The empowerment of women must be the foundation for development across the world.
![Women and girls still face discrimination, violence and denial of their reproductive rights, writes Osotimehin [AFP]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/201492492916709580_20.jpeg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
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Twenty years after the Cairo population conference, there is still much to achieve for women’s empowerment.
![In a cross-country study of violence against women in Asia, one out of four men confessed to raping a woman [EPA]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/2014221122755538734_20.jpeg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
To eradicate poverty and to achieve sustainable development, countries must first achieve gender equality.
