Dr. Hansa Mehta Memorial Dialogue
About the Dialogue

Dr. Hansa Mehta Memorial Dialogue intends to raise awareness among the global community that gender equality, the empowerment of women and human rights of women and girls must be a central priority. It will strive to firmly establish that gender equality and the realization of women’s and girls’ human rights are fundamental for achieving human rights, peace and security, and sustainable development.

About 2022 edition

While every community has been impacted by the global pandemic and is facing unprecedented challenges, women are bearing an unequal share of the negative economic and social fallout of COVID-19. Statistics indicate that women and girls will constitute more than 50% of the population, which is being pushed into extreme poverty by the pandemic. Women will also bear a disproportionate brunt of job losses as many of sectors of the economy that have been hit hard by COVID-19, such as food service, retail and entertainment, employ more women than men. The above developments threaten to reverse the gains made in the past decades in the realm of economic empowerment of women and gender-inclusive economic growth.

The 2022 dialogue will focus on inclusive and gender-sensitive recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. It will be held virtually on March 15, 2022 from 0845-0945 hrs and will feature a keynote speech by H.E Dr.Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala , Director General of the World Trade Organisation, which would be followed by an interactive conversation moderated by H.E Ambassador Ms. Inga Rhonda King , Permanent Representative of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to the UN. H.E Mr. Abdulla Shahid , President of the General Assembly open the dialogue with his address.

The event will be webcast live on UN Web TV and the following pages:


https://twitter.com/IndiaUNNewYork
https://www.facebook.com/IndiaAtUN

 

Program

 

 

0845 hrs

Video on Dr. Hansa Mehta

 

 

0848 hrs

Introduction by Ms. Sneha Dubey, First Secretary, Permanent Mission of India to the UN

 

 

0852 hrs

Welcome by H.E. Ambassador T.S Tirumurti, Permanent Representative of India to the UN

 

 

0855 hrs

Address by H.E Mr. Abdulla Shahid, President of the General Assembly

 

 

0900 hrs

Keynote address by H.E Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director General, WTO on “Inclusive and Gender-sensitive recovery”

 

 

0920 hrs

Interactive conversation with H.E Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala moderated by H.E Ambassador Ms. Inga Rhonda King, Permanent Representative of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to the UN

 

 

0935 hrs

Q&A session

 

 

0945 hrs

Vote of Thanks by Ms. Sneha Dubey, First Secretary, Permanent Mission of India to the UN

 

 

About Dr. Hansa Mehta

Dr. Hansa Mehta is a prominent Indian scholar, educator, social reformer and writer. Born on July 3, 1897, Dr. Mehta was a champion of women’s rights. As the President of All India Women’s Conference (AIWC) in 1946, she led the drafting of “Indian Women’s Charter of Rights”, which demanded gender equality, civil rights and justice for women in India. She was also part of the Constituent Assembly that drafted the Indian Constitution, a member of its Advisory Committee and sub-Committee on Fundamental Rights. Many provisions of AIWC’s Charter formed the basis of gender-neutral provisions in the Indian constitution.

At the international level, Dr. Mehta played a pioneering role in drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). She was the only other female delegate, apart from Eleanor Roosevelt, to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. She is widely credited for successfully arguing against references to “men” as a synonym for humanity, and succeeded in changing the phrase, “All men are born free and equal” to “All human beings are born free and equal” in Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The introduction of the more inclusive language in UDHR was an important milestone in the fight for women’s rights and gender equality.

About Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is the first female Director General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). She is a global finance expert, an economist and international development professional with over 30 years of experience working in Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America and North America, Dr Okonjo-Iweala was formerly Chair of the Board of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. She was previously on the Boards of Standard Chartered PLC and Twitter Inc. She was recently appointed as African Union (AU) Special Envoy to mobilise international financial support for the fight against COVID-19 and WHO Special Envoy for Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator.

Previously, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala twice served as Nigeria's Finance Minister (2003-2006 and 2011-2015) and briefly acted as Foreign Minister in 2006, the first woman to hold both positions. She distinguished herself by carrying out major reforms which improved the effectiveness of these two Ministries and the functioning of the government machinery.

She had a 25-year career at the World Bank as a development economist, rising to the No. 2 position of Managing Director, Operations. As a development economist and Finance Minister, Dr Okonjo-Iweala steered her country through various reforms ranging from macroeconomic to trade, financial and real sector issues. She is a skilled negotiator and has brokered numerous agreements which have produced win-win outcomes in negotiations. She is regarded as an effective consensus builder and an honest broker enjoying the trust and confidence of governments and other stakeholders.

Inaugural Dialogue 2021

The inaugural 2021 dialogue foccused on women's economic empowerment in the context of COVID-19 pandemic. While every community has been impacted by the pandemic and is facing unprecedented challenges, women are bearing an unequal share of the negative economic and social fallout of COVID-19.

Dr. Gita Gopinath, Chief Economist of IMF delivered a keynote on "Women's Economic Empowerment and Inclusive Global Economic Growth: COVID-19 and Beyond" followed by an interactive conversation moderated by H.E Ambassador Lana Zaki Nusseibeh, Permanent Representative of UAE to the UN. There were special addresses by Ms. Melissa Fleming, Under-Secretary General, UN Department of Global Communications and Ms. Anita Bhatia, Assistant Secretary General and Deputy Executive Director of UN-Women.