debate
Joint Statement by Iceland on behalf of group of countries commemorating International Equal Pay Day
Mr. President,
I take the floor on behalf of a group of countries to commemorate this year’s International Equal Pay Day, designated as a day of observance in 2019 by the United Nations General Assembly. International Equal Pay Day is an opportunity to highlight progress achieved in closing the gender pay gap and to further support equal pay for work of equal value.
Despite positive progress towards gender equality and women’s empowerment, the gender pay gap remains around 20 per cent globally. It is a fact that women are too often paid less than men for the same work and that inequal access to resources and opportunities continue to limit women’s and girls’ full realization of their human rights.
Further, historically jobs and occupations undertaken by women have long been unrecognized, unpaid or undervalued. The knowledge, abilities and skills these tasks demand have been greatly underestimated.
Equal pay is more than the paycheck. Equal pay and economic independence are central for gender equality.
While the principle of equal pay for men and women has been widely endorsed, an significant implementation gap remains. We take this opportunity to reaffirm once again our strong commitment to Equal Pay. Cooperation between a diverse range of stakeholders will remain crucial when it comes to reaching the objective of equal pay.
Thank you.
Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Botswana, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands (Kingdom of the), New Zealand, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Norway, Portugal, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Uruguay, Vanuatu