Women empowerment: A key to sustainable development

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Women have a vital role in environmental management and development. Their full participation is therefore essential to achieve sustainable development” (Principle 20, Rio Declaration). There is a dual rationale for promoting gender equality. Firstly, that equality between women and men-equal rights, opportunities and responsibilities-is a matter of human rights and social justice. And secondly, that greater equality between women and men is also a precondition for (and effective indicator of) sustainable people-centred development. The perceptions, interests, needs and priorities of both women and men must be taken into consideration not only as a matter of social justice but because they are necessary to enrich development processes” (OSAGI 2001).