LITHUANIA, November 11 - Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė has taken part, via a video link, in the Annual Forum of the Council of Women World Leaders.

The participants of the annual forum have discussed activities carried out in 2020, with a special focus on efforts to ensure gender equality and women’s empowerment while aiming at the economic recovery in the post-pandemic world. They have also made suggestions for the Council’s future work.

The Prime Minister of Lithuania has emphasised that her Government is the best example of gender equality.

‘The growth of women’s political representation in Lithuania had been one of the reasons why the World Economic Forum has recognised Lithuania among the most-improved countries having narrowed their gender gaps this year. Still, it must be acknowledged that women were hit harder than men during the pandemic. Women are overrepresented in the sectors of the economy that have suffered from the pandemic most, and it is women who continue to bear the disproportionate burden of the consequences of the pandemic,’ said the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister has called on women world leaders to speak out urging world governments and international organisations to take real steps to alleviate and improve the situation of women and girls in the fight against the pandemic and post-pandemic recovery.

The Prime Minister has noted the courage and the civic spirit of the women of Belarus in the fight against the authoritarian regime. When dictator Lukashenko imprisoned his potential male rivals in the presidential election, women took over the struggle. Šimonytė has invited the members of the Council to consider a possibility of expressing support for the women of Belarus, as that message would be highly important in their struggle for freedom and democracy.

Prime Minister of Iceland, Katrín Jakobsdóttir, chairs the World Council of Women Leaders this year. The World Council of Women Leaders is an independent, autonomous network of 83 current and former prime ministers and presidents, established by President of Iceland (1980-1996) Vigdís Finnbogadóttir in 1996.

The World Council of Women Leaders is the only organisation in the world dedicated to women heads of state and government. ​The Council of Women World Leaders Secretariat is an affiliate of the United Nations Foundation in Washington, D.C.