Violence against women is 'big cancer', says UN secretary general

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday termed violence against women a big cancer and called for an emergency plan to tackle it in every countryInteracting with students at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay here he also pointed out that women activists and politicians are targeted on social mediaThe UN is working to achieve gender parity within its own organization he saidI must confess that there is one problem that I did not manage to solve Many people thought and I fully respect that the secretary general of the United Nations must be a woman he saidMore than half the women at the top management level in the UN are women Guterres said adding that they are occupying posts like head of the department of political affairs and mission heads in Afghanistan and IraqAlso read Delhi woman gangraped over property dispute in Ghaziabad PoliceIn India as across the world much more needs to be done to advance gender equality and womens rights the top UN official saidThis is a moral imperative and also a multiplier for prosperity and sustainability he said adding that no society can reach its full potential without equal rights and freedoms for women men girls and boysViolence against womenis a matter of not only importance but it is an emergency Because things are getting worse not better the UN secretary general saidThe big cancer of violence against women needs to be an emergency priority of all those that have responsibilities in the world he saidGuterres also pointed out that terrible campaigns are run against women activists and women politicians on social media Violence through social media is enormous he notedEvery country should have an emergency plan to fight violence against women he said adding that it should cover all aspects such as training of the police judiciary and making sure that there is clear accountability in society in relation to violence against womenThe question of gender equality is essentially a question of power he notedWe live in a maledominated world with a maledominated culture Guterres said adding that gender parity is necessary at the top level so that decisions are taken in a way which makes gender equality a downstream phenomenonOn the other hand there is also a need to support all womens organisation and have a bottomup approach to generate equality he addedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever