Gender equality, women's empowerment crucial for industrial development: UN official

VIENNA. March 7. KAZINFORM Empowering women through entrepreneurship development and gender mainstreaming were key factors for effective industrial development, Kandeh K. Yumkella, Director General of United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) said here on Friday.

According to a UNIDO press release, Yumkella pointed out that gender equality and the empowerment of women in the countries of the "bottom billion," where people live on less than a dollar a day, are not only crucial components in the fight against poverty, hunger and disease, but also key for effective and sustainable industrialized development. Yumkella said that March 8 will be International Women's day. Women have made great economic, political and social achievements, but there is still a lot of work to be done, because no enduring solution to society's most threatening social, economic and political problems can be found without the full and equal participation of women. Therefore, he called for combined efforts to overcome the inequities that create serious impediments to women's entrepreneurial activities. He added that concrete actions were needed to develop women's economic independence and access to economic resources, and increase women's participation in political decision-making, Kazinform refers to Xinhuanet.