Carrying Forward the Spirit of the World Conference on Women in Beijing
To Promote the New and Accelerated Process for the Integral Development of Women
Main Speech of H.E. Xi Jinping
President of the People's Republic of China
at the Opening Ceremony of the World Leaders Conference on Women
Beijing, October 13, 2025
Dear colleagues and guests,
Ladies and gentlemen, friends all,
Five years ago, I proposed convening another global leaders conference on women. Today, I am very pleased to have this meeting with all of you here in Beijing to commemorate together the 30th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women and to discuss together ways to promote the global cause of women. I would like to express, on behalf of the Chinese Government and people, our warm congratulations on the opening of the World Leaders' Conference on Women.
Women play an important role in creating, promoting and advancing human civilization. And the international community has a shared responsibility to advance the cause of women. 30 years ago, the World Conference on Women in Beijing set the lofty goal of "Action for Equality, Development and Peace," and adopted the landmark Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action documents. Gender equality has been engraved on the agenda of our time, encouraging the whole world in its unwavering pursuit of this goal.
Over the past 30 years, guided by the spirit of the World Conference on Women in Beijing, the cause of women has been advancing all over the world, adding brilliant splendor to the progress of human civilization. Equality between men and women is now a universal consensus of the international community. This has been included in the UN development agenda and priority development goals, and 189 countries have ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. The environment for women's livelihood and development has been improving. Nearly 1,600 laws on women's rights and interests have been enacted by more than 190 countries, and more and more countries have drawn up national action plans to improve women's well-being. Prominent progress has been made in the empowerment of women. The educational level of women has been rising, and women are playing an even more important role in economic, political, cultural and social affairs. A large number of outstanding women have stepped forward to take the international stage, thus living their lives to the fullest and making contributions with their wisdom and strength.
Ladies and gentlemen, friends all,
Women in every corner of the world are united by a shared future. At present, complex challenges still hinder their comprehensive development. According to statistics, globally, more than 600 million women and girls are still mired in wars and conflicts, and about 10 percent of women and girls are still trapped in extreme poverty. Meanwhile, deep-rooted problems such as violence and discrimination still persist, the digital gender gap is still widening, and equality between men and women remains a lofty but arduous task. Looking to the future, we must review the purpose of the World Conference on Women in Beijing, and build greater consensus, expand the paths forward and take more concrete actions to accelerate the new process of women's integral development. To that end, I would like to make four proposals.
First, we must foster together an environment conducive to women's growth and development. Its integral development is achieved under the premise of peace and tranquility. We need to stick to the concept of common, integral, cooperative and sustainable security, and we must safeguard world peace, so that women can enjoy the light of happiness and tranquility and get away from the shadow of war and turbulence. We must strengthen the protection of women and girls in regions impacted by wars, conflicts, poverty and natural disasters, and support women's vital role in preventing conflicts and rebuilding their homes. We must improve mechanisms against violence and resolutely combat all forms of violence against women.
Secondly, we should cultivate together an energetic drive for the high-quality development of the women's cause. The modernization of the world must involve and benefit women. We must proactively address the imbalance and inadequacy of women's development around the world, ensure that all women share the fruits of economic globalization, and effectively promote the comprehensive development of women. We need to seize the opportunities of the new round of scientific-technological revolution and industrial transformation, and empower the high-quality development of women's cause through scientific-technological innovation. We must support women so they can play an even more important role in green development, and strive to help women shine in life and realize their dreams in this era of global modernization.
Thirdly, we must develop governance frameworks together to protect women's rights and interests. We need to improve institutions and laws, introduce more tangible and accessible policy measures, channel more quality health and educational resources to all women, and strive to ensure that all women fully and equally enjoy various rights. We need to promote an inclusive and harmonious social environment that frees women from discrimination and prejudice. We must widen the channels for women to participate in and deliberate on political issues, and support their broad participation in the governance of the State and society. We have to foster together an environment that respects women, and turn gender equality into a common value and a code of conduct embraced by everyone in our society.
Fourth, we must write a new chapter together in promoting global cooperation on women. Recently, I proposed the Global Governance Initiative, which advocates for a fairer and more reasonable global governance system with the people-centered approach. Women are an important force to reform and improve the system of global governance. We need to support women to assume their historical responsibilities, allowing them to play a substantial role in global governance and share its benefits. We must support the central role of the UN, urging it to pay more attention to the needs of women in developing countries, create extensive cooperation platforms for women in all countries, and continue deepening exchanges and mutual learning, in order to help women around the world to thrive and shine together.
Ladies and gentlemen, friends all,
In China, the cause of women has always been an integral part of the epic efforts for Chinese modernization. Thanks to years of hard efforts, China has made historic achievements and experienced historic changes in its women's cause. We have won the most colossal battle against poverty in human history, and with it we have brought moderate prosperity to 690 million women, meeting the poverty reduction goal of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in advance. We have reduced the maternal mortality rate by about 80 percent since 1995, and we have joined the middle- and high-income countries that lead in essential indicators of maternal and child health. Today, women in China really "hold half the sky" in economic and social development. They represent more than 40 percent of the workforce, more than half of Internet company entrepreneurs, and more than 60 percent of all medalists in the last four Summer Olympic Games. In the new era, Chinese women, never before so confident and dynamic, are taking part in the entire process of state and society governance. They are fighting on the front lines of the revitalization of rural areas and common prosperity, as well as scientific-technological innovation and the digital transition. They are writing a splendid chapter of the history of the women's cause in China. In the new march of Chinese modernization, every woman is a protagonist.
China, through its own development, actively provides opportunities and guarantees for the global cause of women. China has initiated the International Day of Dialogue among Civilizations, and established together with UNESCO the Girls' and Women's Education Prize. China has launched "small and beautiful" public welfare projects such as "maternal and child health" and "happy campuses." China is actively promoting international exchanges and cooperation in support of women within the framework of the joint construction of the Belt and Road, in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and within other frameworks.
In order to further support the development of the global cause of women, I want to make the following announcement: In the next five years, China will donate another $10 million to UN Women; allocate a quota of $100 million to the China Fund for Global Development and South-South Cooperation to implement development cooperation projects for women and girls in collaboration with international organizations; launch 1,000 "small and beautiful" welfare programs with Chinese assistance with women and girls as priority beneficiaries; it will invite 50,000 women to China for exchange and training programs; and establish the Global Center for Women's Capacity Building, aimed at conducting capacity building and other development cooperations with relevant countries and international organizations to train more female talents.
Ladies and gentlemen, friends all,
As an ancient Chinese saying goes: "Constant dedication produces long-lasting fragrance." Meeting at this new historical starting point, may we carry forward the spirit of the World Conference on Women in Beijing, keep in mind the common goal of humanity's shared future, accelerate the new process of women's integral development, and together create a better future for humanity.
I wish the World Leaders Conference on Women every success. Thank you, everyone.