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GENEVA, Switzerland, March 6 (UPI) -- Two decades after the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing adopted an agenda for advancing gender equality and women's empowerment, the gender pay gap globally has narrowed marginally, the United Nation's International Labor Organization said Friday.
At this rate, it will take another 70 years for women to earn as much as their male counterparts, the organization said in a report released in advance of International Women's Day on Sunday.
Globally, women's participation in the labor force remains at about half, the same as 20 years ago, compared to about 80 percent of men, and a wage gap persists.
"We cannot accept that at current rates of change, it may take more than 70 years for women to achieve equal pay status with men. Nor can we accept that one out of every three women today will suffer some form of physical and/or sexual violence that cripples their ability to work," Guy Ryder, ILO Director-General, said.
The world conference in 1995, which included 189 governments and more than 17,000 participants, has been seen as groundbreaking for its adoption of the Beijing Platform for Action, aimed at improving women's rights. The BPFA outlined 12 critical issues, including inequalities in healthcare, power and pay.
The ILO said despite equality efforts around the world, including the Equal Pay Act in the United States, the pace for change has been painfully slow.
"The overriding conclusion 20 years on from Beijing is that despite marginal progress, we have years, even decades to go until women enjoy the same rights and benefits as men at work," said Shauna Olney, Chief of the Gender, Equality and Diversity Branch of the ILO.
