Beyond the shadow of any doubt, women stand at the front lines of the COVID-19 crisis, as health care workers, caregivers, innovators, community organizers and as some of the most exemplary and effective national leaders in combating the deadly pandemic. The crisis has highlighted both the centrality of their massive contribution and the disproportionate burden that women continue to carry. This year’s theme for the International Day, “Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world”, celebrates the tireless efforts by women and girls around the world in shaping a more equal future and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. It is also aligned with the priority theme of the 65th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, “Women in public life, equal participation in decision making”, and the flagship Generation Equality Campaign, which calls for women’s right to decision-making in all areas of life, equal pay, equal sharing of unpaid care and domestic work, an end all forms of violence against women and girls, and health-care services that respond to their needs. Every year, International Women’s Day offer an opportunity to reflect on progress made, call for change and thereby celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played an extraordinary role in the history of their countries and communities. The world has made unprecedented advances, but no country has achieved gender equality. Fifty years ago, we landed on the moon; in the last decade, we discovered new human ancestors and photographed a black hole for the first time. In the meantime, according to the UN report, legal restrictions have kept 2.7 billion women from accessing the same choice of jobs as men. Less than 25 per cent of parliamentarians were women, as of 2019. One in three women experience gender-based violence, still. Time has already come to take tangible positive action and make 2021 count for women and girls across the globe. Experience shows that population and development program are most effective when steps have simultaneously been taken to improve the status of women Gender Mainstreaming is a globally accepted strategy for promoting gender equality. Mainstreaming is not an end in itself but a strategy, an approach, a means to achieve the goal of gender equality. Mainstreaming involves ensuring that gender perspectives and attention to the goal of gender equality are central to all activities – policy development, research, advocacy/ dialogue, legislation, resource allocation, and planning, implementation and monitoring of programs and projects. Since 1997, the Assistant Secretary-General and Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Gender Issues and the Advancement of Women has been charged with supporting and overseeing the implementation of the policy mandates. The empowerment and autonomy of women and the improvement of their political, social, economic and health status is a highly important end in itself. In addition, it is essential ingredient for the achievement of sustainable development. The full participation and partnership of both women and men is required in productive and reproductive life, including shared responsibilities for the care and nurturing of children and maintenance of the household. In all parts of the world, women are facing threats to their lives, health and well- being as a result of being overburdened with work and of their lack of power and influence. In most regions of the world, women receive less formal education than men, and at the same time, women’s own knowledge, abilities and coping mechanisms often go unrecognized. The power relations that impede women’s attainment of healthy and fulfilling lives operate at many levels of society, from the most personal to the highly public. Achieving change requires policy and program actions that will improve women’s access to secure livelihoods and economic resources, alleviate their extreme responsibilities with regard to housework, remove legal impediments to their participation in public life, and raise social awareness through effective program of education and mass communication. In addition, improving the status of women also enhances their decision-making capacity at all levels in all spheres of life, without any bias or prejudice. This is also essential for the long- term success of population program. Experience shows that population and development program are most effective when steps have simultaneously been taken to improve the status of women. Education is one of the most important means of empowering women with the knowledge, skills and self-confidence necessary to participate fully in the development process. More than 40 years ago, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights asserted that “everyone has the right to education”. In 1990, Governments meeting at the World Conference on Education for All in Jomtien, Thailand, committed themselves to the goal of universal access to basic education. But despite notable efforts by countries around the globe that have appreciably expanded access to basic education, there are approximately 775 million illiterate adults in the world, of whom two thirds are women. More than one third of the world’s adults, most of them women, have no access to printed knowledge, to new skills or to technologies that would improve the quality of their lives and help them shape and adapt to social and economic change. There are nearly 260 million children who are not enrolled in primary school and 70 per cent of them are girls. Given the dismal statistics portraying women as weak and vulnerable, it is imperative that countries should act on war footing to empower women and take steps to eliminate inequalities between men and women as soon as possible by: establishing mechanisms for women’s equal participation and equitable representation at all levels of the political process and public life in each community and society and enabling women to articulate their concerns and needs; promoting the fulfilment of women’s potential through education, skill development and employment, giving paramount importance to the elimination of poverty, illiteracy and ill health among women; eliminating all practices that discriminate against women; assisting women to establish and realize their rights, including those that relate to reproductive and sexual health; adopting appropriate measures to improve women’s ability to earn income beyond traditional occupations, achieve economic self-reliance, and ensure women’s equal access to the labor market and social security systems; eliminating violence against women; ending discriminatory practices by employers against women; making it possible, through laws, regulations and other appropriate measures, for women to combine the roles of child-bearing, breast-feeding and child-rearing with participation in the workforce. Furthermore, governments should establish mechanisms to accelerate women’s equal participation and equitable representation at all levels of the political process and public life in each community and society and enable women to articulate their concerns and ensure equal participation of women in decision-making processes in all spheres of life. Governments and civil society should take actions to eliminate attitudes and practices that discriminate against and subordinate girls and women and that reinforce gender inequality. Governments should take measures to promote the fulfilment of girls’ and women’s potential through education, skills development and the eradication of illiteracy for all girls and women without discrimination of any kind, giving paramount importance to the elimination of poverty and ill health. Similarly, governments, in collaboration with civil society, should take the necessary measures to ensure universal access, on the basis of equality between women and men, to appropriate, affordable and quality health care for women throughout their life cycle. Likewise, governments should take every possible action to remove all gender gaps and inequalities pertaining to women’s livelihoods and participation in the labor market through the creation of employment with secure incomes, leading to women’s empowerment and enhance their reproductive health. Above all, legislation ensuring equal pay for equal work or for work of equal value should be instituted and enforced. Only concrete measures supported by positive action on ground can finally help achieve this demanding challenge of ensuring gender equality. Actions speak louder than words. Time to act is now! The writer is a civil servant by profession, a writer by choice and a motivational speaker by passion!