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Chancellor Angela Merkel's video-recorded message on International Women's Day March 8, 2006 "Equal participation of women and men in decision-making processes at all levels" - that is the theme of the 50th session of the Commission on the Status of Women now taking place in New York. People around the world, women and men, are working towards this objective. They have recognized that, despite all the progress that has been made, the equality of women and men is not something that can be taken for granted everywhere. In Germany, too, we note that opportunities for women in education and training have improved, although the percentage of women declines rapidly, the higher up the career ladder you go. In numerous other countries, as well, women are better qualified than ever before. More and more countries are coming to realize that they cannot afford to do without the abilities of their women, if they want to achieve successful economic and social development. As such, women need to be given the same access to working life, de facto, and the same opportunities for career advancement as men have. It is equally important that women and men be given the same opportunities to participate in political decision-making processes in their countries. In Germany we are on the right track in this regard. Women account for 32% of the MPs in the German parliament. In my government six of our sixteen cabinet ministers are women. I see gender equality as a fundamental prerequisite for the fulfillment of core goals we set for ourselves in the Millennium Declaration: to ensure peace, sustainable development, and protection of human rights. Women make significant contributions towards the development and stabilization of every society. At the same time, they are particularly vulnerable to the effects of poverty, violence, and war. With this in mind, it is my firm conviction that UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on "Women, Peace and Security" of 2000 must continue to be an important guideline for our actions. In keeping with this, we attribute particular importance to gender equality in our national action plans. This includes our action plan to fight extreme poverty around the world as well as to our action plan for civilian crisis prevention and conflict management. I would like to encourage all women and men, particularly those with special decision-making responsibilities, to continue to work towards the realization of gender equality and the full realization of human rights for women. At the same time, I would like to encourage you, the participants in the forum, to do everything you can to work towards the objective of achieving " Equal participation of women and men in decision-making processes at all levels". In this I wish you all every success.
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