'A Sustainable Feminist Recovery'.

As the world moves ahead to mark International Women's Day, the clock on women's rights is moving backwards. All of us are paying the price.

The cascading crises of recent years have highlighted how women's leadership is more crucial than ever.

Women have heroically confronted the COVID-19 pandemic as doctors, nurses, and public health and social care workers.

But at the same time, women and girls have been the first to lose out on jobs or schooling, taking on more unpaid care work, and facing skyrocketing levels of domestic and cyber abuse and child marriage.

The pandemic has highlighted even more starkly an age-old truth: the roots of patriarchy run deep. We still live in a male-dominated world with a male-dominated culture.

As a result, in good times or bad, women are more likely to fall into poverty. Their healthcare is sacrificed and their education and opportunities are curtailed.

'As we look to the future, a sustainable and equal recovery for all is only possible if it is a feminist recovery - one that puts progress for girls and women at its centre'

And in countries enduring conflict - as we see from Ethiopia to Afghanistan to Ukraine -- women and girls are the most vulnerable but also the most compelling voices for peace.

As we look to the future, a sustainable and equal recovery for all is only possible if it is a feminist recovery - one that puts progress for girls and women at its centre.

We need economic progress through targeted investments in women's education, employment, training and decent work. Women should be first in line for the 400 million jobs we are called to create by 2030.

We need social progress through investments in social protection systems and the care economy. Such investments yield huge dividends, creating green, sustainable jobs, while supporting members of our societies that need assistance, including children, older people and the sick.

We need financial progress, to reform a morally bankrupt global financial system, so all countries can invest in a woman-centred economic recovery. This includes debt relief and fairer tax systems that channel some of the massive pockets of wealth around the world to those who need it most.

We need urgent, transformative climate action, to reverse the reckless increase in emissions and gender inequalities that have left women and girls disproportionately vulnerable. Developed countries must urgently deliver on their commitments on finance and technical support for a just...