E/2010/27 E/CN.6/2010/11 Recalling also all relevant General Assembly and Economic and Social Council resolutions pertaining to issues related with women’s economic empowerment, Reaffirming the commitment of States to place people at the centre of development and direct their economies to meet human needs more effectively, and to recognize that empowering people, particularly women, to strengthen their own capacities is a main objective of development and its principal resource, Expressing deep concern about the increasing feminization of poverty, emphasizing that the empowerment of women is a critical factor in the eradication of poverty and that the implementation of special measures aimed at empowering women can help to achieve this, and recognizing that women’s poverty is directly related to the absence of economic opportunities and autonomy, lack of access to economic resources, lack of access to education and support services and women’s minimal participation in the decision-making process, Concerned that women’s economic empowerment is constrained by gender inequalities and disparities in economic power-sharing, unequal distribution of unremunerated work between women and men, lack of technological and financial support for women’s entrepreneurship, unequal access to, and control over, capital, particularly land and credit and access to labour markets, as well as all harmful traditional and customary practices, Noting that there is increasing recognition that women’s economic empowerment is a key factor that contributes to sustainable economic development and to women’s full enjoyment of all human rights, including the right to development, Recalling that in its agreed conclusions on financing for gender equality and the empowerment of women, adopted in 2008, 43 and on eradicating poverty, including through the empowerment of women throughout their life cycle, in a globalizing world, adopted in 2002, 44 the Commission on the Status of Women noted the growing body of evidence demonstrating that investing in women and girls has a multiplier effect on productivity, efficiency and sustained economic growth and that increasing women’s economic empowerment is central to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, including to the eradication of poverty, Reaffirming that in order to ensure women’s empowerment in the economy and their economic advancement, adequate mobilization of resources at the national and international levels, as well as the provision of new and additional resources to the developing countries from all available funding mechanisms, including multilateral, bilateral and private sources, for the advancement of women and their economic empowerment, will also be required, Expressing its deep concern over the negative impact of the global economic and financial crisis and of the food crisis and ongoing food insecurity which could hamper progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goals and the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, __________________ 43 44 18 See Official Records of the Economic and Social Council, 2008, Supplement No. 7 (E/2008/27), chap. I, sect. A. Ibid., 2002, Supplement No. 7 (E/2002/27), chap. I, sect. A. 10-30576