Women First Run 2025: Running for Every Woman, Every Right

It is a call to action to make communities, policies, and programs truly inclusive by promoting and protecting women’s rights.

Speaking at the press conference to launch this year's Women First Run, Dr. Ramiz Alakbarov, UN Assistant-Secretary General and UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, said, “No woman or girl should be left behind, as promised in the 2030 Agenda for the Sustainable Development Goals.”

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development promises that no woman or girl should be left behind. Over the past several decades, remarkable progress has been achieved. Women and girls around the world are breaking barriers, leading movements, and driving change in their communities. Campaigns and initiatives over the past several decades have brought positive progress, as women continue to fight for their rights, safety, and future.

However, the fight for gender equality cannot be fought alone. Governments, civil society, the private sector, the media, and individuals must come together to eliminate discrimination and ensure that every woman’s rights are protected.

30 Years of Progress—And the Road Ahead

This year also marks the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, one of the most groundbreaking commitments to gender equality in history. It was a pledge to ensure that every woman and girl—regardless of background, ability, or circumstance—could live free from discrimination and violence.

"Despite three decades of progress, challenges persist. Women continue to bear the brunt of humanitarian crises, whether due to war, displacement, or climate disasters," Dr. Alakbarov said.

"Gender-based violence, unequal economic opportunities, and systemic discrimination still hold many women back. Young women and girls continue to bear the highest burden of HIV. Women with disabilities face even greater barriers—barriers to education, employment, healthcare, and basic services. Too often, their voices go unheard."

Taking Action: Three Key Areas for Change

Dr. Alakbarov urged action in three critical areas:

1. Advance women’s and girls’ rights: Fight relentlessly for women’s and girls’ full range of human rights, including the fundamental right to health, and challenge all forms of violence, discrimination, and exploitation.
2. Promote gender equality: Address systemic barriers, dismantle patriarchy, transform entrenched inequities, and elevate the voices of marginalized women and girls, including young people, to ensure inclusivity and empowerment.
3. Foster empowerment: Empowerment is more than a word; it is action. It is ensuring that women have access to education, economic opportunities, and leadership roles. It is ending gender-based violence. It is standing together, as we do today, in solidarity and determination.

“Together, let us ensure that every woman and girl can live with dignity, equality, and opportunity. Let us run for a future where every woman’s right is realized,” Dr. Alakbarov said.