To mark the ILO’s 100 year anniversary and the UN 40 years’ presence in China, as well as to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration, the ILO Country Office for China and Mongolia and UN Women China Office jointly organized a Conference on Gender Equality and the Future of Work, from 23 to 24 September, in Beijing to take stock of the progress made and explore ways forward.

The Conference has provided a platform for 70 participants coming from government agencies, workers’ and employers’ organisations, businesses, women’s federations, academia, UN agencies and other partners in China to examine together the opportunities and barriers for the realization of gender equality and its importance in achieving decent work and SDG goals, and discuss effective approaches to advance a human-centred agenda to the future of work through, accelerating efforts on gender equality.

The discussions focused on:

• Equal opportunities and treatment in the world of work
• Balancing work and family responsibilities
• Women’s empowerment
• Elimination of violence and harassment at work

The conference has laid down a good foundation for the ILO and UN Women in China to explore areas for future cooperation with partners to shape a safer and fairer future of work and leave no one behind.